Isn’t a large part of the underperformance of the hedge funds due to their fee structure? Investors lose 20%+ of the profits just in fees. While I don’t think stock picking is a great idea for the layman, that fee structure isn’t generalizable to the average Joe picking stocks.

I believe there’s some evidence that low-volatility trading has been shown to beat the market over long periods of time. Although, “picking stocks for volatility” may be different than “timing stock picks”

No, fund expenses are typically not included when comparing returns.

From the linked article in question:

“Buffett's ultimately successful contention was that, including fees, costs and expenses…”

Most good research that I’m aware of includes fees in the comparison because they can significantly erode returns. (Maybe somewhat less of an issue now that most brokerage now offer no-fee ETF trading). Not including fees and expenses is just a marketing tactic.

Buffett says this kind of stuff publicly. But his own fund moves in and out of investments all the time.

He also said

>But it's true. I could name half a dozen people that I think can compound $1 million at 50% per year -- at least they'd have that return expectation -- if they needed it. They'd have to give that $1 million their full attention. But they couldn't compound $100 million or $1 billion at anything remotely like that rate.

A lot depends on the details of who's doing what.

Yep, you also wouldn't give the same computer/software advice to your grandma as you would a peer at work. Buffet is telling us to leave trading to the pros, but he absolutely trades.

Buffet is arguably the best who’s ever done it. He can do things your layperson shouldn’t try. Just because Bruce Lee could do an impressive spin kick, it doesn’t make spin kicks a good idea for 99% of people to try in a self defense situation.

I completely agree. This is true of most fields, which is why you can pay a professional for their special skills.

Sort of, not really? Most of BRK is invested in 100% wholly owned companies. They do have a "small"[0] public equity portfolio, that does change investments periodically, but most of those investments are also pretty long term, if you go look.

Wholly owned companies list: https://berkshirehathaway.com/subs/sublinks.html

0: In terms of BRK's overall wealth, it's still in the many billions of dollars.