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December 6, 2016 in Dimensional, Evidence-Based Investing, Investing
December 2016 Prediction Season Predictions about future price movements come in all shapes and sizes, but most of them tempt the investor into playing a game of outguessing the market. “The close of each calendar year brings with it the holidays as well as a chance to look forward to the year ahead. In the coming weeks, investors are likely to be bombarded with predictions about what the future, and specifically the next year,...

October 3, 2016 in Dimensional, Investing
October 2016 Presidential Elections and the Stock Market Over the long run, the market has provided substantial returns regardless of who controlled the executive branch. Making investment decisions based on the outcome of presidential elections is unlikely to result in reliable excess returns for investors. At best, any positive outcome will likely be the result of random luck. At worst, it can lead to costly mistakes. To Read More: OPEN PDF ...

September 3, 2016 in Articles, College Planning, Dimensional, Investing
September 2016 Back to School Higher education may come with a high and increasing price tag, so it makes sense to plan well in advance. With school back in session in most of the country, many parents are likely thinking about how best to prepare for their children’s future college expenses. Now is a good time to sharpen one’s pencil for a few important lessons before heading back into the investing classroom to...

June 22, 2016 in Articles, Dimensional, Evidence-Based Investing, Investing
The MSCI Emerging Markets Index has been negative in 13 of the past 28 calendar years while the S&P 500 Index has only been negative 5 of the past 28 years. Which index had a higher rate of return in this 28 year time period? If you’re catching on to the tricky questions we’ve been posing in our last post and the one before that you might guess that, despite the considerably higher...

June 15, 2016 in Articles, Dimensional, Evidence-Based Investing, Investing
In our last post, we shared the first in a trio of videos illustrating the important insights we can draw from Dimensional Fund Advisors’ Matrix Book of historical returns. When viewed close up, the data points found in the Matrix Book may look like just an endless array of random numbers. But just as random dots of paint can generate a bigger picture when viewed from a distance, so can individual...

May 4, 2016 in Dimensional, Evidence-Based Investing, Fiduciary, Investing
Well, speaking of the devil. Or, in this case, the devilish ways that some financial representatives make investment recommendations that may or may not be in your best interest. It depends on whether they are in a fiduciary relationship with you … or not. No sooner had we wrapped our own post explaining why the term may be as important as it is unfamiliar, Dimensional Fund Advisors published its own handy...

March 29, 2016 in Dimensional, Evidence-Based Investing, Fiduciary, Investing
One of the reasons I read as much as I do is to be inspired by others. There’s nothing I love more than discovering an intriguing new way to frame an old idea, and then sharing what I’ve learned, hoping to inspire others as well. On the flip side, there’s nothing more demoralizing than falsehoods or opinions being spread as facts. They remind me of a shopping channel infomercial. Watch it...

March 7, 2016 in Dimensional, Evidence-Based Investing, Investing
Still Going Global We’ve said it before and we’ll no doubt say it again. In fact, because it’s so important, we dedicated one of last summer’s Investment Basics Series installments to global diversification, “your super power to help you manage that market risk by spreading it around, widely and globally.” In this year’s markets, the message bears repeating so disparate global returns don’t tempt you to concentrate your holdings too close to home....

January 26, 2016 in Dimensional, Evidence-Based Investing, Investing, Year In Review
To counteract some of the stress that the markets have been putting us through lately, we’d like to share a short, upbeat tale with you about risks and expected rewards. "Once upon a time in 1981, there were two young men in Brooklyn who created a fund management company based on a set of ideas that were “bigger than the firm itself.” Its funds would be new and groundbreaking, but they...