You know all those tax season emails you get from Charles Schwab, informing you that your Form 1099s are ready to download and share with your tax professionals?

Hill Investment Group clients can largely disregard those notices, because we take care of this busy-work for them. We aggregate the 1099s for the accounts we manage for them, and send the documents to those who need them, safely, securely and without our clients having to lift a finger. (Unless you count that single click to delete the email notifications.)

This is just one way we strive to simplify our clients’ busy lives, so they can focus on the things that are important to them.

Recently, my family and I quietly celebrated my 75^th birthday. We didn’t make a big to-do over it. That’s not my style. (Except for the party we had on my 70th. Oh, what a night.)

Will I retire soon? I hope not.

Maybe I’m trying to catch up with St. Louisan  Oliver “Ollie” Langenberg, an A.G. Edwards (Wells Fargo) broker, local philanthropist and all-around good guy who passed away in 2012. He was just shy of his 100^th birthday and, as Wells Fargo’s oldest active advisor, he was happily plying his trade right up until quitting time.

That said, friends and clients of Hill Investment Group may wonder why I’m still here. The simple answer is, I love the people and the work. I have always enjoyed reading books and articles about investments – at least the kind that enhance my understanding of our evidence-based strategies. I find it rewarding when I can apply my interests and experience to advise clients on how to pursue their own personal and financial goals. I also find it invigorating to spend time with my younger co-workers, serving as an in-house mentor.

Besides all of this, I am grateful for what I no longer have to do. These days, I’m retired from much of the planning and operations that no longer demand my unique abilities; I’ve happily turned these over to others who relish these important, ongoing roles. Instead, as chairman of our Investment Policy Committee, I am free to focus more deeply on new evidence-based investment strategies and solutions we may want to employ, exploring whether they might improve on our clients’ investment experience.

Why am I still here? Because I am still in a great place!

In the wake of February’s recent market volatility (after a nice, long lull), we thought this would be a good time to remind our readers how unusual it is for markets to deliver their “normal” average returns in any given year.

For example, while the S&P 500 index has delivered average returns of around 10% per year since 1926, the six orange dots in our “Illustration of the Month” below are the only years it’s actually toed the line of its long-term average.

What’s the real “norm”? Expect volatility far more often than not along the road to future growth.