Brian Harris, Senior Editor, Dimensional Fund Advisors Since the financial crisis hit in late 2008, the US monetary base has more than doubled, from about $800 billion in mid-2008 to about $2 trillion in November 2010.1 When the Federal Reserve announced a second round of quantitative easing (QE2), it raised investor concerns that such actions [...]

The need for retirement planning doesn’t end with the onset of retirement. A new retiree’s focus shifts from building wealth to managing and preserving it. One major challenge is to make the investment portfolio supply cash flow for the duration of life—and through different economic and market conditions. Experts have studied portfolio longevity or endurance [...]

By MARK WHITEHOUSE – WALL STREET JOURNAL America’s baby boomers—those born between 1946 and 1964—face a problem that could weigh on the economy for years to come: The longer it takes for the economy to recover, the less money they’ll have to spend in retirement. Policy makers have long worried that Americans aren’t saving enough [...]

Average Joe smacked by contango, pre-rolling, and Wall Street sharpies; profiting off ‘the dumb money’ The following article from Investor’s News is an eye opener. It is so easy to think investing is easy – think again. And, enjoy reading this article and take heed. Like so many investors in the spring of 2009, Gordon [...]

As the stock market has improved, more investors have shifted their concern from weathering the financial crisis to anticipating the inflationary effects of rising federal spending and debt. Many folks are asking how they can prepare for potentially higher inflation. This article explores two basic ways to address inflation uncertainty and highlights asset groups that [...]

James L. Davis, Vice President, Dimensional Fund Advisors Investors are concerned about inflation, and rightly so. Average annual inflation in the US between 1929 and 2008 was nearly 3.3%. A dollar at the end of 2008 had about the same purchasing power as eight cents did at the beginning of 1929. Protecting the purchasing power [...]