Articles (203)

It can be challenging to start a conversation about investing. That’s why I encourage having a conversation before the investing conversation—what I like to think of as a “preamble.” Connecting life principles to investment principles is a powerful way to ...Read More

'Shock and awe' reactions by stock investors when bond yields flip-flop just don't add up, according to leading ...Read More

CPA John Dahlin recommends following these steps to determine if a Backdoor Roth might be ...Read More

His decorated career includes in 1990 being awarded the Nobel Prize in ...Read More

Using regression analysis, we analyze the sauce behind DFA's stew for ...Read More

Nearly a century of US stock market returns suggests that making investment decisions based on control of the chambers of Congress is unlikely to lead to better investment outcomes. From 1926 to 2022, stocks trended higher regardless of whether Democrats or Republicans ...Read More

The 'Oracle of Omaha' has led Berkshire Hathaway to prominence. But has the past 20 years been as ...Read More

One of the more vocal arguments against value investing stems from a belief that we’re in a “new normal” environment where innovative or high-tech companies have a leg up on “old guard” industries, such as energy or financials. FAANG stocks have ...Read More

A common question is why IFA' prefers funds from Dimensional Fund Advisors. The answer is fairly ...Read More

IFA is often in the position of accommodating regular cash withdrawal by its clients. The question is how to best generate cash for ...Read More

In 1932, Alfred Cowles established the Cowles Commission for Research in Economics with the motto, "Science is ...Read More

A recent news item reported that Frederick Smith intended to step down as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of FedEx Corp., the largest air freight firm in the world. As a Yale undergraduate in 1965, Smith wrote a term paper for his economics course outlining an overnight air ...Read More

Unfortunately, reports of indexing surpassing actively managed fund assets are seriously ...Read More

A sound evidence-based investment process needs to consider how market volatility can be used to reduce your ...Read More

The debate between active and passive managers has a long history. Here is a recap of one of our ...Read More

How do funds using such an alternative benchmarking methodology fare when put under IFA's research ...Read More

It's only natural to worry that daily stock slides will reoccur. Here's a look at how markets have actually ...Read More

Value trumped growth as stocks suffered downward pressure. Still, some positive signs ...Read More

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

Pundits like to speculate about economic calamity. A more strategic view, though, paints a more accurate ...Read More

Just two years removed from the last US recession, negative stock returns and aggressive US Federal Reserve interest rate hikes have many investors concerned we are headed for another big “R”—if we’re not already there. But recessions are always ...Read More

A lot of people are stressed out about a lot of things right now. Markets are down. Prices are up for many of the things you need to buy. Interest rates are rising and make it a confusing time to consider buying or selling a house, or making other ...Read More

Once in the dear dead days beyond recall, an out-of-town visitor was being shown the wonders of the New York financial district. When the party arrived at the Battery, one of his guides indicated some handsome ships riding at anchor. He said, “Look, those are the ...Read More

The giant fund company's alpha-producing abilities and returns are put under our research microscope. ...Read More

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