2013 Year in Review: Different Year Similar Lessons

When we launched this blog in November 2010, we tasked ourselves with posting deliberately and consistently, so we could lead by example when recommending a similar strategy for your investment habits. Mission accomplished so far: Today’s “Year in Review” represents our fourth annual summary. Each year has been uniquely remarkable; each has revealed a very different mix of good, bad and ugly events. And yet, our suggested best-practices for managing your wealth throughout have remained deliberate and consistent.

This is no accident. By repeating the same advice through varied markets, we hope we’re helping you stay the course when markets grow dark, as well as (and equally importantly) when they are roaring forward, as most markets did in 2013.

To report on 2013 milestones, we are pleased to share with you Dimensional Fund Advisor’s excellent 2013 Review Economy & Markets, in which they surmised, “2013 has been described as a ‘year about nothing.’ In reality, a lot happened – but nothing could challenge the market’s profitable run.”

Would you like to stroll down memory lane? Here are links to our past annual reviews:

• 2012 – The Year It Didn’t Happen Most memorable quote: “In spite of the emotionally charged environment, many equity markets around the world posted above average returns for the calendar year.”
• 2011 – Year in Review Most memorable quote (by Warren Buffett): “I never attempt to make money on the stock market. I buy on the assumption that they could close the market the next day and not reopen it for five years.”
• 2010 – Year in Review Most memorable quote: “As far as the predictions are concerned, if we rely on observations from years past, almost all of them will be wrong or meaningless soon enough.”

Whether you have been one of our loyal blog readers all along or have only recently found us, I hope you will be in touch if we can help you manage your and your family’s wealth in 2014 and beyond. That would make my year.