The Informed Investor

Episode 60: Every two years, millions of investors probably ask themselves (and their advisors) whether looming elections demand changes to their investment portfolios. It's an understandable sentiment—and one that demands discussion. But the most important conclusion from these conversations should never change: Since the data doesn't show any strong connection between election results and stock market performance, it's best to vote with your ballot, not your portfolio. No matter how you slice, dice, or take a hatchet to the data, factor in your own political proclivities, or scream about what you think is totally wrong or right about the candidates, market prices have already incorporated all that information (and thousands of other developments, including numerous economic indicators) as investors consider what to do next. This is a well-researched theory of how capital markets work. The implication is that the stock market doesn't really care what you think about this year's midterm elections or the next presidential horse race. Need supporting evidence? Fourteen of 17 presidential terms since 1929, across administrations with both Democratic and Republican chief executives, ended with positive returns for the S&P 500 Index. (S&P data © 2026 S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, a division of S&P Global.) Investors shouldn't ignore elections, of course. But their portfolios may benefit from standing pat as politics rile and emotions rock and roll. In Episode 60 of The Informed Investor podcast, Dimensional's Mark Gochnour, Head of Global Client Services, Wes Crill, Senior Client Solutions Director, and Jake DeKinder, Head of Client Communications, interrogate common myths about the impact of elections on markets and offer sensible answers as investors head to the polls. LINKS FROM TODAY'S EPISODE: "Stay Calm: Learn to Embrace Uncertainty in Investing and Life" Order the new book by Dimensional Founder David Booth https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0GPDHGH8K/?maas=maas_adg_2F97289929AB0BA26D806A1F81D55D66_afap_abs&ref_=aa_maas&tag=maas&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER Subscribe to the Stay Calm Investing Newsletter https://www.staycalminvesting.com/newsletter?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=informed_investor The Informed Investor: Feedback Survey https://www.dimensional.com/us-en/informed-investor-survey?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=informed_investor "The Informed Investor" on YouTube The Informed Investor - YouTube Dimensional Fund Advisors Shorts on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@dimensionalfundadvisors/shorts Mark Gochnour on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-gochnour-9a23598a/ Wes Crill on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/wes-crill-77a49417/ Jake DeKinder on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jake-d-4105b98/ Learn more at https://www.dimensional.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=informed_investor For US audiences: Select videos are available as part of an opportunity for CFP® and Investments & Wealth Institute® professionals to earn continuing education (CE) credits https://www.dimensional.com/financial-professionals/ce-credit-experience-d360?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=informed_investor

Episode 59: What happens when you rethink how financial advice is delivered—and how an industry comes together?   Josh Brown, CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management, talks about the evolution of modern wealth management, the changing role of financial advisors, and the story behind one of the industry's most distinctive events. Brown shares how his own career—from selling financial products to becoming a fee-based financial advisor—shaped his belief that advisors should sit on the same side of the table as their clients. He explains how that philosophy helped shape Ritholtz Wealth and its approach to advice, technology, communication, and client relationships.   The conversation also dives into why Brown and his partners created the Future Proof Festival after the pandemic. Their goal was to build something beyond the traditional conference: an experience centered on community, networking, purposeful meetings, and a more modern approach to bringing advisors, asset managers, technology companies, and other industry professionals together. Brown explains how the event evolved through experimentation, learning what attendees valued, and doubling down on what worked.   The discussion goes further into the forces reshaping wealth management, including AI, integrated technology, custody, direct indexing, and the growing importance of giving advisors more time to focus on clients rather than administrative tasks.   Brown also offers advice for financial advisors looking to grow: find what makes you different, develop a compelling story, and identify a specific audience you can genuinely serve. From building a business on the internet to using blogs, podcasts, television, and social media to reach investors, his message is consistent: the medium may change, but the mission of delivering valuable advice remains.   In Episode 59 of The Informed Investor, recorded live at the Future Proof Festival in Southern California, Dimensional's Mark Gochnour, Head of Global Client Services, and Jake DeKinder, Head of Client Communications sit down Josh Brown, CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management, for a wide-ranging conversation about where financial advice has been, where it is heading, and what it takes to build a modern advisory business.   LINKS FROM TODAY'S EPISODE: "Stay Calm: Learn to Embrace Uncertainty in Investing and Life" Order the new book by Dimensional Founder David Booth https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0GPDHGH8K/?maas=maas_adg_2F97289929AB0BA26D806A1F81D55D66_afap_abs&ref_=aa_maas&tag=maas&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER   Subscribe to the Stay Calm Investing Newsletter https://www.staycalminvesting.com/newsletter?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=informed_investor   The Informed Investor: Feedback Survey https://www.dimensional.com/us-en/informed-investor-survey?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=informed_investor   "The Informed Investor" on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCyJr6FFig-h1mA7rVP7Mbk0irFw2wA90   Dimensional Fund Advisors Shorts on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@dimensionalfundadvisors/shorts   Mark Gochnour on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-gochnour-9a23598a/   Jake DeKinder on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jake-d-4105b98/   Josh Brown on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/dtjb/   Learn more at https://www.dimensional.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=informed_investor   For US audiences: Select videos are available as part of an opportunity for CFP® and Investments & Wealth Institute® professionals to earn continuing education (CE) credits https://www.dimensional.com/financial-professionals/ce-credit-experience-d360?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=informed_investor

