this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2026
336 points (94.9% liked)
Data is Beautiful
8259 readers
494 users here now
A place to share and discuss visual representations of data: Graphs, charts, maps, etc.
DataIsBeautiful is for visualizations that effectively convey information. Aesthetics are an important part of information visualization, but pretty pictures are not the sole aim of this subreddit.
A place to share and discuss visual representations of data: Graphs, charts, maps, etc.
A post must be (or contain) a qualifying data visualization.
Directly link to the original source article of the visualization
Original source article doesn't mean the original source image. Link to the full page of the source article as a link-type submission.
If you made the visualization yourself, tag it as [OC]
[OC] posts must state the data source(s) and tool(s) used in the first top-level comment on their submission.
DO NOT claim "[OC]" for diagrams that are not yours.
All diagrams must have at least one computer generated element.
No reposts of popular posts within 1 month.
Post titles must describe the data plainly without using sensationalized headlines. Clickbait posts will be removed.
Posts involving American Politics, or contentious topics in American media, are permissible only on Thursdays (ET).
Posts involving Personal Data are permissible only on Mondays (ET).
Please read through our FAQ if you are new to posting on DataIsBeautiful.
Commenting Rules
Don't be intentionally rude, ever.
Comments should be constructive and related to the visual presented. Special attention is given to root-level comments.
Short comments and low effort replies are automatically removed.
Hate Speech and dogwhistling are not tolerated and will result in an immediate ban.
Personal attacks and rabble-rousing will be removed.
Moderators reserve discretion when issuing bans for inappropriate comments. Bans are also subject to you forfeiting all of your comments in this community.
Originally r/DataisBeautiful
Please Enjoy our Partner Community:
!askhistorians@lemmy.world
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
Don't make me tap the sign..
Past performance is not an indication of future returns
This applies to index funds too. An entire market that runs on index funds cannot function at all, and the more they dominate the more risky the outcome. Past stock markets do not indicate what will happen in future, the distribution is different.
These articles/games push a message to invest and don't think, it is not a good message
That's the incorrect conclusion.
People claiming that by regularly adjusting your portfolio, they can get you better returns, are more often incorrect.
That's not a correct conclusion either
Have previously been incorrect to an extent.
You do have to adjust a portfolio over time regardless.
And it may be the case that in future value-based investing is more successful than index tracking, which is especially the case when index funds get detached from the value of the underlying business.
Actual performance of a business does matter
Your insert of "Previously" is misleading. There exists no evidence that active management will be more correct in the future either.
You fundamentally misunderstand. You can invest in indicies that track value. The important point is the need to avoid the management and transaction fees of active funds.
It's not misleading, it is entirely factually correct. The word previously refers to the past, and all comparisons are about past performance.
In that case you are referring to investment decisions based on very simplistic formulations. These don't do any detailed analysis of actual businesses and how they operate.
If everyone did this, markets simply would not function, at all. You'd have a Keynesian beauty contest at best, but overall bad investment decisions and a stagnant economy. The more the market is dominated by simplistic funds the less it behaves like the past 100 years, and the less useful past statistics are at predicting the future.
It is. There is absolutely no evidence that future performance will favor active management.
Citation needed.
At the extreme I agree with you. If 100% of investors are passive then there is no information discovery. But words like "dominated", "less useful", "stagnant" betray your bias and weak foundational thinking.
Academic consensus is that, net of fees, average active management does not beat a low-cost index fund.