Welcome to the ETF Prime Podcast

Estate Planning Not Just For the Wealthy

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, Jason Salinardi, estate planning attorney and co-founder of BridgeBuilder-Plans for Life, joined us to discuss the importance of developing a proper estate plan so that both your family and financial goals are met after you pass away.  While this can, without a doubt, be an uncomfortable subject to discuss, there are potentially significant negative ramifications to your surviving family if you fail to put an appropriate plan in place.  On the show, we discussed what an estate plan looks like, why it’s important, and what you can do now to start putting your own plan in place.  We also explained why estate planning is not just for wealthy individuals – it’s something that is applicable to anyone with assets or a family to consider.  At The ETF Store, we work with some of the best and brightest partners to ensure that our clients have access to the right professional services – whether that’s professional accounting, mortgage or real estate needs, or estate planning.  The ETF Store is completely independent and just like with our investment selection, we’re free to select what we believe is best for our clients to help them reach their financial goals.

In our weekly ETF Spotlight segment, we discussed a broad based commodity Exchange Traded Note (the ELEMENTS Rogers International Commodity ETN – ticker RJI) and explained the role of commodities in a well-diversified portfolio.  In our opinion, far too many investors do not have enough uncorrelated assets in their investment portfolio.  They simply have a cookie-cutter portfolio containing stocks and bonds.  We believe this lack of uncorrelated assets can increase the volatility, and therefore risk, of a portfolio.  Alternative assets such as commodities can offer diversification benefits and also serve as an inflation hedge.  Learn more about RJI at etfbuzz.com.

PBS’ “The Retirement Gamble” Must-See TV

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.

If you currently participate in a company 401k plan or even if you have an old 401k account sitting with a previous employer, PBS’ new documentary “The Retirement Gamble” could have you second-guessing whether your 401k account is a benefit to you or to the mutual fund industry.  From high fees, to broker kickbacks, to underperformance – this documentary takes a candid look at how mutual funds made their way into your 401k and more importantly, it examines the potential negative impact these funds can have on your retirement.  At The ETF Store, we believe that low cost, index-based ETFs are the best way to build an investment portfolio and we receive no kickbacks for using these ETFs.  We simply select what we believe to be the best ETF for the asset class we want exposure to.  Unfortunately, 401k plan participants are, often times, stuck with high cost, actively managed mutual funds that pay a nice commission to the broker who sold them to your plan.  On our most recent radio show, we discussed PBS’ new documentary in detail and explained why it’s critical that you understand exactly what you’re getting from your 401k.  Watch the full documentary below – and thank us later.