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,...

April 18, 2019 IDEAL VS. IMAGINARY INVESTING “There’s one robust new idea in finance that has investment implications maybe every 10 or 15 years, but there’s a marketing idea every week.” – Nobel Laureate Eugene Fama Nobel laureate and Dimensional Fund Advisors board member Eugene Fama has offered an abundance of quotable insights during the 50+ years he’s been studying financial economics. The quote above is one of our favorites – and as fitting as ever as...

April 18, 2019 Ideal vs. Imaginary Investing “There’s one robust new idea in finance that has investment implications maybe every 10 or 15 years, but there’s a marketing idea every week.” – Nobel Laureate Eugene Fama Nobel laureate and Dimensional Fund Advisors board member Eugene Fama has offered an abundance of quotable insights during the 50+ years he’s been studying financial economics. The quote above is one of our favorites – and as fitting as ever as...

How Does The Dow Relate To Your Portfolio? March 2019 While the Dow and other indices are frequently interpreted as indicators of broader stock market performance, the stocks composing these indices may not be representative of an investor’s total portfolio. For context, the MSCI All Country World Investable Market Index (MSCI ACWI IMI) covers just over 8,700 large, mid, and small cap stocks in 23 developed and 24 emerging markets countries with...

Déjà Vu All Over Again February 2019 Investment fads come and go. Letting short-term trends influence your approach may be counterproductive to pursuing your financial goals. Copyright ©2019 Dimensional Fund Advisors from Dimensional Perspectives Blog Investment fads are nothing new. When selecting strategies for their portfolios, investors are often tempted to seek out the latest and greatest investment opportunities. Over the years, these approaches have sought to capitalize on developments such as the perceived relative strength of particular geographic...

Today we’re taking you to visit Dimensional’s blog, “Dimensional Perspectives,” and specifically their article titled “Key Questions for Long-Term Investors.” Key Questions for Long-Term Investors “Whether you’ve been investing for decades or are just getting started, at some point on your investment journey you’ll likely ask yourself some of the questions below. Trying to answer these questions may be intimidating, but know that you’re not alone. Your financial advisor is here to help. While...

2018 Market Review January 2019 After logging strong returns in 2017, global equity markets delivered negative returns in US dollar terms in 2018. Common news stories in 2018 included reports on global economic growth, corporate earnings, record low unemployment in the US, the implementation of Brexit, US trade wars with China and other countries, and a flattening US Treasury yield curve. Global equity markets delivered positive returns through September, followed by a...

  2018 Market Performance It’s a wrap! 2018 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 2018 Annual Market Review. We hope you’ll use these summaries to reinforce the importance of staying with your own financial goals and risk tolerances, no matter how terrible one year of returns may seem. Please pay special attention to “Why Should You...

Why Should You Diversify? December, 2018 When international stock returns lag, investors may feel tempted to double down on their home market. Historical data suggests the long-term benefits of diversifying globally. For more, visit this week's Dimensional Post Why Should You Diversify or click here for a PDF version. Click image to enlarge SAGE Serendipity: The "Best of 2018" lists are coming out.  Here we've curated a list of lists; a place to start and maybe pick-up...

Midterm Elections—What Do They Mean for Markets? NOVEMBER 01, 2018 For the upcoming midterms, commentators are likely to offer opinions on who will win and what impact the vote will have on markets. Looking at returns since 1926 shows that months when midterm elections took place did not tend to have returns that different than any other month. OPEN PDF: Midterm Elections—What Do They Mean for Markets SAGE Serendipity: If you don't need the latest...