Reddit's Stock Threads Become a Must-Read on Wall Street
I've found two successful strategies:<p>1) Index funds.<p>2) Buy/sell where you have unique expertise. If you work in the toilet hardware industry, buy/sell stocks related to that industry.<p>I do #1, since consulting generates higher returns than any micromanagement of my portfolio. Perhaps that will change in a few years, as I have more savings.<p>I'm not sure why anything public ought to generate alpha for me over people who do this full-time. The only place where I have a unique advantage are my areas of professional expertise. I can evaluate the quality and market impact of a development in my industries more accurately than people who do finance full-time, so there's some alpha there. It's not huge, since most companies do things outside of my area of expertise too. But it's better than zero.<p>It's worth noting that diversity is important. One can actively trade a small chunk of one's portfolio in one's own industry. I wouldn't allocate more than perhaps 25% of my holdings into areas where I am an expert.<p>And of course, standard disclaimers on insider trading apply. A safe approach is to trade in companies in one's own industry, but not in ones where one is employed or has any contracts / NDAs / relationships / internal information.