Episode 58: Any financial professional who joined the industry a week after Black Monday—when the stock market suffered its biggest single-day loss—knows something about investment discipline.   Blaine Lourd, founder and CEO of Los Angeles-based LourdMurray, vividly remembers studying for a certification exam on that dark day, October 19, 1987, and then passing that exam a week later as the market began a long recovery.   Over the next four decades, Lourd has managed money for clients during economic expansions, contractions, and recessions, while both Republicans and Democrats controlled the presidency and Congress, and when wars broke out, the dot-com era boomed and busted, and credit default swaps became dirty words.   "If you can ignore all of that and you can stick with a plan that you can stick with, that is right for you, it's pretty hard not to make money and reach your goals," Lourd says. "To be a successful investor over time, as we've known forever, you don't have to make predictions. You don't have to do sector bets. You just have to really stay in your seat."   Discipline is a prerequisite for this approach—and FOMO is your enemy, according to Lourd, whose firm has roughly $8 billion under management.   In Episode 58 of The Informed Investor podcast, Dimensional's Mark Gochnour, Head of Global Client Services, speaks with Lourd at length about where and how investors can go right and wrong on the road to their financial destination.   LINKS FROM TODAY'S EPISODE: Stay Calm: Learn to Embrace Uncertainty in Investing and Life Order the new book by Dimensional Founder David Booth: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0GPDHGH8K/?maas=maas_adg_2F97289929AB0BA26D806A1F81D55D66_afap_abs&ref_=aa_maas&tag=maas&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER   Subscribe to the Stay Calm Investing Newsletter: https://www.staycalminvesting.com/newsletter?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=informed_investor   The Informed Investor: Feedback Survey: https://www.dimensional.com/us-en/informed-investor-survey?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=informed_investor   The Informed Investor on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCyJr6FFig-h1mA7rVP7Mbk0irFw2wA90   Dimensional Fund Advisors Shorts on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dimensionalfundadvisors/shorts   Jake DeKinder on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jake-d-4105b98   Blaine Lourd on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blaine-lourd-1517aa17a/   Learn more at https://www.dimensional.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=informed_investor   For US audiences: Select videos are available as part of an opportunity for CFP® and Investments & Wealth Institute® professionals to earn continuing education (CE) credits https://www.dimensional.com/financial-professionals/ce-credit-experience-d360?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=informed_investor

Episode 57: How much of your portfolio should really be invested in alternatives? For ultra-high-net-worth investors and families, alternative investments have long been viewed as a path to diversification, exclusive access, and potentially higher returns. But are they always worth the complexity, illiquidity, fees, and taxes that come with them? We take a critical look at the world of alternatives—from hedge funds, private equity, and venture capital to private real estate and other non-public investments. We explore where returns actually come from, looking at the impact of enterprise risk, financial engineering, and manager skill, and examine whether those sources of return truly justify the additional costs and complexity. We also discuss the role of liquidity, diversification, taxation, manager selection, and investment purpose when evaluating alternatives. Are private investments genuinely less volatile, or do appraisal-based valuations simply make them look that way? And as access expands beyond institutions and ultra-wealthy families into vehicles such as 401(k) plans, are investors really gaining access to the same opportunities? Finally, we look at one of the original homes of alternative investing: endowments. If institutions with long time horizons, sophisticated investment teams, and access to top-tier managers have not consistently outperformed comparable public-market portfolios, what should individual investors conclude? In Episode 57 of The Informed Investor, Dimensional's Mark Gochnour, Head of Global Client Services, sits down with Jeff Coyle, founder and CEO of Libretto. The takeaway: Alternatives aren't inherently good or bad—they need to be deconstructed, evaluated, and compared against the public markets with a clear understanding of where the return comes from and what you're paying to get it. LINKS FROM TODAY'S EPISODE:  Subscribe to the Stay Calm Investing Newsletter https://www.staycalminvesting.com/newsletter?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=informed_investor The Informed Investor: Feedback Survey https://www.dimensional.com/us-en/informed-investor-survey?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=informed_investor "The Informed Investor" on YouTube The Informed Investor - YouTube Dimensional Fund Advisors Shorts on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@dimensionalfundadvisors/shorts Mark Gochnour on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-gochnour-9a23598a/ Jeff Coyle on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffcoylelibretto Learn more at https://www.dimensional.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=informed_investor For US audiences: Select videos are available as part of an opportunity for CFP® and Investments & Wealth Institute® professionals to earn continuing education (CE) credits https://www.dimensional.com/financial-professionals/ce-credit-experience-d360?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=informed_investor

