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- 12-Steps:
- Step 1
Step 1: Active Investors
Definitions
Problems
- 1.3.1 Active Investors are Everywhere
- 1.3.2 Active Investors are Gamblers
- 1.3.3 Active Investors Lose
- 1.3.4 The Poor Accounting of Active Investors
- 1.3.5 Stock Market Prices are Random
- 1.3.6 Stock Markets are Efficient
- 1.3.7 When Risk Capacity is not Matched with Risk Exposure
- 1.3.8 The High Cost of Turnover
- 1.3.9 The Emotional Stress of Active Investing
- 1.3.10 More than 1,500 Investors can be Wrong
- Step 2
Step 2: Nobel Laureates
Definitions
Solutions
- Alfred Nobel
- Blaise Pascal
- Edmund Halley
- Adam Smith
- Louis Bachelier
- Alfred Cowles
- Harry Markowitz
- James Tobin
- Frank Modigliani
- Merton Miller
- William Sharpe
- Paul Samuelson
- Eugene Fama
- Michael Jensen
- Rex Sinquefield
- Friedrich von Hayek
- Burton Malkiel
- John Bogle
- David Booth
- Kenneth French
- Who Do You Trust?
- Market Forces: May They Be With You
- Step 3
Step 3: Stock Pickers
Definitions
Problems
- 3.3.1 Why Stock Pickers Fail
- 3.3.2 The Stock Picker’s Graveyard
- 3.3.3 Incubator Funds
- 3.3.4 Studies and Observations that Show the Daunting Odds of Stock Picking
- 3.3.5 Stock Pickers and Coin Flippers
- 3.3.6 Stock Pickers are Focused on Short Term
- 3.3.7 Stock Pickers are Style Drifters
- 3.3.8 Stock Pickers are Looking for a Needle in a Haystack
- 3.3.9 Stock Pickers Play a Zero Sum Game
- 3.3.10 Stock Pickers in International Markets
- 3.3.11 Stock Pickers in Small-Cap Markets
- 3.3.12 Stock Pickers Pay More Taxes
- 3.3.13 Stock Picking Gurus and Their Real Records
- 3.3.14 Stock Pickers Don’t Want You to Know the Truth
- Step 4
Step 4: Time Pickers
Problems
- Step 5
Step 5: Manager Pickers
Problems
- Step 6
- Step 7
Step 7: Silent Partners
- Step 8
Step 8: Riskese
Definitions
- 8.2.1 Standard Deviation
- 8.2.2 Probability Distributions and Histograms
- 8.2.3 Mean Reversion
- 8.2.4 Expected Return
- 8.2.5 Rolling Period Returns
- 8.2.6 Risk
- 8.2.7 The Dimensions of Stock Return
- Market Risk Factor
- Size Risk Factor
- Value Risk Factor
- Term Risk Factor
- Default Risk Factor
- 8.2.8 Implications of the Fama/French Three-Factor Model
- 8.2.9 Time Diversification of Risk
Problems
- Step 9
Step 9: History
- Step 10
Step 10: Risk Capacity
Definitions
Problems
- Step 11
Step 11: Risk Exposure
Definitions
Problems
Solutions
- 11.4.2 Index Mutual Funds Earn more Return and Eliminate more Risk
- 11.4.3 The Most Efficient Funds on the Market
- Small Cap Strategy
- U.S. Small-Cap Strategy
- U.S. Micro-Cap Strategy
- Value Strategies
- U.S. Small-Cap Value Strategy
- U.S. Large-Cap Value Strategy
- Real Estate Securities Strategy
- U.S. Large Company Strategy
- Developed International Markets
- Emerging Markets
- Fixed Income
- 11.4.4 Are Commodities Worth the Risk?
