Featured entries from our Journal

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

Tag: Matt Hall

Podcast Alert – Meet the Business Leader Matt Hall Says He’d Work For

As you’ve likely heard, the podcast is up and running – spreading our story and message to curious investors around the world. We’re thrilled with the success of the launch and encourage you to listen to all four episodes when you can find the time. All feedback is welcome. We offer the following write up as a teaser for Episode 4.

When most athletes transition from the sports world to the business world, the process is painstakingly slow. For Dave Butler, it took 24 hours.

After attending the University of California-Berkeley, Butler was drafted by the Boston Celtics in the 1987 NBA draft. But a player’s strike and a torn calf muscle cut his hoops career short. After a final stint with a pro team in England, Butler marched into his coach’s office, told him he took a job on Wall Street, and hopped on a flight to New York the next morning.

Since trading his basketball jersey for a suit, Butler has built an impressive career, ultimately leading him to his current role as the Co-CEO of Dimensional Fund Advisors. Today, more than two decades after stepping off the hardwood, Dave Butler joins Matt Hall on episode 4 of Take the Long View: the podcast that nudges you to reframe your thoughts about your money, emotions, behavior, and time.

Listen to the episode here via Apple or here through other platforms.

Key topics discussed:

  • Introducing Dave. [00:42]

  • Dave’s background in professional basketball. [04:10]

  • Dave’s transition from basketball to finance. [06:14]

  • Dave’s early days in finance. [07:17]

  • Starting out at Dimensional. [11:04]

  • The origins of indexing. [14:02]

  • Early days of Dimensional and the 9-10 fund. [16:10]

  • Setting and meeting expectations. [18:35]

  • Philosophical alignment. [19:45]

  • Dan Wheeler’s influence. [21:52]

  • Dimensional’s reach and its growth over the years. [26:17]

  • Finding balance between work and other areas of life. [30:14]

  • Dave’s favorite part of working at Dimensional. [33:32]

  • Dimensional as a visionary in the field. [35:57]

  • Investing philosophy. [38:25]

  • Talking finance at parties. [42:08]

  • Current projects. [44:23]

Happy Birthday to “Odds On”

We’re big on celebrating milestones here at Hill Investment Group. Along those lines, what better excuse for cake and bubbly than the one-year anniversary of the “Odds On” book launch?

That’s what my HIG colleagues thought when they threw me an April 12th surprise party to celebrate. Our team is truly inspired by the way “Odds On” has allowed us to share a message of evidence-based hope to investment advisors and investors alike.

As I expressed in the first sentence on the first page of the book’s intro: “I want this book to change your life.

I can’t tell you how exciting it’s been to see it do just that for so many who have been kind enough to let me know what the book has meant to them. I have collected some of my favorites and now have more than 21 pages of feedback and more than 100 reviews on Amazon. Here’s what one reader shared with me recently:

“Matt: I started reading your book this morning and now find myself emailing you after just finishing the entire thing. As a young financial advisor, very new to the business and working for a wire house firm, I too noticed everything you described in the opening chapters. … Until I picked up your book, I was losing hope for our profession. Work was dreaded. The days long. My outlook bleak. But after reading your book, I realize there is hope. There are people out there who understand and care. Your book gave me a much needed breath of fresh air. Now, more than ever, I am excited to help others and build a business centered around evidence based investing.”

To have the opportunity to impact other financial professionals who want to do right by their clients? I don’t know if I could ask for much more out of life.

Beyond leveraging “Odds On” to reach out to readers, we were also delighted to begin donating the profits from all of the sales to charity. We’ve already made our first donation and look forward to making many more as book sales continue.

So, happy first birthday to “Odds On,” and many more!

Dear Friends: A “Cheers”-Themed Reflection

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

 

Featured entries from our Journal

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

Hill Investment Group