Welcome to the ETF Prime Podcast
One of the “most helpful plain-English resources for investors who want to demystify exchange-traded funds” – Bloomberg Businessweek
Latest Episode
Rethinking Sector ETFs & Baron Capital’s ETF Debut
Michael Cohick, Director of Product Management at VanEck, breaks down the firm’s lineup of TruSector ETFs and how they aim to address tracking error caused by regulatory diversification limits – constraints that can force traditional sector funds to underweight the largest companies in their benchmarks. Matt Camuso, Head of ETF Solutions at Baron Capital, discusses the firm’s recent entry into the ETF space and outlines its distinctive approach to actively managed growth equity investing, including the Baron First Principles ETF (RONB).
About the Podcast
ETF Prime is hosted by Nate Geraci. Learn how to make ETFs a part of your investment portfolio as Nate spotlights individual ETFs and interviews experts from across the country. ETF Prime is available on Apple Podcasts, Android, Spotify, and most other major podcasting platforms. Specific guest interviews can be accessed by visiting the ETF Expert Corner.
Recent Episodes
Choosing the Right 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.
With over 1,500 ETFs available and nearly 1,000 more filed with the SEC, it’s becoming a bigger challenge for investors to choose the right ETFs for their portfolios. For example, if you run a basic screen on emerging market equity ETFs, it can yield more than 150 ETFs from which to choose. Obviously, there are going to be significant differences between these ETFs – from country exposure to index tracked to cost. While the growth and innovation in the ETF industry is no doubt a net positive for investors, the downside is that finding the right ETFs for your situation is now more cumbersome than ever. On our most recent radio broadcast, we walked through the basics on how to choose the right ETFs for your portfolio, including the most important factors to consider. We also discussed some of the free online tools available to help with this process.
In our weekly market update, we talked Syria and its impact on the financial markets. With investors already on edge over a laundry list of concerns including Fed taper talk and the upcoming debt ceiling debate, a potential military confrontation in Syria is the last thing they want to hear. However, investors would be wise to consider how the market has fared historically in these types of situations. The lesson? Investors who didn’t overreact to these events, on average, have ended up better off within a very short-time frame after the particular event. In our weekly ETF Spotlight segment, we looked at the Vanguard Total International Bond ETF (ticker BNDX). International bonds make up approximately 35% of the world’s total investible assets (which is larger than international stocks, US stocks, or US bonds), yet this asset class tends to be significantly underrepresented in investor portfolios. BNDX can be a low cost way to access this exposure. Learn more about BNDX by visiting www.etfbuzz.com.
World Gold Council’s Artigas on Gold Demand & Gold 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.
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.
World Gold Council’s Artigas on Gold Demand & Gold ETFs
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Is an Investment Advisor Right For You?
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.