Remember our announcement earlier this year, welcoming Katie’s daughter Sally into the world? Time has flown fast since then. Katie is now back in action at Hill Investment Group … although we don’t doubt that a part of her heart remains at home.

“It is a bittersweet time for me to leave our beautiful daughter during the day,” says Katie. “But having a job I really love makes it sting a little less. I missed chatting with my coworkers and our clients during my three-month leave.”

Are you a working mother as well, or do you know someone who is? Here are some additional words of wisdom from Katie:

“My mother worked as a full-time nurse when I was young, and I believe that instilled a work ethic in me that I might not otherwise have. Being a working mom is not going to be easy, but I think it will make me a better momma to Sally!”

In March we took a break from our regularly scheduled e-newsletter and blog programming to share an annual Hill Investment Group overview.

Dear Friends,

You’re used to getting the Hill Investment Group newsletter now every month. We put a lot of thought into those newsletters, curating the best stories to help you stay focused and keep the odds of success on your side. I want to do something a little different this time.

The investment industry is in the midst of a major transformation. Independent advisors like Hill Investment Group are growing 15% annually, as investors are becoming smarter than ever and learning to focus on evidence over hype. As our firm evolves alongside the industry, I want you to know that we’re holding on to the core values that have gotten us where we are today—and that we intend to protect, fiercely, for the future.

Since our founding in 2005, we’ve thought of ourselves as a small firm with big ideas. To preserve this mentality even as the firm grows, we’ve worked hard to create a very specific culture that’s rooted in three core areas:

The character of our people – Everyone at Hill Investment Group has authentic passion for our work and our clients. We make new hires very intentionally, looking for people who share that strong desire to serve. Then, we strengthen engagement in many ways throughout the year, such as annual family and team parties and even daily lunches. In fact, lunch here is more than just a meal—it’s a vital work session where we tackle everything from big questions about the future to little details that make our office run better.

[Editor’s note: Speaking of those daily lunches, Matt was pleased to talk about them recently in a BBC Business Daily broadcast exploring today’s business lunch culture. You’ll find his sound bite at (appropriately) around 12:00 in this “Out to Lunch” radio podcast.]

Our dedication to service – We’ve created a client service culture that’s extravagantly thoughtful and detail-oriented. This approach not only ensures a consistent experience for every client, it’s another way to show how much we care. Remember the television show “Cheers” where everybody knows your name and can anticipate what you order? That spirit has been and will always be a part of the fabric of our firm.

Our commitment to the evidence – We are results oriented and data-driven. Everyone on the team—even those with many years of experience—is hungry to learn more. To that end, we strive to be leaders in our community and to forge connections that help us advance our professional development. That way, we can continue offering clients the best possible service.

These values are written into our company mission statement, and more importantly, they underpin every decision we make for our business and our clients. I could reel off hundreds of anecdotes illustrating our culture in action—and actually, I captured a lot of those stories in my book, Odds On. As I was working on this letter in March I headed out to visit Hill Investment Group’s Houston office, which opened in 2014. Sitting in the airport waiting for my flight, I realized that our expansion was another example of how our culture guides our actions.

The challenge of staying true to our values as we grow is both exciting and humbling— it’s why we do what we do. We started Hill Investment Group to help change lives, and we work hard, every day, to live up to that mission. I hope these thoughts on our culture help clarify how we make decisions. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions. I’m always happy to talk.

Take the Long View,

Matt Hall, President
Hill Investment Group

As we explored in our accompanying article, “Going Global: What Does It Really Mean,” we are a huge part of the world when viewed by market cap, as the slide below shows. Thinking only in terms of landmass can distort investment decisions. Directly comparing the markets of nations produces some surprising results. Measures such as population, gross domestic product, or exports do not directly indicate the size or suitability of investments in a market.

This slide (one of our favorites) illustrates the balance of equity investment opportunities around the world. The size of each country has been adjusted to reflect its total relative capitalization.

Of course, the world is in motion—there is no fixed relationship between markets, and their proportion can change over time. Viewing the world this way brings the scope of diversification into new light and helps clarify allocation decisions.

A country’s equity market capitalization, or market cap, reflects the total value of shares issued by all publicly traded companies and is calculated as share price times the number of shares outstanding.