Blog

The Best Investment Policy Is Binary

Eric Nelson

Monday, September 8, 2025

Imagine owning a billion-dollar investment portfolio, yet still having to borrow money to meet your spending needs. Even the most sophisticated investors can screw up the basics of investment policy. Here's how we avoid that mistake.

Being A Fiduciary Doesn’t Fix Bad Investing

Eric Nelson

Friday, August 15, 2025

Many financial advisors are not acting in your best interest. But if you think that finding an advisor who is a fiduciary is all you need to worry about, you have more to learn.

Investing Common Sense Isn't So Common

Eric Nelson

Saturday, July 5, 2025

Successful investing isn't complicated, but it's challenging. Without getting the basics right, you have no chance of achieving the returns and, therefore, having the wealth you deserve.

History Keeps Helping

Eric Nelson

Wednesday, June 4, 2025

One of our advantages as investors comes from something everyone has access to, but very few use effectively. Investing history. Keep reading to learn more, and for an update on YTD asset class returns through May.

Why Worry?

Eric Nelson

Friday, April 18, 2025

We don't have to worry about market declines. You hear me say this all the time, but do you actually understand why?

How Low Can It Go?

Eric Nelson

Tuesday, April 15, 2025

The scariest part about a drop in your portfolio isn’t the amount that it’s gone down. It’s wondering how much further it could go.

Panic Isn’t Profitable

Eric Nelson

Thursday, April 3, 2025

Understanding how often and how much a diversified stock portfolio can drop in value is important to keep you from panicking and making an ill-advised decision that could really cost you.

A recent article from Jeff Troutner is a helpful reminder about the core investment principles we follow and trust. Check it out…

Don’t Interrupt The Compounding

Eric Nelson

Saturday, March 1, 2025

A trip to Epcot has me thinking about family, money, and legacy. My family, and your family. Keep reading to learn more…

Investing For People Like Us

Eric Nelson

Monday, January 20, 2025

Why do we allow people to convince us that successful investing needs to be complicated? Maybe because we don't know any better. But we should. Keep reading to understand why...

Reviewing 2024: Can Good Be Good Enough?

Eric Nelson

Thursday, January 9, 2025

How did investment markets and our portfolios do in 2024? How should you be evaluating returns? Keep reading the January Smarter Investing article to learn more...

There’s No Such Thing As a Sure Thing

Eric Nelson

Tuesday, November 26, 2024

Whether it’s high guaranteed returns or future events that we just know will happen, there’s no such thing as a sure thing. Investing as if there is will get you in trouble. Keep reading to understand why.

The Key To Making Money In Stocks

Eric Nelson

Wednesday, October 30, 2024

What's the secret to making money in stocks? You've probably heard it before but find it hard to do. Keep reading to learn more.

A Conservative Retirement Won't Cut It

Eric Nelson

Tuesday, October 22, 2024

Investing is always hard, but taking the conservative route to preserve what you have will usually make things worse. Here’s a look at this concept through the lens of investing over the last ten years.

Do The Evolution

Eric Nelson

Wednesday, July 17, 2024

Asset-class investing has evolved to include profitability, along with value and small-cap stocks, as essential drivers of return and diversification. What are the benefits compared to other investing approaches? Keep reading to find out…

Disciplined vs. Outdated

Eric Nelson

Wednesday, July 3, 2024

What's the difference between staying committed to your investments and hanging on too long and failing to evolve? We've got an investment portfolio change to make so I thought I'd explain it through this lens. Keep reading to learn more...

Our Concerns

Eric Nelson

Friday, June 7, 2024

The financial headlines are always giving us something to be concerned about. But your biggest financial obstacles aren’t the things you’re reading about, they’re the things you’ll face in your own life. Keep reading to learn more…

Fool Me Once

Eric Nelson

Tuesday, May 14, 2024

I learned a lot in my first decade as a financial advisor in the late 1990s and early 2000s, especially my mistakes. And many of these lessons are applicable today. Keep reading to learn more…

Should I Compare Myself To The S&P 500?