Episode 56: If you and your partner know what you really want out of life, will your investment strategy help you get there?   It absolutely should, say financial advisors Marc and Alison Campbell, who are based in Southern California.   The first step, naturally, is figuring out the first thing—what you really want, individually and collectively—before moving on to the second thing—a suitable strategy.   The Campbells, a married couple who met as MBA students, encourage clients to take personality tests (specifically, the Enneagram https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/type-descriptions/) and to rank where they stand on five essential "domains of life": money, career, health, relationships, and fun. The results inform how the advisors approach developing a financial plan for couples (or individuals) that goes beyond money.   In their work the Campbells stress the importance of living an "intentional life"—discovering who you are, what you desire, and how to get it.   Marc is a Certified Financial Planner. Alison is a Certified Financial Therapist and a former life coach. They believe combining those areas of expertise helps to create rewarding outcomes. "It was all based on one key insight," Marc says. "If a financial advisor had the information that a coach had about a person, the financial advisor would be better off. If a coach had the information a financial advisor had, they'd be better off. It's kind of like peanut butter and chocolate. Put them together, and it's a lot better."   In Episode 56 of The Informed Investor podcast, hosted by Dimensional's Mark Gochnour, Head of Global Client Services, the Campbells lay out their philosophy for applying a whole-life lens to financial advice in an effort to help couples achieve their goals.    LINKS FROM TODAY'S EPISODE:   "Stay Calm: Learn to Embrace Uncertainty in Investing and Life" Order the new book by Dimensional Founder David Booth https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0GPDHGH8K/?maas=maas_adg_2F97289929AB0BA26D806A1F81D55D66_afap_abs&ref_=aa_maas&tag=maas&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER   Subscribe to the Stay Calm Investing Newsletter https://www.staycalminvesting.com/newsletter?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=informed_investor   For US audiences: Select videos are available as part of an opportunity for CFP® and Investments & Wealth Institute® professionals to earn continuing education (CE) credits. https://www.dimensional.com/financial-professionals/ce-credit-experience-d360?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=informed_investor   The Informed Investor: Feedback Survey https://www.dimensional.com/us-en/informed-investor-survey?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=informed_investor   "The Informed Investor" on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCyJr6FFig-h1mA7rVP7Mbk0irFw2wA90   Dimensional Fund Advisors Shorts on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@dimensionalfundadvisors/shorts   "In This Together" is for individuals and couples who want to work directly with Ali and Marc Campbell to pursue more intentional lives. https://www.lifealpha.co/inthistogether.html   "Life Alpha" is for financial advisors looking to extend their value proposition and improve satisfaction across all areas of their clients' lives. https://www.lifealpha.co/index.html   Marc Campbell Wealth Management at Farther is for people looking for financial advice and comprehensive wealth management. [email protected]   "Redefining Success for a Happier, More Authentic and Fulfilling Life" is Ali Campbell's book about her personal journey. https://www.amazon.com/Redefining-Success-Happier-Authentic-Fulfilling/dp/1641842962/ref=sr_1_1?crid=29C5H2KDX9525&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.zFcLAPJFnKZ2xBlDv1ij0C7lPgHPTEGoCkyiE8wUxPI._h4oF43kZASzYtjqiljksvHFPDTyCbnPEbxCQFIdSrY&dib_tag=se&keywords=redefining+success+alison+campbell&qid=1787694576&sprefix=redefining+success+alison+campbell%2Caps%2C181&sr=8-1   Mark Gochnour on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-gochnour-9a23598a/   Learn more at https://www.dimensional.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=informed_investor