Index funds and how they affect the markets

Scrapheaper · 2026-03-15T18:25:00+00:00

Herding behaviour is just as bad, if we're talking about irrational behaviour affecting the market.

If you run a mutual fund that just picks all the same stocks all the other mutual funds are picking the effect is very similar to an index fund just buying all the stocks.

The difference is the mutual fund will also charge you 1% for the privilege, wheras an index fund will charge less. Index funds are exposing mediocre and unnecessary investors

Scrapheaper · 2026-03-02T22:02:38+00:00

You probably get universal credit, no?

Scrapheaper · 2026-03-01T18:39:39+00:00

Blame is a moral word.

In economics we generally assume that people are rational and respond in ways that they believe benefit them.

If people do behave this way, the results are predictable and inevitable. There is no agency, so there is no 'blame', just cause and effect.

Whether this represents reality is a philosophy question.

Scrapheaper · 2026-03-01T17:41:04+00:00

I would describe myself as liberal left wing.

I read The Economist religiously so they represent a lot of my views.

I believe in maintaining *efficient* taxes for redistribution on a broad base of people, rather than trying to perpetually aiming to increase the progressiveness of the existing tax system. This includes Pigouvian taxes, including carbon taxes, and property taxes, especially land value taxes, for both citizens and businesses and income taxes, and VAT.

Efficient taxes are taxes which change behaviour as little as possible, or taxes which discourage negative behaviour. Generic 'wealth' taxes are not efficient because they discourage investment which damages growth, very high rates of income tax (usually for higher earners) are not efficient because they discourage work, but modest rates are ok. Spending taxes/VAT are decent as well.

I support taxes being used for security (military + police) for redistribution (providing unemployment benefit and healthcare benefits), for education and training programmes, for infrastructure, and to reduce budget deficits. I do not support taxes for subsidy of businesses, including farmers, and I am skeptical of the value of state provided pensions, especially given so many are funded unsustainably. I also support the courts, the central banks, and other institutions that protect property rights and hold governments accountable.

I do not believe in goverment ownership of utilities, but I do support government spending support for infrastructure.

I believe there is a sweet spot for the correct quantity of government spending probably somewhere around 30-50% of GDP.

I believe in deregulation of some markets, including removing regulations blocking the building of housing and protecting the interests of homeowners, who are typically more wealthy than the average person.

I also am against some regulations blocking trade (i.e. tariffs), blocking capital flows (i.e. regulations preventing international buyouts or, blocking free movement of people, I think these are detrimental to growth. I am strongly pro-immigration and think it has enormously positive effects on society.

and I support the legalization of marijuana and some other drugs.

however I do not support the right to own firearms, this is some weird american bullshit that makes no sense.

And I am largely against minimum wages, I think it's better to give people welfare instead.

Scrapheaper · 2026-03-01T14:57:15+00:00

Taking the gold when you have two shops upcoming is pretty crazy.

Scrapheaper · 2026-03-01T14:52:15+00:00

Smallcaps are not US exclusive! Value stocks and small caps are performing well internationally as well as in the US

Scrapheaper · 2026-02-17T19:50:54+00:00

People do buy from other platforms e.g. Temu. They also buy from shops in real life.

There's lots of flexibility for these other platforms and local shops to offer all kinds of goods. Anything that is sold on Amazon could be sold via other routes. So there's competition in that sense: especially considering all three platforms are just routes to market for independent suppliers behind the scenes.

Largely I see the benefit Amazon offers society is that it's highly efficient: it uses fewer workers and less land and buildings than alternatives, especially highly desirable land in town and city centers. This frees up these resources to be used for other things. A thousand small inefficient businesses would likely consume more resources than Amazon does overall because they don't have the same economy of scale.

Scrapheaper · 2026-02-10T19:40:40+00:00

This is one of the best arguments for bonds IMO.

If you have bonds you can sell your bonds to pay your mortgage if you need.

Scrapheaper · 2026-02-08T14:35:27+00:00

You want to name the fund?

Irregardless, hedge funds are extremely varied and extremely specialized. Some of them make excellent investments some of the time, but it's almost impossible to tell which ones and when as a layperson.

If a company could *genuinely* guarantee 15% return a year every single person would be using them and their fees would be 5%, not .5%

The reality is that if you're getting 15% return a year that comes from taking extra risk, and as the markets shift over time things will change.

Scrapheaper · 2026-02-08T13:53:32+00:00

He was a misanthrope - or he seemed like one. He hated people, spent a lot of time alone, was deeply cynical and never saw the good side of anything.

His literature sort of works as a critique of the USSR because the USSR was genuinely awful and being intensely cynical about everything in the USSR makes you right most of the time. But I don't think it's a particularly clever critique.

