One of the lessons life teaches us along the way is that simple can best the complicated; even if we don't at first think it is so. Accomplishing financial goals...achieving good financial outcomes is fairly simple but it certainly is not easy.

An important but simple predicate is to accept that markets work and as a result, stock picking, market timing and speculation mostly work against you. That is simple but very, very hard for some investors to fully embrace.  Even the often-vaunted hedge funds have mostly trailed the broad markets for the past few years. A recent Financial Times article, "End of Alpha", stated, "There may be no more alpha". Alpha refers to excess return above market levels. We believe that after fees and costs, seeking "alpha" is usually detrimental to long-term returns. John Bogle (founder of Vanguard) calls this "CMH" for Cost Matters Hypothesis. After all else, the excess costs from trying to outmaneuver the market end up as underperformance most of the time.

The current political/financial environment provides a fertile landscape for investors, determined - "certain" - that a particular election result will entail disaster. Lower trending returns also cause investors to search for higher returns, often at their own peril. These forces set up a dangerous environment for investors without a plan. Our answer is simple...look to market history as a salve against undue irrationality. The markets, comprised of profit-seeking/dividend paying companies are likely to roughly track the path of the past.  We seek to invest...to obtain what the markets freely provide instead of speculating on what stocks to buy and when to buy.

Simple is indeed a secret to successful long-term investing. It takes all of the complicated forecasting and worrying out of the equation. It works if you will allow it time to work.