Back in the mid-twentieth century, the average person’s stock portfolio consisted of large, well-known, dividend-paying corporate shares. There were no real-time stock quotes (you would need to wait for tomorrow’s newspaper to see how your stocks closed today). Transaction costs were high, so there was very little trading in and out of positions. Most investors focused on clipping interest coupons on their bonds and collecting dividends on their stocks. Because you held for the long term, the vast majority of your savings were in companies like General Electric, AT&T, and Procter & Gamble. Companies that dominated their industries and promised to stand the test of time. Doesn’t sound too exciting, does it?

Many of today’s investment advisors would scoff at this portfolio, especially now that technology has given us the ability to invest globally in a wide variety of asset classes. Investors can now access private markets (equity and debt) and exotic collectibles fairly easily. Alternative assets are no longer solely the purview of the very wealthy.

Is this a good thing?

Investment innovation has been called the democratization of investing, and how can democratizing anything be bad?

I suppose it means that, thanks to technology, the average investor now has just as much of a chance of incinerating capital in the art market as the wealthy (don’t get me started on those Masterworks ads…)

I would hope that, given the ability for smaller investors to access just about any asset class a wealthy investor could access, this form of prestige investing is due to lose its cachet. Because—as I outlined in earlier posts—it doesn’t really work.

And yet… people continue to believe that investing in blue chip equities is a dinosaur’s game from a bygone era. There’s a pull to be part of what is new and exciting. It’s hard to seemingly be the only person who’s not getting rich off the latest fad investment.

There is a tried-and-true method to building and preserving wealth, and it works.

I’m going to encourage you to be a maverick. Embrace the Old School.

Charlie Munger has famously said about investing, “If you think it’s easy you’re stupid.” At one level he’s right. If you’re trying to get rich, investing is difficult. Even more modest goals, like outperforming a benchmark consistently, are really hard. But if you aren’t worried about what the rest of the world is doing, if you’re able to focus on keeping it simple and controlling your emotions, it actually isn’t hard at all. You might even say it can be kind of easy.

Let me tell you a story about Dorothy, a client of an advisor I worked with very early in my career. She had grown up during the Great Depression, and like most from her generation, she respected the value of a dollar. She earned a modest salary and lived a modest life.

With no formal financial education, she built up a very significant portfolio by adhering to a couple of very simple rules.

First of all, she only bought stocks that paid dividends. She believed that kept management accountable about maintaining profits and managing cash flow.

Second, if a company cut its dividend, she sold it. She figured something must be wrong if they couldn’t maintain the payment to shareholders—likely a deterioration in the business.

She ignored the financial news, didn’t read the business section, and knew little about the world’s macroeconomic environment. She invested through wars, recessions, investment bubbles, inflationary environments, and wild movements in interest and exchange rates. Nothing fazed her—concentrating on her dividends, she built up a multi-million-dollar portfolio.

Now, I’m not suggesting this is a strategy for everyone—it does have its flaws. But it worked wonders for her, and I’m sure that she outperformed the vast majority of people who spent their days searching for the next great undervalued stock.

If trying to outperform others is the game you’re playing, it’s very difficult to succeed. Charlie is right.

But if you can play Dorothy’s game, or something similar, it’s actually quite simple. Charlie’s not playing this game. The pros are not playing this game. But there is no reason that you can’t play this game.

Keep reminding yourself—

The institutions are not playing the same game as you.

The day traders are not playing the same game as you.

The money managers on CNBC are not playing the same game as you.

Build a portfolio that suits you. Ignore the noise. Play your own game.