Articles (190)

Many investors see yield curve inversions—when short-term bond yields exceed long-term yields—as foreboding. Do they signal a stock market downturn? Data from the US and other major economies show yield curve inversions have not historically predicted equity market ...Read More

KEY TAKEAWAYS    Soaring inflation and record market highs may leave investors wondering whether it’s time to adjust their portfolios.    Researchers have examined a wide range of timing strategies based on earnings, dividends, interest rates, ...Read More

On May 4, the US Federal Reserve increased the target federal funds rate1 by 50 basis points as part of what the central bank said will be a series of rate increases to combat soaring inflation in the US. Some investors may worry that rising interest rates will decrease ...Read More

nvestors can be both motivated and well-equipped to see patterns in stock returns. Motivated, because successfully predicting market movements can be lucrative, and well-equipped, because evolution has programmed humans to err on the side of seeing patterns even when they're not ...Read More

Dimensional's veteran funds researcher explains how best to track the premium investors gain from value ...Read More

T. Rowe Price has clearly stated their value proposition to their investors. But what exactly is that value and, more importantly, who is receiving the bulk of that ...Read More

The indexing pioneer quantifies how much another set of trained eyes can mean in net ...Read More

Investors expecting FAANG stocks to continue the extraordinary performance of recent years must be disappointed by their returns in 2022 (see Exhibit 1). Four of the five stocks lagged the broad US market through May 5, with Amazon, Facebook (now known as Meta), and Netflix ...Read More

We are living in a time of extreme uncertainty and the anxiety that comes along with it. Against the backdrop of war, humanitarian crisis, and economic hardship, it’s natural to wonder what effect these world events will have on our long-term investment performance.While ...Read More

In extending its Advisor Alpha research, Vanguard digs deeper into performance expectations of robos versus human ...Read More

Many investors end up holding large concentrated positions in single stocks, whether as the result of employee compensation or a handsomely rewarded stock selection. Familiarity with these stocks or a successful track record while holding them may discourage investors from ...Read More

Elon Musk, Cathie Wood and Marc Andreessen claim passive investing limits opportunities for corporate ...Read More

Staying invested, whether through small-cap or blue-chip stocks, correlates to greater portfolio ...Read More

As part of IFA's series breaking down active fund managers' performance, we put Goldman Sachs under our ...Read More

The latest report digs deeper than its sister SPIVA Scorecard to focus on how consistently active managers perform over ...Read More

This study compares the long-term performance of Invesco's family of actively managed ...Read More

Manager selection is a process that requires analyzing noisy performance data, so it should lean heavily on the notion of statistical ...Read More

With inflation at its highest level in decades and the US Federal Reserve raising interest rates, investors may be wondering whether they should devote more of their portfolios to dividend-paying ...Read More

Here is a review of the most recent quarter's results for IFA Index Portfolios and representative ...Read More

The CNBC stock picker has become a vocal advocate for passive mutual funds. Here's his reasoning behind such a ...Read More

The latest update of this research series analyzes fund performances by investment behavior versus actual ...Read More

The latest research in S&P's long-running study takes a fresh look at how active managers stack ...Read More

The stock market is off to a rocky start in 2022. Some shares have fallen more than others: Exhibit 1 shows how small caps have lagged large caps in 2021 and into 2022, at least when measured using Russell ...Read More

The value of our advice is only as good as the data provided. Here's a tip sheet for a more efficient ...Read More

Vanguard's known as a low-cost indexing pioneer. But how has it done as an active ...Read More

CPA John Dahlin answers a few key questions about possible ways to cut your tax filing ...Read More

Cash is a safe-haven for savers. But it can turn into a real drag in trying to reach your long-term investment goals. ...Read More

On the heels of economic sanctions, DFA is pulling out of any remaining positions in Russian ...Read More

Here are a few lessons about investing we've learned from past military conflicts and periods of political ...Read More

Russia's invasion of Ukraine is an important reminder that geopolitical risk is a part of investing in global markets. Dimensional's systematic active approach is designed to adjust to new information in real time, including information about geopolitical events and their ...Read More

By nature, markets are volatile. Here are a few savvy ways to make investing a more palatable road to follow over a ...Read More

Our systematic process for analyzing which funds are best located in different types of brokerage and IRA ...Read More

Financial advice is a prescription that guides investors to make decisions that best serve their ...Read More

Before reading this year's predictions, discerning investors might want to review forecasts by active managers during the past ...Read More

Research by Dimensional Fund Advisors looks at key drivers of long-term returns in fixed-income ...Read More

In today's sophisticated marketplace, IFA examines what constitutes an index fund and what ...Read More

Investors may wonder whether stock returns will suffer if inflation keeps rising. Here’s some good news: Inflation isn’t necessarily bad news for stocks.A look at equity performance in the past three decades does not show any reliable connection between periods of ...Read More

Our app is designed to access account details as well as articles, videos and charts once found on IFA's ...Read More

The retirement picture in America isn't pretty. New legislation, though, seeks to reform the 401(k) and IRA savings ...Read More

Here is a review of the most recent quarter's results for IFA Index Portfolios and representative ...Read More

Here is a comprehensive listing of research done by one of the prominent academics in the field of financial ...Read More

Here's a comprehensive listing for a new year with commentary on key changes and ...Read More

Here are four strategic ways to maximize a diversified portfolio's expected returns using bond ...Read More

Based on research confirming an "investment" factor, DFA has refined its stock selection process to take ...Read More

Here's why a lone Vanguard S&P 500 fund can fall short for investors looking to build wealth over a ...Read More

Here's a review of our process to maximize tax efficiencies in client portfolios at quarter's ...Read More

S&P research shows that higher-tiered share classes don't provide a significant advantage for active ...Read More

Business owners and entrepreneurs do have alternatives to help build their retirement nest eggs at ...Read More

A study by Wharton researchers compares 17-plus years of returns for the TV star's AAP portfolio, which spotlights many of his top ...Read More

During any downtime in this holiday season, here are some quick ways to sharpen your finances heading into a new ...Read More

Here is some advice from lawyers about how to plan ahead for a successful transfer of ...Read More

Here are the contribution limits in 2022 for some key retirement savings ...Read More

Nearly 30 years after its formal discovery, the appeal of stock price momentum remains in the eye of the beholder. Some see its outsize historical premium, 9.1% per year in the US, as validation for investing in momentum-focused ...Read More

Investors often look for signals indicating whether it’s a good time to get into or out of the market. Market valuation measures, such as the cyclically adjusted price-to-earnings (CAPE) ratio1 of Campbell and Shiller (1998), are frequently portrayed as indicators to ...Read More

SALT caps make tax-free bonds a timely conversation. But higher returns court a certain amount of ...Read More

I’ve been working in sitcom writing rooms for the past 25 years, and one of the most discussed, and least understood, topics is investing. To be in one of those rooms means that you have already beaten odds. In success, the financial benefits can be fast and ...Read More

The evidence supporting global portfolio diversification mounted in 2021's third ...Read More

How to avoid the unintended costs of focusing on momentum as a factor of expected ...Read More

There is pervasive historical evidence of value stocks outperforming growth stocks. Data covering nearly a century in the US, and nearly five decades of market data outside the US, support the notion that value stocks—those with lower relative prices—have higher ...Read More