Friday, February 13, 2015

How Boring!!!!!!!

Pathways Advisory Group, Inc.
Dustin J. Smith, CFP®












When it comes to investing, we have a core set of beliefs that we hope will keep us grounded in all markets.  Investing is a lifelong commitment, with no destination.  We accumulate shares in multiple disparate market baskets, because of a belief that the combined results will be far more effective than the individual components.  We believe market timing ultimately causes more harm than good, acting as a headwind to the power of compounding growth.   And, finally, we take the financial media with a grain of salt, because of a basic understanding that fear and sensationalism sells.

Once in a while, however, we can be surprised by something.  Although I don’t expect any readership records were set, I was surprised to see a little more credence to our side of the story in 2014:

The Wall Street Journal reported on record inflows to Vanguard and Dimensional funds in 2014, driven by dissatisfaction with high fees and poor results of the actively managed mutual fund world (and Warren Buffet’s comments).  The Washington Post article about returning to the basics, had a number of quality suggestions.  And, MarketWatch offered a less than typical take on giving up the search for market predictors.  Although, the temptation to try for outperformance isn’t going anywhere, it was nice to see a little trend develop in 2014.  

Here’s to another boring year of accepting market results, for better or worse, based upon a core set of beliefs and a well thought out portfolio design.  Happy New Year from all of us here at Pathways!

Find Dustin on
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dustinsmithpathwaysag