Even Buying at the Dot-Com Bubble Peak Looks Like a Bargain Now

Jihoon Kim, author of 'Retire with Just 3 U.S. ETFs,' argued in a video released on the YouTube channel 'Money in the Trap' on the 11th that 'even those who bought at the peak of the dot-com bubble would see those prices as lows today.' Kim said, 'U.S. stocks haven't done well only in recent years—they have grown steadily over the past 100 years,' adding, 'They were good 10, 20, and 30 years ago, and I believe they will be good in the future as well.' He also cited as grounds for investing the fact that major companies delivering high returns worldwide and developing artificial intelligence (AI) technology are based in the United States.

Kim introduced a strategy of long-term investing in ETFs that track U.S. stock indexes rather than individual stocks. He has run about 30 stock accounts under his and his wife's names to directly compare various investment approaches. 'While working at my job, I wanted to retire early on dividends, so I bought high-dividend stocks and tried various investment methods, but index investing ultimately delivered the best results,' Kim said.

Notably, the account with the highest returns through 2024 was the one set to automatically buy U.S. stock indexes every day. Kim explained, 'The account that bought automatically without my doing anything performed better than the results of my own investing after studying hard and watching the news,' adding, 'From that point on, I became convinced that steadily investing in U.S. indexes is the better approach.'

For those just starting out in stock investing, Kim recommended consistently buying U.S. index ETFs in small amounts to build experience and gradually increasing their investment. However, he made clear that his approach is not the definitive answer, explaining that while investing primarily in U.S. index ETFs, he also raises the share of leveraged products during market downturns or trades some individual stocks in the short term.