You cannot afford to miss the winners.
01
Single stock returns are lopsided. The typical name trails the risk free rate, a rare few rise many times over, and the whole market average is dragged up by that rare few. Pick one at random and the base rate is against you.
02
That makes breadth the opposite of timid. A wide, whole market slice is the only way to be sure the four percent that pay for everything are actually sitting in your book when they run.
03
It is also the case for a rule over a hunch. You stop trying to guess which name becomes the next giant. You hold enough of them, on a system, that you cannot miss the ones that do.
The whole market's gain lived in a handful of its stocks. You did not have to find them. You had to make sure you already owned them.