We won best paper from S&P SPIVA worldwide!

Discuss all general (i.e. non-personal) investing questions and issues, investing news, and theory.
Post Reply
User avatar
Topic Author
Rick Ferri
Posts: 9708
Joined: Mon Feb 26, 2007 10:40 am
Location: Georgetown, TX. Twitter: @Rick_Ferri
Contact:

We won best paper from S&P SPIVA worldwide!

Post by Rick Ferri »

From the press release:

NEW YORK, May 22, 2014 /PRNewswire/: Two researchers from the United States have claimed first prize (USD $30,000) for their study on the outperformance of diversified portfolios of index fund portfolios to portfolios of actively managed funds in S&P Dow Jones Indices' third annual SPIVA Awards program. Second prize (USD $15,000) in the SPIVA Awards program went to a team of researchers from universities across the U.S. for their study of explicit indexing.

The winning paper, "A Case of Index Fund Portfolios," published by Richard Ferri of Portfolio Solutions®, LLC and Alex Benke of Betterment, shows that an all index fund strategy in portfolios is favorable over portfolios of actively managed funds. Two distinct strategies were compared in the report: one that selects low-cost market-tracking index funds exclusively and a second that selects from actively managed funds that attempt to outperform the markets. The study revealed that the probability of outperformance using the simplest index fund portfolio started in the 80th percentile and increased over time. A broader portfolio holding multiple low-cost index funds began at close to the 90th percentile.

Link to paper: A Case For Index Fund Portfolios
Co-written by Rick Ferri, CFA, Portfolio Solutions and Alex Benke, CFP, Betterment
Published: June 2013

For the record, I donated my portion of the prize to the Wall Street Warfighters Foundation, a non-profit orginization with a mission to identify, develop, and place service disabled veterans in careers in the financial services industry. All contributions to the foundation are warmly welcome.

Rick Ferri

[An archived copy of the paper can be found here: WhitePaper.pdf --admin LadyGeek]
Last edited by Rick Ferri on Thu Mar 10, 2016 4:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
The Education of an Index Investor: born in darkness, finds indexing enlightenment, overcomplicates everything, embraces simplicity.
User avatar
Toons
Posts: 14467
Joined: Fri Nov 21, 2008 9:20 am
Location: Hills of Tennessee

Re: We won best paper from S&P SPIVA worldwide!

Post by Toons »

"For the record, I donated my portion of the prize to the Wall Street Warfighters Foundation, a non-profit orginization with a mission to identify, develop, and place service disabled veterans in careers in the financial services industry"

Superb,Exlempary!
"One does not accumulate but eliminate. It is not daily increase but daily decrease. The height of cultivation always runs to simplicity" –Bruce Lee
larryswedroe
Posts: 16022
Joined: Thu Feb 22, 2007 7:28 am
Location: St Louis MO

Re: We won best paper from S&P SPIVA worldwide!

Post by larryswedroe »

congratulations Rick, well done
larry
Grt2bOutdoors
Posts: 25625
Joined: Thu Apr 05, 2007 8:20 pm
Location: New York

Re: We won best paper from S&P SPIVA worldwide!

Post by Grt2bOutdoors »

Great job Rick! Congratulations!
Excellent use of the proceeds. :beer
"One should invest based on their need, ability and willingness to take risk - Larry Swedroe" Asking Portfolio Questions
User avatar
matjen
Posts: 2189
Joined: Sun Nov 20, 2011 10:30 pm

Re: We won best paper from S&P SPIVA worldwide!

Post by matjen »

Well deserved Rick! Congratulations!!!! :sharebeer
A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.
User avatar
cfs
Posts: 4154
Joined: Fri Feb 23, 2007 12:22 am
Location: ~ Mi Propio Camino ~

Re: We won best paper from S&P SPIVA worldwide!

Post by cfs »

To Rick and his Team

Outstanding work, and please continue to Do Great Things. "Because of my integrity you uphold me and set me in your presence forever."

Thank you.
~ Member of the Active Retired Force since 2014 ~
User avatar
Dale_G
Posts: 3466
Joined: Tue Feb 20, 2007 4:43 pm
Location: Central Florida - on the grown up side of 85

Re: We won best paper from S&P SPIVA worldwide!

Post by Dale_G »

Terrific - and in keeping with what we have come to expect from you Rick. You have now set an even higher hurdle. :sharebeer

Dale
Volatility is my friend
Rob Bertram
Posts: 859
Joined: Mon May 05, 2014 12:15 pm

Re: We won best paper from S&P SPIVA worldwide!

