Podcasts (195)

Mark Hebner explains market volatility using the Hebner model.

Warren Buffett has long been a big proponent of index funds. But so has his long-time sidekick Charlie Munger. Recently, Mr. Munger gave a two-hour address at the Daily Journal Annual Meeting.

Contrary to popular belief, great companies don't make great investments. In fact, distressed companies have earned higher returns than those of companies with considerable goodwill at the time of purchase.

Over the years much has been written about the endowments of prestigious US universities. One endowment in particular, the Yale endowment run by David Swensen, has been hailed as a big success.

Mark Hebner summarizes the market's performance during the first quarter of 2019 and demonstrates the difficulty in picking the next asset class winner.

The best known, on-going research into the performance of actively managed funds is conducted by S&P Dow Jones Indices. Every six months it brings out what it calls a SPIVA scorecard for funds in different parts of the world.

Here at Index Fund Advisors, we believe there is great value in following our advice. This confidence is backed by our own clients’ past results.

Research into couples and their personal finances consistently shows that it's mainly men who make investment decisions.

John Bogle once described the practice of stock picking as “looking for a needle in a haystack.”

Some investors like to copy the strategy of famous fund managers. Others try to emulate the endowments of top American Universities.

In Part Five of Venkat's interview with Mark Hebner, they look at why it's so important to invest and relax

In Part Four of Venkat's interview with Mark Hebner, they break down the uniqueness of IFA and the importance of having an investment advisor.

In Part Three of Venkat's interview with Mark Hebner, they discuss the Behavior Gap.

In Part Two of Venkat's interview with Mark Hebner, they talk about the uniqueness of Dimensional Fund Advisors.

Mark Hebner summarizes the market's performance during the fourth quarter of 2018 and demonstrates the difficulty in picking the next asset class winner.

Vanguard founder and indexing pioneer John Bogle passed away yesterday. We wanted to take the time to look back at his impact on the investment world.

In Part One of this multi-part interview, Venkat Yarlagadda sits down with Mark Hebner and asks him why he started IFA.

Every now and again investors get excited about a new technological innovation which appears to be groundbreaking.

People leaving work today will typically spend 20 years or more in retirement. That's a very long time to last without a regular salary. Watch the full documentary of Investing: The Evidence.

Sometimes referred to as smart, strategic, or alternative beater; factor investing is based on the multi-factor model developed by two American academics: Eugene Fama and Kenneth French.

One of the biggest developments in the investment industry in recent years has been the growing popularity of passive investing.

We all need to invest. Nobody knows what the future holds, but a typical lifetime includes some pretty expensive events.

It's widely known, at least in the investing industry, that active managers have had a difficult few years.

Mark Hebner talks about the wide range of year-to-date returns among the 15 asset classes used in IFA Index Portfolios.

Mark Hebner introduces the new Investing Kit.

Mark Hebner summarizes the market's performance during the third quarter of 2018 & demonstrates the difficulty in picking the next asset class winner.

With the recent market volatility, Mark Hebner wanted to give his thoughts on the instability.

An annual study called the Quantitative Analysis of Investor Behavior by Dalbar attempts to measure the impact of investor decisions.

Investment committees or plan sponsors tend to hire investment managers with a history of above benchmark returns.

One of the problem investors face is what behavioral psychologists call Recency Bias. In other words, they focus on the very recent past and project that indefinitely into the future.

The growing popularity of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is raising red flags not just with investment professionals.

Of all the behavioral biases people are prone to, one of the most prevalent is optimism bias. We typically assume things will turn out better than they do.  

Generally speaking, it's good to have a positive outlook on life and to be reasonable optimistic about the future.

Broadly speaking, there are three different types of fund you can invest in: active funds, passive funds and funds that give you exposure to certain risk factors.

Mark Hebner summarizes the market's performance during the second quarter of 2018 and demonstrates the difficulty in picking the next asset class winner.

Some people treat their financial advisor like an order taker. They go to them with preset ideas about what they want, and the advisor's role as they see it is to carry out their instructions.

Pascal's Triangle is a number pattern steeped in history. The triangle has been studied for millennia.

It was in 1876 in a Victorian workshop rather like this one that Sir Francis Galton constructed a contraption called the Galton Board.

There's no point in accumulating wealth just for the sake of it. What matters is what we do with our wealth.

You may not have heard of him, but Sir Francis Galton was a Victorian genius.

There's been plenty of publicity in recent months about cryptocurrencies. The reason why is they soared in value in 2017.

Diversification is sometimes referred to as the one free lunch in investing.

When we talk about evidence-based investing, what we are really referring to is academic evidence.

It's one of the big philosophical questions, "Can money buy you happiness?"

Mark Hebner breaks down an exciting new chart that combines his Hebner Model with the Galton Board.

Mark Hebner talks about market declines and volatility with the rocky road in the markets lately.

Mark Hebner summarizes the market's performance during the first quarter of 2018 and demonstrates the difficulty in picking the next asset class winner.

The fund industry tries to make paying for active management seem like a no-brainer.

In Part 5 of this five-part series, the final question is…What should I be doing?

It's tough, if not impossible, to know which market segments will outperform from period to period.