Articles (163)

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

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

The rising number of workers mired in student loan debt is spurring 401(k) sponsors to offer new ...Read More

Imagine you’re at a village fête, and you decide to have a go at guessing the number of jelly beans in a jar. How confident would you be of guessing exactly right or, say within one or two of the actual number? Chances are, it’s a bit of a long ...Read More

It's up to you to claim any leftover funds. The good news: it's likely still legally yours to ...Read More

Most of us remember the days at school when we had our routine fire drill. The fire alarms around the school would ring, we would all calmly and collectedly stand up, form a line, and walk out of the school to a safe place. While I am sure many ...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

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

The track record of this family's active managers are put under IFA's research ...Read More

 In the final quarter of 2019, investors were reminded of the importance of understanding how markets really ...Read More

The largest U.S. pension system has fired most of its active equity managers, joining a growing legion of 'mom-and-pop' ...Read More

Pitches for UITs might seem enticing. But little bit of due diligence can reveal a more critical ...Read More

In the field of finance, standard deviation represents the risk associated with a security or the risk of a portfolio of ...Read More

To analyze client portfolios, we use a specific set of metrics to help determine how funds are working together.  ...Read More

Getting a loan against your securities might seem straightforward. But take a closer look at the fine ...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

To many investors, Atlanta-based Invesco Ltd. is an investment management conglomerate with a history of acquisitions and multi-asset platforms that spans the globe. With more than $1.18 trillion in assets under management, it's involved in everything from mutual ...Read More

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

Academics are a hallmark of the investment strategy that we recommend to our clients. While there are plenty of sales pitches professing some sort of new or “hot” idea on how to get rich quick, we rely on peer-reviewed academic research to guide the decisions that we ...Read More

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

In the past, we've chronicled cases of misdeeds by brokers working with investors not only in the U.S., but also around the world. A development that made headlines recently involved a particularly well-known name in global banking and financial services: UBS.  According to ...Read More

Contribution limits for 2020 for various retirement accounts are rising. Here's a breakdown of how much you can now save in a tax-friendly ...Read More

As many of our readers know, we don’t think too highly of the active mutual fund industry. Not because we have a personal vendetta against them, but because their pursuit of attempting to outperform the market using other investors’ money has only enriched themselves ...Read More

A select group of market factors are known to drive stock and bond returns. Some offer less advantages to fund investors, such as momentum, which can prove difficult to capture without running up trading and other transactional costs.  Research by professors Eugene Fama and ...Read More

The latest SPIVA (S&P Indices Versus Active) scorecard is out tracking active fund managers in the past 15 ...Read More

As part of IFA's ongoing series crunching data of active fund managers, we put under our microscope mutual funds from Eaton ...Read More

As part of our fiduciary mandate, the fund families we choose hold corporate managers to high ethical ...Read More

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

IFA takes a look at how mergers and acquisitions impact stock valuation metrics for long-term investors.                                 ...Read More

When it comes to investing, we can identify many risks investors assume, either knowingly or not. At Index Fund Advisors, we see it as our core mission to get investors to take the risks that are worth taking (e.g. market, size, value, term and default) and avoid the ones that ...Read More

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

There’s a misconception in the markets: value stocks have lost their vigor. Here's a big picture view of what's going ...Read More

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

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

A new study by Wharton researchers compares 16-plus years of returns for the TV star's AAP portfolio, which spotlights many of his top ...Read More

The third quarter produced a script worthy of the best tear-jerking romantic novel. The world's two biggest economies couldn't resolve an ongoing trade tiff, angst about Brexit and the European Union continued and sliding manufacturing data in the U.S. helped to raise fears of a ...Read More

Passive domestic funds assets have pulled even. Morningstar sees such funds overtaking their active ...Read More

Study by Boston College ties legal complaints about retirement plans to a growing demand for index ...Read More

Financial literacy program focuses on helping investors learn in an objective, pitch-free ...Read More

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

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

Comparing market returns across the 2000s and 2010s reinforces the benefits of diversification and pursuing known drivers of higher expected ...Read More

What has been the value of sticking to a disciplined investment plan, regardless of short-term market ...Read More

How to use momentum to your advantage, and to avoid any nast ...Read More

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

As we have pointed out on many occasions, both stock picking and hiring an active manager to pick stocks on your behalf are mug’s games. While some investors diligently study individual stocks and other investors handsomely pay active managers to deliver alpha (an ...Read More

It is important for investors to rebalance their portfolio to achieve risk control and maintain long-term investing ...Read More

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

Here are some things to keep in-mind when designating a primary and contingent beneficiary in the event both of you perish ...Read More

An additional way that a passive advisor can add value is not just asset allocation but asset location. Specifically, for a client that has a mixture of taxable accounts, traditional IRAs, and Roth IRAs, it is often helpful to construct a single portfolio consisting of multiple ...Read More

At Index Fund Advisors, we have repeatedly cautioned investors to avoid getting ensnared in the never-ending pursuit of alpha by either picking stocks or hiring an active manager to pick stocks on their behalf. Nevertheless, by engaging in a few prudent practices such as ...Read More

Initial public offerings often attract media and investor attention. New Dimensional research reveals some of the challenges IPO investors ...Read More

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

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

After logging strong returns in the opening three months of 2019, global equity markets slowed in the second ...Read More

As a fiduciary for its clients, IFA only receives compensation from its clients and is therefore unbiased in its choice of ...Read More

Here's why our investment committee remains intrigued by the unique portfolio designs of Dimensional Fund ...Read More

Stocks, Bonds, Bills, and Inflation (SBBI) is often characterized as the Almanac of returns data. This magisterial work originally produced by Roger Ibbotson and Rex Sinquefield is considered the go to place when information is needed on the expected returns and risks of a ...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