08/12/2025
Why DIY investors lose 3 per cent a year and what you can do about it
Every so often you will see a study claiming that DIY investors underperform the market by roughly 3 per cent per year. These reports surface regularly, and the message is always the same.
“You are losing money by doing it yourself. Give it to the professionals.”
In most of the wealth management industry, this statistic is used as a sales tool. It is designed to convince you that investing alone is dangerous and that the only sensible solution is to outsource everything to a fund manager, wealth manager, or investment service.
But there is another way to interpret the data.
A way that is rarely discussed.
If the evidence says that DIY investors lose around 3 per cent per year, then the real question is not, “Should I hand my money over to someone else?”
The real question is, “Why do DIY investors lose 3 per cent a year in the first place?”
Because once you understand that, the path forward becomes .....
Every so often you will see a study claiming that DIY investors underperform the market by roughly 3 per cent per year. These reports surface regularly, and the message is always the same.“You are losing money by doing it yourself. Give it to the professionals.” In most of the wealth management ...