Will Intelligence Give You a Leg Up? No (6:41)

Markets are efficient. This is the main reason few investors and money managers can reliably beat the market over a period of years. Because there are billions and perhaps trillions of unknown variables that go into the markets on a daily basis, no one person can get an edge. Of course, some can get lucky, but you must recognize it for what it is...gambling and speculating, not investing. Listen to the common sense in this video.

Continue to learn, stay diversified according to your risk tolerance, stay disciplined, and rebalance. Education is your best defense against imprudent investing. Invest intelligently!

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

     ▪ John and Scott

Activity Does NOT Equal Control (2:15)

The more an investor buys and sells, the greater likelihood he will eventually lose. A lot of activity equates to gambling not investing. Be a prudent investor and stay with a quality diversified portfolio within your risk profile.

Continue to learn, stay diversified according to your risk tolerance, stay disciplined, and rebalance. Education is your best defense against imprudent investing. Invest intelligently!

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

     ▪ John and Scott

Investors Bad at Predicting Bad Events & Good Events (11:12)

I created this video on May 7th, 2010. In 2010 the markets were negative for much of 2010, then in the last few months a period of positive returns came when few expected it. Check out the chart below from 2010 of the S&P 500 Index. Patience paid off in 2010. Is it Deja vu all over again for 2011? Time will tell.

Note: This is not a prediction of the future. No one knows the future. Watch my video below. This is a lesson on patience and discipline so you get the average returns that are available to the disciplined investor, and so you don’t lose money by getting fearful or greedy. Every portfolio has different levels of risk and volatility. Choose a portfolio that has the volatility you can tolerate for a period of years.

Continue to learn, stay diversified according to your risk tolerance, stay disciplined, and rebalance. Education is your best defense against imprudent investing. Invest intelligently!

S&P 500 in 2010: Patience paid off in 2010. Is it Deja vu all over again for 2011? Time will tell.



Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

     ▪ John and Scott

The Most Important Factor in Portfolio Performance (21:59)

Find out why no one, including yourself can predict the future, or reliably pick the “best” stocks, or pick the best sectors, or time the market. This is a fascinating session on “The Fourth Factor” in investing!

Continue to learn, stay diversified according to your risk tolerance, stay disciplined, and rebalance. Education is your best defense against imprudent investing. Invest intelligently!

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

     ▪ John and Scott

Get to Know Your Portfolio (with some humor) (39:06)

To get a grasp on the scope of your portfolio through Matson, you must watch this video. Mark has some fun with this informative topic. So watch with this is mind. We can be informative and have some fun at the same time. So, don’t be too serious and lighten up when watching this.

In the second half of the class, Steve shows how the Matson Portfolios are constructed. So if you are want to know how your money is invested (and you should) check it out!

Continue to learn, stay diversified according to your risk tolerance, stay disciplined, and rebalance. Education is your best defense against imprudent investing. Invest intelligently!

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

     ▪ John and Scott

Back to The Basics (13:14)

To All Royal American Investors, You have to check out the 20/20 story from 1992 with John Stossel. He shows how picking stocks by throwing darts is often a better way than following the “experts.” Check out Barbara Walters 18 years ago, and those clunky big screen computers!

In this recent episode of Matson Money Live where just like Vince Lombardi started every season by saying, "this is a football", we go back to the basics and discuss the detriments of stock picking individual stocks.

About 2 minutes in we show a 1992 video with John Stossel that is timeless. The story could be written today. You will be amazed!

Continue to learn, stay diversified according to your risk tolerance, stay disciplined, and rebalance. Education is your best defense against imprudent investing. Invest intelligently!

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

     ▪ John and Scott

Back to Basics Continued (19:55)

So called investment gurus make up all kinds of investment strategies to dupe investors into investing with them, with no real evidence it will work over the long term.

Mark continues his discussion about getting back to the basics and the detriments of stock picking, market timing and track record investing. At the very least, watch the first 7 minutes and you will be amazed at the strategies other advisors make up and try and pass off as prudent investing strategies!

Continue to learn, stay diversified according to your risk tolerance, stay disciplined, and rebalance. Education is your best defense against imprudent investing. Invest intelligently!

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

     ▪ John and Scott

The Next Bubble? Investors Chasing Performance (7:09)

In this video John describes the next big potential investment bubble, and how to avoid the costly behavior of chasing performance. This mistake is repeated over and over again by investors. Is another bubble forming? Check it out!

