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World Gold Council’s Artigas on Gold Demand & Gold ETFs

Nate Geraci August 29, 2013

Listen to The ETF Store Show every Tuesday at 9am on ESPN 1510 as we cover everything you need to know about Exchange Traded Funds and the world of investing.

Click here to listen to The ETF Store Show now.

For a wide variety of reasons, gold is an investment that generates sharp emotions from investors who usually fall squarely on either side of a clearly defined love-hate divide.  On one side, you have investors like Warren Buffett who say gold “just sits there and you hope somebody pays you more for it”.  On the other side, you have individuals like Peter Schiff who recently said, “If I’m right that gold is still grossly undervalued, then this might be the beginning of the biggest rally we’ve yet seen”.  At The ETF Store, we tend to fall somewhere in between on the love-hate spectrum.  We certainly don’t think investors should turn their noses up at gold as if it’s some sort of unworthy investment, but we also don’t view gold as an exciting, speculative day trade.  Instead, we believe a reasonable allocation to gold in your investment portfolio makes sense as a hedge, or diversifier.  On our most recent radio broadcast, we explained the role of gold in your investment portfolio and were also joined by Juan Carlos Artigas, Head of Investment Research at the World Gold Council.  Widely respected for his deep knowledge of the gold market, Juan Carlos offered his thoughts on the most recent Gold Demand Trends report, gold ETFs, and the investment case for gold moving forward.

In our weekly ETF Spotlight segment, we examined the largest, physically-backed gold ETF – the SPDR Gold Shares (ticker GLD).  With over $40 billion invested in it, GLD offers a highly liquid, cost effective way to gain exposure to gold in your portfolio.  And for investors still wondering whether an ETF like GLD actually owns the physical gold they say they do, we took a look back at an excellent CNBC piece on just this subject.  Learn more about GLD by visiting www.etfbuzz.com.

Is an Investment Advisor Right For You?

Nate Geraci August 21, 2013

Listen to The ETF Store Show every Tuesday at 9am on ESPN 1510 as we cover everything you need to know about Exchange Traded Funds and the world of investing.

Click here to listen to The ETF Store Show now.

For many investors, particularly those invested in the markets over the past 15 years or so, there is certainly some apprehension when the stock market hits new highs.  After all, many of these investors experienced the bursting of the dotcom bubble and watched as stocks were chopped in half during the Great Recession – in both cases, after a tremendous stock market run-up.  As the market eclipses new highs and investors try to determine whether it’s an illusion created by a determined Federal Reserve or grounded in real economic growth, the specter of the last two market debacles seems to be generating a healthy dose of fear.  Toss-in rapidly rising interest rates after a 30-year bull market in bonds and it certainly makes for a scary time for investors.  On our most recent radio broadcast, ETF Store Sr. Investment Advisor Jason Lank appeared on the show to share some concerns he’s hearing from investors regarding the current financial markets and offer some thoughts on whether you need an investment advisor to help navigate them.  For investors who have decided to seek professional advice, Jason also gave his take on the key decision points to consider before hiring an advisor – and that begins with understanding whether your “advisor” operates as a broker or registered investment advisor.

In our weekly market update, we discussed the recent fear that seems to be permeating the financial markets and examined some of the potential headwinds that stocks could face.  We also explained how focusing on diversification and having a sound investment plan are two simple, but often times ignored, approaches that can help investors sleep better at night.  In our ETF Spotlight segment, we delved into the lowest cost international equity fund on the market, the Schwab International Equity ETF (ticker SCHF).  It’s our belief that international stocks have a place in a well-diversified portfolio and we explained how an ETF such as SCHF compares to an actively managed mutual fund with a very similar investment approach.  Learn more about SCHF by visiting www.etfbuzz.com.

Back to School: ETFs 101

Nate Geraci August 15, 2013

Listen to The ETF Store Show every Tuesday at 9am on ESPN 1510 as we cover everything you need to know about Exchange Traded Funds and the world of investing.

Click here to listen to The ETF Store Show now.

With Exchange Traded Funds on pace for another year of record inflows and traditional mutual fund giants aggressively entering the ETF space, it’s an exciting time for ETF investors.  There are now over 1,500 ETFs available and at The ETF Store, we’re hearing from individuals all across the country who want to learn more about ETFs.  On our most recent radio broadcast, we explained what’s driving this investor interest in ETFs and offered a crash course on why we believe  ETFs are a better way to invest – particularly when compared to investing in individual stocks/bonds or actively managed mutual funds.

In our weekly market update, we talked rising interest rates and how they can impact your bond portfolio.  As interest rates rise, bond prices decline – and depending on the types of bonds in your portfolio, these declines can be significant.  The Wall Street Journal recently published an excellent chart outlining the impact of the most recent spike in interest rates and the return figures may surprise you:

Rising Interest Rates - Bonds

We discussed what you can do to help protect your fixed income portfolio from rising interest rates and explained why the longer your time horizon, the less concerned you should be.

In our ETF Spotlight segment, we highlighted an ETF that costs 0.07%, invests in five hundred of the largest U.S. companies, and closely tracks an index that many actively managed mutual funds simply can’t beat (and certainly not with any consistency).  The iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (ticker IVV) may seem like a boring, plain vanilla ETF, but we think owning five hundred of the largest US companies for 7 basis points and having all the flexibility that ETFs offer is pretty exciting.  Learn more about IVV by visiting www.etfbuzz.com.

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