Beating the market ?

Another question i get asked frequently - Do i expect/plan to beat the market ?
Frankly, NO! Having read "A Random Walk down Wall St", i wouldn't even try doing that.

For me, trying to pick takeover targets is a game/challenge i really enjoy playing. I know i won't be able to beat the market in the long run and i am not aiming for it either. But i may just be able to beat a decent number of Wall St. analysts given that they are as clueless abt companies as the chimpanzees in the local zoo.

When you take into consideration all the fund fees etc, you can beat any Wall St. manager as long as you invest for the long-term using a low-commission online brokerage or using one of the new "folio" builders.

I use ShareBuilder (http://www.sharebuilder.com) as well as FolioFn (http://www.foliofn.com). They are similar but have different trading windows and have different securities in their lists. Both are constantly improving, though i really wish these guys merged :-)

Recent revelations abt late-trading/market-timing show that you never got the best price anyway for the equities held in your 401K for e.g.
Money that rightly belonged to you was being taken away in industry-sanctioned day-light robbery. Billionaire-backed hedge funds were getting the best treatment from every bank / investment house. If i wished to lose 3% of my hard-earned savings, i would like to do it either via charity or atleast by losing it myself in Vegas.