Our investment philosophy is based on The Efficient Market Hypothesis developed by 2013 Noble Peace Prize winner Eugene Fama.
The Efficient Market Hypothesis was derived from his 1970 article in the Journal of Finance titled, Efficient Capital Markets: A Review of Theory and Empirical Work.
The hypothesis states that market prices reflect all available information. Essentially it is impossible to “beat the market” consistently on a risk-adjusted basis since market prices should only react to new information.
Key Take-Aways
- Market prices reflect all available information
- Stocks trade at fair market value
- Low Cost, Asset allocation portfolios
Four Beliefs to How We Manage Your Investments
Belief 1. The Importance of Asset Allocation
Using broadly diversified stock and bond index funds, the mix of those assets, i.e., Asset Allocation, will determine the returns and risk for the total portfolio.
Your retirement portfolios are built with a Top-Down Approach, driven by broad market exposure.
A 1986 study from Brinson, Hood, and Beebower showed that asset allocation was responsible for over 90% of diversified portfolio returns.
Investment Outcomes are Largely Determined by the Long-Term Mixture of Assets in a Portfolio
Belief 2. We Invest in Index Funds
We use passive low-cost broad market index funds to invest in your appropriate asset allocation model.
Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) allow us to make purchases at any point during the market trading hours.
We invest your money in some of the industry’s leading investment management companies, such as Vanguard, iShares, Invesco, Schwab, State Street Global Advisors, to name a few.
A recent study from Vanguard and Morningstar conducted in 2019 compared passive vs. active managers over 15 years. Shows data to support the outperformance of passive index funds.
Percentage of Active Funds Underperforming Their Prospectus Benchmark over 15 Years through December 2019
Belief 3. Fees Matter
We cannot control the markets. However, we can control the fees you pay to invest, making a massive difference over time.
We only construct your retirement portfolios with some of the lowest-cost ETFs in the industry.
Our average fund expense ratio is less than 0.10%, compared to the industry average of 0.41%, according to a 2020 Morningstar study.
Lower Costs Can Support Higher Returns
Belief 4. We Use Tax-Efficient Index Funds
One of the many reasons we use Index ETFs is their tax-efficient nature.
Index funds (passive funds) simply replicate the holdings of an index; they don’t trade in and out of stocks as often as an active fund would.
Less buying and selling of stocks and bonds by fund companies often leads to fewer capital gains than actively managed funds.