We were pleased to have Dimensional’s Vice President Apollo Lupescu, PhD at a pair of events we held in Houston and St. Louis. Apollo spoke about the historical context of modern investing, the essence of an evidence-based approach, and the future of our community.

What does history tell us about how the financial future might look? Be on the look-out for a recorded version of Apollo’s St. Louis presentation, which we’ll be sharing soon via our blog/newsletter.

Dimensional Fund Advisors is a hugely important alliance for Hill Investment Group, and yet this is the first event we’ve done with a member of their team conversing directly with HIG’s clients and friends. Despite having a low profile, Dimensional currently manages $518 USD billion across eight countries (as of June 30, 2017). How have they done it? Through sharing ideas that make sense and by creating solutions that reflect their beliefs (and ours).

We also respect Dimensional as a thought leader, regularly publishing content that helps change the way investors think. We like one of their recent pieces, “Lessons for the Next Crisis,” which points out we’re nearing the ten-year anniversary of the beginning of the Great Recession. That’s not exactly an event to celebrate, but it’s important to apply what we learned from it the next time we’re in a bear market, once again feeling like there’s no end in sight. As Dimensional says (and buttresses with evidence-based illustrations):

“Capital markets have rewarded investors over the long term, and having an investment approach you can stick with—especially during tough times—may better prepare you for the next crisis and its aftermath.”

Well said, Dimensional.

We love Morgan Housel’s writing. Just last month we shared one of his gems and we’re back again with more because we love how he thinks and writes, plain and simple.

In Housel’s excellent post, “Getting Rich vs. Staying Rich,” he compares the real-life experiences of two wealthy investors during and after the crash of 1929. One immediately lost everything. The other shorted the market and immediately became the equivalent of a billionaire. What do they have in common? Hint: It’s got something to do with what can happen to stock speculators in a New York minute. Click here to get the full story! 

I’m obsessed with tennis, but especially Wimbledon. In 2015, I fulfilled a lifelong dream to attend the event, which I consider to be the greatest tennis tournament in the world. See that white-clad speck on the left? That’s Roger Federer. You can click to enlarge the image, but he’ll still be pretty tiny.

From my perfect vantage point, it was incredibly exciting to watch Federer play in person. It was also fun to watch him from afar this year, as he added another Wimbledon Cup to the pile. Nearing age 36, he’s clearly still achieving “firsts” and “bests” that most of his 20-something competitors can only dream of.

How’s he doing that? Federer seems to be a fellow advocate for our Take the Long View® approach. Consider this Wall Street Journal commentary published just prior to his Wimbledon victory:

“Federer … will play for a grand slam title after doing something none of his top competitors here did ahead of the feature event on the tennis calendar—he took a break from competitive tennis.”

In other words, he won over the long haul by knowing when it was time to compete, and when he’d be better off staying patiently put. In his own words:

“Once you hit 30 you’ve got to look back and think, ‘How much tennis have I played? How much rest did I give my body over the years or how much training have I done? Did I do enough? Did I overdo it or not enough?’ It’s always calibrating the whole thing.”

The WSJ called this a “new playbook” for tennis. New? When it comes to investing, we’ve been running with a similar playbook for years.