[autokad]

I have done it as a sanity check and so far have beat SPY. Its kinda hard to calculate though. In TD Ameritrade, it doesn't give you that metric for you (that I know if, if you know how please let us know!). I have to look at the day I bought each stock and compare it against the price of SPY the same day.

It's not 100% because I don't compare against SPY the same exact time I bought the stock (too much work) and I don't bother calculating dividends. I just assume I am doing better there since I have a higher yield than SPY.

I do better than the market, but I don't recommend people trying to do so for money. I do it as a hobby, its fun for me. Otherwise a person's time is worth putting elsewhere, except in one area. While a person might not be able to beat the market, by being engaged they are more likely to invest more and avoid fruitless spending.

When someone spends 1000$+ on a handbag, I think gee, I'd rather have a share of google instead