From dabblers to day traders, small investors' impact on Wall Street grows even in volatile market
For years, retail investors were dismissed by some on Wall Street as “dumb money.” An analysis of where retail investors put their money last year shows they outperformed two of the most popular, professionally managed index funds, SPY and QQQ, whose goal is to mirror the performance of the S&P; 500 and Nasdaq 100, respectively. “I personally want to dispel the myth of retail being dumb money, because it’s not dumb money anymore,” said Joe Mazzola, head trading and derivatives strategist at Charles Schwab, at an investor education event held in Anaheim, California, last November that drew around 800 of the financial services company’s clients.
