Welcome to The Index Investor

The best site on the internet for analysis and insights about asset allocation and active versus passive (index) investing.

Think about this question: When you are making investment choices, what steps should you take to ensure you are making a good decision?

On our site and in our monthly journals, we provide you with exceptionally high quality content designed to make you a smarter investor, and help you make good decisions about your financial future. We start with a clear explanation of our methodologies (including their strengths and weaknesses) and use them to generate model long-term asset allocation policy portfolios and rebalancing strategies. In addition, because a long-term plan can be seriously hurt by large downside losses, in each month's issue of The Index Investor we provide you with updated asset class valuation analyses, to help spot emerging overvaluations before these bubbles pop and cause significant negative portfolio returns. Each month's journal also contains other articles on different aspects of asset allocation and the appropriate use of active and passive investment strategies. All of these articles we have published over the past ten years are also available here on www.indexinvestor.com, in easy-to-use topical collections and back issues of the journals themselves. Here are just some of the other things you can do on our site:

• Learn about asset classes and asset allocation
• Understand the strengths and weaknesses of different asset allocation methodologies
• Choose from over 7,000 model portfolios (containing long-term asset allocations and rebalancing strategies), based on your functional currency, time horizon, expected savings rate and accumulation goal
• Or, if you are retired, or close thereto, visit Retired Investor, which has different model portfolios based on your functional currency, expected years of remaining life, portfolio income (withdrawal) target, and bequest goal
• Decide on the mix of active and passive management you want in your portfolio.
• Learn the basics of index investing
• Or read an advanced discussion about separating alpha from beta investing (also known as "Portable Alpha")
• Learn about the ETF market and the advantages and disadvantages of exchange traded funds (ETFs) and index mutual funds
• Or explore the difference between market capitalization and fundamental index weighting
• Explore more advanced topics, such as the role of alternative investments in your portfolio, such as commodities, timber, domestic and foreign property, equity volatility and equity market neutral.

The Index Investor helps you avoid mistakes and achieve your long-term goals.

We started this journal in 1997 to help people avoid falling short of their long-term savings goals. We help you become smarter about investing, so you can make better decisions. While other sites give you data and news, we help you understand what they mean. We give you the analysis and knowledge you need to avoid common mistakes and achieve your long-term goals.

We write about five critical issues.

(1) How much do I need to save?
(2) How should I allocate my portfolio across different asset classes?
(3) What investments should I use to implement my asset allocation strategy?
(4) When should I rebalance my portfolio?
(5) How can I minimize the taxes I pay on my investment gains?

We help you to answer these questions for only U.S. $29.50 for six monthly issues of The Index Investor, or U.S. $59 for one year. Our objective is simple: to give you more value for your time and money than any other investment publication. As Barron's has noted, our "content is thorough, [our] investing rationale is explained carefully." In 2005 the U.K.'s Money Management magazine also noted "None of us have the time or the ability to follow the academic literature. There is now a website that does it for us. Depending upon our needs either www.indexinvestor.com or www.retiredinvestor.com keep us up to date both with the latest academic thinking on risk, and the surest way of reducing it to a level that we find satisfactory." There's no better place to get a very thoughtful second opinion on your investment strategy. We hope you'll join us today.

Our journal and website give you the knowledge you need.

The Index Investor is available in both html and pdf formats. Each issue contains reviews of new investment products and strategies, and in-depth analyses of issues related to asset allocation and the debate over indexing versus active management. Twice each year we review our outlook for the economy, and its implication for asset class returns and asset allocation strategy. In addition, our economic early warning indicators are updated quarterly. Our collected writing on key subjects is organized on our website in an easy-to-use format to facilitate self-study by our subscribers.

Each month's edition of The Index Investor also contains year-to-date asset class returns, our equity markets valuation update, and up-to-date results for over 7,000 model portfolios solutions are available to subscribers whose functional currencies include Australian, Canadian, and U.S. Dollars, Euro, Indian Rupees, Swiss Francs, Yen and U.K. Pounds. Our model portfolios are based on broadly defined asset classes and strategies, including real return bonds, domestic investment grade bonds, foreign currency bonds, domestic commercial property (real estate), foreign commercial property, commodities, timber, domestic equity, foreign equity, emerging markets equity, equity market neutral (uncorrelated alpha strategies) and equity market volatility. We also discuss the pros and cons of using different tilts within these asset classes (e.g., toward small cap value stocks, industry sectors, private equity and venture capital). If you would like more information about how we construct our model portfolios, click here. If you would like to see a sample model portfolio, click here.

Journal subscribers also have access to a directory of investment products (e.g. index funds and exchange traded funds) that can be used to implement our model portfolios' asset allocations, including a comparison of their associated expenses and year-to-date performance, as well as references to the most important academic research related to the issues we cover. Please feel free to download a sample copy. You may also want to review our full library of back issues. Subscribe to The Index Investor and join our growing community. For more about the people behind The Index Investor, click here.

"Each month we provide you with superior analysis and insight, and back it with exceptionally responsive customer service."

In its March 10, 2003 issue, Barron's (The Dow Jones business and financial weekly) evaluated a number of online asset allocation and investing sites, including morningstar.com and smartmoney.com. We were one of only two sites that received the highest possible rating for content quality. The Barron's article noted that "unlike some topics of investor education, there are relatively few sites that cover asset allocation in depth. Many are short on content, and badly designed. But there are several worthy of your attention... If you're looking for loads of editorial content on asset allocation, check out IndexInvestor.com... As the name implies, its model portfolios consist of index funds and exchange traded funds. The site's content is thorough, and its investing rationale is explained carefully."

You can use the blue buttons on the left side of this page to access our free materials, in both online (html) and downloadable (pdf) formats. These are quite extensive, and reviewing them is a good way to get to know us and appreciate the quality of our offerings.

We also offer two books: The Index Investor Guide to Asset Allocation, and Indexing Versus Active Management: The Trial of a Prudent Investor. These books are now only available in electronic (pdf) format. New editions in paper format are planned for early 2008 after our bi-annual review of our portfolios. For more information about them click here.

And our offerings are a great value.

Because internet publishing eliminates direct mail, printing, and postage costs, we can deliver The Index Investor to you for only U.S. $29.50 for a six month subscription and U.S.$59 for twelve monthly issues, which is well below the average price of roughly U.S. $225 per year for the 165 investment newsletters tracked by Hulbert Financial Digest. When we say we give our subscribers superior value for their time and money, we're not kidding. We hope you'll join us today. If you'd like to ask us a question before subscribing, you may address it to questions@indexinvestor.com.

For Educators:

To receive information about using The Index Investor in your class, click here.

Licensing our Content:

If you are interested in licensing our content for your site or publication, please click here.