ETF Radio Show

5 Investing New Year’s Resolutions

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.

On our most recent radio broadcast, we offered five investing New Year’s resolutions to help get your investment portfolio on track.  While many people resolve to do things like exercise more or quit smoking, we here at The ETF Store believe that you also have to make a few investing-related resolutions to best position yourself for long-term investment success.  After all, one popular definition of insanity is to keep doing the same things over and over again and expect different results.  This certainly applies whether you’re talking about physical fitness or the health of your investment portfolio.  If you haven’t been satisfied with your investment performance, perhaps it may be time to try a different approach.  It’s our belief that if you can implement and keep these five investing New Year’s resolutions, you will be well on your way towards reaching your financial goals:

1)      Focus on Asset Allocation

2)      Have a Disciplined Investment Plan in Place

3)      Understand Exactly What I’m Paying For My Investments and Minimize Investment Costs

4)      Learn More About Exchange Traded Funds

5)      Conduct an In-Depth Review of My Investment Portfolio

In our weekly market update, we looked back at the performance of various asset classes in 2012 – in particular, global equities.  With the steady stream of negative headlines last year – from Europe’s sovereign debt crisis to the so-called “fiscal cliff” – some investors may be surprised to learn that global equity markets approached 20% returns.  We explained the disconnect and also discussed what impact the recent fiscal cliff deal may have on the markets in 2013.  In our ETF spotlight segment, we examined a sector ETF that was up over 28% last year (ticker XLF) and debated the role an ETF such as this may have in a portfolio.

Warburg Pincus Sees the Light

New York-based private equity firm Warburg Pincus, a leader in the development of financial services companies, recently announced the appointment of former iShares CEO Lee Kranefuss as executive in residence.  According to the press release, Kranefuss will “work to help Warburg Pincus identify and evaluate investment opportunities in the areas of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), index investing and asset management”.

Kranefuss spearheaded the growth of iShares from its inception in 2000 to over $600 billion in assets by 2010.  With ETFs on pace for record inflows this year, it’s clear that Warburg and Kranefuss recognize the enormous opportunities the industry presents.  For a firm that counts several financial service providers emphasizing mutual funds among its portfolio of investments, it’s certainly noteworthy to see a shift in focus towards ETFs.  As Kranefuss commented, “ETFs and passive investing are powerful investment tools globally, and continue to see long-term inflows. However this is a time of flux and opportunity in the ETF industry. The time is ripe to create a large-scale, global, and independent ETF provider that will provide the truly attractive and innovative product – and the support behind it – that ETF investors demand”.

On Wall Street, private equity firms are often referred to as “the smart money”.  By bringing Kranefuss into the fold, it appears that Warburg is placing that smart money on Exchange Traded Funds.  And as we’ve said for years at The ETF Store regarding ETFs – “invest with the smart money”.

A Record Year for ETFs

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.

On our most recent radio broadcast, we explained why 2012 has been yet another record-breaking year for ETF growth, with U.S. ETF assets eclipsing $1.3 trillion.  With the underperformance of actively managed mutual funds and the challenges of trying to select individual stocks and bonds, investors are gravitating to low cost, index-based ETFs.  And it should be noted that it’s not just “everyday” retail investors who are flocking to ETFs.  Consider the elite “Tiger 21” group of investors with at least $10 million in investable assets who now count ETFs among their top holdings.  You might be surprised to learn the biggest reason why these wealthy, sophisticated investors prefer ETFs and where they rank mutual funds on their list of investments.

In our weekly market update, we discussed the Fed’s latest round of monetary stimulus and whether Ben Bernanke has any tools left his toolbox should the economy fail to respond or worse, plummet over the dreaded fiscal cliff.  In our ETF spotlight segment, we delved into an ETF offering exposure to both developed and emerging countries in Asia (ticker AAXJ).  We also compared this ETF to a similar mutual fund that can levy a significant toll (see load) just for the privilege of investing in it.