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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...

December 15, 2015 in Evidence-Based Investing, Investing
When Ponce de Leon was searching for the Fountain of Youth, he may have been better off looking closer to home by exploring his own, inner attitudes. So says the evidence-based research on how to improve on our stamina as we age. In fact, we couldn’t help but notice a number of uncanny parallels between our advice about sound investing and the following, evidence-based excerpts from a recent Wall Street Journal...

October 21, 2015 in Evidence-Based Investing, Investing
“How do you pick the funds you use?” This is a frequently asked question, and a fair one. Out of the thousands of contenders, how do we pick the right funds for you and your investment portfolio? Our selection process is a bit like a highly personalized, sudden-death tournament. We still consider the entire mutual fund universe of possibilities, but it’s relatively easy to eliminate the vast majority of them in...

September 21, 2015 in Dimensional, Evidence-Based Investing, Investing
September 2015 Should Investors Sell After a “Correction”? By Weston Wellington Vice President Dimensional Fund Advisors "Stock prices in markets around the world fluctuated dramatically for the week ended August 27. On Monday, August 24, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1,089 points—a larger loss than the “Flash Crash” in May 2010—before rallying to close down 588. Prices fell further on Tuesday before recovering sharply on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Although the S&P 500 and Dow Jones...

September 8, 2015 in Evidence-Based Investing, Investing, Investment Basics Series
While summer isn’t officially over yet, once those big yellow school busses reappear, it’s hard to not consider it a wrap. Likewise, we’re ready to wrap our summer series of investment basics. We hope that doesn’t mean you stop learning how to invest in ways that bring the greatest meaning to you and your family. After all, to circle back to the beginning, that is what investing is really all about. To...

July 7, 2015 in Evidence-Based Investing, Investing, Investment Basics Series
What is an asset class, and why does it matter to you as an investor? Asset classes are categories (classes) by which we organize individual securities (assets) that share significant factors. Significant factors are the ones that help us associate an investment with a particular level of risk and expected return. For example: Significant – Stocks vs. Bonds: Owning (stocks) is inherently riskier than lending (bonds). That’s why stocks and bonds...

June 30, 2015 in Evidence-Based Investing, Investing
If you’re wondering whether there’s something that you, as an investor, should be doing in response to the Greek crisis, here are some points to bear in mind. First, as always, we don’t know what the future holds, for Greece or anywhere else. Even more to the point, we don’t know how the market will react to whatever does happen in Greece. This is why we advise those who already have a...