When I discovered Jonathan Clements 20 years ago, I noticed right away we had a lot in common. We were both early advocates for evidence-based investing (or “passive investing,” back then). We both knew better than to heed all the “noise” from the vast majority of the popular press. We knew even then, our jobs were to help investors focus on the essentials: reducing costs, managing market risks, understanding the science of investing.

There was one difference between us. While I was a fiduciary investment advisor for a then-small firm, Clements was the personal financial columnist for The Wall Street Journal, and one of the few voices of reason in the media. His columns left me optimistic, knowing we were not alone.

At the time, I did not notice a physical resemblance. Funny what a few years will do. These days, I see we now share a similar hair style as well!

Whatever. We’re both still going strong doing what we love: I, in my role at Hill Investment Group, and Clements, as proprietor of the Humble Dollar blog and author of the newly published, “From Here to Financial Happiness.”

One of his recent posts, “Tell Us a Story,” caught my attention. We often employ story-telling in our client conversations here at HIG. But, as Clements points out, it’s important to not let random anecdotes distract you from the greater story of evidence-based investing. “Detail the inevitable failure of most investors to beat the market,” he says, “and someone will bring up the neighbor who purportedly bought Amazon’s stock at the initial public offering and never sold.”

I agree. There’s always “the neighbor,” or cousin, or co-worker who hits the random jackpot. Good for them. But, as Clements concludes: “The weight of our many mediocre investment decisions eventually sinks in – and (you were expecting me to say this) the logic of indexing proves irresistible.”

If you’re looking for other thoughtful ideas about achieving financial happiness, you might find Clements’ materials irresistible as well. From one white-haired gent to another: Hat’s off to you, Jonathan!

For years, we’ve been sharing the results of Dimensional Fund Advisors’ annually updated “Mutual Fund Landscape” analysis.  As we first expressed back in 2013, “This analysis of the US mutual fund industry performance casts doubt on the ability of investors to form a winning long-term strategy by picking outperforming funds based on past returns. It also raises questions about the effectiveness of investment strategies that attempt to add value by identifying mispriced securities.”

This is one message that bears repeating. Especially since, this year, somebody got creative over at Dimensional and produced an engaging video version. Check it out!

Speaking of Vanguard versus AQR, another frequently asked question we get here at Hill Investment Group is why we typically use Dimensional Fund Advisors instead of Vanguard for the core of our portfolio builds. Vanguard typically beats Dimensional in terms of raw fund expense ratios (i.e., how much the investor pays to fund management). And we often emphasize how important it is to manage costs. Shouldn’t that mean Vanguard is the obvious choice? Our answer: Expense ratios are an important consideration, but they’re not the only one. At HIG, our Investment Policy Committee (IPC) is tasked with remaining current on these sorts of comparisons. To supplement our own, independent analyses, we also keep an eye on the work of respected colleagues, such as the BAM ALLIANCE’s Chief Investment Officer Jared Kizer, CFA. As a former colleague, Jared graciously agreed to let us share his own recent research report here: “Comparing DFA- vs. Vanguard-Oriented Portfolios.” I found Jared’s analysis compelling, and I hope you do as well. Enjoy the read.