Tag: ETF Investing 2021

Worst Performing ETFs Of 2021

Posted on by Matt Thalman

As we look back at yet another pandemic year and yet another tough 12 months for many reasons, overall, the markets have learned to deal with the pandemic and the headline news stories about new variants and new covid restrictions. This is proven by the fact that the major indexes all performed very well in terms of a historical perspective. The S&P 500 (SP500) ended the year up 26.89%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 18.73%, and the NASDAQ (COMP) increased by 21.39% in 2021.

Two of the three, the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones, outperformed their 2020 results in 2021, while the NASDAQ did well in 2021, but about half as well as it did in 2020. With those sorts of results, people may wonder how anyone could have lost money over the past 12 months, but depending on where and how you invested, you may be one of the unfortunate individuals who find yourself in that situation.

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 that thinking in mind, let’s take a look at the top five worst performing ETFs of 2021 in a number of different categories that the average investor could have chosen from in 2021 to see if you owned any of them or if there was some sort of trend that we can learn from. Continue reading "Worst Performing ETFs Of 2021" →

Top Performing ETFs Of 2021

Posted on by Matt Thalman

Despite the major market crash in March, all of the major indexes ended 2020 in the green. The S&P 500 (SP500) ended the year up 26.89%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 18.73%, and the NASDAQ (COMP) increased by 21.39% in 2021. Despite what felt like a discount between technology stocks, the NASDAQ, and the market as a whole, the S&P 500, the technology-focused index, lagged the overall market.

While in 2020, it seems that no matter what you had invested in, you did well, 2021 was a bit different. 2021 was a little sector or momentum-driven as we saw the rise and fall of the meme stocks, the ever-fluctuating battle between the ‘stay at home’ stocks and the ‘re-opening trade’ stocks. So, depending on when you bought or sold stocks or funds, unfortunately, really dictated how well your portfolio did over the past year.

When you look back at the year now, did you match market returns, fall behind, or were you invested in stocks and ETFs that beat the averages? Let’s take a look at the top five best performing ETFs of 2021 in a number of different categories the average investor has to choose from.

The following table shows the performance of the top five best performing ETFs in 2021, 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 2021" →

This ETF Is A Great Buy Right Now

Posted on by Matt Thalman

The relationship Americans have with their pets is, to be honest, strange. Humans have used and lived with animals for thousands of years. Animals, especially the ones we now refer to as pets, were seen as tools for humans to use to help them perform a task better and provide food. Dogs, in particular, have been used for hunting, herding other animals, used as a form of transportation (sled dogs), and used for protection. Dogs lived in 'dog houses' outside year-round; some still do. But, for the most part, dogs are no longer seen as a 'tool' to complete a task.

This doesn't mean dogs and other animals that we let live in our homes no longer serve a purpose because due to the pandemic and lock-downs, we have seen the importance of pets to many people, not only in the US but around the world. The companionship that dogs, cats, and other animals bring to our lives has grown more important over the past 2 years, and that's very clear based on the number from the ASPCA (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), which show that 23 million households acquired a pet during the pandemic. The ASPCA has also surveyed these pandemic pet owners and found that more than 85% of them are not reconsidering their pet ownership status in the near future. Meaning most of those 23 million new pet owners will remain pet owners for years to come.

Before the pandemic, research suggested that seven out of ten households in the US had a 'pet' in some form or fashion. If those figures are true, more households in the US have pets than have children. Continue reading "This ETF Is A Great Buy Right Now" →

The Anti-ARK (or Anti-Cathie Woods) ETF

Posted on by Matt Thalman

Over the past few years, Cathie Woods has made a name for herself. It started with her ARK Invest flagship Exchange Traded Fund the ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK), which returned an astonishing 45% annually for five years straight. Her other Ark Invest funds had similar success, and regularly these funds would rank in the top 10 of the best performing non-leveraged equity ETFs investors could buy.

Cathie became more of a household name when she not only went on CNBC years ago and said she thought Tesla was a $2,000 stock (this was prior to Tesla splitting), and she was proven correct. When she made this claim, her Ark funds were doing well, but most investment insiders thought she was crazy and that her prediction for Tesla would never come true. So, when she was proven correct, everyone started watching what she was doing and either trying to copy her or attempting to bet against her.

Copying what she was doing was and still is easy since her fund publishes the daily trades they made during the previous session. Not only do they publish the stocks they sold and bought, but how many shares of each company they traded. For a time, the morning show on CNBC would review her previous days' trades and discuss whether or not they agreed with what her funds were buying and selling.

Some would say that Cathie's luck has now run out because while for years she had some of the top-performing ETFs, 2021 has not been so kind to her. Continue reading "The Anti-ARK (or Anti-Cathie Woods) ETF" →

Should The Omicron Variant Be A Concern For Investors?

Posted on by Matt Thalman

While Americans were celebrating the Thanksgiving Holiday, the rest of the world dealt with the newest Covid-19 variant. The Omicron variant of coronavirus, first identified in South Africa, has been reportedly spreading in parts of Europe for days before it was identified in southern Africa.

On December 1st, the first confirmed US case of Omicron coronavirus variant was detected in California. In a White House news briefing, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the case was in an individual who traveled from South Africa on November 22 and tested positive for Covid-19 on November 29.

As of the end of November, the variant was already found in 20 countries, and governments around the world were already implementing lockdowns and travel restrictions.

These decisions where being driven by the fact that the Omicron variant was substantially different. With about 50 mutations from the original coronavirus, which started the pandemic, and about 30 mutations compared to even the highly contagious delta variant that has swept around the world. However, scientists don't know if the variant is actually more contagious or more deadly than any previous variants.

Many have been calling this an overaction, while others say the lockdowns and travel restrictions are adequate steps to protect others. Regardless these are difficult decisions for the politicians, and there will inevitably be those talking heads on the T.V. bashing the leaders regardless of their decisions. Part of this circus helps build fear and anxiety in most people, leading to fear and anxiety within the stock market.

The worst single day for the U.S. stock market in 2021 was Friday, November 25, the day following Thanksgiving, a shortened trading day, and of course, the day after the world found out about the new Omicron variant. The following few trading days were similarly volatile, with the market bouncing higher and then lower, despite any new real tangible information about the true nature and danger of the Omicron variant being known.

So, should this new variant be a real concern to investors? Continue reading "Should The Omicron Variant Be A Concern For Investors?" →