“He that can have patience can have what he will.”

— Benjamin Franklin

(No guarantees, of course!)

In This Edition

→ A Reader’s Patience — and Ben Felix’s Reply

→ Truth Teller of the Week: Ben Felix

→ This Week’s Podcast: Boot Camp #9 — 2 Funds for Life & Target-Date Funds

→ A Word from a Listener

From Paul

A Reader’s Patience — and Ben Felix’s Reply

I have received a number of emails expressing the end of their patience with small cap value. One long-term advocate offered these questions and concerns:

“I have followed your small and value work for years but I’ll tell you, the last 20–25 years of your data do not give me growing confidence in my decision. I know… I’m not very patient… I have not waited long enough. In reality, it is difficult to see what the new market of growth and AI-driven stock returns are doing in the recent past. Maybe I need an advisor to ‘talk me off the ledge’ and to stay the course. Even if small and value do come in vogue, is the wait worth the mustard? It’s kind of like the Social Security break-even analysis. Do I take a smaller return now with small and value in the hope that I live long enough for the choice to pay off?”

His comment about the need for an advisor is important. One of the challenges for the do-it-yourself investor is that they are their own advisor. They need to talk to themselves.

On the other hand, they can listen to “experts” like Ben Felix and Larry Swedroe for confirmation. But of course, no one can know what will happen next.

Within minutes of reading this email I received a link to an interview with Ben Felix:

Watch on YouTube

Is Small Cap Value Worth It? Ben Felix Explains the Truth About AVUV & Factor Investing

Watch Now →

Ben is one of my favorite Truth-Tellers. He is filled with helpful information from the past, but still lacks the ability to see into the future.

I hope his comments are helpful.

Truth Teller of the Week

Ben Felix

Ben Felix is a portfolio manager and Head of Research at PWL Capital, and one of the most clear-headed voices in evidence-based investing. His YouTube channel and the Rational Reminder podcast translate decades of academic research into language any long-term investor can use.

If you’re feeling shaky about small cap value — or factor investing in general — spend some time with Ben’s work. He won’t tell you what the market will do next. He will tell you what the data says, and that’s far more useful.

Meet All Our Truth Tellers →

This Week’s Podcast

Boot Camp #9: 2 Funds for Life & Target-Date Funds

2 Funds for Life and Target-Date Funds — Boot Camp 2026

In this episode, Chris Pedersen and I explain what target-date funds are and what they do — and how to augment them with some small cap value to capture the broad diversification benefits of the other Sound Investing portfolios.

We walk through several approaches and tools investors can use to decide what might be best for them: an “Easy” 2 Funds for Life, a “Moderate” version, an “Aggressive” version, the Customizer, and the Calculator.

Chapters

Losing Patience with Small Cap Value? Ben Felix Has Thoughts