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Dimensional Fund Advisors Named Most Recommended Asset Manager by Advisor Perspectives’ Advisors Choice™ Awards

When it comes to choosing to work with asset managers on behalf of our clients there is no shortage of options. There is Schwab, AQR, American Funds, Vanguard, BlackRock and the list goes on. We have, for a long time, chosen Dimensional Fund Advisors as our primary asset manager for the funds we choose for our clients. The philosophy that they use is evidence-based investing. The choices that they make are backed by decades of research from Nobel Laureates and financial science. To us, this approach to investing just makes logical sense.

First Quarter 2018 - Quarterly Market Review

This report features world capital market performance and a timeline of events for the past quarter. It begins with a commentary article: Sailing With the Tides.  After the article you can look for a market summary, then the returns of stock and bond asset classes in the US and international markets.

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First Quarter 2019 - Quarterly Market Review

This report features world capital market performance and a timeline of events for the past quarter. It begins with a commentary article: Gerard O'Reilly on Understanding Investment Performance.  After the article you can look for a market summary, then the returns of stock and bond asset classes in the US and international markets.

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First Quarter 2020 - Quarterly Market Review

This report features world capital market performance and a timeline of events for the past quarter. It begins with a commentary article: The Coronavirus and Market Declines. After the article you can look for a market summary, then the returns of stock and bond asset classes in the US and international markets. Finally it ends with a look at fixed income.

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First Quarter 2021 - Quarterly Market Review

This report features world capital market performance and a timeline of events for the past quarter. It begins with a global overview, then features the returns of stock and bond asset classes in the US and international markets. The report also illustrates the impact of globally diversified portfolios and features a quarterly topic: YOLO, Meme, and EMH: What's Your Investment Style? 

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First Quarter 2022 - Quarterly Market Review

This report features world capital market performance and a timeline of events for the past quarter. It begins with a quarterly topic,  When Headlines Worry You, Bank on Investment Principles; then features a global overview and the returns of stock and bond asset classes in the US and international markets. The report also illustrates the impact of globally diversified portfolios. 

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Fourth Quarter 2017 - Quarterly Market Review

This report features world capital market performance and a timeline of events for the past quarter. It begins with a commentary article: What Should Investors Make of Bitcoin Mania? After the article you can look for a market summary, then the returns of stock and bond asset classes in the US and international markets.

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Fourth Quarter 2018 - Quarterly Market Review

This report features world capital market performance and a timeline of events for the past quarter. It begins with a  market summary, then the returns of stock and bond asset classes in the US and international markets, wrapping up with a look at fixed income. Finally, it ends with an article on the quarterly topic: 2018 Market Review

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Fourth Quarter 2019 - Quarterly Market Review

This report features world capital market performance and a timeline of events for the past quarter. It begins with a commentary article: Tuning Out the Noise,  after the article you can look for a market summary, then the returns of stock and bond asset classes in the US and international markets. Finally, it ends with a look at fixed income.

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Fourth Quarter 2020 - Annual Market Review

This report features world capital market performance and a timeline of events for the past quarter. It begins with a global overview, then features the returns of stock and bond asset classes in the US and international markets. The report also illustrates the impact of globally diversified portfolios and features a quarterly topic: Market Review 2020: Looking Back on an Unprecedented Year.

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Key Questions for the Long-Term Investor

Focusing on what you can control can lead to a better investment experience.

Whether you’ve been investing for decades or are just getting started, at some point on your investment journey you’ll likely ask yourself some of the questions below. Trying to answer these questions may be intimidating, but know that you’re not alone. Your financial advisor is here to help. While this is not intended to be an exhaustive list it will hopefully shed light on a few key principles, using data and reasoning, that may help improve investors’ odds of investment success in the long run.

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1. What sort of competition do I face as an investor?

The market is an effective information-processing machine. Millions of market participants buy and sell securities every day and the real-time information they bring helps set prices.  This means competition is stiff and trying to outguess market prices is difficult for anyone, even professional money managers (see question 2 for more on this). 

This is good news for investors though. Rather than basing an investment strategy on trying to find securities that are priced “incorrectly,” investors can instead rely on the information in market prices to help build their portfolios (see question 5 for more on this). 

Mind Over Model

speculation
Checking the weather? Guess what—you’re using a model. While models can be useful for gaining insights that can help us make good decisions, they are inherently incomplete simplifications of reality.

In investing, factor models have been a frequent topic of discussion. Often marketed as smart beta strategies, these products are based on underlying models with limitations that many investors may not be aware of.

To help shed light on this concept, let’s start by examining an everyday example of a model: a weather forecast. Using data on current and past weather conditions, a meteorologist makes a number of assumptions and attempts to approximate what the weather will be in the future. This model may help you decide if you should bring an umbrella when you leave the house in the morning. However, as anyone who has been caught without an umbrella in an unexpected rain shower knows, reality often behaves differently than a model predicts it will.

Second Quarter 2017 - Quarterly Market Review

This report features world capital market performance and a timeline of events for the past quarter. It begins with a commentary article: Getting What You Don't Pay For. After the article you can look for a market summary, then the returns of stock and bond asset classes in the US and international markets.

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Second Quarter 2018 - Quarterly Market Review

This report features world capital market performance and a timeline of events for the past quarter. It begins with a commentary article: E+R=O, a Formula for Succes,  after the article you can look for a market summary, then the returns of stock and bond asset classes in the US and international markets. Finally, it ends with a look at fixed income.

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Second Quarter 2019 - Quarterly Market Review

This report features world capital market performance and a timeline of events for the past quarter. It begins with a commentary article: The Uncommon Average.  After the article you can look for a market summary, then the returns of stock and bond asset classes in the US and international markets.

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Second Quarter 2020 - Quarterly Market Review

This report features world capital market performance and a timeline of events for the past quarter. It begins with a commentary article: Long-Term Investors, Don't Let a Recession Faze You. After the article you can look for a market summary, then the returns of stock and bond asset classes in the US and international markets. Finally, it ends with a look at fixed income.

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Second Quarter 2021 - Quarterly Market Review

This report features world capital market performance and a timeline of events for the past quarter. It begins with a quarterly topic, Inflation: An Exchange Between Eugene Fama and David Booth, then features a global overview and the returns of stock and bond asset classes in the US and international markets. The report also illustrates the impact of globally diversified portfolios. 

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Surprisingly Benign: How Stocks Respond to Hikes in Fed Funds Rate

stock market
An article by Dimensional Advisors.

On May 4, the US Federal Reserve Increased the target federal funds rate by 50 basis points as part of what the central bank said will be a series of rate increases to combat soaring inflation in the US. Some investors may worry that rising interest rates will decrease equity valuations and therefore lead to relatively poor equity market performance. However, history offers good news: Equity returns in the US have been positive on average following hikes in the fed funds rate.

Third 2019 - Quarterly Market Review

This report features world capital market performance and a timeline of events for the past quarter. It begins with a commentary article: Timing Isn't Everything.  After the article you can look for a market summary, then the returns of stock and bond asset classes in the US and international markets.

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Third Quarter 2017 - Quarterly Market Review

This report features world capital market performance and a timeline of events for the past quarter. It begins with a commentary article: There are Now More Indexes Than Stocks. After the article you can look for a market summary, then the returns of stock and bond asset classes in the US and international markets.

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