The quote below from Robert Allan Schwartz beautifully expresses this: Say your investing goal is to make a reliable $50,000+ a year in dividend income that grows faster than inflation for your retirement. Return obsession comes from 2 sources: Our innate desire to compare ourselves to others The investing industry to justify fees People rate how they are doing versus against how others do. Performance & the Investing Industry Maids canAAAt charge money and make your house dirtier.