- 11.4.5 Matching People with Portfolios
- Step 12
Step 12: Invest and Relax
Definitions
- 12.2.1 Registered Investment Advisers
- 12.2.2 Dimensional Fund Advisors
- 12.2.3 Rebalancing Portfolios
- 12.2.4 Rebalancing Formula
- 12.2.5 Tax Loss Harvesting
- 12.2.5a Mutual Fund Distributions
- 12.2.5b Cash Withdrawal Considerations
- 12.2.6 Financial Advice
- Estate Planning
- Insurance
- Accounting and Tax Advice
- Investment Advisors
- Life Planning
- The Glide Path of Life and Your IFA Index Portfolio
- Retirement Planner
Problems
- 12.3.1 Active Investors Procrastinate
- 12.3.2 Active Investors "Go It Alone"
- 12.3.3 The Media Wants Investors to Worry
- Asset Allocation
- Minimization of Investment Costs
- Minimization of Taxes
- Reliable Investment Performance
- A Simple and Understandable Investment Strategy
- An Easier Way to Track Investment Performance
- Increased Leverage and Compounding
of Investment Wealth - Invest like Institutional Investors
Step 7: Silent Partners
Recognize the partners in your returns
7.4
Solutions
7.4.1
Tax-Managed Index Funds
A tax efficient or tax-managed mutual fund means that the published return and the after-tax return should be similar since there is minimal taxable distributions from the fund. Index funds can be tax-managed, in addition to the natural advantages of low turnover in the index fund. Managers of tax-managed index funds employ tax-managed trading strategies such as tax loss harvesting of stocks that large losses, while most managers of actively manage funds have high turnover of their stocks and manage the fund as if taxes were not important to their performance. Since few investors adjust their returns by the taxes they pay on the fund, the active managers prefer not to worry about taxes. However, they can have a significant impact on your returns.
The charts below shows comparison between IFA Index Portfolios and IFA Index Portfolio for Taxable Accounts.
The names in the table below are links to fact sheets about each of these Tax-Managed funds.
| DFA Tax Managed Funds Prospectus | Tax-Managed US Targeted Value | Tax-Managed US Small Cap |
| Tax-Managed US Market Wide Value | Tax-Managed DFA International Value | Tax-Managed US Equity |
7.4.2
Reduce Taxes and Turnover Costs with Index Funds
DFA offers
five tax-managed index fundsand their research
demonstrates that the increase in after-tax return associated with
these funds can vary from 1 to 1.5% per year. DFA has run simulations
with its tax-managed U.S. Market Wide Value Fund which show that if
the fund dropped 20% from its value, it could sell nearly 40% of its
assets without realizing any net capital gains.
Please remember that the financial services industry wants
you to trade a lot because trading is the primary source of
their income. We estimate about
$645 million, or about 5 cents/share
for buyers and sellers per day in the U.S. for commissions,
bid ask spread costs, market makers, the exchanges, etc. So
it is easy to understand why trading
has also been documented to be detrimental to YOUR income. |
Summary
There are many
silent partners eating a piece of investment returns. The best solution
to this problem is to buy and hold a diversified portfolio of index
funds, including tax managed funds in taxable accounts. For an example,
see Portfolio
90, for Taxable Accounts.
Review Questions
Please answer the following questions before moving on to the next Step:
1. The only uncontrollable partner in investing is:
a) income tax.
b) inflation.
c) commissions.
d) margin account interest.
2. What is the difference between "realized" and "unrealized" gains?
a) taxable vs non-taxable
b) old money vs new money
c) fund based vs. investor based
d) none of the above
3. What are the advantages of low portfolio turnover?
a) lower taxes
b) fewer trading costs
c) maximum capital gain
d) all of the above
- 12-Steps:
- Step 1
Step 1: Active Investors
Definitions
Problems
- 1.3.1 Active Investors are Everywhere
- 1.3.2 Active Investors are Gamblers
- 1.3.3 Active Investors Lose
- 1.3.4 The Poor Accounting of Active Investors
- 1.3.5 Stock Market Prices are Random
- 1.3.6 Stock Markets are Efficient
- 1.3.7 When Risk Capacity is not Matched with Risk Exposure
- 1.3.8 The High Cost of Turnover
- 1.3.9 The Emotional Stress of Active Investing
- 1.3.10 More than 1,500 Investors can be Wrong
- Step 2
Step 2: Nobel Laureates
Definitions
Solutions
- Alfred Nobel
- Blaise Pascal
- Edmund Halley
- Adam Smith
- Louis Bachelier
- Alfred Cowles
- Harry Markowitz
- James Tobin
- Frank Modigliani
- Merton Miller
- William Sharpe
- Paul Samuelson
- Eugene Fama
- Michael Jensen
- Rex Sinquefield
- Friedrich von Hayek
- Burton Malkiel
- John Bogle
- David Booth
- Kenneth French
- Who Do You Trust?