Continue to learn, stay diversified according to your risk tolerance, stay disciplined, and rebalance. Education is your best defense against imprudent investing. Invest intelligently!

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

     ▪ John and Scott

Save the Investor, Save the World (31:02)

This week we are back to the important principals of investing (so you know what is important and what you can ignore in the media, magazines and newspapers). In this segment you will learn about the "investor dilemma" and why most investors underperform over their lifetime. You will also learn about the devastating effects of communism, the "global dilemma" and benefits of global diversification, and much, much more. This is an important investor coaching session that every investor much watch. It is a bit longer than the videos we typically send out, but has a ton of great information in it! This is one for the archives!

Continue to learn, stay diversified according to your risk tolerance, stay disciplined, and rebalance. Education is your best defense against imprudent investing. Invest intelligently!

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

     ▪ John and Scott

Question 6 - Do you Know the Correlation of the Assets in Your Portfolio? (4:38)

This video is a discussion on diversification and the benefits of holding low correlated assets. Do you know how to measure diversification in your portfolio? Question #6 of the 20 must answer questions is, Do you know the correlation of the assets in your portfolio?

Continue to learn, stay diversified according to your risk tolerance, stay disciplined, and rebalance. Education is your best defense against imprudent investing. Invest intelligently!

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

     ▪ John and Scott

Mutual Funds: Don't Follow the Stars (7:15)

How do Morningstar's five star funds fare in the long run? Is the star system a reliable way to choose good investments? Have you ever been burned by a five star fund? Should you pick mutual funds based on stars alone? Probably not such a good idea.

Stars are but one small factor. Asset allocation, broad based diversification, and getting your risk category right are more important than picking the stars. Check out this video to find out why.

Continue to learn, stay diversified according to your risk tolerance, stay disciplined, and rebalance. Education is your best defense against imprudent investing. Invest intelligently!

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

     ▪ John and Scott

John Stossel on the Stock Market (9:29)

Scott & I had the privilege of meeting John Stossel in person at a recent Advanced Advisor Conference. It was an honor to meet him! You have to check out the timeless 20/20 story from 1992 featuring Mr. Stossel. You will be amazed! He shows how picking stocks by throwing darts is often a better way than following the "experts." Check out Barbara Walters 18 years ago and those clunky big screen computers! The truly amazing thing is that the story could be written today.

If you try and pick individual stocks, just like gambling, you may get lucky from time to time. However, just like in gambling, the more you pull the lever (the more you trade), the greater the likelihood you underperform the markets over time. Plus, you bring in the unnecessary risk of corporate bankruptcy or unexpected negative news that can come with any individual company no matter how good the company is today. You can diversify this unnecessary risk to a minimal amount with a broadly diversified portfolio. Returns come from the markets. There is no need to pick individual stocks to get the returns the markets deliver over time. Know the difference between speculation and gambling and prudent investing. Stay disciplined stay diversified!

Continue to learn, stay diversified according to your risk tolerance, stay disciplined, and rebalance. Education is your best defense against imprudent investing. Invest intelligently!

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

     ▪ John and Scott

How Did Discipline & Rebalancing Really Work? Part 1 (26:00)

Part 1 of 2

So you want to know how rebalancing and discipline can benefit you the investor? Watch as we prove yet again that MPT is not dead and actually saves disciplined investors. It's not easy to be the disciplinarian when it comes to rebalancing and sticking with an investment strategy. What has Efficient Market Hypothesis done for actual Matson Money investor returns? We don't like to focus on short term returns, but knowing your investment strategy got the results it was supposed to can help keep you on the right track.

Also, three new countries have been added to the portfolio. Watch & find out which ones right at the beginning.

Continue to learn, stay diversified according to your risk tolerance, stay disciplined, and rebalance. Education is your best defense against imprudent investing. Invest intelligently!

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

     ▪ John and Scott

How Did Discipline & Rebalancing Really Work? Part 2 (19:32)

Part 2 of 2

So you want to know how rebalancing and discipline can benefit you the investor? Watch as we prove yet again that MPT is not dead and actually saves disciplined investors. It's not easy to be the disciplinarian when it comes to rebalancing and sticking with an investment strategy. What has Efficient Market Hypothesis done for actual Matson Money investor returns? We don't like to focus on short term returns, but knowing your investment strategy got the results it was supposed to can help keep you on the right track.

Continue to learn, stay diversified according to your risk tolerance, stay disciplined, and rebalance. Education is your best defense against imprudent investing. Invest intelligently!

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

     ▪ John and Scott

Instincts & Investing (10:39)

This clip is from our Conscious Investing for Peace of Mind event when special guest Mark Matson came out to speak to our clients. Mark is the founder and CEO of Matson Money Inc., an investment advisor firm managing over $3 billion (as of 03/31/11) for investors nationwide, and manages millions of dollars for our clients.

This was an amazing once in a lifetime event. We all learned a lot from Mark about investing that day. Unfortunately for most investors, they will never learn the stuff we teach because the financial industry at large does not want investors to know this stuff. It is important to spread the word and share this information.

In this clip Mark teaches on how the cognitive part of our brain (what we know) often justifies bad investor instincts and causes investors to make irrational and costly decisions. This is probably the most important short video clip on investing you will ever watch, and something every investor should learn. Learn how to control your instincts and emotions and you will become a better investor by making better decisions. This is one for the archives!

Continue to learn, stay diversified according to your risk tolerance, stay disciplined, and rebalance. Education is your best defense against imprudent investing. Invest intelligently!

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

     ▪ John and Scott

Rebalancing Can Enhance Returns (3:09)

One of the most important investment strategies is to rebalance your portfolio. Yet, most investors don't do it. Why? It is extremely difficult to do. Investors get too fearful to rebalance when stocks are down and too greedy when stocks are up. Check out this short video to find out how rebalancing can potentially help the disciplined investor.

Continue to learn, stay diversified according to your risk tolerance, stay disciplined, and rebalance. Education is your best defense against imprudent investing. Invest intelligently!

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

     ▪ John and Scott

How the Really Smart Money Invests (29:16)

The title to this video tells all. This video is a brief history of investing and the academics teach us why investors are prone to emotional mistakes- and why it is impossible to forecast and predict short term directions in the markets. This is an investor coaching session for the archives.

Continue to learn, stay diversified according to your risk tolerance, stay disciplined, and rebalance. Education is your best defense against imprudent investing. Invest intelligently!

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

     ▪ John and Scott

Even a Professor Can't Distinguish Luck From Skill (5:42)

Professor Kenneth French of Dartmouth on Investing Strategies.

Continue to learn, stay diversified according to your risk tolerance, stay disciplined, and rebalance. Education is your best defense against imprudent investing. Invest intelligently!

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

     ▪ John and Scott

It's Never the Right Time to Gamble (23:27)

As investment managers, coaches, or advisors, we work with real people who have real families and lives. When people lose money in their portfolios, it has a lasting emotional effect that has caused many investors to give up on equities. Imprudent investing can destroy your health, your outlook, your mental state, and investment decisions that create confidence and peace of mind for the long term.

Learn about the "investor's dilemma" that traps investors in a vicious circle of imprudent investing. Some investors have learned to become a victim. Don't be one of them!

Continue to learn, stay diversified according to your risk tolerance, stay disciplined, and rebalance. Education is your best defense against imprudent investing. Invest intelligently!

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

     ▪ John and Scott

How Risky is Your Fixed Income? (28:02)

This could be one of the most important videos for you to watch. Fixed income is something that most investors ignore and take for granted, when in reality it is one of the most important risk reducer you can have in a portfolio if used correctly. In this clip, we cover the top ways you can lose money in fixed income as well as how we manage fixed income in the Matson Money portfolios.

Continue to learn, stay diversified according to your risk tolerance, stay disciplined, and rebalance. Education is your best defense against imprudent investing. Invest intelligently!

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

     ▪ John and Scott

Dr. Harry Markowitz on the Efficient Frontier (3:46)

Dr. Harry Markowitz explains the Efficient Frontier in 4 minutes.

Continue to learn, stay diversified according to your risk tolerance, stay disciplined, and rebalance. Education is your best defense against imprudent investing. Invest intelligently!

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

     ▪ John and Scott

Dr. Harry Markowitz on Market Timing & Track Records (2:03)

In this short video, Dr. Harry Markowitz gives his opinion on Market Timing, Track Records, and the one grand overriding truth to investing. He is best known for his pioneering work in Modern Portfolio Theory, studying the effects of asset risk, return, correlation and diversification on probable investment portfolio returns. The Markowitz Efficient Frontier is the set of all portfolios that will give the highest expected return for each given level of risk. This man is worth listening to. Dr. Harry Markowitz: Nobel Laureate, Economics 1990.

