Why do so many people give investment advice that involves regular investing in the Nasdaq Index and the S&P 500?

The answer is actually quite simple: because most advice is driven by interests, while the Nasdaq and S&P 500 are not.

Insurance sellers tell you to buy insurance, fund sellers tell you to buy actively managed funds, and property agents tell you to buy property.

These suggestions aren't necessarily wrong, it's just that the advisors all benefit from them.

No one earns commissions from regular investing in the Nasdaq and S&P 500, no fund managers charge management fees based on them, and no financial advisors get kickbacks from them.

Without profit motives, yet the conclusions are highly consistent—this kind of consensus is very rare in investment advice.

Data is another reason. The Nasdaq Index has had an annualized return of over 15% in the past 30 years, and the S&P 500 about 10%, outperforming over 80% of actively managed funds in the long run.

Of course, regular investing isn't a cure-all. It requires you to hold on and not sell during a 40% crash, and to accept that for three or four years out of ten, you'll be at a paper loss.

Most people give this advice because, after much thought, they believe it's the way for ordinary people to have the highest probability of winning in investing.