Post by Rob Bertram »

Congratulations and thank you!
User avatar
patriciamgr2
Posts: 861
Joined: Mon Nov 19, 2007 2:06 pm

Re: We won best paper from S&P SPIVA worldwide!

Post by patriciamgr2 »

Congratulations on the honor and thank you so very much for your use of the prize proceeds. I appreciate all that you do for investors like us. Thanks!
Tonen
Posts: 346
Joined: Sat Jun 07, 2008 8:20 am
Location: Australia

Re: We won best paper from S&P SPIVA worldwide!

Post by Tonen »

Good on ya Rick!
pkcrafter
Posts: 15461
Joined: Sun Mar 04, 2007 11:19 am
Location: CA
Contact:

Re: We won best paper from S&P SPIVA worldwide!

Post by pkcrafter »

Well deserved, the paper is excellent...a GEM.

Paul
When times are good, investors tend to forget about risk and focus on opportunity. When times are bad, investors tend to forget about opportunity and focus on risk.
User avatar
Kalo
Posts: 543
Joined: Sat May 25, 2013 1:01 pm

Re: We won best paper from S&P SPIVA worldwide!

Post by Kalo »

Nice going on the paper and the prize. Cool use of the proceeds too. That sounds like a very worthy cause.

Kalo
"When people say they have a high risk tolerance, what they really mean is that they are willing to make a lot of money." -- Ben Stein/Phil DeMuth - The Little Book of Bullet Proof Investing.
Buffetologist
Posts: 477
Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2010 8:58 am

Re: We won best paper from S&P SPIVA worldwide!

Post by Buffetologist »

I agree nice job.

Does it concern you that you are donating the proceeds of your award to place disabled veterans in an industry that your truth-telling is putting out of business.
Haha. Just kidding.

Great job!
User avatar
asset_chaos
Posts: 2629
Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 5:13 pm
Location: Melbourne

Re: We won best paper from S&P SPIVA worldwide!

Post by asset_chaos »

Good paper, well deserved reward.
Regards, | | Guy
User avatar
Mel Lindauer
Moderator
Posts: 35782
Joined: Mon Feb 19, 2007 7:49 pm
Location: Daytona Beach Shores, Florida
Contact:

Re: We won best paper from S&P SPIVA worldwide!

Post by Mel Lindauer »

Nice job, Rick. I used your paper when it first came out to show the active crowd over at Morningstar that the odds were severely stacked against them.

Your generosity continues. I don't know if forum members know that you've been donating the proceeds of your books to the Wounded Warriors, so I'm going to let them know about that, too.
Best Regards - Mel | | Semper Fi
User avatar
6miths
Posts: 811
Joined: Fri Jan 01, 2010 12:55 pm
Location: Toronto, Canada

Re: We won best paper from S&P SPIVA worldwide!

Post by 6miths »

Sweet!
'It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so!' Mark Twain
User avatar
ObliviousInvestor
Posts: 4212
Joined: Tue Mar 17, 2009 9:32 am
Contact:

Re: We won best paper from S&P SPIVA worldwide!

Post by ObliviousInvestor »

Congratulations! It's a great paper. I've referred readers to it on several occasions.
Mike Piper | Roth is a name, not an acronym. If you type ROTH, you're just yelling about retirement accounts.
Leeraar
Posts: 4109
Joined: Tue Dec 10, 2013 7:41 pm
Location: Nowhere

Re: We won best paper from S&P SPIVA worldwide!

Post by Leeraar »

What is a SPIVA Award?

http://www.ssrn.com/update/fen/fenann/ann13227.html

Rick, very well done!

L.
You can get what you want, or you can just get old. (Billy Joel, "Vienna")
Calm Man
Posts: 2917
Joined: Wed Sep 19, 2012 9:35 am

Re: We won best paper from S&P SPIVA worldwide!

Post by Calm Man »

Rick Ferri wrote:From the press release:

NEW YORK, May 22, 2014 /PRNewswire/: Two researchers from the United States have claimed first prize (USD $30,000) for their study on the outperformance of diversified portfolios of index fund portfolios to portfolios of actively managed funds in S&P Dow Jones Indices' third annual SPIVA Awards program. Second prize (USD $15,000) in the SPIVA Awards program went to a team of researchers from universities across the U.S. for their study of explicit indexing.

