The Comforting Investing Rules That Quietly Work Against You
A portfolio can be doing exactly what it was built to do — and still lag the S&P 500 in a strong year. That gap unsettles people, and it’s often the moment they start tinkering with a plan that was never broken. The tinkering usually traces back to a handful of investing ideas that sound like common sense: wait for a better entry point, keep money safe in cash, spread it across more funds, dial back stocks before retirement. Each idea has a kernel of truth. None of them is a universal rule, and treating them as one is where the real damage happens.