James Kirby

We'll be back in a minute.

Hello, welcome back to the Australian's Money Puzzle podcast.

James Kirby here with Eric Johnson from The Australian.

Now, Eric, just two quick questions I've kept for you.

One's from Peter.

He says, surely there's another side of the trade and high volumes where people are selling.

There must be people buying the same amount on the other side.

Is there any evidence that retail investors outperform either the index or professional investment managers?

Yes, Peter, there is.

There's good evidence from institutional investors that they are better investors.

And there's good evidence from retail investors that they are better investors.

Don't you know?

The nearest thing I can think of is the Self-Managed Superfunds Association issues something from Adelaide University, which shows that self-managed superfund investors are better than institutional investors, for instance, year by year.

But don't you know that work is commissioned by the Self-Managed Superfunds Association?

Just saying.

So I think the answer would be it depends on who you are.

There's some pretty hopeless institutional investors, Eric, isn't there?

It's very difficult, yeah.

Because everyone's different, right?

Every single investor has a different story.