The asset management industry is dominated by firms with poor, expensive products that nevertheless have large marketing budgets, and use those budget to make the most noise.
And then there’s a firm like Dimensional Fund Advisors which, on the whole, has some very good products, but which hides it light under a bushel.
I’ll admit, I’ve struggled to understand over the years why Dimensional doesn’t do more to get its message out there.
Whatever the reason is, there are signs that things are starting to change. Slowly but steadily, the firm is starting to make its voice heard.
An example of this new approach is an interview which David Jones has just given to the Retirement Café Podcast. David is Vice-President and Head of Financial Adviser Services for DFA’s EMEA division.
In it, he explains Dimensional’s investment approach, and how it’s grounded in economic theory and backed by decades of empirical research. Perhaps the most important takeaway for investors is that you don’t need to forecast the future, time the market, or pick stocks or sectors or funds to invest in.
David puts it like this:
“The academic research says there’s very little persistency in people being able to systematically pick stocks or systematically time markets to advantage. So why do it? You don’t have to, in order to have a successful investing experience.”
Quite.
You can listen to the podcast here:
The Retirement Café Podcast, Episode 34, with David Jones of Dimensional Fund Advisors
You can find more from Dimensional Perspectives on TEBI here:
Do IPO returns match the hype?
Robert Merton: Technology and trust should go hand in hand
Robin is a journalist and campaigner for positive change in global investing. He runs Regis Media, a niche provider of content marketing for financial advice firms with an evidence-based investment philosophy. He also works as a consultant to other disruptive firms in the investing sector.