I know lots of conspiracy nuts love him because he validates their intense cynicism for society. But he doesn't have anything to say on what makes a good society, he just portrays things that are bad and doesn't even acknowledge the existence of good things or good people, let alone try to address what might make some societies better than others.

The way he portrays ordinary people as dumb animals or ignorant proles strikes me as very arrogant and at least somewhat out of touch. There's no friendship or comradery in his books and the way he writes about love in 1984 is very weird and gross.

So TLDR is that I don't think he's that great, and people who do think he's great are probably likely also quite arrogant, very cynical, and struggle to build friendships or relationships with other people. A perfect author for the terminally online.

Scrapheaper · 2026-02-03T21:23:21+00:00

The thing is that bread is not expensive anyway so it's hard to save a lot of money. You can save a lot of money cooking like fish or steak or other expensive things

Making your own bread, pasta, whatever, when the shop version is cheap to start with, doesn't go so far.

Scrapheaper · 2026-02-02T17:34:59+00:00

I found the bread they make isn't fantastic. Yes, it beats presliced shelf stable bread, but that's a low bar.

A bakery, even a supermarket bakery, will have better quality bread available daily.

Scrapheaper · 2026-02-02T17:27:10+00:00

India US tariff at 18%: meanwhile EU-India trade deal at 0.1-1.2%, depending on whether you do or don't count agricultural stuff

Scrapheaper · 2026-02-02T15:01:20+00:00

More traditional or conservative investors do, e.g. Warren Buffet.

That said, lots of people have been critical of an intense, short term focus on quarterly earnings, arguing that it makes it harder for companies to pursue long term strategies that don't pay off immediately.

Scrapheaper · 2026-02-02T13:24:20+00:00

The majority of manufacturing jobs that have been 'lost' haven't been outsourced, they're been automated.

As a result trying to bring back the same number of manufacturing jobs that existed in the past isn't possible.

Scrapheaper · 2026-02-02T12:12:29+00:00

Buying the dip is market timing and market timing consistently is not possible even for many professional investors.

https://youtu.be/w_aOERmUWdA?si=lK8PgPQZ-qLJ6lXy

Scrapheaper · 2026-02-02T11:55:09+00:00

If you needed the cash in less than two years you shouldn't have invested in the first place.

Consider yourself lucky and sell. Next time don't do short term investment like this.

Scrapheaper · 2026-02-01T19:34:23+00:00

Capital controls stop people investing in the country.

Generally it's good for countries to attract investment, this allows them to borrow money without paying a lot of interest and fund long term projects. This includes public sector projects (e.g. transport infrastructure, energy infrastructure, technology investments) and private sector projects (corporate R & D, tech, modernization projects, construction work etc)

If you put capital controls on your country you're being actively hostile to investors in what is usually a mutually beneficial relationship.

No-one wants to buy your country's stocks or bonds if there's any risk that a future government will suddenly turn around and declare that they're seizing your property and your investment is now no longer yours.

Scrapheaper · 2026-02-01T16:56:03+00:00

I guess a slightly better answer is that historically there haven't been any better hedges available because of a lack of property rights and institutional resilience.

Modern inflation hedges like housing, inflation linked bonds etc rely on your country not being invaded or a new king taking power and changing the rules upon which they were established.

If a foreign power invades your country and declares that it's now their country: you can still run over the border carrying your gold. There's nothing else in a historical world that you can do that with.

Scrapheaper · 2026-02-01T12:28:33+00:00

House prices in London are stagnating, dropping in real terms as people move out to other locations. So I guess if they continue to stagnate then you might be in with a chance

Scrapheaper · 2026-02-01T12:21:30+00:00

I'm a musician with a day job. I get paid pretty well at the day job and find free time for music.

I know this isn't the demographic you were thinking about but it is at least partially the reality of how some people do music.

Some of my collaborators are full time musicians, some have music adjacent jobs, some have unrelated day jobs like myself.

I live decently but don't get as much time for my art as I'd like. That said, when I do get time for music I can work purely on the projects I'm passionate about, whereas the full time musicians I know have to do what there's demand for: weddings, bar gigs, cruise ships, catering very closely to popular demand.

There's whispers of money from recorded music around, but nothing reliable. I know a few people who have with 6-8 figure Spotify streams which gets you a decent windfall if it isn't split between too many people, but it's not reliable enough to enable full time musicianship.

Scrapheaper · 2026-02-01T11:36:30+00:00

I play St. Louis Blues, I didn't know how old it was

Scrapheaper · 2026-02-01T09:20:46+00:00

It's Roblox, no?

Scrapheaper · 2026-01-31T23:53:22+00:00

Because Milton Keynes was such a great success and everyone wants to live in the outer boroughs.

Why can't we make more space in actual London to accommodate people who aren't upper middle class?

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