About this episode
Don and Tom dive into a new study showing the average investor spends just six minutes researching a stock—most of it just watching the price move. From gut feelings to hometown bias, they unpack why individual stock picking is often driven by emotion, not logic. Along the way, they skewer myths about control, tax efficiency, and the Warren Buffett fantasy. Listener questions cover Roth 401k rollovers, Roth conversion timing, and Fidelity’s commingled active target-date funds—and why none of them beat a good portfolio of low-cost ETFs. 0:04 Stock picking takes 6 minutes, says NYU study 1:09 Why people pick stocks without research 1:56 Risk analysis ignored by most investors 2:57 The illusion of gut instinct investing 4:22 Beating the market is harder than it looks 5:44 The fantasy of picking only “good” stocks 7:10 The control myth and cost of stock picking 8:29 Buffett’s process vs. your fantasy 9:53 The illusion of control and tax myths 10:58 What real diversification means 12:11 You’re wasting time, not just money 13:11 Emotion makes individual stock picking harder 13:59 Familiarity bias in hometown investing 15:21 Listener Q1: Roth 401k rollover planning 16:27 How many ETFs should a multimillion Roth have? 17:59 Get fiduciary help or risk being sold garbage 18:21 Listener Q2: Roth conversion tax trap 20:17 RMDs aren’t the enemy—bad Roth math is 20:29 Listener Q3: Fidelity commingled target-date fund 21:35 Why active target funds fail investors 22:07 Better option: Three low-cost ETFs instead Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices