For the first time in a long time, investors are talking about "growth" versus "value" investing, and that's not a good thing. Well, actually, it is a good thing, but the reasons why they are talking about it are not a good thing.

On the plus side, it's important for retirement savers to understand the different uses (and abuses) of growth versus value investing (see "How a Fiduciary Should Explain 'Growth' and 'Value' Investing Styles," FiduciaryNews.com, April 11, 2017). Unfortunately, what's prompting this discussion is a short-term performance aberration that shows all that is wrong with SEC mandated performance reporting requirements.

Several years ago the SEC began requiring mutual funds to report calendar year performance on a one-year, five-year, ten-year, since inception basis. They thought this was a good idea because, prior to that, mutual funds were permitted to report on a fiscal year basis (just like all other publicly traded companies).