Continue to learn, stay diversified according to your risk tolerance, stay disciplined, and rebalance. Education is your best defense against imprudent investing. Invest intelligently!

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

     ▪ John and Scott

What Investors Should Do (1:05)

Securities Fraud Attorney Dan Solin discusses in this short video clip his fondest hope for investors and what they should understand and look for in a prudent investing strategy.

Continue to learn, stay diversified according to your risk tolerance, stay disciplined, and rebalance. Education is your best defense against imprudent investing. Invest intelligently!

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

     ▪ John and Scott

International Investing in a Prudent Portfolio (16:33)

Check out this segment of Matson Money Live where we discuss the very important topic of international investing. International investing plays a large part in the Matson Money portfolios. You must invest a portion of your portfolio internationally in order to have the diversification needed for a prudent portfolio.

Continue to learn, stay diversified according to your risk tolerance, stay disciplined, and rebalance. Education is your best defense against imprudent investing. Invest intelligently!

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

     ▪ John and Scott

This Time is Different...What's an Investor to do? Part 1 of 2

Part 1 of 2

Imagine an advisor coming to you with an investment strategy….when times are good and you feel better, when stocks are higher in price…we are going to buy (as long as you feel better). And, when times are bad when stocks are bad and you feel fearful, we are going to sell and go to cash. As long as you feel good, it is OK to sell when prices are down. Would you hire an advisor with this investment strategy for you? I hope not.

When you describe it sarcastically it sounds ridiculous. Yet, this is the strategy that many investors and other advisors implement, which often leads to dramatic underperformance over a lifetime as shown in the Dalbar studies.

Given the consistent negative headlines for months at a time, this is a video I want everyone to watch sometime this week, especially our clients that were unable to attend the event. Turn up the volume (due to the background noise in the beginning) and take some notes, you will learn some really good information to help you remain prudent in your investing strategies.

This week’s video is the video of a recent class we taught at the Conference Center “It’s Different This Time…What’s An Investor To Do?” We had a full house that evening. Due to the length we split the video into a two part series. Thank you to everyone for attending and wanting the continuing education. If you want to stay on track and get the returns you deserve, you must continue to learn about your investments and your prudent strategies.

Part one is me teaching the boring parts about the history of up and down markets, the importance of an investment policy statement, context of how much you have in stock, what unseasoned investors do, the importance of knowing your risk, we eat our own cooking, time horizon and time to recovery, and some good old fashion WISDOM about investing! I do get to throw in a couple of fun videos at the beginning and end of my segment.

In part two (found in Investor Behavior) Scott teaches about how the “typical” investor makes bad investing decisions over and over again because they get in a “hot state.” Don’t know what that means? Check out the lesson so you don’t ever become that “typical” investor that makes bad decisions. An investor’s perspective changes when they are in an emotional state, and they make bad decisions.  Behavior trumps all other factors. Without the proper behavior none of the stuff I teach you in part one matters. It all goes out the window. While it is not the same as being there and being able to ask questions and talk to other investors, this is a must watch lesson.

Continue to learn, stay diversified according to your risk tolerance, stay disciplined, and rebalance. Education is your best defense against imprudent investing. Invest intelligently!

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

     ▪ John and Scott

Free Market Portfolio Theory in 30 Seconds (1:54)

Hello everyone! Well Mark does not quite do it in 30 seconds but in less than two minutes you will get a grasp of Free Market Portfolio Theory.

Continue to learn, stay diversified according to your risk tolerance, stay disciplined, and rebalance. Education is your best defense against imprudent investing. Invest intelligently!

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

     ▪ John and Scott

The Three Factor Model Explained in 7 Minutes (6:43)

In this video Mathematician Lymann Ott explains in why it is important to be diversified and why no one can create a mathematical formula to forecast the markets. He also explains the three primary factors that have the potential to increase returns. It is interesting to hear perspectives about investing from a mathematician. I was fortunate enough to meet him and have dinner with him at a recent advance advisor conference. This guy is brilliant!

