The Greek crisis is serious, but how much does it matter to diversified, long-term investors?

It has dominated the European agenda for years and could continue to do so, but the attention and headlines focused on Greece may be disproportionate to the actual impact on most people’s investment portfolios—especially over the long term.

Greece represents a small proportion of the world’s economy and capital markets.1 The country’s economic problems will have effects beyond its borders, but those effects could be limited to a well-diversified investor.

This suggestion is not blind faith. It is based on a philosophy borne out of decades of academic research that shapes our fundamental belief in the markets and how investors can make the most of them.

We look beyond the headlines because we believe that investment and speculation are two different things. We focus on the fundamental drivers of investment return and take care to diversify our investment portfolios to reduce risk and pursue higher expected returns.