<prompt> Human: Honest question. If I can hold retirement funds in an index fund versus a stock with a long history of beating the SP 500, why not hold that stock instead? Isnt it like buying the expertise in investing that I could never hope to acquire?  <response>: If youre going to invest in a single stock, youd have a hard time finding a more well run company, with managers that understand business at a very deep level, and realize the dangers of excessive debt. Still, having all your investments in a single company is extremely risky. You never know when a company might be racked by corruption or an accounting scandal. Enron was the darling of Wall Street until they went to 0. GE was a strong reliable workhorse of a company with consistent income and dividends until they faltered. Buffett is going to die some day, and while I believe hes hired great managers, we have no guarantees that theyll keep the same steady hand, or that they wont miss some major cataclysmic change in the market. 