The No. 1 party foul for Matt Hall, co-founder and president of Hill Investment Group: when someone asks him what he thinks is going to happen in the market. “The answer,” he says, “is that even the most brilliant economists, the people who are true students of how global economies and markets work, cannot predict what’s going to happen in the short run.” But short of a crystal ball, Hall’s advice might be the next best thing—he’s the author of Odds On: The Making of an Evidence-Based Investor and host of the podcast “Take the Long View with Matt Hall,” on which he’s interviewed everyone from Shake Shack restaurateur Danny Meyer on investing in hospitality to billionaire and AQR founder David Kabiller. If getting your finances in order is on the punch list for 2020, the bad news is that this is an election year, which spells tumult and unknown, Hall says. The good news? We’ve compiled Hall’s eight pieces of advice on how to act accordingly.
1. Think longer-term.
“If you think about 30 years down the road, often it allows you to go beyond whether you’re going to buy the latte.”
2. Make your spending match your values.
Get a savings account with a few months’ living expenses in case of an emergency and max out a workplace savings plan. Then, Hall says, “if you value food or coffee, maybe that’s where you should spend.”
3. Automate everything.
“Once you take the thinking away, it becomes painless to save and to give.”
4. Ignore most financial media.
“Today’s paper is trying to get you to focus on the apocalypse of the day. Read the financial news for entertainment or for information, not for wisdom.”
5. Plan.
“I mean tax planning, estate planning, investment planning, charitable planning. If our vision for what we want to accomplish gets clearer, our decisions become easier.”
6. Embrace uncertainty.
“Patient investors usually get rewarded. The people who are generally hurt during times of uncertainty are the people who act or react.” Another way to ensure a smooth ride: Invest in funds outside the U.S.
7. Know how much you spend.
“Use technology to better understand your spending. My two favorite apps are Personal Capital and Mint.”
8. Costs matter—but they aren’t everything.
“There are some things worth paying for, whether that’s an advisor, certain types of funds, or different types of tech.”
