When you invest in the stock market, average is Not Normal.

The S&P 500 has been up each of the last 6 years and as of 10/13/15 is down -1% for 2015.  We will see if we can get another positive year.

Since 1926 (89 years):

• The S&P 500 is positive 78.6% of the time and negative 21.4% of the time.
• The average return is about 12% per year over the 89 years
• The average return over the last 10 years about 9.5% per year, average over the last 15 years is 6% per year, average over the last 20 years is 11.75% per year.

However, only about 5.6% of the years have a return of between 8% and 12%.  Shockingly, 53% of the years have returns above 12%.

Successful investing is about Philosophy, Strategy and Process.

Investing is about having a plan and sticking to it.  Investing is about process and discipline.  It is perfectly normal for stocks to go up and down 5% to 25% in a very short period of time.  Focus on the long-term… 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, 40 years+

We believe in low cost investing and if you hire an Advisor, they should be a fiduciary for you 100% of the time.

Your net returns will be primarily driven by the following:

1) Investor behavior (do you panic and sell at market lows)

2) Asset allocation (your mix of stocks/bonds/alternatives).  We believe in tilting a portfolio toward value companies, smaller companies and companies with high profit.  See why we use Dimensional Funds vs. Vanguard Funds

3) Fees and transaction costs (the lower the better)

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