Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.B), SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY): If You Can’t Beat the Market, Join It

These services, while available to the average person via a subscription, are run by professional investors and have doubled the returns of the broader market over the past five years. Whereas the S&P 500 returned 7.2% on an average annual basis, these stock-picking newsletters have returned between 15% and 18%.

And this brings me to the third exception. If you aren’t a professional investor with the requisite time and expertise necessary to beat the market, then you can simply leverage the skills of those who do. I know this sounds like a naked sales pitch for our services, which you can peruse here, but the reality is that they do, in fact, offer an opportunity for the retail investor to actually beat the market — an otherwise unattainable feat for most people.

The bottom line

The bottom line is that beating the broader market isn’t easy. As a result, there’s no shame in simply matching its returns. But if you’re looking for something more, it’s probably best to consult people who can assist in that objective.

The article If You Can’t Beat the Market, Join It originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by John Maxfield.

John Maxfield has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends and owns shares of Berkshire Hathaway.

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