Tag: ETF Investing 2018

Should You Own ETFs In A "Stock Pickers Market"

Posted on by Matt Thalman

Most Wall Street participants believe 2019 will be a “stock pickers” year; So how will that affect Exchange Traded Fund investors?

Well first off, what is a “Stock Pickers” market or year? That is a market in which to make a decent return; investors will need to pick individual stocks, not just buy the market as a whole or an index such as the S&P 500 or Dow Jones. At this point, most Wall Street analysts believe the major market indexes will end the higher just slightly higher. In mid-February, Goldman Sachs analyst posted a note indicating they think the S&P 500 will only climb to 3,000 by the end of the year, but the next few months could be flat.

Vanguard went a little further and said it believes the market will only return roughly 5% median annualized return over the next 10 years. Vanguard’s opinion paints an even worse picture than Goldman’s and hints at the idea that investors will need to be “stock pickers” for the next decade if they want to see returns greater than 5% annualized.

So, the experts are telling us that investors need to cherry pick individual stocks if they want to make a real-return greater than a few percent over the next year or maybe more. But what if they don’t know how to find and pick market-beating stocks, they need not worry because that is why actively managed ETFs where created. Continue reading "Should You Own ETFs In A "Stock Pickers Market"" →

Worst Performing ETFs Of 2018

Posted on by Matt Thalman

After a down year like 2018 most investors want to just forget about what happened. But those investors who focus on understanding why their investments went south are the ones who will learn from their mistakes and hopefully avoid making them in the future. The start of a new year is a good time to review your investing thesis and try to pinpoint why some investments didn’t turn out the way you imagined they would.

With the S&P 500 (SPX) ending the year down 6.24%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) losing 5.63%, and the NASDAQ (COMP) dropping 3.88% in 2018, more than a handful of Exchange Traded Funds not only underperformed the major averages, but a few of them could have cost you nearly everything.

Let’s take a look at the top five worst performing ETFs of 2018 in a number of different categories the average investor had to choose from ion 2018 to see if you owned one or more of them.

The following table shows the performance of the worst five ETFs in 2018, as well as their performance over the last month, the last three months, the last five and ten years.

Worst Performing ETFs 2018

The following table shows the performance of the worst five Non-Leveraged ETFs in 2018, as well as their performance over the last month, the last three months, the last five and ten years. Continue reading "Worst Performing ETFs Of 2018" →

Top Performing ETFs Of 2018

Posted on by Matt Thalman

2018 was a wild year as we saw the markets rise to new all-time highs in the first half of the year only to crash during the last quarter of the year causing the major indexes to all close in the red for the year, for the first time in over a decade. But despite the S&P 500 (SPX) ending the year down 6.24%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) losing 5.63%, and the NASDAQ (COMP) dropping 3.88% in 2018, more than a handful of Exchange Traded Funds not only performed better than the major averages, but a lot of them put up some very impressive returns.

Let’s take a look at the top five best performing ETFs of 2018 in some different categories the average investor has to choose from.

The following table shows the performance of the top five best performing ETFs in 2018, as well as their performance over the last month, the last three months, the last five and ten years.

Top Performing ETFs 2018

The following table shows the performance of the top five Non-Leveraged ETFs in 2018, as well as their performance over the last month, the last three months, the last five and ten years. Continue reading "Top Performing ETFs Of 2018" →

No Bitcoin ETF Yet, But There Are Blockchain ETFs

Posted on by Matt Thalman

Matt Thalman - INO.com Contributor - Blockchain ETFs


While the Securities and Exchange Commission has yet to approve an actual Bitcoin ETF, it is allowing investors to buy shares of ETF’s which are focused on the technology which makes cryptocurrencies tick, the blockchain.

After the explosion of Bitcoin back in the fall when the price of one coin jumped from around $4,000 to over $19,000, a number of different companies began clamoring to get involved in cryptocurrencies directly or just in the blockchain technology, and that is where these Exchange Traded Funds are focused. The thinking is that while you may not want to invest directly in a cryptocurrency, you may still want exposure to it through the businesses that help it operate.

For example, you could buy Square Inc. (SQ), the payment processing company that a few weeks ago announced it would now allow customers to pay with Bitcoin. Or perhaps it is through a less direct method of buying shares of NVIDIA (NVDA), the semiconductor company, which produces the microprocessors that are needed to make cryptocurrencies a reality. Or lastly, perhaps it just a previous beverage company, Long Island Iced Tea Corp. that now wants to get into blockchain and changes its name out of the blue to Long Blockchain Corp. (LBCC).

The first blockchain ETF to hit the market was Continue reading "No Bitcoin ETF Yet, But There Are Blockchain ETFs" →

New Tax Laws Could Mean a Boom for Stock Buy-Back ETF’s

Posted on by Matt Thalman

Matt Thalman - INO.com Contributor - ETFs


Now that the Senate has passed a tax bill and President Trump has signed off on it, investors should get ready for a few significant changes that are likely to begin happening. While the bill has been touted as a way to boost the economy and help the middle class, some economists disagree; mainly on the idea that if corporations have a lower tax bill, they will higher more workers and pay their current employee’s more money.

History has shown that when repatriated money comes back to US soil, it is largely used for share buybacks. In 2004 there was a one-time tax holiday when repatriation of foreign earnings was brought back home and taxed at a rate of 5.25%, not the usual 35%.

In 2004 fifteen companies brought back $155 billion, of the total $312 billion. Those 15 companies increased their share repurchases by 38% between 2005 and 2006. There was a clear correlation between share buybacks increasing the repatriation of overseas cash. Continue reading "New Tax Laws Could Mean a Boom for Stock Buy-Back ETF’s" →