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On Target News
TD AMERITRADE TRANSITION TO CHARLES SCHWAB

June 28, 2023 – The timeline for the official and final custodian transition of TD Ameritrade to Schwab is determined. All accounts will begin transition from TD Ameritrade to Schwab at 8:30pm ET on September 1, 2023. There will be a “black-out” period without online account access over the Labor Day holiday until OTWP clients get new access at Schwab Alliance on September 5, 2023 (more details as the transition approaches)

INDIANA INVESTMENT ADVISER CONFERENCE

October 4, 2018 – Greg Schiffli attended the State of Indiana Securities Division Investment Adviser Conference at the Indiana Government Center. Agenda items included senior savings protection, cybersecurity, registration, examination and industry updates.

INDIANA INVESTMENT ADVISER CONFERENCE

October 21, 2016 – Greg Schiffli attended the State of Indiana Securities Division Investment Adviser Conference at the Indiana Government Center. Agenda items included examination and industry updates, an Indiana fraud documentary, and diminished capacity in financial decision-making.

DFA Advanced Symposium Conference

23-24 October 2014: Greg Schiffli represented OTWP at the 2015 Dimensional Fund Advisors Advanced Symposium Conference in Santa Monica, California. The event, featured a variety of speakers from DFA, best practice sharing, and learning opportunities.

About On Target Wealth Partners, LLC
On Target Wealth Partners, LLC (www.ontargetwealth.com) is an independent, fee-only financial consulting firm based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Clients receive unbiased financial advisory services in the form of disciplined investment management grounded in academic research and goal-oriented financial planning
Contact: Gregory Schiffli
On Target Wealth Partners, LLC
Phone: 317.731-7243
greg@ontargetwealth.com

DFA Regional Conference

20 August 2014: Greg Schiffli represented OTWP at the 2015 Dimensional Fund Advisors Regional Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana, at the JW Marriott. The event, featured a variety of speakers from DFA, best practice sharing, and learning opportunities.

About On Target Wealth Partners, LLC
On Target Wealth Partners, LLC (www.ontargetwealth.com) is an independent, fee-only financial consulting firm based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Clients receive unbiased financial advisory services in the form of disciplined investment management grounded in academic research and goal-oriented financial planning
Contact: Gregory Schiffli
On Target Wealth Partners, LLC
Phone: 317.731.7243
greg@ontargetwealth.com

Indiana Investment Advisor Conference

29 April 2014: Greg Schiffli represented OTWP at the 2015 Indiana Secretary of State's Investment Advisor Conference in Muncie, Indiana, at the campus of Ball State University. The event, featured an overview of the Office of the Secretary of State, a securities update on crowdfunding and information on investment advisor examinations.

About On Target Wealth Partners, LLC
On Target Wealth Partners, LLC (www.ontargetwealth.com) is an independent, fee-only financial consulting firm based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Clients receive unbiased financial advisory services in the form of disciplined investment management grounded in academic research and goal-oriented financial planning
Contact: Gregory Schiffli
On Target Wealth Partners, LLC
Phone: 317.731.7243
greg@ontargetwealth.com

01 November 2013
OTWP Celebrates Five Years

09 March 2013
OTWP COMMUNITY OUTREACH

31 January – 01 February 2013
TD AMERITRADE NATIONAL ADVISOR CONFERENCE

10 October 2012
INDIANA SECRETARY OF STATE ADVISOR CONFERENCE

February 01 – 03, 2012
TD Ameritrade National Conference

October 01, 2011
OTWP Moves Office Location

November 01, 2008
OTWP Officially Opens

October 01, 2008 
OTWP Secures Office

July 08, 2008 
OTWP Indiana Approved

June, 18 2008 
OTWP Formed

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Podcasts of Note

"Tuning Out the Noise"

"Can You Predict a Good Time to Buy and Sell Stocks?"

"Make Sure It Isn’t an Old Idea in Disguise"

"The 200th Draft"

"Dimensional Funds Empirical Work"

"Dimensional's Flexible Trading Approach"



"The Current Market Aftershock"
Using an illustrated timeline, David Booth chronicles US stock market performance in four periods since World War II. His review suggests prevailing market sentiment is often wrong and that investors must stay disciplined through all market environments to pursue their long-term goals.

"The Economics Of Fiscal Deficits"
Many investors are concerned that rising government debt will stunt economic growth and hamper market returns. Marlena Lee examines historical data to test the relationships between fiscal deficits, interest rates, business activity, investment returns, and exchange rates. Her conclusions may surprise investors who are pessimistic about future market performance.

"Father of Modern Finance Weighs In"
- U. of Chicago finance professor Eugene Fama, widely known as the "father of modern finance," discusses whether the government is the biggest risk to economic recovery.

"Why Dimensional"
- Dimensional brings financial science to the practical world of investing.

"Behavioral Biases"
- Research indicates that humans are not naturally wired for prudent, long-term investing.

"Government Intervention and Stock Returns"
- Should equity investors be alarmed by the prospect of greater government intervention in the US economy?

“What Should Investors Do Now?”
– Weston Wellington returns to the topic with a multi-part series on what investors should consider as they move forward.

“Vanguard Founder Gives Investment Tips”
– Washingtonpost.com video interview with Jack Bogle of Vanguard – 2/25/2009

“Stock Picking vs. Index Investing”
– From Yahoo! Video Tech Talk.

“Is It Different This Time?”
– Weston Wellington, DFA VP, offers perspective on the 2008 bear market.

“Noble Thinkers: Theory, Practice and Implementation”
– The American Finance Association and Dimensional Fund Advisors present a documentary on the work and ideas of five recipients of the Nobel Prize in Economics.

