Howard Marks is a very successful writer, speaker, thinker, and money manager.  He is Co-Chair of Oaktree; you can read his impressive bio here.

We think you need to hear this clip because it is one of the better examples of all time, in our humble opinion, illustrating why taking the long view is likely the winning approach.

There is no need to swing for the fences to be a successful investor. It’s actually the opposite.

Enjoy this classic clip from Howard Marks’ interview with Barry Ritholtz on Bloomberg’s Masters In Business from 2019.

*If you want the full interview, you can find it here.

If you are a Hill Investment Group client, you’re used to our team managing and reviewing your investments and allocation regularly. If you don’t work with us yet, let me ask you when the last time you had a fresh set of eyes review your investment portfolio was?  If it’s been more than 5 years, then it’s time for an objective check-up.  

Why? Too many investors are overpaying for underperforming investments. Or people are heavily concentrated in just a few companies. Or they’ve never rebalanced and are taking on more risk than they originally intended. 

Recently, we talked to one family paying over 2.5% annually on a mutual fund.  By repositioning to a less expensive and more globally diversified ETF, we lowered their fees by 2%. That means they save $20,000 a year in fees for every $1 million invested!    

The best part of a check-up?  It’s complimentary. And you get the eyes and attention of our 3X engineer, Harvard MBA, former Dimensional portfolio manager, CIO Matt Zenz analyzing your holdings and providing transparency into your investments. What’s stopping you? Click here to find a time to chat.

This year, I’m grateful for Diversification. Diversification is the only free lunch in investing. Let me repeat that. Diversification is the only free lunch in investing. As an investor, it allows you to dramatically reduce the range of possible outcomes in your investment portfolio, thereby making it easier to reach your financial goals. The range of performance of individual US companies this year was extremely wide and volatile. Think of it as a roller coaster with huge and frequent ups and downs. By diversifying, you were able to avoid some possible very negative outcomes. The video below provides a nice visual of the performance of the S&P500 year-to-date and gives an example of how increasing diversification, in this case by adding in small-cap companies, can help smooth the ride.

Video created by Jan Varsava.