According to the Vanguard Advisor’s Alpha Value paper(1) working with the right advisor can lead to a potential added net value of 3% returns annually. However, the source of this added value may surprise you. Our industry has done a valiant job in educating the masses away from the brokers pitching the hot stock tips, although much of that still remains, to a more comprehensive wealth management experience of working with a financial planner that follows a disciplined long term
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Insights
Quantifying Your Advisor’s Alpha Value

Active Planning vs Active Portfolio

Can an individual broker/advisor and their team consistently deliver outperformance? Perhaps we can look to the mutual fund industry for the answer. Afterall, individual brokers/advisors and their teams are essentially a smaller version of larger active mutual fund managers. Both are looking to deliver outperformance through specific stock picking and market timing. Each year, Dimensional Fund Advisors analyzes returns from a large sample of US-based mutual funds. The objective is to assess the performance of mutual fund managers relative to
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Let the Compounding Commence!

Every year, families and friends celebrate students who are graduating from colleges and universities. Parents beam with pride at their children’s accomplishments and exhale in relief now that the tuition bills have finally stopped. It’s a time when adults give a lot of advice, which is why I have one simple idea I want to pass along to this year’s graduating class that I hope you never forget. Parents, take note too, because with college out of the way, you
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Why the Wisdom of the Market Crowd Beats AI

Can artificial intelligence help pick stocks? More specifically, can investors use AI to determine the fair price of a stock or a bond? I bet a lot of people right now would say yes, given recent advances that allow for the processing of ever greater amounts of information. I think my AI is better than all the other ones out there. My AI is the market. For example, pick a stock. Check the price. Why is it that exact price?
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Stocks Beat Cash Even If You Could Time a Recession

By Nir Kaissar The S&P 500 has proved to be remarkably resilient in the six months before downturns. The US economy is widely expected to tip into recession later this year. The Federal Reserve thinks so, as does Wall Street. And financial Twitter is aflutter with recession talk. Some financial observers are going further, advising investors to swap stocks for cash in anticipation of the looming downturn. The problem with that advice is that no one knows if or when
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An Update on the U.S. Government Debt Ceiling

Jared Kizer, Head of Investment Research, shares the latest updates, recap and possible expectations and impact of the U.S. Federal government debt ceiling crisis. Transcript: So, I wanted to jump on today and give an update as we sit here in very early May on the latest related to the U.S. government debt ceiling dynamic. What I’m going to do today is do a recap just kind of where things stood prior to the last week or so. Then get
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Where the U.S. Dollar Stands as a Reserve Currency

The U.S. dollar (USD) has long been the world’s most widely used currency, playing a critical role in global trade and as a store of value for central bank reserves. But we occasionally hear claims that the dollar’s dominance may be in jeopardy. These predictions tend to center around potential shorter-and longer-term trends that could increase demand for international currencies, such as continued growth from China leading to a rise in demand for the renminbi (RMB) or tighter integration of
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Market In Review: Q1 2023 Ups and Downs: Value Struggles but Markets Deliver a Positive Quarter

Global stocks gained nearly 7% in the first quarter, continuing their upward momentum that began in the fourth quarter of last year. Market volatility was relatively muted until March, when concerns about the stability of the banking sector made headlines. Following last year when value stocks beat growth by 20%, the first quarter saw value stocks lag growth by 12%.1 Information technology names led for the quarter, lifting the returns of large growth stocks. Less profitable growth stocks especially outperformed,
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Will the U.S. Dollar Be Dethroned?

By Kathie Jones Charles Schwab Managing Director, Chief Fixed Income Strategist “There has been speculation lately that the U.S. dollar is on the verge of a major decline and might even lose its status as the world’s major reserve currency. “De-dollarization,” or the movement away from using the U.S. dollar as the primary currency of exchange in global trade and investment, has become a hot topic in financial publications. It appears to stem from news that China is beginning to
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Hoop Dreaming Is Fun in March: Investing Realities Apply across a Lifetime

David Booth Dimensional Fund Advisors Chairman and Founder Every year at this time, the NCAA men’s basketball tournament thrills fans and creates so much interest that it’s estimated one in four Americans filled out a bracket to try to predict who will win it all.1 I really enjoy watching the games and always fill out a bracket in a pool with my family. This year, I couldn’t help but see connections between investing and March Madness. Let’s start with the
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