[throw0101a]

> 2) Buy/sell where you have unique expertise. If you work in the toilet hardware industry, buy/sell stocks related to that industry.

When I started investing, being an EE and working in IT, I tried this: I bough AAPL and RIMM. One did better than the other.

I'm now basically all-index all the time.

[tinco]

If you bought 50/50 AAPL and RIM, wouldn't you still have outperformed index funds? Or was the timing especially awkward?

[throw0101a]

Well, I had other things as well (e.g., telcos, which did pretty well). It's just that when I started RIMM was on top of the world: this before the iPhone was released. Over the course of some time (I don't remember the exact dates/years anymore), AAPL went up and RIMM went down.

Which goes to show that being on top is no guarantee of anything. Just ask ExxonMobil (XOM): in 2013, a scant seven years ago, it was the largest company in the world (surpassing Apple).

* https://www.forbes.com/sites/dividendchannel/2013/01/25/exxo...

This past week it's not even largest US energy company:

* https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/05/investing/exxon-stock-solar-w...

I sold everything around when Apple did their split in that time frame, and moved to a more passive strategy.