In this episode, we discussed the benchmarks, especially the S&P 500. Dan was blunt about his feeling about it: it makes people think off the mark, and not consider the greater risks of chasing the market. Tim gave some interesting data: YTD, the top 6 stocks of S&P 500 have +16.61% return (as of 5/31/2020), but excluding these top 6 stocks, S&P 500 as a whole is down, with a -9.20% return. So, when you compare your portfolio with the benchmark, and thinking that you are underperforming, no, you are not really behind the "market", you are just behind the top 6. Dan asked: well, why don’t we invest in the top 6 stocks then? Nathaniel gave the example of Microsoft. It took almost 17 years for it to get back to where it peaked last time (1999). So if one of your top 6 stocks' price drop due to another market downturn, do you have the discipline to hold it for 17 years and wait for it to bounce back without panicking? Nathaniel went into details about Amazon. Overall, Nathaniel doesn't invest in it because its stock is overpriced, and there's no way of knowing where it's going as a company in the next 10 years. In the end, we gave advice on how to not get sidetracked by comparing yourself to benchmark: be rational, and understand what you are investing in.