Details Are Part of Our Difference
Embracing the Evidence at Anheuser-Busch – Mid 1980s
529 Best Practices
David Booth on How to Choose an Advisor
The One Minute Audio Clip You Need to Hear
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.
Tech News – Your Portfolio In Your Pocket
Our clients know that one of our goals is to make the experience with our firm special. With that in mind, we are making significant improvements in 2016!
In January, our clients will see a brand new reporting platform with the latest technology. We are excited to provide convenient online quarterly reporting and interactive account snapshots in a format that saves paper and is more secure than your mailbox.
IS THERE ANYTHING TO DO NOW?
The Hill Investment Group App is ready for our clients to download on smart phones or tablets (available for both iOS and Android devices). Just click these links or search “Hill Investment Group” in the app store on your mobile devices. We’ll be in touch with clients in the next few weeks to get you logged in for the first time.
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.
