We are big fans of Moneyball and share the mindset of using data to make more rational decisions. We also enjoy using lateral thinking to translate, in relatable terms, our investment process and thinking around risk management. Sports provide us with a particularly fertile environment to do that.

Of all major U.S. sports, none has a vaster treasure trove of data than baseball. Perhaps it is no coincidence then that no sport depends more on data to make tactical decisions than the national pastime.

Major League Baseball’s Fall Classic got us thinking about an interesting corollary between effective hitting and an adaptive approach to asset management.

At Blueprint, we utilize tactics based on the fundamentals of Trend Following, attempting to smooth the investment ride and to keep compounding high for our advisor clients.  We generally do this using passive instruments such as index-based ETFs and Mutual Funds for two reasons: