ETF Radio Show

Obstacles to Capturing Investment Returns

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.

On our most recent radio broadcast, ETF Store Investment Advisor Kit Barnes joined us to discuss four major obstacles that most investors face to capturing returns in their portfolios and how he has worked with clients to reduce or overcome these obstacles.  While the S&P 500 Index has returned 7.8% from 1992 – 2011, many investors have failed to capture anywhere near that return.  Investment fees, poor investment decisions, inflation, and taxes have all conspired against investor portfolios to eat away at market returns.  On the show, we explained how investors can tackle each of these obstacles by using exchange traded funds and having a sound investment plan in place.  Below is a quick summary of our tips and recommendations from the broadcast:

“10 Things That Mutual Fund Companies Won’t Say”

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.

On our most recent radio broadcast, we discussed an article from the Wall Street Journal by Ian Salisbury titled “10 Things that Mutual Fund Companies Won’t Say”.  As the title suggests, this excellent piece lays out ten key points that the author believes mutual fund companies won’t tell investors about their products.  On the show, we walked through each of these points and more importantly, explained how Exchange Traded Funds, or ETFs, avoid many of the issues highlighted in the article.  If you’re still investing in actively managed mutual funds, this article will no doubt have you rethinking your position and taking a hard look at switching to low cost, index-based investments such as ETFs.

In our weekly market update, we provided the latest on the looming “fiscal cliff” and discussed how the financial markets could react if lawmakers fail to reach some form of a productive deal.  In our ETF spotlight segment, we examined a dividend focused ETF (ticker SDY) and explained how in this historically low interest rate environment, high dividend paying equities can be an excellent way to generate income in a portfolio.  We also discussed the impact that the dividend tax rate increase might have on this type of ETF.  Listen to the full show here.

Year-End Tax Planning Strategies & 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.

On our most recent radio broadcast, Dan Haake, CPA and Partner at Hutchins & Haake LLC, joined us to discuss the various tax changes set to occur on January 1^st, 2013, if Congress is unable to intervene.  With the looming fiscal cliff and the associated tax increases on the table, we discussed potential year-end tax planning strategies as it relates to investments and how Exchange Traded Funds can be excellent tools to help implement these strategies.  We also discussed how ETFs tend to be much more tax efficient than mutual funds, a potential benefit that sometimes flies under the radar given the other benefits touted for ETFs – lower cost, more transparency, diversification, etc.

In our weekly ETF spotlight segment, we delved into the oldest and largest ETF (ticker SPY) and explained where it fits as part of a well-diversified portfolio.  Given the focus on taxes during the show, we also compared the capital gain distributions (or lack thereof) for SPY to a popular mutual fund.  Listen to the full show here.