“The world’s favorite season is the spring. All things seem possible in May.”
– American Naturalist, Photographer, and Writer Edwin Way Teale
May, a month of growth, renewal, and transition—when possibilities seem endless. Still, the transitional nature of the month mirrors the markets, where some outcomes are anticipated, and others remain elusive. But short-term uncertainties don’t usually matter too much in the longer term. If you’re a little patient, summer will come.
Surging inflation has fueled concerns that the Federal Reserve is becoming more hawkish. These fears weighed on markets in April driving U.S. equity indices and international development markets down even as commodities continued to post strong performance.
Investors often struggle to stay focused on their investment strategy and performance relative to benchmarks—rather than comparing their performance to others. Research shows that this tendency can lead investors to take unnecessary risks, even when they’re ahead, ultimately resulting in underperformance compared to the overall market.
We believe long-term success hinges on adopting a thoughtful, Evidence-Based portfolio strategy aligned with clear goals. Regularly monitoring against benchmarks is key, as is resisting the temptation to compare.
Articles of Interest
Small Cap, Big Difference
The spread in returns between the best and worst performer among three major indices has averaged 4.9% per year over the past two decades. This gulf in returns has even crested double digits a couple of times.
Source: Dimensional Fund Advisors. Major indices based on the S&P SmallCap 600 Index, Russell 2000 Index, and CRSP US Small Cap Index.
Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Indices are not available for direct investment; therefore, their performance does not reflect the expenses associated with the management of an actual portfolio.
Russell 2000 Index measures the performance of the 2,000 smaller companies included in the Russell 3000 index. CRSP U.S. SmallCap Index is designed to measure the performance of small capitalization stocks in the United States. It targets stocks with market capitalizations that fall within the bottom 2% to 15% of the entire basket of U.S. stocks. S&P Small Cap 600 Index tracks a broad range of small-sized companies that meet specific liquidity and stability requirements.
What Happens Financially When You Work One More Year?
Learn why the impact of saving more, spending less later, and benefiting from an extra year or more of compounding can be truly staggering.
What to Know About Health Insurance and Taxes When You Get Married?
As wedding season kicks off, here are some financial tips on family care planning, donations, deductions, and the wash-sale rule. Even if you’re already married, there is plenty of useful advice here.
The Month of May 2024: Holidays, Fun Facts, Folklore
Celebrate the month of May! Find out why we call it “May” (hint: think Roman gods and goddesses) and which holidays occur during the month.
Advisory services offered through KCPAG Financial Advisors LLC and insurance services offered through KCPAG Insurance Services LLC, subsidiaries of Kemper Capital Management LLC. Tax services offered through Kemper CPA Group LLP.
Symmetry Partners, LLC is an investment advisory firm registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm only transacts business in states where it is properly registered or excluded or exempt from registration requirements. Registration of an investment adviser does not imply any specific level of skill or training and does not constitute an endorsement of the firm by the SEC.
No one should assume that the future performance of any specific investment, investment strategy, product, or non-investment-related content made reference to directly or indirectly in this newsletter will be profitable. You should not assume any discussion or information contained in this email serves as the receipt of, or as a substitute for, personalized investment advice. Symmetry does not provide tax or legal advice and nothing either stated or implied here should be inferred as providing such advice. Due to various factors, including changing market conditions and/or applicable laws, the content may no longer be reflective of current opinions or positions.
Investors cannot invest directly in an index. Indexes have no fees. Historical performance results for investment indexes do not reflect the deduction of transaction and/or custodial charges or the deduction of an investment management fee, the occurrence of which would have the effect of decreasing historical performance results. Actual performance for client accounts will differ from index performance.
