By SJS Managing Director Jennifer Smiljanich
The start of a new year always seems to be a good time for reflection. A time to think about the journey we took throughout the past year. A time to look forward to the year ahead. And, a time to think about a certain “D word.” That’s right, Discipline! That difficult thing we know we should work on, but still find ourselves struggling with.
We resolve to do all the right things, to choose to eat healthier, to make time for exercise, and to work on relationships with family and friends. Discipline. It’s hard.
At SJS, our quarterly Investment Committee meetings give us the opportunity to reflect on and to evaluate the discipline of our MarketPlus investment strategy, and what that means to you. Our commitment to you is that we will maintain the discipline of our investment philosophy and our science-based process of designing portfolios to help you achieve your financial goals in an up, down, or sideways market.
At times, we have made adjustments to the way in which we implement MarketPlus Investing on your behalf. Any investment change is subject to careful consideration, and may come as a result of market conditions, investment alternatives offering lower costs, more diversification, or better exposure to an investment premium. Since our beginning in 1995, our portfolios have seen a number of adjustments, about two dozen in total (graphic below).
We do know that it’s not easy being an investor, especially a patient one. As human beings, we are prone to an emotional response when we see the markets go up, and even more so when markets go down. Behavioral studies tell us that losses loom larger than gains – the pain of a loss is psychologically twice as powerful as the pleasure of a gain.[1]
We are here to offer you an ear to listen and a hand to hold when the markets are choppy. And we will continue to offer you a disciplined investment process that puts your portfolio in the way of market returns, and the anticipated benefits of investment premiums supported by academic research.
If we can free up some time for you to focus on the people and the causes you care about, well – that’s just another “plus.”
Sources:
[1] “Loss Aversion,” www.behavioraleconomics.com.
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