2015 This month’s Mutual Funds and ETF stories

The first day of a new year is a chance to learn from the old year.

For stock investors, 2014 was a good teacher. The key takeaway: patience and diversification are rewarded.

Yet frankly, patience and diversification are the market’s top lessons every year. Welcome to Investing 101: rebalance a diversified portfolio regularly; keep a long-term perspective, don’t pile on risk if you need money soon.

These old chestnuts should be boring by now to anyone with a 401(k), family to consider, future goals and dreams, or even just a handwritten bucket list. With stocks, boring is beautiful. Investing should be boring, so that you can become immersed in things in life that are meant to be exciting and unpredictable.

Here’s wishing you a happy new year — but for reasons other than how the stock market performs. This year, when it comes to your money, dare to be dull.