The winning paper, "A Case of Index Fund Portfolios," published by Richard Ferri of Portfolio Solutions®, LLC and Alex Benke of Betterment, shows that an all index fund strategy in portfolios is favorable over portfolios of actively managed funds. Two distinct strategies were compared in the report: one that selects low-cost market-tracking index funds exclusively and a second that selects from actively managed funds that attempt to outperform the markets. The study revealed that the probability of outperformance using the simplest index fund portfolio started in the 80th percentile and increased over time. A broader portfolio holding multiple low-cost index funds began at close to the 90th percentile.

Link to paper: A Case For Index Fund Portfolios
Co-written by Rick Ferri, CFA, Portfolio Solutions and Alex Benke, CFP, Betterment
Published: June 2013

For the record, I donated my portion of the prize to the Wall Street Warfighters Foundation, a non-profit orginization with a mission to identify, develop, and place service disabled veterans in careers in the financial services industry. All contributions to the foundation are warmly welcome.

Rick Ferri
Rick, I applaud you on the award. But I applaud you more for donating the winnings to a worthy organization. I am a semi-retired consultant now and earmark a very large percentage of the consulting fees to autistic charities. For me it provides far more pleasure than anything I could get myself, especially when I see something that the money is actually used for. For the bogleheads who are not charitable, look into it, it is wonderful.
IlliniDave
Posts: 2388
Joined: Fri May 17, 2013 7:09 am

Re: We won best paper from S&P SPIVA worldwide!

Post by IlliniDave »

Congrats, one of the few among the myriad papers that get linked on here I actually read. It was very good. I remember having some lively discussions on the forums over at M* not long after it first came out.
Don't do something. Just stand there!
User avatar
Taylor Larimore
Posts: 32842
Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 7:09 pm
Location: Miami FL

Boglehead Rick Ferri

Post by Taylor Larimore »

Bogleheads:

This is BOGLEHEAD RICHARD A. FERRI, CFA

Respectfully.
Taylor
"Simplicity is the master key to financial success." -- Jack Bogle
User avatar
Rager1
Posts: 1000
Joined: Fri Jun 01, 2007 12:03 pm

Re: We won best paper from S&P SPIVA worldwide!

Post by Rager1 »

Congratulations, Rick! You make me proud for all you do.

Ed
User avatar
tetractys
Posts: 6249
Joined: Sat Mar 17, 2007 3:30 pm
Location: Along the Salish Sea

Re: We won best paper from S&P SPIVA worldwide!

Post by tetractys »

Congratulations, you and any others involved certainly earned it! -- Tet
User avatar
Taylor Larimore
Posts: 32842
Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 7:09 pm
Location: Miami FL

Rick Ferri's gems.

Post by Taylor Larimore »

"Simplicity is the master key to financial success." -- Jack Bogle
User avatar
joe8d
Posts: 4545
Joined: Tue Feb 20, 2007 7:27 pm
Location: Buffalo,NY

Re: We won best paper from S&P SPIVA worldwide!

Post by joe8d »

:thumbsup Rick.
All the Best, | Joe
User avatar
LadyGeek
Site Admin
Posts: 95704
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2008 4:34 pm
Location: Philadelphia
Contact:

Re: We won best paper from S&P SPIVA worldwide!

Post by LadyGeek »

Congrats! :beer

Here's the official website: Thought Leadership - SPIVA - S&P Dow Jones Indices. Rick Ferri and Alex Benke are featured.

The wiki has some background info: SPIVA scorecards

For completeness, you can also see the 2nd place finishers (click on the Second Place tab).
Wiki To some, the glass is half full. To others, the glass is half empty. To an engineer, it's twice the size it needs to be.
User avatar
FrugalInvestor
Posts: 6214
Joined: Thu Nov 06, 2008 11:20 pm

Re: We won best paper from S&P SPIVA worldwide!

Post by FrugalInvestor »

Nice job Rick! You make us all proud and perhaps a little smug.
Have a plan, stay the course and simplify. Then ignore the noise!
User avatar
pennstater2005
Posts: 2509
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2012 8:50 pm

Re: We won best paper from S&P SPIVA worldwide!

Post by pennstater2005 »

What a great achievement!
“If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car payments.” – Earl Wilson
User avatar
fishnskiguy
Posts: 2635
Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 12:27 pm
Location: Castle Rock, CO

Re: We won best paper from S&P SPIVA worldwide!

Post by fishnskiguy »

Bravo Zulu.

Chris
Trident D-5 SLBM- "When you care enough to send the very best."
jimkinny
Posts: 1856
Joined: Sun Mar 14, 2010 1:51 pm

Re: We won best paper from S&P SPIVA worldwide!

