Can Investors and iShares Both Win with Lower Fees?
While ETF fee cuts are nothing new, iShares’ latest slashing of fees on several popular ETFs seemed to create more buzz than usual. In one fell swoop, iShares reduced fees on eleven ETFs, saving investors over $51 million dollars annually. Just. Like. That....
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Why Fidelity Should Launch a Contrafund ETF
The New York Times recently chronicled the challenges of Fidelity, perhaps the most renowned and respected active management firm out there: “In each of the last 10 years, Fidelity’s fabled mutual funds have leaked money, no matter how well they have performed. It is...
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Wine, Investment Costs, and Perception
I am certainly no wine connoisseur, but I like to think I know my way around reds enough to be dangerous. Recently, my wife and I took some time off with friends and ventured to Napa Valley, home to one of the world’s best grape growing and wine producing regions....
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Still Using a Flip Phone?
I’m not the guy waiting in line at the Apple store for the latest iPhone release. I let millions of other people roll the dice on Uber and Airbnb before I made the leap. I’m just not an “early adopter”, it’s not in my DNA. I’m much more of a risk manager. However,...
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Red Light, Green Light: Rating ETFs is No Child’s Play
For all the extraordinary innovation occurring in ETFs, no standardized ratings exist to help everyday investors sort through the rapidly growing number of ETF options. The most recent poster child of the problem this creates is the VelocityShares Daily Inverse VIX...
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No Reason to Tip Uncle Sam Each Year
"You must pay taxes. But there's no law that says you gotta leave a tip." – Morgan Stanley Unless you’re overly patriotic, highly altruistic, or have more money than you know what to do with, you likely agree paying less in taxes is better than paying more. There’s...
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Nothing is Certain in Investing, Except These Things
There isn’t much we can say with certainty when it comes to investing. Nobody knows what stocks will do tomorrow, let alone a year from now. Same with interest rates, inflation, or any other factor that might move the markets. Let’s peruse the headlines from last...
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ETFs in Pictures
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. If that's the case, I've put together a novel here. Below are my favorite ETF-related charts. While there are still a few words, the pictures tell quite a story. Enjoy! ETF Growth Any ETF pictorial must begin with ETF...
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Core Wars
Fees on ETFs designed as core portfolio building blocks have plummeted in recent years as a civil war has broken out in the ETF industry. You might recall the opening crawl from the original Star Wars… Bloomberg’s Tom Psarofagis recently dubbed this ruthless ETF...
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The Retirement Savings Problem
I recently came across one of the more shocking charts I have seen in quite a while. FlowingData compiled figures from the Bureau of Labor’s 2016 Consumer Expenditure Survey on how different income groups spend their hard-earned money. They then fashioned this data...
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