Most stock markets have continued to rebound since a very dismal end of Q1 / beginning of Q2, 2020. Here you can see DFA's Q3, 2020 Market Update Summary. I want to point out two areas of the stock market that have recently performed very poorly: real estate and value stocks (you can see their respective returns on pages 4, and 8 – 10 of the attached PDF, and in the graphic pasted below).
I don’t need to define real estate for you, but maybe I do for a value stock. A value stock is defined as stock of a company that is trading at a low price relative to some fundamental measure of that company’s worth, whereas a growth stock is one that can be defined as stock of a company that is trading at a high price relative to some fundamental measure of that company’s worth.
Despite their recently poor performance, real estate and value stocks are included in our investment portfolios (along with many other styles and types of investments in the U.S. and abroad). These areas have been underperforming lately, but that is not cause for alarm. Not everything will be great at once, and likewise, not everything will be terrible at once, either. That’s why we want exposure to everything – known as diversification – because, at times, real estate will be great and at other times it’ll be down in the dumps, and right now growth stocks are hot (we own those, too) while value stocks are not, at some point that will change and value will be rewarding us with great returns while growth stocks lag behind. We don’t know when one area will do great or do poorly, so we own all areas, and when an area is down it gets a little more attention in the terms of additional investments – this is us buying good stocks while they are on sale. Right now when we rebalance or invest new money like rollovers and IRA contributions, we’ll look to put a little extra into the areas that are struggling knowing that those trends won’t continue for ever and our retirement portfolios will ultimately be rewarded for our resolve. Again, buying good investments while they are on sale makes for a fantastic long-term wealth building strategy.