- Market Forces: May They Be With You
- Step 3
Step 3: Stock Pickers
Definitions
Problems
- 3.3.1 Why Stock Pickers Fail
- 3.3.2 The Stock Picker’s Graveyard
- 3.3.3 Incubator Funds
- 3.3.4 Studies and Observations that Show the Daunting Odds of Stock Picking
- 3.3.5 Stock Pickers and Coin Flippers
- 3.3.6 Stock Pickers are Focused on Short Term
- 3.3.7 Stock Pickers are Style Drifters
- 3.3.8 Stock Pickers are Looking for a Needle in a Haystack
- 3.3.9 Stock Pickers Play a Zero Sum Game
- 3.3.10 Stock Pickers in International Markets
- 3.3.11 Stock Pickers in Small-Cap Markets
- 3.3.12 Stock Pickers Pay More Taxes
- 3.3.13 Stock Picking Gurus and Their Real Records
- 3.3.14 Stock Pickers Don’t Want You to Know the Truth
- Step 4
Step 4: Time Pickers
Problems
- Step 5
Step 5: Manager Pickers
Problems
- Step 6
- Step 7
Step 7: Silent Partners
- Step 8
Step 8: Riskese
Definitions
- 8.2.1 Standard Deviation
- 8.2.2 Probability Distributions and Histograms
- 8.2.3 Mean Reversion
- 8.2.4 Expected Return
- 8.2.5 Rolling Period Returns
- 8.2.6 Risk
- 8.2.7 The Dimensions of Stock Return
- Market Risk Factor
- Size Risk Factor
- Value Risk Factor
- Term Risk Factor
- Default Risk Factor
- 8.2.8 Implications of the Fama/French Three-Factor Model
- 8.2.9 Time Diversification of Risk
Problems
- Step 9
Step 9: History
- Step 10
Step 10: Risk Capacity
Definitions
Problems
- Step 11
Step 11: Risk Exposure
Definitions
Problems
Solutions
- 11.4.2 Index Mutual Funds Earn more Return and Eliminate more Risk
- 11.4.3 The Most Efficient Funds on the Market
- Small Cap Strategy
- U.S. Small-Cap Strategy
- U.S. Micro-Cap Strategy
- Value Strategies
- U.S. Small-Cap Value Strategy
- U.S. Large-Cap Value Strategy
- Real Estate Securities Strategy
- U.S. Large Company Strategy
- Developed International Markets
- Emerging Markets
- Fixed Income
- 11.4.4 Are Commodities Worth the Risk?
- 11.4.5 Matching People with Portfolios
- Step 12
Step 12: Invest and Relax
Definitions
- 12.2.1 Registered Investment Advisers
- 12.2.2 Dimensional Fund Advisors
- 12.2.3 Rebalancing Portfolios
- 12.2.4 Rebalancing Formula
- 12.2.5 Tax Loss Harvesting
- 12.2.5a Mutual Fund Distributions
- 12.2.5b Cash Withdrawal Considerations
- 12.2.6 Financial Advice
- Estate Planning
- Insurance
- Accounting and Tax Advice
- Investment Advisors
- Life Planning
- The Glide Path of Life and Your IFA Index Portfolio
- Retirement Planner
Problems
- 12.3.1 Active Investors Procrastinate
- 12.3.2 Active Investors "Go It Alone"
- 12.3.3 The Media Wants Investors to Worry
- Asset Allocation
- Minimization of Investment Costs
- Minimization of Taxes
- Reliable Investment Performance
- A Simple and Understandable Investment Strategy
- An Easier Way to Track Investment Performance
- Increased Leverage and Compounding
of Investment Wealth - Invest like Institutional Investors
Backtested Performance Info | Terms of Use | IMPORTANT DISCLOSURES
Index Funds Advisors, Inc. — 19200 Von Karman
Ave., Suite 150 — Irvine, CA 92612
Call Toll Free: 888-643-3133 — Local Phone: 949-502-0050 — Fax: 949-502-0048 — Email: 
For several other offices and representative locations, see About Us.