Monthly Investment Updates
What you need to know
January 2023 Investment Update
In this Monthly Note, we discuss our systematic investing process in the context of 2022’s market environment. While the short-term destination is out of our hands, we think we have more control over the long-term outcome and the ride to get there. In our estimation, utilizing a rules-based process provides investors with a more pleasant experience and path.
December 2022 Investment Update
In our view, the incredible thing about being consistently good is that if you can manage it for a long enough period, you often accomplish something truly great. For example, consistently beating a benchmark in a way that is behaviorally- and tax-friendly for clients allows them to maximize their financial potential. Coupling that with a robust process for planning and managing relationships allows an advisor to build a tremendous business.
November 2022 Investment Update
Despite the increases in October, major indexes year-to-date continue to repeat the same patterns of new lows followed by lower highs. Until this cycle is broken, our research and systematic investing rules tell us that moving equity exposure back to even our baseline allocations is simply too much risk for the potential reward.
When you are exposed to falling asset prices and have no plan for how to respond, years like 2022 can be agonizing. That’s typical of bear markets.
October 2022 Investment Update
Bear market or countertrend rallies are common, and when they happen, they can be considerable in magnitude, particularly as the bear market persists. As a systematic investing asset manager, this data is both anecdotal and medicinal. We are happy to sit out these rallies until a rising trend forms, especially if it means protecting capital when the rally ends and new lows occur.
September 2022 Investment Update
In a financial services world where many make a living by selling their thoughts and opinions about the future, we find it liberating to proclaim that we’re the opposite. We don’t make predictions, and we celebrate that fact. Our approach is different, and this difference tends to show up most when discussing market tops and bottoms.
August 2022 Investment Update
In this month’s Note, we continue to make the case for patience relative to increasing equity exposure. In our view, the historical cost of investing when an asset is in downtrends outweighs the benefit over the long run. We describe our current defensive positioning and discuss how, for us, inaction equates to taking an offensive posture.
July 2022 Investment Update
Indiscriminate buying based on falling stock prices is not a plan. Timing the market is not a plan. Often both of these disregard the fact that you might be wrong. In this month’s Note, we discuss how perceived opportunities can turn into traps without the proper plan to tell you when you’re wrong. It is an old adage to which we subscribe: “Stay humble or the market will do it for you.”
June 2022 Investment Update
In this month’s Note, we discuss the near-term costs and potential long-term benefits associated with preparation. When given evidence that a disaster may be on the horizon, it can be annoying and time-intensive to get ready. But those near-term costs seem trivial compared to the catastrophic loss that can come with being unprepared for the worst-case scenario. The point is this: You never know the severity BEFORE the event happens, but ignoring the data ahead of time can sometimes prove disastrous.
