This is hilarious. A Norwegian TV programme pitted some professional stock-pickers against an astrologist, some beauty bloggers and - i kid you not - cows shitting in a field. (short thread).

It goes without saying that the pros were a little disconcerted by the competition. So how did they do over the three-month time horizon?

Well, the astrologist did the worst, slightly underperforming the Norwegian stock market over the period.

The pros did manage to beat the index, but basically did as well as the defecating cows - led by star stockpicker Gullros.

(Naturally, the professionals bragged about how their returns were far less volatile than the cows')

But the beauty bloggers smashed it, beating cows, pros, astrologer and the index with a 10% return over the period. This despite not knowing any of the companies, even Norsk Hydro (one of the oldest and biggest in Norway)

However, the presenters did a twist towards the end, showing that their own portfolio thumped everyone else.

But that's only because they assembled 20 DIFFERENT portfolios and only showed the one that did the best - to illustrate survivorship bias.

Still, the real star of the show was undoubtedly Gullros. Allocators, get yer checkbooks ready. She is the new Peter. Lynch

Huge kudos to @MagnusNome @JOHesselberg and @lnederhoed who wrote and researched this episode of Folkeopplysningen, made for the Norwegian broadcaster @NRKno. Looks like it was fun to make...

Well this blew up. I don’t have a soundcloud but I write a lot about this subject (though with fewer crapping cows). If you want to read more here is a history of index funds - which even non-FT subscribers should be able to read through this link. https://on.ft.com/2NA836g 

Have now also written a column on it, naturally featuring some bad jokes. Im so sorry. https://on.ft.com/38x9FG9