Think back to April 2020. A year ago, many investors were scared, some wanting to move to cash, even as most stock markets staged remarkably strong and surprising recoveries. This year, we’re seeing many of those same investors tempted to chase all kinds of hot holdings, as now they seem to have no fear. We hope favorable markets continue. But investing is no game of chance. If you were a client of...

DIMENSIONAL’S QUARTERLY MARKET REVIEW (Q4 2020 & TY 2020) It’s a wrap. 2020 market performance numbers are now available for the fourth quarter and the total year. Today, we share Dimensional Fund Advisor’s latest Quarterly Market Review, along with its 2020 Annual Market Review. “The year 2020 proved to be one of the most tumultuous in modern history, marked by a number of developments that were historically unprecedented. But the year also...

We’re not ones to make stock market forecasts – never have been, never will. Still, had we been tempted to lose our resolve last March, we might have presumed we’d see some pretty awful returns for at least the next quarter or two. Wow, would we have been wrong. Our country has not yet moved past the many personal, social, and economic ravages wrought by COVID-19 and related concerns. But as...

If there was a clear message from second quarter markets, it’s that you never know. Even as we saw headlines that “At Least a Fourth of US Economy Goes Idle from Lockdown,” we saw others informing us that “US Stocks Close Out Best Quarter Since 1998.” What can we make of this? In short, Q2 offered a crash course in how critical it is to stay invested in both stocks and bonds,...

You won’t be surprised to see all the red in returns for stocks this past quarter. But take heart at the green for bond returns. When stock markets are climbing upward, bond funds can seem so boring, but you see now how well they are doing their job of providing stability and ballast in your globally diversified portfolio that holds a mix of bond & stock funds (your asset allocation). At SAGEbroadview we continue...

Dimensional Shares a Decade in Review   Where were you on New Year’s Eve, 2009? Now, how about the same in 2019? Only you can answer that question. But we can tell you where the market was across the same period. As Dimensional Fund Advisors reported in its new “Decade in Review”: “From a growth-of-wealth standpoint, $10,000 invested in the stocks in the [MSCI All Country World IMI Index] at the beginning of 2010...

DIMENSIONAL’S QUARTERLY MARKET REVIEW (Q4 2019 & TY 2019) It’s a wrap! 2019 market performance numbers are now available for the fourth quarter and the year. Today, we share Dimensional Fund Advisor’s latest Quarterly Market Review, along with its 2019 Annual Market Review. Fourth quarter 2019 served up another solid reminder: There’s still no telling exactly how breaking news is going to impact upcoming market returns. After all, there was plenty of ongoing, unsettling news to stomach...

Another quarter of contrasts has come and gone, delivering a mixture of modestly positive and negative returns. Despite relatively quiet markets, breaking geopolitical news swarming all around us has been anything but. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 index has continued to log “an incredible decade.” This may leave you wondering how high stock markets can continue to fly. Especially as pundits continue to predict the next recession is due … if not...

Another quarter of contrasts has come and gone, delivering a mixture of modestly positive and negative returns. Despite relatively quiet markets, breaking geopolitical news swarming all around us has been anything but. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 index has continued to log “an incredible decade.” This may leave you wondering how high stock markets can continue to fly. Especially as pundits continue to predict the next recession is due … if not...

CAN YOU DEPEND ON THE MARKETS? IT DEPENDS ON YOUR PERSPECTIVE. Do capital markets deliver dependable returns to investors? Or is it mostly a matter of luck? Yes, to both – depending on your perspective. As you can see in Dimensional Fund Advisors’ current Quarterly Market Review, this quarter’s global market performance progressed in a relatively quiet, orderly fashion – despite plenty of reasons it could have gone otherwise. In that respect,...