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Comment by ransom1538 | Hacker News Reader

Agreed. I have ruined so many dinner conversations over this. You can't beat the SP500, it is the only free lunch. It is truly depressing when you think about it - you just feed the machine. The American millionare class is a group of 401k holders. [Oh. and they made 54.96% in the last 5 years]

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> The American millionare class is a group of 401k holders.

What do you mean by this? That pension saving make up the bulk of wealth in the US? Because from what I can gather that's not correct.

Your best odds of being an american millionare is pushing all you can into a 401k which purchases sp500. Most american millionares are not business ninjas. They are teachers and firemen pushing into their 401k, they also don't make much money. "Only 31% averaged $100,000 a year over the course of their career."

What happens is the ridiculous return of the sp500.

Sorry, about this link in advance: https://www.ramseysolutions.com/retirement/the-national-stud...

Being in the millionaire class in the US isn’t that rare[1] and very often is achieved by real estate and retirement savings.

[1]-It’s about 9% of American adults.

> It’s about 9% of American adults.

How is this counted wrt spouses?

Yes but the vast bulk of wealth is owned by a very small minority. That's who people are generally talking about when referring to the "millionaire class".

I think he's saying that 401ks have made a bunch of regular people into millionaires, because of the performance of the S&P 500.

Yes, easily. Buy an emerging market etf. Will outperform SP500 over the next decade.

Over the next decade, but not the next year? Are you so confident in this that you've leveraged and bought options to maximize returns?

I'm all in on emerging markets personally.

Interesting metaphor. Usually, one doesn't buy into a poker game with one's entire bankroll, so pushing all in is relatively insignificant.

It's not really fair to ask someone to leverage themselves to display their conviction.

It's not really fair to make an assertion that one asset will outperform another without giving a measure of confidence.

I'm not asking that our advisor take leverage, but merely asking whether she/he has, to gauge confidence in the investment thesis.

Forward looking statements made with such confidence tend to be wrong. I take it you will personally make whole anybody who follows your investment advice in case you are wrong?

But you don't have an issue with the statement "you can't beat the sp500". Just calling out American self centeredness here.

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