A) Why not just put my money in the highest expected return asset class and ride it out?  Am I not assured of "winning" if I can ride out the fluctuations for a long enough period?

First, an investor should go into the market with eyes wide open.  While the market has impressive long-term returns, there have been entire decades (and longer) stocks have underperformed treasuries! Even the highest returning assets can lag for extended periods.  Only by diversifying do you minimize the chance that you have all your money in an asset class that underperforms for your entire investment horizon.

Additionally, diversifying and then systematically rebalancing back into your planned asset allocation produces "diversification returns" which further increase your expected returns.

B) Why not just put my money in a "proven" mutual fund?

Putting your money in the mutual fund that performed spectacularly the past three years is easy.  Putting you money in the fund that will perform spectacularly for the next three years, studies have shown repeatedly, is a crapshoot.

Mutual Funds have an uncanny ability to not repeat their good (or poor for that matter) performances.  Not only that, but the odds are that the performance of a particular fund that gains fame for having "beaten the market" was not due to any acumen of the Fund Manager, but instead to a concentration in growth, value, large or small company stocks and that asset class' performance explains much of the Fund's performance.

Each year, Fortune Magazine picks its five "All-Star Analysts."  Guess how many Analysts have repeated as top performers on Fortune's list the next year?  None.

C) Why does HCM use Dimensional Fund Advisors' products?

To our knowledge, DFA is the only Fund family on earth which has built its entire product line to allow investors to follow Modern Portfolio Theory and the Three Factor Model while working under the assumption of the Efficient Markets 

These three principles form the foundation of DFA's product line and of HCM's portfolio engineering.

We encourage you to "take a tour" of DFA's website.  Click on this link, http://www.dfaus.com and go to the bottom of the homepage.  There you'll see an icon allowing you to "take a tour."  This will take you 10-20 minutes, depending on how thoroughly you choose to study the material and also on the depth of your knowledge of investing.

The majority of DFA's invested assets are held by Institutional Investors such as pension funds, endowments, etc.  Their products are only available to the public through DFA-approved Fee-only Advisers such as Horizon Capital Management. 

D) Can't I perform HCM's services for myself?  Why pay you?

Actually, you can do much of this yourself, and if you decide not to use our services, we still encourage you to follow the philosophy to which we adhere.  However: 1) following a dispassionate and disciplined strategy is difficult when your own money and emotions are on the line, 2) many people, even after understanding the basic premises, don't "get around to it" when it comes to investing their money properly, 3) Dimensional Fund Advisors' products, the only Company of which we're aware that has built its entire product line around allocating a person's capital among passively-managed asset class funds, are only available to the public through DFA-approved Registered Investment Advisers (of which Horizon Capital Management, LLC is one). 

We can show you that the advantages of using our services and DFA funds are reasonably expected to far outweigh our fees for those with adequate investible capital.