You should not hold leveraged ETFs for the long term because they are primarily designed as short-term trading instruments, typically for a single day. Holding them for longer periods introduces significant and amplified risks, primarily due to a mathematical phenomenon known as volatility decay (or volatility drag), as well as high costs.
TQQQ is generally not a good option for the long term due to time decay and volatility drag. In long bull markets these effects are minimized, but in a bear or sideways market these effects are much larger.
Leveraged ETFs are not meant to be held. They are designed for day traders to increase their returns. They would not track efficiently over the long term.
Buffett built his wealth by getting interest to work for him — instead of working to pay interest, as many Americans do. “I've seen more people fail because of liquor and leverage — leverage being borrowed money,” Buffett said in a 1991 speech at the University of Notre Dame.
The "3-5-10 rule" for ETFs can refer to different concepts: a guideline for investor-focused metrics (Expense Ratio < 3%, Tracking Error < 5%, Turnover < 10%), a regulatory limit for fund-of-funds (3% of another fund's shares, 5% of own assets, 10% total in other funds), or a simplification rule for portfolio construction (use 3-5 ETFs to cover key areas like global stocks, home market, and bonds). It helps investors choose cost-effective, well-tracking funds or structure simple portfolios, while regulators use the limits to prevent layering of fees and undue influence in funds that invest in other funds, notes K&L Gates, this K&L Gates article, this U.S. Bank page, and this investment fund law blog.
Ramsey Solutions discourages investing in ETFs inside retirement accounts for two reasons. 1) It equates ETFs to index funds and argues people can beat the market by picking actively managed "good growth" mutual funds.
The 70/30 rule is very simple: You invest 70 percent in developed countries, and 30 percent in developing countries. This moneyland.ch guide answers the most important questions about the 70/30 investment rule. The 70/30 rule is widely considered to be the standard for a globally diversified investment portfolio.
One big differentiator is leverage. Jhunjhunwala often buttressed his trading and investments with sizable borrowed money that increased his buying power and magnified the returns. "Rakesh was extremely gutsy and came from a generation that used leverage liberally," said seasoned investor Shankar Sharma.
If you had invested $1,000 in the S&P 500 10 years ago, you'd have nearly $3,677 today. That's not a flashy overnight win, but it's the kind of steady growth that builds real wealth over time.
Leverage with Perpetual Futures
Example: With 10x leverage on $100, you control a $1,000 futures position.
Leveraged ETFs offer the prospect of amplified returns, but the reality is far riskier than many investors realize. With high volatility, hefty fees, and a tendency to underperform over time, these complex products are more of a gamble than a sound investment strategy.
Several papers have established that investors who hold these investments for periods longer than a day expose themselves to substantial risk as the holding period returns will deviate from the returns to a leveraged or inverse investment in the index.
The 4% rule aims to help retirees find a safe withdrawal rate for each year in retirement. According to this rule, you can withdraw 4% of your total retirement savings in the first year and then adjust that amount for inflation in each subsequent year.
Investing $1,000 a month for 30 years means you contribute $360,000 total, but with compounding returns, the final amount varies significantly by average annual return, potentially growing to over $1 million at 8% and reaching around $2 million or more at a 10% average return, illustrating the power of long-term, consistent investing.
QQQ's track record: Resilience through the years
Additionally, QQQ has beaten the S&P 500 Index seven out of the last 10 years as of June 30, 2025. The 10-year cumulative return for Invesco QQQ is 456.39%, meaning $10,000 invested in Invesco QQQ 10 years ago would be worth $55,639 today.
The 7-5-3-1 rule is a simple investing framework for mutual fund SIPs that builds long-term wealth. It means seven years of discipline, five categories of diversification, and overcoming three emotional hurdles. Add one annual SIP increase to accelerate growth.
The rule says that an investor can create a corpus of around one crore rupees by investing Rs. 15,000 per month for 15 years in a mutual fund that can generate 15% average returns based on the power of compounding.
Investing $1,000 in Coca-Cola (KO) stock 20 years ago (around early 2006) would have grown to roughly $6,000 to $8,000 by late 2025, assuming reinvested dividends, but it significantly underperformed the S&P 500 index, which would have turned $1,000 into about $20,000 over the same period, highlighting that while Coca-Cola offers stability, diversification and broader market index funds often yield better long-term returns.
No single entity owns 90% of the stock market, but the wealthiest Americans own the vast majority of it, with the top 10% holding around 90-93% of U.S. stocks, while the bottom 50% own only about 1%, according to Federal Reserve data analysis from early 2024. This concentration of ownership is primarily held by high-net-worth individuals and their investment vehicles, not one owner.
But a recent paper from the quantitative hedge fund AQR reveals that Buffett has applied leverage at an estimated 1.6-to-1 ratio (a ratio comparable to private equity). AQR's analysis shows that applying this amount of leverage to the market would have delivered average excess return of 10% per annum.
Conclusion. While Titan is often considered Rakesh Jhunjhunwala's favourite stock, it is worth noting that he has also held a significant position in CRISIL since 2003.
Your $500,000 can give you about $20,000 each year using the 4% rule, and it could last over 30 years. The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows retirees spend around $54,000 yearly. Smart investments can make your savings last longer.
Buffett has a suggestion for those folks, too. In many cases, he thinks investors need to keep it simple, diversified, and cheap. The one place he's consistently said people should invest is the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC). That makes the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: VOO) a true Buffett-endorsed investment idea.
Turning $1,000 into $10,000 in one month requires high-risk, high-reward strategies, often involving aggressive business ventures like high-volume flipping (e.g., window washing, retail arbitrage) or online businesses (dropshipping, e-commerce) where you reinvest profits quickly, or trading volatile assets like crypto, but success isn't guaranteed and carries significant risk, so consider diversifying into safer options like starting a service business (lawn mowing) or freelancing high-demand skills.