Eric Nelson

Tuesday, April 23, 2024

With the S&P 500 Index on a tear in recent years, investors are thinking about going all in on it or they’re at least paying close attention to how they’re doing versus the index. How should you be thinking about your portfolio?

The Final Four Of Investing

Eric Nelson

Friday, April 5, 2024

351 college basketball teams competed to get to the Final Four this weekend, and it feels like there are at least as many different investment theories and products we have to consider. What are the Final Four of investing we need to know?

Are there parallels between March Madness and successful investing? Dimensional founder and chairman David Booth believes there is. Keep reading to find out why.

Remember What Got Us Here

Eric Nelson

Thursday, March 7, 2024

Stock returns have been good in recent times, maybe better than you realize. But there is a reason for this and they may not continue at this clip indefinitely. Click on the link to read my thoughts and learn more.

How could I say no? A group of fellow soccer parents wanted to field an adult, co-ed indoor soccer team. I wasn’t at the get-together when they decided who would play, so I was automatically added as the goalie–a position I...

It’s easy to forget that we’re investing for our long-term goals, many of which will not come to be for a decade or more. Even older investors are often trying to leave some of their wealth to the next generation or...

The most common financial planning and investment question I get from clients and prospective clients alike is: How much can I spend from my portfolio in retirement? It also might be the most critical question you’ll face in your...

The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank in the last few weeks—the second and third largest bank failures in history—have been dominating financial headlines. But as I’ve read their stories to understand...

A recent article on Fox Business reported shocking findings from the 2022 Fidelity State of Retirement Planning Study: “More than 40% of the general population put their retirement planning on hold during the pandemic, and that...

You’ve probably heard that Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) folded last week, the 16th largest bank failure in history. Stock prices since have been predictably volatile—down for a few days but up significantly today. First, the...

Dan Wheeler passed away this weekend after a battle with pancreatic cancer. I’ve mentioned several financial industry-related names in my articles over the years that are on my gratitude list, from Fama, French, Bogle, and...

When I first started using DFA mutual funds to invest client portfolios over 20 years ago, it was with a specific purpose. After giving up on trying to pick stocks and time the market (“active management”) in the early...

Happy Valentine’s Day! Dimensional posted this video to their website today and I wanted to share it with you. Here are their thoughts followed by the short clip: In love as in finance, there is some value in being flexible....

With last year firmly in the rearview mirror and annual reports on their way out the door, I decided to look back on 2022 in financial markets and share some of the things that stood out to me and that we can learn from. THE GOOD We...

Every year after Thanksgiving, my family heads to a remote Christmas tree farm in Edmond to get a real tree for the house. The fresh air is invigorating, it’s our two-year-old lab Berkeley’s happiest day of the year, and my...

“Everyone I talk to has lost a ton of money this year; what’s going on?” I’ve heard this question several times from clients and potential clients in the last few months. Surprisingly, 2022 looks like it will be...

Technology enables immediate access to everything wherever and whenever we want it. In many cases, such as staying in touch with friends and family, or learning about world events, that’s a good thing. However, when it comes to...

No one enjoys a stock market decline, but asset class investors don’t have much to complain about this year. While the S&P 500 is down over 17% and the international stock MSCI World ex-USA Index has declined over 22% through...

With over 200,000 financial advisors in the United States, how do you pick one? First, eliminate the stock pickers. Those are the people making predictions about which stocks are going to be winners and losers. Cross off the market...

Stocks have historically been the best investment for long-term investors to combat the costs of higher inflation. Small cap and value stocks tend to perform particularly well when inflation rises (I’ve written about this before,...

It has been a tough year for investors as diversified stock portfolios have declined by almost 20% from their highs last year. Bonds have failed to offer the stability we’ve seen from them in prior downturns, as their price...

By David Booth We’ve learned a lot about investing over the past 60 years, a period that has seen many breakthroughs in the world of finance. What we know comes from studying public markets and is grounded in serious academic...