Recent Articles

June 2023
Midyear Review: Staying Focused as Markets Shift

March 2023
Hoop Dreaming Is Fun in March. Investing Realities Apply across a Lifetime.

October 2022
Rising Rates: Short-Term Pain for Long-Term Gain?

April 2022
Four Ways to Improve the Probability of a Good Retirement

December 2021
When It’s Value vs. Growth

December 2021
Why a Stock Peak Isn’t a Cliff

November 2015
The Rise of Short-Term Rates

October 2015
How Not to Prevent the Next Financial Meltdown

September 2015
The Cost of a Perfect Market Timing Strategy

June 2015
DFA’s Disciplined Approach Earns It a Top Mark

January 2014
Surprise! No Selloff in 2013

November 2013
Simplicity and Sophistication

August 2013
Where the Smart Money Is Headed

July 2013
OTF Second Guessing

October 2012
Top 10 Money Excuses

October 2012
Down To The Wire: Another Wall of Worry

August 2012
In Other News

March 2012
Why Panic? A Couple’s Nest Egg Better Left Alone

Feb. 2012
Cracks in the Crystal Ball

Jan. 2012
Inefficient, Schminefficient

Dec. 2011
Things Change

Feb. 7, 2011
Where the Thrills and Chills Will Be in 2011

Feb. 7, 2011
That’s Better Now

July 28, 2011
PERSPECTIVES ON THE U.S. DEBT CEILING DEBATE

June 2011
Discipline: Your Secret Weapon

March 2011
The Current Aftershock

Jan. 10, 2011
Analysts Prove Hazardous as Contrarian Stocks Surge

Jan. 8, 20110
Market Predictions, With Many Grains of Salt

June, 2010
Luck Is The Key To Success For Most Top Mutual Funds

February, 2010
Active Management Is Uncompensated Risk

February, 2010
How firms fool equity analysts

February, 2010
Index Funds, Dowdy to Some, Get a Notable Endorsement

January, 2010
Inefficient Markets Are Still Hard to Beat  

October, 2009
Staying Calm in a World of Dark Pools, Dark Doings

October, 2009
Active Management Loses in Risk Study

August, 2009
SPIVA Report Year-End 2008

March 24, 2009
Yes, diversification works - eventually

Feb. 22, 2009
The Index Funds Win Again

Jan. 8, 2009
Six Lessons for Investors

Oct. 17, 2008
Buy American. I Am.

Oct. 15, 2008
Is Pessimism Good News?

Fama/French Forum

Observations, opinion, research and links from financial economists Eugene Fama and Kenneth French.
The Science PDF Print E-mail

On Target Wealth Partners believe that over the long term, a disciplined and diversified investment approach based on efficacy of the capital markets and financial science will add greater value with higher reliability, confidence and less stress than a philosophy based on intuition and speculation.

 

But what exactly is the financial science?

Trying to summarize decades of academic research and real world practical application into a top-line, approachable summary is difficult, but financial science has yielded several critical principles important to investors:

Markets work and are generally very efficient

  • Current prices incorporate all available information and expectations
  • Current prices are the best approximation of intrinsic value
  • Price changes are due to unforeseen events
  • Mistakes in pricing do occur but not in predictable patterns that can lead to consistent outperformance

Diversification is key

  • Comprehensive, global asset allocation can neutralize the risks specific to individual securities

Risk and return are related

  • The compensation for taking on increased levels of risk is the potential to earn greater returns

Portfolio structure explains performance

  • The asset classes that comprise a portfolio and the risk levels of those asset classes are responsible for most of the variability of portfolio returns

It is clear that returns come from taking risk.  Successful investing strategy seeks to capture risks that generate expected return and reduce risks that do not.  Therefore, it is important to establish those risks that are worth taking.  Financial science has completed this task by identifying the sources of investment returns.

 

There are five factors that help determine expected return:

Three Equity Factors

  • Equity Market Factor – Stocks have higher expected returns than fixed income
  • Company Size Factor – Small company stocks have higher expected returns and risk than large company stock
  • Company Price Factor (measured by ratio of book value to market equity) – lower-priced “value” stocks have higher expected returns than higher priced “growth” stocks

Two Fixed Income Factors

  • Maturity Factor – the current status of the yield curve may dictate optimal maturity, but historically, longer-maturity fixed income instruments have higher standard deviations and have not provided consistently greater returns
  • Default Factor -  high quality debt instruments tend to have less risk

It is then necessary to apply these principles, learnings and science when evaluating an investing approach or philosophy.

 

The three main investing philosophies include:

Active Management

  • Attempts to beat the market through security selection and market timing
  • Undermines asset class exposure to keep up with the most “promising” securities
  • Generates higher fees, trading costs and tax consequences due to increased turnover

Passive Index Management

  • Accepts asset class returns minus tracking costs
  • Allows commercial benchmarks to define strategy
  • Accepts higher transaction costs and turnover in favor of tracking

Passive Asset Class Management (OTWP strategy of choice)

  • Grounded in the efficiency of the capital markets
  • Captures specific dimensions of risk identified by academic research and data-based science
  • Minimizes transaction costs
  • Enhances returns through strategic trading and portfolio engineering
  • Capitalizes on the urgency to trade by active and index management philosophies

The implications are critical:

  • Active management strategies cannot consistently add value through security selection and market timing
  • Passive investment strategies reward investors with capital market returns
  • Passive asset class investing permits targeting of enhanced market returns versus indexing through strategic cost reductions and risk factors identified through quantitative models

On Target Wealth Partners embraces financial science and performs portfolio engineering to target investment returns that are directly related to the desired level of risk taken.  The result is true investing versus speculating.