Featured entries from our Journal

Details Are Part of Our Difference

Embracing the Evidence at Anheuser-Busch – Mid 1980s

529 Best Practices

David Booth on How to Choose an Advisor

The One Minute Audio Clip You Need to Hear

Author: Nell Schiffer

Introducing PJ McDaniel, Director of Hillfolio

PJ McDaniel, Director of Hillfolio

Today’s news is a two-for-one deal, introducing our new team member PJ McDaniel, as well as Hillfolio™, our ground-breaking new digital platform. We’d be hard-pressed to decide which we’re more excited about! Fortunately, we don’t have to. In a perfect pairing, PJ has joined our St. Louis office to oversee the new service.

What’s Hillfolio? We’re glad you asked! Hillfolio will bring evidence-based investing and institutional-level portfolio management to a wider audience, including those who might not otherwise be able to experience the high-touch care we strive to make the hallmark of every investor’s experience here at HIG. We’ll be covering it in more detail in the months ahead; for now, call it one of our most ambitious dreams being realized.

Back to PJ. Although new to the team, his relationship with us began six years ago, when he and Matt Hall both began serving on the Saint Louis Club board. Besides bonding over their status as the group’s “young guys,” they also became co-mentors, each learning from the other’s perspectives.

PJ had spent more than a decade in alternative investment sales. As he consulted with financial advisors across the country, he kept seeing huge variations in the quality of advice investors were receiving … and it bothered him. From Matt, he grew to appreciate the powerful differences a fiduciary mindset and efficient evidence-based investing can bring to people’s investment outcomes.

“I am excited to play a direct role in moving more people into evidence-based investing,” says PJ. “Once you understand that you cannot predict the markets, you get to focus your time on family, friends and other activities that make life enjoyable.”

For Matt, PJ’s experience in launching and growing new businesses was equally inspirational.

Call it fate or just good timing, but as PJ found himself increasingly uncomfortable in his career, we were beginning to seriously advance our Hillfolio platform, to the point where we needed a new team member to become its full-time champion. That’s when we and PJ realized we had a unique opportunity to join forces on our shared dream to put logic, data and evidence to work for every investor.

In addition to his 13-year career as a financial professional and an advisor to advisor firms, PJ holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Regis University. He also was selected to attend a “Semester at Sea” program where he studied international finance. Married in 2008, PJ and his wife have grown “the McDaniel tribe” to a party of five, including their three boys Jack (6), Patrick (4) and Henry (2). His wife is an accomplished evidence-based dietitian, cookbook author, corporate wellness guru, and media spokesperson who you may have seen on St. Louis’ local Fox 2 station.

When he’s not working or parenting, PJ can be found running, swimming or playing a round of golf. During his college years, he was a caddy at an exclusive country club, where he had the opportunity to caddy for Tiger Woods, then-sitting President Clinton, and countless other characters. Reflecting on the experience, PJ says, “Whether you watch a pro player or the leader of the free world duff a chip, it reminds you that we’re all human. The real eye-opener is how people handle or recover from their mistakes.” This is a lesson he hopes to instill in his boys as they grow old enough to take on summer jobs of their own.

Please join us in welcoming PJ to the HIG team … and watch for unfolding Hillfolio news to come!

In Your Cyber-Corner: Are Your Passwords Properly Empowered?

In the good old days, online security used to be more nicety than necessity. For years, I had one 8-digit random password to serve every login need. With developments in hacking technology, the standards for passwords have changed, and a one-size-fits-all password no longer makes the cut. In this piece we’ll challenge our old beliefs about passwords and introduce you to five new powerful password procedures to help you stay secure.

  1. Make it unique. Each of your online accounts should have a unique password. Otherwise, if a cyberthief breaches one account, they’ve effectively breached them all. Don’t make it easy for them.
  1. Stay sane with a password manager. Unless you are a master memorizer, assigning unique passwords to each login is a tall order indeed. Solution: install a top-of-the-line password manager. This handy tool will help you to store, and even generate strong passwords. Here’s an independent review of available providers to get you started.
  1. Lead with length. Remember those 8-digit passwords we talked about? There are random generators out there that will decode 8 characters in a computerized heartbeat. Instead, passwords should be 16 or more characters long.
  1. Words are welcomed. It used to be a no-no to use dictionary words in a password. This is now considered okay, as long as the string meets the 16-character suggestion. Bonus points if you include a sprinkling of numbers, symbols and cases. For example, a semi-legible password like April48+greenGoose12% is probably equally as strong as an entirely random string like F8*tjE#378FpP6Jm#@4.
  1. Change it up, often. Once your password game is strong, it’s best to routinely change them. Quarterly is ideal, and the password manager can help. Schwab conveniently prompts you when it’s time to change theirs, as do many other financial institutions.

How else can we assist you with your cybersecurity? Send me your questions … I’m on patrol!

A HIG Podcast Pick: Guy Raz’s “How I Built This”

Like most people, we’re pretty busy here at Hill Investment Group. After dedicating ourselves to family, friends, community and career, it’s hard to find extra time for relaxing and reflecting before we find ourselves fast asleep.

Thank goodness for podcasts. They offer energizing food for thought during our morning commutes (Henry), dog walks (Matt), or while sweating it out on a jog (yours truly). We’ve each got our personal favorites, but Guy Raz’s “How I Built This”  podcast is a HIG-wide hit.

For investing, we typically encourage a steadfast – almost stodgy – buy, hold, and rebalance approach to managing the money you’ve made, emphasizing academic evidence over “lucky breaks.” But first, you’ve got to make some of that money, and sometimes that takes luck and skill alike. So we also love the edgy tales of how some of today’s best-known businesses came to be. To name a few:

Southwest Airlines: Can you believe this airline was initially a side hustle for founder Herb Kelleher?

Starbucks: Founder Howard Schultz tells an incredible story about Bill Gates, Sr. (“The” Bill Gates’ dad), and the role he played in saving Starbucks.

Patagonia: Founder Yves Chouinard became a successful businessman despite himself.

The Home Depot – Being fired may have been the best thing that ever happened to co-founder Arthur Blank.

Next time you’ve got a little downtime of your own, why not tune into “How I Built This”?

Featured entries from our Journal

Details Are Part of Our Difference

Embracing the Evidence at Anheuser-Busch – Mid 1980s

529 Best Practices

David Booth on How to Choose an Advisor

The One Minute Audio Clip You Need to Hear

Hill Investment Group