Odds On

For too many investors, the playbook is all too familiar: Chasing hot stocks and can’t-miss ideas leaves you with lackluster returns. Investment adviser Matt Hall feels your pain, and he has a solution. Hall calls it “evidence-based investing,” and the research he relies on shows that hardly anyone – not even the professional investor – is savvy enough to outwit the market. His alternative: Load up on low-fee index funds and then essentially ignore your portfolio during booms and busts. Hall uses the format of an engaging personal memoir to explain the mind-set underpinning his advice. He begins with his ill-fated stint as a trainee at a stock brokerage firm. The crux of Hall’s strategy remains timely, but part of his tale is a critique of the mostly outdated brokerage practice of raking in commissions by churning investors in and out of individual stocks. In today’s era of online brokers and $9.99 fees, that’s not the average investor’s biggest challenge. While never giving investment advice, getAbstract recommends Hall’s intriguing journey to investors seeking information about a long-term approach to portfolio management.