Q: How much decision-making should people take on themselves?
Ellis: The right answer to most questions is - Nah, I'm not going to do anything today. Almost every time you think you're going to do something, you'll do better to do nothing.
Q: Does that make a case for actively-managed funds being worth the fees?
Malkiel: On the contrary, that makes the case for index funds, and these are the instruments that we use. It's not that markets are so efficient that they are always right. They are always wrong, but nobody knows for sure whether the prices are too high or too low.
Q: What about target-date funds, which align to a retirement date and then fund managers adjust the equity and bond balance over time?
Ellis: It's a sensible, generic answer for people who accept the proposition that markets are pretty effective at getting the right price and don't want to be bothered to make a lot of decisions.
The secret to success in the investment world is more about not getting yourself in trouble than it is about being really smart and clever and coming out with a brilliant move.
Q: What's the most important thing people can do right now to set their portfolios right?
Vivian: The single biggest thing is to increase your savings rate because most people aren't saving enough yet. That's the easy answer for one thing to do right now.
Ellis: Think very, very long term and index, index, index.