As of Dec. 31, 2018, the passive implementation of dividend strategies measured approximately USD 141 billion based on assets under management (AUM) of dividend-focused ETFs listed in the U.S. This is a staggering amount considering that only 10 years ago the AUM amounted to just over USD 6 billion.[1] The growth in assets, as well Read more […]
2018 ended on a sour note for the S&P 500®, as the index declined by more than 9% in December alone. The drop-off resulted in the first negative calendar year return (-4.38%) for the S&P 500 (TR) since the financial crisis (2008). Meanwhile, the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats®, which is designed to measure the performance Read more […]
I recently completed several meetings with financial advisors in Kansas and Tennessee. Traveling to meet with advisors in their offices or at events is something that I enjoy doing and informs my love of the work that our team does in advisor education. However, I am troubled by a reoccurring conversation that came up. In Read more […]
This scene came to mind after I recently posited a few indexing milestones. My intent was to opine on watershed moments in design, those individual indices that marked advancement, a change in approach, or increased utility. Almost immediately, I received “Yeah, but what about…?” communiques. So forthwith I complete my all-too-brief, original list with the Read more […]
The hunt for stable income is an increasingly challenging task. Bond yields across major fixed income markets are at historically low levels, with some of the central banks in developed countries even going as far as adopting a negative rates policy. Together with an aging population that is living longer and relies predominantly on fixed Read more […]
This morning’s Wall Street Journal described one aspect of the “Brave New World” occasioned by ultra-low (or negative) interest rates: Tellingly, strategists at Citigroup have created a basket of stocks for what they call “bond refugees”—investors who want yield but without the big swings in prices associated with equities. To do so, they looked for stocks Read more […]
If there were dreams to sell, a poet asked, what would you buy? Much more prosaically, if you could design your dream investment process, what would it look like? A simple way to think about the question is to separate success into two dimensions: frequency and magnitude. Frequency means how often we “win” (i.e., how Read more […]
Like many in the northern hemisphere, the S&P 500® felt a bit blue in January. With the traditional winter frost came winds of volatility, which, like many of our holiday guests, overstayed their welcome. On a total return basis, the S&P 500 declined 3% in January, as market volatility from the fall of 2014 lingered Read more […]
