Details Are Part of Our Difference
Embracing the Evidence at Anheuser-Busch – Mid 1980s
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David Booth on How to Choose an Advisor
The One Minute Audio Clip You Need to Hear
Tag: Data
Lessons from a Lifetime of Investing
As the year comes to a close, it’s fitting that we take a moment to reflect on recent market lessons. But, you know we’ll never focus on any one year, so let’s consider the four most recent decades from 1975 through 2015. This captures nearly all of the investing lives of our clients. Here’s a summary of data taken at the beginning of each of the 10-year time periods.
TAKEAWAYS
• The S&P 500 increased more than twenty times while consumer prices rose four and a half times.
It’s hard to believe the amount of growth we’ve experienced, especially having lived through 9/11 and the great recession in ’07-’09. Our suggestion: Take this opportunity to remind yourself of these facts, stick to a long-term investment plan, and get on with whatever brings you joy in the year ahead. We’ve achieved a lot, and we may just be getting started.
Playing the Probabilities
Have you ever asked us, “How long is the long view?” If so, this might be for you. After we build you a low-cost, evidence-based investment portfolio, what should you do next? For the most part, pretend like it doesn’t exist. In this example (which only looks at the S&P 500), you’d see a negative result nearly half of the time if you checked your returns on a daily basis. At the other extreme, if you only reviewed results for 20-year time periods, you would have seen positive performance every time.
We got the data from Ben Carlson’s blog (click here) and posted it on the chalkboard in our office as a regular reminder to continue taking the long view.
Slide of the Month
The slide of the month is a reminder that patient investing provides the ultimate payoff. Though our daily lives require near-term focus, successful investing demands a completely different vantage point. Click here for the full detail behind the image.
