First up to speak with Geraci is Hendrickson. Earlier in the month, ETF Trends hosted the ETFs ‘22 symposium with Investopedia, during which thousands of attendees were polled on various ETF and market-related topics. This led to some interesting takeaways, ranging from market sentiments to where the best returns may be, from crypto to ESG. Hendrickson notes that the audience was made up of around 68% individual investors, 24% advisors, and 8% institutional investors. With that sort of spread, there was implicit and explicit data to get and rely on for teasing out specific market concerns. For example, Investors believe that the U.S. stock market still has room to run upward over the next 12 months. Hendrickson reveals the results, showing that 76% were more certain of positive returns, while 24% think there will be a flatter environment. “I think you can look at it one of two ways: Where are we at this point in time, and then where does this look from a sort of normalized distribution of returns,” says Hendrickson. With that said, there are many reasons why bullishness in the continuation of great returns we’ve seen over the last 10 years, particularly in U.S. equities, makes sense, but just as much reason for investors to be cautious. For an ETF-related poll, Geraci brings up the question, “What will be the dominant themes of 2022: disruptive tech, energy, blockchain/DeFi, or crypto?” Attendees picked energy as the most dominant theme, at a surprising 31.3%, followed by disruptive technology at 25.7%, blockchain/DeFi at 22.2%, and finally crypto at 20.8%. Investors are certainly concerned about inflation, and there’s a clear line to draw to performance and how this manifested in portfolios in 2021.