The Hard Way is the Right Way

You’ve probably noticed that I’ve spent a lot of time over the past six weeks talking about ETFs.
I talked about individual investors perhaps unwisely using ETFs to mimic the behavior of macro portfolio managers. I talked about how low transactions costs on ETFs sometimes lead people to make suboptimal decisions. I went over in detail how to select an ETF from an array of choices. I talked about ETF ticker clutter, and how the proliferation of ETFs has made the job of selecting one more difficult. I talked about smart beta and ETF liquidity. And I talked about the philosophy of indexing in general, and how when indexing is taken to extremes, it causes distortions. This is a pretty good summary of the thinking on the current state of the ETF industry – if you haven’t read these pieces, I suggest you check them out.
And of course, my new ETF-focused newsletter, ETF 20/20, launched on Monday. The response has been overwhelming, which shouldn’t be a surprise. Imagine being coached on building a diversified ETF portfolio by an ETF expert – at a cost of a dinner for two at Applebee’s. Including drinks.
People say ETFs are cheap, and ETF advice, like robo-advisors, is cheap. This takes it to another level.

This post was published at Mauldin Economics on OCTOBER 19, 2017.