Hello Friends!
Following you will find, although very late this quarter, a much-changed performance reporting format.
Given how late it is, perhaps this quarter-end I bit off more than I could reasonably chew. But I think you will like what I’ve done. Gone is the 4,000-6,000 word, granular, and largely institutional-focused, blog post. While writing that level of detail is an important part of my own process, almost without exception, individual clients had told me that it was tough to make it through, and that it was exceedingly difficult to see how it all applied to their unique situation. I was giving a lot of different benchmark information that, while appropriate to all of the various market sectors in which we invest, was largely impossible for people to distill down to what was directly comparable to their own portfolio performance. Most asked for something more simple, more easily absorbed, and that just hit the highlights of what was going on. They also wanted something physically easier to read than a blog post.
I might be an old dog. But I can learn new tricks. It takes me a minute, or two, but I get there.
This link is to a PDF containing our new-form 3rd Quarter 2018: Quarterly Recap and Near-term Outlook. It is easily ¼ to ½ the length of our prior Outlooks. It follows the form of (1) What is it that we are most thinking about right now, (2) What happened during the past quarter from a big-picture perspective, and (3) What are we most watching during the coming quarter. Also, this new reporting incorporates a series of directly comparable, globally diversified, balanced portfolio benchmarks constructed by Morningstar, Inc. This tabled data will, hopefully, help each reader evaluate performance in proper context with just a few numbers, rather than the both hands and feet worth of numbers that I had been providing.
As always, I am available at any time, any day of the week, to discuss specific portfolio performance questions with all clients. Until then, be well, enjoy your weekend, and thank you!
A.J. Walker, CFA CFP® CIMA®
Founder, President, and CEO
Lake Jericho, LLC