Post by jimkinny »

Mel Lindauer wrote:Nice job, Rick. I used your paper when it first came out to show the active crowd over at Morningstar that the odds were severely stacked against them.

Your generosity continues. I don't know if forum members know that you've been donating the proceeds of your books to the Wounded Warriors, so I'm going to let them know about that, too.
Congratulations on the award. Good job.

Mel, thanks for letting us know of the donations from the books. I am doubly impressed.

Jim
User avatar
Taylor Larimore
Posts: 32842
Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 7:09 pm
Location: Miami FL

Rick Ferri on "Panel of Experts"

Post by Taylor Larimore »

Congratulations on the award. Good job.

Mel, thanks for letting us know of the donations from the books. I am doubly impressed.

Jim
Jim:

Rick is a long-time member on our Panel of Experts at Boglehead Conferences. Meet Rick in-person and you will be triply impressed.

Best wishes.
Taylor
"Simplicity is the master key to financial success." -- Jack Bogle
bondsr4me
Posts: 2427
Joined: Fri Oct 18, 2013 7:08 am

Re: We won best paper from S&P SPIVA worldwide!

Post by bondsr4me »

Congratulations Rick!
Well deserved....makes me proud to be a "Boglehead"!
Your work, as well as other "Bogleheads", serves us well.
Your use of the proceeds is admirable fo sure!
Sure wish you were here in PA...would be on your front steps waiting to get in.
Respectfully,
Don
User avatar
laughlinlvr
Posts: 178
Joined: Wed Nov 18, 2009 2:34 pm
Location: ID, NV

Re: We won best paper from S&P SPIVA worldwide!

Post by laughlinlvr »

Congratulations Rick. Thanks for all you do - for veterans, for Bogleheads and for individual investors.
Investing - The hardest way to make an easy living.
RNJ
Posts: 863
Joined: Mon Apr 08, 2013 9:06 am

Re: We won best paper from S&P SPIVA worldwide!

Post by RNJ »

Congratulations - nice work!
garlandwhizzer
Posts: 3567
Joined: Fri Aug 06, 2010 3:42 pm

Re: We won best paper from S&P SPIVA worldwide!

Post by garlandwhizzer »

Congratulations on both counts, Rick, creating the winning research paper and what you did with the proceeds. Big time scores on both.

Garland Whizzer
User avatar
Topic Author
Rick Ferri
Posts: 9708
Joined: Mon Feb 26, 2007 10:40 am
Location: Georgetown, TX. Twitter: @Rick_Ferri
Contact:

Re: We won best paper from S&P SPIVA worldwide!

Post by Rick Ferri »

Thank you all. It was quite a surprise.

I have been invited to join the current class of Wall Street Warfighters when they visit S&P in NY next week. I'm looking forward to it.

Rick Ferri
The Education of an Index Investor: born in darkness, finds indexing enlightenment, overcomplicates everything, embraces simplicity.
dharrythomas
Posts: 1223
Joined: Tue Jun 19, 2007 4:46 pm

Re: We won best paper from S&P SPIVA worldwide!

Post by dharrythomas »

Rick,

Congratulations and thanks for what you do.

Harry
Rodc
Posts: 13601
Joined: Tue Jun 26, 2007 9:46 am

Re: We won best paper from S&P SPIVA worldwide!

Post by Rodc »

Congratulations!

Well done.
We live a world with knowledge of the future markets has less than one significant figure. And people will still and always demand answers to three significant digits.
User avatar
k66
Posts: 504
Joined: Sat Oct 27, 2012 1:36 pm

Re: We won best paper from S&P SPIVA worldwide!

Post by k66 »

A very interesting read, thanks to you Rick and Alex for producing this work and making it available.

Your PPM #1 (increased probability as a portfolio) is a really big deal! As you show, not only are individual index funds the better bet (as we already know), but as a collectively diversified group, they are even stronger and more robust than what the calculated aggregate would be.
LOSER of the Boglehead Contest 2015 | lang may yer lum reek
staythecourse
Posts: 6993
Joined: Mon Jan 03, 2011 8:40 am

Re: We won best paper from S&P SPIVA worldwide!

Post by staythecourse »

Great now I have another paper to read!! :D

Congrats and expect nothing less from the author of one of my fav. investing books, "AAAA"!!

Good luck.
"The stock market [fluctuation], therefore, is noise. A giant distraction from the business of investing.” | -Jack Bogle
Post Reply