Gaining Perspective

My guest today is Dave Whitaker, who is president of Foreside. Foreside provides a suite of services and a platform-based model to automate and simplify compliance and distribution for asset management firms. Dave is going to talk to about some of the latest developments in the regulatory arena, including form CRS, and what they mean for advisors.

Our topic today is multi-asset class and multi-factor-equity strategies. One of the leaders in that field is QS Investors. It offers a quantitative approach that unites the intellectual and academic precision of science, engineering, mathematics, and finance and investment expertise with the power of data and technology.

There is an income challenge for advisors that doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. Virtus ETFs offer a distinctive and innovative solution to that problem, which is a collection of non-traditional income-oriented investment strategies that provide investors the potential for higher levels of income.

In recent years, U.S. stocks have far outperformed international stocks, and growth stocks have far outperformed value stocks. That has led many to question the benefits of diversification and ask what they should do when an investment strategy performs poorly. This podcast will answer that question.

In today’s low-interest-rate environment, a pervasive challenge for advisors is the need for income-oriented solutions for clients, especially those at or nearing retirement. That need has led many to seek high-risk sectors of the bond and equities markets. The consequences of those decisions could be disastrous for investors. So we are going to look at another solution.

We are here to talk about hedge fund replication and how advisors can access hedge fund strategies without the burdensome cost and illiquidity of alternative investment classes.

SSGA issued the first ETF in 1993 and today is a dominant leader in the ETF industry. It offers the world’s biggest ETF, SPY, with $314 billion in assets. From sectors and smart beta to fixed income, SSGA has relentlessly pursued new ways to solve client's most complex investment challenges.

Advisors Asset Management (AAM) is a leading provider of income-generating investment solutions. It entered the ETF market in 2017 and offers investors an innovative high dividend value strategy across domestic, emerging and international developed markets. These ETFs focus on income and value, seeking to help investors meet their current cash flow and future capital appreciation goals.

One of the most prominent research studies in the ETF market is the survey that Brown Brothers Harriman does in cooperation with ETF.COM. This is the seventh year that study has been conducted, and my guest, Ryan Sullivan, and I will discuss the results.

Last year – 2019 – was a strong year for precious metals. Gold had its strongest increase since 2010. Silver and platinum also saw their largest annual gains in several years. But the big winner was palladium, which gained over 50%.

Founded in 1999, Tiger 21 is a peer-to-peer network of wealthy individuals who meet on a regular basis to discuss the issues that matter most to them. Many of those discussions are focused on investing.  Its 700+ members include entrepreneurs who have created, built, and sold their own businesses. Others are Wall Street executives, CEOs of major companies, and real estate investors. All have been...

A recent study by Charles Schwab revealed that succession planning ranks last on the list of top priorities for RIAs. Moreover, 92% of firms are considering internal succession. As someone who has first-hand experience selling a business, my guest, Stuart Silverman, will explain why advisors are hesitant to part ways with their firms, how they can identify a successor and how institutional capital...

After 40 years on Wall Street, stock market expert Marc Chaikin, whose technical indicators are industry standards, introduced a suite of groundbreaking tools to provide a directional edge for investors and advisors. Chaikin Analytics was launched in March 2011 and is a suite of research tools and portfolio management services that help pick winning stocks and ETFs and drop losers ahead of market...

Granite Shares is an ETF company focused on simple, cost-effective access to commodity and alternative investments.

Since the beginning of humankind, we have looked to the skies with immense curiosity in search of answers. Space has always captured human interest, but recently, the space economy has also captured commercial interest like never before. UFO, the Procure Space ETF, is positioned to provide diversification beyond the limitations of solely earthbound companies.

This year, 2019, may be remembered as the year to be invested in large-cap growth stocks, with the Russell 1000 large-cap growth index returning over 30% year-to-date. One of the standout funds this year is the William Blair Large Cap Growth (LCGNX), which has returned over 35% with less than a week to go in the year. But its strong track record extends back even longer. It has returned 9.78% annu...

Only 2% of mutual fund assets are managed by women. One of them is Rupal Bhansali, who also happens to be a woman of color. She offers some insights into the keys to her successful career path, as well as the top contrarian opportunities she sees in the non-U.S. markets.

One of the most consequential decisions an advisory firm must make is the suite of technology applications it will use – everything from financial planning to investment management to CRM and the myriad ancillary systems that streamline operations and deliver clients the information they want.  My guest today has seen the advisory technology industry evolve from a collection of stand-alone softwar...

Hotchkis & Wiley is true value investor that has performed well in a growth-dominated equity market.  It also has a large following among advisors. Its Small Cap Diversified Value Fund has strong numbers and a history of outperformance versus its benchmark.  The fund has considerable exposure to micro caps, which has helped it to consistently outperform on a rolling three-year basis since its...

Our topic today is actively managed ETFs. On November 14, the SEC gave contingent approval for new proxy-based, semi-transparent active ETF structures to four fund families: Natixis, T. Rowe Price, Fidelity and the Blue Tractor Group. This overcomes a major impediment to active ETFs – transparency. No longer do those ETFs need to disclose their underlying holdings – their “secret sauce.”

The nearly unbridled growth of the ETF industry in the last 15 years has paralleled one of the greatest bull markets ever.   What are the key themes that are likely to drive the next leg of growth? What do the next 5-10 years look like for ETFs? My guest today leads one of the most prominent ETF providers, and he and I discuss those questions and more.

John Gebauer and I discuss the key regulatory issues facing advisors, including RegBI, form CRS, the SEC’s planned changes to its advertising and cash solicitation rules and the Michael Kiitces/XYPN lawsuit against the SEC.

What are the key issues that female clients face? How can advisors gain the confidence of those clients and ensure that their assets are protected under any scenario? What are the big mistakes that female spouses make when it comes to marital assets?

For the past 30 years, emerging markets have provided return enhancement and risk diversification opportunities for global equity investors. That has been fueled by the liberalization of the Chinese capital market, which comprises about a third of the allocation to emerging market indices. In 2019, emerging markets have been volatile, driven by changes in U.S. monetary policy, increasing political...

The emerging markets (“EM”) equity asset class has evolved considerably over the past decade such that many active EM equity managers may find it challenging to create long-term alpha over the benchmark. Countries such as China and India are moving to the fore, historical drivers of growth are changing and technology, innovation and health care are becoming a larger part of the opportunity set. It...