I spent 3 years trying to beat the Nasdaq in my ROTH IRA. I barely did.

Three years ago I started a personal experiment: could I beat the Nasdaq with a rules-based, diversified portfolio? Rules: • \~50 stocks • Max position 10% • Min position 0.5% After three full years (see pic): Result: I beat the Nasdaq…but only by a few percentage points per year. The more important win wasn’t raw returns, it was risk-adjusted returns (see Sharp) That being said, I’ve spent wayyy too much time to get that edge, we’ll see how 2026 goes but I may decide to do 80% QQQ and 20% in 5-10 high conviction names if alpha doesn’t improve. For those curious, here’s my 2026 starting portfolio: 9%- NVDA 7.5% - MSFT, GOOG 6% - AAPL 5% - AMZN 4% - TSM, META, AVGO 3% - TSLA 2.5% - ASML 2% - PLTR, LRCX, RTX, TMO 1.5% - ISRG, KLAC, APH, BX, GEV, SHOP, NOW, DHR, BLK, BSX, SYK, PANW 1% - KKR, APO, RNMBY, MELI, ETN, BN, SNPS, HOOD, LHX, BAESY, CRWD, MRVL, SE, SNOW, NET, CDNS, LZAGY, COIN, ZS 0.5% - PRYMY, ESLT, RBRK, BESIY, AVAV Would most people be better off buying QQQ and forgetting about it? Probably. But if you enjoy the process, think in multi-year windows, and care about Sharpe ratio over bragging rights, it can be done.