There are three main factors that have the potential to add returns over our investing lifetimes:
1. Equity over fixed income
2. Small company stocks over large company stocks
3. Value stocks (high book to market) over growth stocks

If you don’t remain diversified and disciplined, then the potential additional returns from the three factors go right out the window. Each investor with the help of their advisor needs to determine what level of risk and volatility is acceptable for their individual circumstances. Every client can have different levels of risk and volatility in their portfolio, from very low risk, to balanced or moderate risk, to very aggressive. It is very important that you are in a portfolio according to the level of risk you can sustain for your lifetime (or a strategy that slowly reduces risk over time), which will allow you to remain disciplined and ride through the upside and downside volatility, while allowing us to rebalance your portfolio on highs and lows. If you know your risk measurements you will know what to expect, and won’t be caught off guard when downside volatility occurs.

Continue to learn, stay diversified according to your risk tolerance, stay disciplined, and rebalance. Education is your best defense against imprudent investing. Invest intelligently!

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

     ▪ John and Scott

Examining Expectations - 10 Pledges for Investors (6:30)

There's a lot of money to be made in the prophecy racket... or in other words, the market forecasting business. The media and the financial industry at large have to keep this illusion alive to keep making money off of investors. They need investors (or an investor's hyperactive money manager) to constantly be active and make transactions.

But here's the industry's dirty little secret. Real investment success doesn't come from following the right predictions. It comes from following the right principles.

• Allocate your assets properly.
• Diversify your portfolio broadly.
• Buy quality investments.
• Avoid the scams by sticking to the basics.
• Keep your investment costs reasonable with low turnover.
• Maintain discipline so you can get the market rates of returns that are available to the disciplined investor.
• Know the risk measurements in your portfolio so you know what to expect in up and down markets.
• Rebalance when necessary on a disciplined basis, to eliminate the need to forecast and predict.
• Hire an investment coach that sticks to these principals for successful lifetime investing.

Yes, you can make it a lot more complicated than this. But to be successful, you really don't need to. These ten pledges are timeless. This is some of the stuff we teach, and is summed up nicely in the 10 pledges in this video.

For the Advisor (our pledge to you):
We pledge to adhere to the written Investment Policy Statement. We pledge to continue to dedicate both time and resources to investor education and have made it our mission to help you succeed for your lifetime by helping you adhere to the 10 PLEDGES FOR INVESTORS.

Many of you have already taken the pledges to help you to become better lifetime investors. For those that have not yet done so, simply e-mail John or Scott to get your copy of the 10 Pledges For Investors.

Continue to learn, stay diversified according to your risk tolerance, stay disciplined, and rebalance. Education is your best defense against imprudent investing. Invest intelligently!

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

     ▪ John and Scott

Examining Expectations - Setting Expectations (5:09)

In this video learn the investor expectations do's and don’ts. Why is it so important to have the proper expectations? So we won’t be disappointed. If you have the expectations that your portfolio in risk assets will never or seldom have negative periods, you will be disappointed and abandon your prudent investing strategy, usually at the worst time. If you have the proper expectations, then you will become a better investor, have less stress, and will be able to stay disciplined.

Continue to learn, stay diversified according to your risk tolerance, stay disciplined, and rebalance. Education is your best defense against imprudent investing. Invest intelligently!

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

     ▪ John and Scott

Do the Right Things...Always! (17:30)

You can be rationally optimistic about the future and your broadly diversified portfolios. We don’t rely on individual companies, but on free market capitalism. The world should continue to grow from population increases and mutating technologies. Yet, investors tend to focus on the relentless negative news in the press. So, we don’t see the good stuff that is going on all around us every day, all over the world. As investors, we must not lose focus and become fearful and greedy. It is not enough to do what is “right” to be a prudent investor just once. We must focus on the right things all the time. Worldwide diversification, asset class diversification, know your risk measurements, discipline, ignoring predictions of the future, and rebalance our portfolios when necessary. If we don’t do the right things to remain prudent and disciplined, then everything in the previous sentence is all for nothing!

There are some really cool videos in this lesson. Watch and you will become more confident and rationally optimistic!

Continue to learn, stay diversified according to your risk tolerance, stay disciplined, and rebalance. Education is your best defense against imprudent investing. Invest intelligently!

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

     ▪ John and Scott

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New Video Coming Soon.     ▪ John and Scott

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New Video Coming Soon.     ▪ John and Scott

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New Video Coming Soon.     ▪ John and Scott

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New Video Coming Soon.     ▪ John and Scott