THE AAII JOURNAL MARCH 2019 ISSUE

COVER ARTICLE

To Beat the Market, Invest Differently Than the Market

Decisions based on less than five years of performance returns are mostly based on noise. Many strategies look good over shorter periods, but fare much worse over longer periods.

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Features

in Portfolio Strategies,Retired Investor,Rebalancing

Rebalancing Update: The Market's Volatility Eliminated the Need to Adjust Allocations

By Charles Rotblut

The volatility incurred in 2018 was high enough to bring the equity allocations back toward their targeted range, preventing the need for rebalancing.

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in Member Stories

Remembering John Bogle: Personal Reflections From AAII Members

By AAII Staff

John Bogle’s influence went beyond introducing the world to low-cost index funds. His integrity and passion carry equal weight with his wise counsel in the eyes of individual investors.

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in First Cut Stocks,Investing Gurus

Revisiting the “What Works on Wall Street” Screen

By John Bajkowski

O’Shaughnessy helps to find strategies that have the highest “base rate” with the belief that a composite strategy can help achieve both higher and more consistent performance than single-variable strategies.

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in From the Archives

The Index Fund Approach: Tracking the Market

By John C. Bogle

This interview originally appeared in the January 1987 AAII Journal, at a time when the index fund concept was in its infancy.

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in Value Investing,Level3 Passive Portfolio

The Level3 Approach: Getting Exposure to Segments That Have Performed Well

By John Bajkowski

The portfolio looks to improve upon the long-term return of the market-cap-weighted S&P 500 using index funds of smaller companies, value-oriented stocks and real estate.

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in Computerized Investing

The Most Popular Tax Preparation Services Used by AAII Members

By Ryan Reeh

TurboTax is the most used service among AAII members, followed by H&R Block. Members particularly favor TurboTax Premier and H&R Block Deluxe.

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in Mutual Funds

The Top Mutual Funds Often Don’t Continue to Outperform

By Charles Rotblut

Analysis of mutual funds with the best five-year performance suggests the existence of some sustained momentum, but not consistently.

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Notes & Opinions

in Editor's Note

Two Famous Investors Who Have Impacted Me

By Charles Rotblut

Charles Rotblut relates how John Bogle increased his personal wealth and James O'Shaughnessy guides him on valuing stocks.

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in Dispatches

Investors Allocate More Into Funds According to the ABCs

By AAII Staff

Investors as well as financial professionals are more likely to invest in fund names that appear higher in the alphabet or higher in retirement plan menus.

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in Dispatches

Knowledge of Social Security Spousal Benefits Is Low

By AAII Staff

The lack of knowledge about Social Security spousal and survivor benefits can put even otherwise financially literate individuals at risk for making suboptimal claiming decisions.

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in Dispatches

Mobile Trading Apps Lead to More Frequent Transactions

By AAII Staff

Active investors taking advantage of the rise of technology portability through the use of smartphones have changed their trading behavior, according to a recent study.

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in Dispatches

Not Giving Sufficient Consideration to Sell Decisions Is Costly

By Anine Sus

Institutional investors tend to pay more attention to which stocks they are buying than the stocks they are choosing to sell, to the detriment of their portfolios’ returns.

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in Letters to the Editor

Letters

By AAII Staff

Members speak out on the effect of the new tax rules, broker features overlooked, not saving enough for retirement and Shadow Stock decisions. Plus, strong opinions in response to a recent Investor Update on stock buybacks.

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Expand to Read More

The AAII Journal, a leading investment publication, provides readers with a continuing stream of insights and ideas that focus on how you can improve your investment results. Unlike many investment magazines, ours is completely unbiased, educational and contains no advertising.

AAII has published this prestigious financial journal every month for more than 40 years. Members receive it for free and have access to thousands of evergreen articles online so they can reference information and strategies for previous market situations with a few clicks of the mouse.

Our stock journal helps individual investors manage their portfolios, build sound investment strategies and navigate all types of financial conditions. Articles range from optimizing target-date fund portfolios to retirement account withdrawal strategies and analysis on robo-advisor performance.

The magazine also has recurring features our members find invaluable. Every quarter, we dissect our model stock portfolio and provide updates to its holdings and performance. This analysis helps individual investors manage small-cap value investments.

We also offer an annual tax guide in our financial magazine. This detailed investment magazine issue covers many details that individual investors need to consider when filing their taxes. It keeps readers updated on any recent changes to tax laws and provisions and provides a handy guide to tax implications of personal investments to cut through any tax filing confusion.

Another annual feature covers ETFs (exchange-traded funds) and mutual funds. This edition helps individual investors understand what to look for when investing in funds. Online, we accompany those articles with sortable tables so that members have an interactive component to their investment research. This helps individual investors plan their portfolios and invest with confidence.

Other regular features in the AAII Journal include financial planning, stock ideas and investor professor. Financial planning articles walk investors through the process and difficulties of crafting strategies for creating wealth regardless of age. They also cover difficult situations, such as estate planning, and helpful advice for getting kids and grandchildren interested in investing.

Stock ideas, as the name implies, give readers a peek at new screens and the stocks that pass them. This part of our investing magazine helps readers identify new opportunities in the markets, flagged by a mix of quantitative and qualitative analysis. Because we all, as investors, need ideas, this remains one of the most popular categories.

Investor professor helps readers invest with knowledge and confidence. It deals with contingencies, such as “What happens to your investment if a company goes bankrupt?” and gives actionable advice on what resources you should use when considering a new broker. Our readers enjoy this section because of its practicality and enduring tips.

Frequent internal contributors include president John Bajkowski; AAII Journal editor and vice president Charles Rotblut; Stock Superstars Report lead analyst Wayne A. Thorp; and Dividend Investing editor Derek Hageman. Together, these internal contributors have nearly a century of market wisdom and research, which they share with clear and concise prose to help individual investors improve their knowledge and portfolios.

The AAII Journal also includes frequent guest contributions from the financial and economic space. Articles from outside industry experts differentiate our financial magazine from others and provide additional points of view for our readers. Previous guest authors have included John C. Bogle, founder of Vanguard; Jay Clayton, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission; Charles Schwab; and Nobel laureate and Yale professor Robert Shiller.

We hope you’ll enjoy our articles and, if you’re not a member, consider joining the Association so you can get our prestigious magazine sent to your door every month.