Welcome to the ETF Prime Podcast

Is Your Mutual Fund Manager “Eating Their Own Cooking”?

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’re still investing in mutual funds, have you ever wondered whether your mutual fund manager is actually investing their own money into the same mutual fund that you’ve put your hard earned money into?  In other words, is your mutual fund manager eating their own cooking so to speak?  Morningstar, one of the largest third party evaluators of investment products, recently delved into just this very subject and what they found may surprise you.  Looking at all of the mutual funds in the U.S., Morningstar found that an alarming 49% do not have a manager with even a single dollar invested in their own mutual funds!  If you’re a mutual fund investor, this should give you pause.  Does your mutual fund manager not believe strongly enough in their own abilities to invest in the fund that they’re managing on your behalf?  Or, do they know something that you might not about how difficult it is to outperform the market?  We discussed this in detail on our most recent radio broadcast and also explained why we believe focusing on asset allocation and minimizing investment costs though Exchange Traded Funds is a better way to invest than by trying to find the next hot mutual fund manager who may or may not be able to beat their benchmark (and who may or may not even be investing in their own fund).

In our weekly market update, we discussed the latest market turmoil and why investors should be careful not to overreact.  We also looked at the most recent jobs report.  In our ETF Spotlight segment, we highlighted a physical gold ETF (iShares Gold Trust – ticker IAU) and explained the various roles of gold in a well-diversified portfolio.  We also debated whether the continued race to devalue currencies by countries around the globe is bullish for gold long-term.

Top 5 Reasons to Work with a Financial Advisor

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.

It seems that just about everyone knows a financial advisor, but for a variety of reasons, not everyone chooses to work with a financial advisor. For some do-it-yourself investors, given their particular situation, this makes perfect sense. For many other do-it-yourselfers, however, there are several very compelling reasons why working with a financial advisor can be the best path towards reaching long-term financial goals. A financial advisor can cover a wide range of monetary responsibilities, from expenditure to looking after the accounts. If you’re not entirely sure about working with one, do some research about what makes a good financial advisor. There are qualifications that they can work towards; accountants for example may take the CPA exam to fully qualify (check out the Surgent CPA Review vs Becker to see which CPA course works best) while there are plenty of other exams and qualifications to look out for. At The ETF Store, we’ve pinpointed five key reasons why investors should consider working with a financial advisor and we shared each of those reasons during our most recent radio broadcast. Listen to the full show as we go into detail on the following top five reasons to work with a financial advisor:

1. Investing can be hard.
2. You’re too busy to properly manage your investments.
3. You need an investment plan.
4. You don’t know what you’re paying for your investments.
5. You simply can’t sleep at night worrying about your investments.

In our usual weekly market update, we took a look back at 1^st quarter market performance and explained how some investors failed to participate in the roughly 10% increase in US stocks that seemed to get lost in the blizzard of negative news during the quarter. We also offered some thoughts on what to watch for from the markets during the 2^nd quarter. In our ETF Spotlight segment, we highlighted a dividend paying stock ETF (Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF – ticker VIG) and explained why investors continue to pour money into these dividend focused stock ETFs.