Thirteen can be a lucky number after all, as we were lucky to celebrate Hill Investment Group’s 13^th year in business by hosting our largest summer family bash to date. Twenty-nine HIG team and family members attended the event, hosted by Matt and Lisa Hall.

More than an excuse to slurp up some ice cream, our family party is a way for us to reaffirm the meaning we find in our work. Magic happens when we have the opportunity to help families plan for their financial future. A different, but equally potent magic happens when we get together with our own families. It’s not only a privilege to enjoy one another’s “at home” side, it also reminds us that our loved ones are one of the reasons we work so hard. Roll up that deep stuff with some tacos, some kids and a pool – and you have our favorite employee event of the year!

This year a big storm blew in halfway through, but it didn’t dampen our spirits. Even as the rain fell in sheets for about an hour and the house lost power, Matt & Lisa’s daughter Harper entertained all the other kiddos with some expert slime-making … just add water.

Our theme this year was summer fiesta, featuring catered local fave Mission Taco Joint and Clementine’s Naughty & Nice Ice Cream, delivered. Eventually, the weather broke and we all had a blast swimming and cheering on the young contestants in our diving board splash-a-thon. John’s son James was the bomb.

The only real downside to the weather was that we weren’t able to get our usual group photo. We’ll just have to make do by featuring the adorable pic of PJ’s son Henry, above, while re-sharing these group photos from 2016 and 2017. Next summer? Bring it on!

As we described in this related article, we’re fans of taking a rules-based approach to investing instead of trying to actively forecast a market’s next move or a stock price’s next swing. Attempts to outsmart the market are more likely to waste your energy than deliver higher long-term returns.

So, this begs the question: Why don’t we recommend index funds exclusively for our clients?

We really like aspects of the indexing philosophy. Passively managed index funds typically employ a rules-based strategy to capture returns by tracking a popular index at a low cost. So far, so good. But, as we focus in, like we did in this piece, we start to find some inefficiencies that point to why index funds may not be the optimal vehicle for clients looking to maximize market returns. Curious to learn more? Give us a call.

“Recency” is one of the most insidious behavioral biases that can impact an investor’s ability to Take the Long View® with their investments. The name alone suggests it’s the opposite of what we’re about here at Hill Investment Group.

Those ruled by recency will disregard decades of data, and instead allow only the latest, relatively random data points to skew their view. A prime example occurs whenever purveyors of traditional active investing revisit a perennially misleading script that goes something like this: “If too many investors invest in index funds (i.e., if the market is left to run on auto-pilot), there will be nobody left to set proper pricing. Investors should revert to an active investment strategy, before it’s too late.”

Again, the argument is nothing new; if index funds were the only investment available, markets would indeed stop functioning. But with every new season, the traditional active camp seems to come up with a fresh batch of stats that supposedly signal that the end of index investing is nigh.

Recently, the focus has been on index investing inflows – or, more accurately, their reduced volume. So far this year, the deluge of dollars mostly heading out of active investing and into index/passive funds has decreased to a more orderly flow compared to 2017.

Is index investing on the wane? In this related piece, we share a quibble we do have with index investing, and why we typically favor a similar, but more direct approach for capturing scientific sources of expected return. But before anyone concludes it’s time to get more active at timing and selecting specific stock picks, here are three, recency-dispelling reads we suggest:

“Index Funds Are Going to Be Just Fine,” Barry Ritholtz, ThinkAdvisor

Our favorite excerpt: “Why must we complicate what is otherwise a simple explanation? Investors have become a little more financially literate; indexing is maturing as an investment style. Those who are hoping for a major reversal of a trend that has been 40 years in the making are very likely to be disappointed.”

“Indexing Fuss Unwarranted,” Larry Swedroe, ETF.com

Our favorite excerpt: “While it’s certainly possible that, at some point, passive investing could reach such a dominant share that price discovery would be limited, clearly, we are nowhere near that level, and almost certainly won’t be there for a very long time.”

“The growth of index investing has not made the markets less efficient,” The Economist

Our favorite excerpt: “Perhaps the growth of indexing has robbed the world of outstanding stockpickers. But it seems more likely that it has put a lot of bad managers out of business … And it is not as if the buying and selling of stocks by informed investors with opinions has ceased. The turnover of stocks has actually increased over time. Active investors are more active than ever.”