What You May Have Missed This Week...

In addition to the regular posts here on Substack, I also publish ETF research and notes over on my blog, ETF Focus.

In case you wanted to catch up on the latest research above and beyond what you’re reading here, this is a quick list of some of the most recent articles from the blog!

More Than Just T-Bills: My Top 3 High Yield ETF Picks

Yield chasing means venturing further out on the risk spectrum in search of higher returns.

Not everyone can stomach the higher risks that come with high-yielding investments, thus I would recommend high-yield ETF investing for those with a long investment time horizon and greater risk tolerance.

"My Portfolio Is Down 23%! Is It Time To Trim Growth, Value Or Bonds?"

"I have an IRA account which consists of all ETFs. I am a Schwab member, and my account consists of 5 ETFs as follows - SCHG, SCHV, SCHF, SCHA, SCHE. My question is I have drawdown of about 23%. Wondering if I should sell the growth because of interest rates, and possibly some value because of the bonds and just put it into one ETF. Which do you recommend?"

Are JEPI Investors Learning The Hard Way What This ETF Actually Is?

The JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF (JEPI) has undoubtedly been one of the industry’s biggest success stories of the past couple years. After languishing in obscurity for most of the first year of its life, JEPI spent 2022 and 2023 blowing up into a $29 billion behemoth and, in the process, becoming one of the 50 largest ETFs in the 3,200+ ETF marketplace.

This accomplishment is even more impressive considering it’s succeeded in an area of the industry that has enjoyed relatively limited success - actively-managed ETFs. Its 0.35% expense ratio is pretty reasonable for an active covered call strategy, but it’s not nearly the blueprint - ultra-low cost cheap beta ETFs - that has made Vanguard, BlackRock and State Street the heavyweights of the industry.

Warren Buffett's 90/10 Portfolio: Here's How to Create It with ETFs

When one thinks of Warren Buffett, images of deep value investing, shrewd business acumen, and multi-decade stock holds often come to mind.

However, in a candid revelation to his shareholders, the Oracle of Omaha once laid out a startlingly simple strategy for his posthumous wealth.

He stated that upon his passing, 90% of his wealth should be funneled into a low-cost S&P 500 index fund, with the remaining 10% allocated to short-term Treasuries.

Vanguard's Achilles Heel

I’m probably not telling you anything you don’t already know when I say Vanguard is one of the biggest and best ETF issuers in the world. Its ultra-low cost approach to fund management fees has proven incredibly popular with investors, which makes it the go-to provider for investors simply looking to capture broad market exposure at minimal cost. That doesn’t make Vanguard invincible though. In some cases, depending on what you’re looking for in your portfolio, you may need to look elsewhere.

How to Achieve Maximum Diversification with Just 4 ETFs at a 0.08% Average Expense Ratio

John Bogle, who founded Vanguard, had a clear message for investors: "The grim irony of investing, then, is that we investors as a group not only don't get what we pay for, we get precisely what we don't pay for. So, if we pay for nothing, we get everything." In simpler terms, Bogle believed that high fees eat into our returns. So, paying less in fees can lead to better long-term results. This is something every investor can optimize.

With this in mind, I've put together a 4-ETF portfolio that aims to spread risk while keeping costs low, with an average fee of just 0.08%.

Why "VT and Chill" Is Probably the Best ETF Investing Strategy Out There

Let's be blunt: the average investor sucks at investing. Numerous studies consistently show a troubling pattern: the money-weighted rate of return in many portfolios often falls short of the time-weighted rate of return of the chosen investments.

In other words, this means that despite picking investments that perform well over time, the timing and manner of the average investor's buy and sell decisions often detract from their overall returns. Why does this happen? The culprits are many, and I'll delve into them shortly.

Tired Of Bond Market Volatility? Swapping In Some Gold & Commodities Helps Solve That

Anybody who’s tried to maintain anything even close to a 60/40 portfolio over the past couple of years has gotten absolutely roasted. Honestly, only a 100/0 portfolio really had a chance at generating positive returns and even that was probably only if you overweighted energy stocks. While Treasury bills and their 5% yields have drawn a lot of interest and investor money over the past several quarters, long-term Treasury bonds are down 45% from their peak all the way back in 2020!

Combine These Two ETFs For Quality Dividend Growth and Small-Cap Value

If you've been following my work, you're probably aware that when it comes to dividend ETFs, I have a penchant for those with specific factor exposures. Specifically, I'm talking about the Fama-French factors: size, value, profitability, and investment. For those new to these terms, the Fama-French factors are a set of established risk factors that explain the returns of a diversified portfolio. While several ETFs in the market aim to capture these factors, not all of them hit the mark.