Diversity and innovation remain the driving forces behind the ETF industry’s impressive growth. With more than 1,500 ETFs available on the market today, investors have a plethora of strategies and asset classes to pick and choose from. Actively-managed and smart beta products have been shaking up the industry as more and more investors grow comfortable with utilizing these unique strategies, making it more difficult for some of the “plain vanilla” vehicles out there to get the attention they deserve. More specifically, we’re talking about investment style ETFs, which have allowed for easy and cost-efficient access to the age-old strategies of “Value” and “Growth” investing [see 101 ETF Lessons Every Financial Advisor Should Learn].
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The expansion of the ETF universe continues to foster innovation as the growing product lineup offers investors numerous instruments for addressing their investment goals. In fact, with over 1,400+ ETPs to choose from, investors likely have multiple ways of accessing a particular asset class. As with any financial instrument, with innovation also comes complexity; as such, investors should remember to […]
The expansion of the ETF universe continues to foster innovation as the growing product lineup offers investors numerous instruments at their fingertips when it comes to addressing their investment goals. In fact, with over 1,400+ ETPs to choose from, investors likely have multiple ways of accessing a particular asset class. As with any financial instrument, with innovation also comes complexity; as such, […]
When constructing a portfolio, most investors focus on the decisions that seem to have the most significant impact on the risk/return profile delivered. How much should be allocated to stocks vs. bonds? What breakdown between developed and emerging markets is desired? What sectors should be overweight, and which should be avoided? These decisions obviously go […]
Last year was a good year for most asset classes, as investor portfolios continued to recover from the recent recession. The difference in performance between many comparable funds was significant, and many of the best performers of 2010 are relatively small funds that maintain considerably smaller asset bases than their more popular competitors. Below, we […]
The S&P 500 Index is perhaps the world’s best known benchmark. First published in 1957, the cap-weighted index consists of 500 large cap U.S. stocks listed on either the NYSE or NASDAQ and has become a widely-followed barometer measuring the performance of the U.S. economy. The S&P 500 is a common benchmark for active managers […]
When discussing their portfolios and asset allocation tactics, many investors and advisors indicate their preference for either value and growth investing in an effort to define their general investment strategy. ETF investors are no different, with dozens of funds that tilt their holdings towards each strategy offering ways to construct portfolios designed to take advantage […]