Week 6 · 50 minutes
Invest Like a Pro (Boring Wins)
Pick a simple portfolio, then leave it alone for decades.
The big idea
You don't need to pick stocks or pay an advisor a percentage of your future. Low-cost index funds plus discipline outperform most professionals.
Pick a simple portfolio, then leave it alone for decades.
Why index funds
Most actively managed funds fail to beat their benchmark over long periods, and fees compound relentlessly. A total-market or target-date index fund is a legitimate final answer.
- A 1% annual fee can consume a large share of lifetime returns
- Target-date funds handle allocation and rebalancing automatically
- Diversification means owning the whole market, not five hot stocks
2 boring ETFs
Behavior is the strategy
The plan is written in advance precisely so you don't renegotiate it during a crash. Keep contributing when it feels worst — that's when the system pays off.
Active learning check
Write your one-sentence investment policy: what you buy, how often, and what you'll do in a 30% crash.
"I invest $X every payday into a total-market index fund, and in a crash I do nothing except keep buying."
Lesson quiz
3 of 4 to pass1. Over long horizons, most actively managed funds:
2. What matters most for long-term results?
3. A target-date fund is attractive because it:
4. The market falls 30%. Your automated plan says:
Practice tasks for this week
Do these after the lesson, before you start Week 7.