Bob Rodriguez, FPA’s now-retired portfolio manager, earned many awards and distinctions during his 33-year career. In this interview, he talks about the role of the Fed in the price-setting mechanism. “When the markets finally do break, as they always have historically, ETFs and index funds will be destabilizing influences,” he says.

The purpose of this focus group is to gather advisors’ observations on actively managed US equity funds. This focus group will take place as a private APViewpoint conversation.

Advisors who are not part of the focus group will not be able to view this conversation, and advisors who are part of the focus group will not see the responses of the other participants.

If you are selected to participate in this focus group, you will be required to thoughtfully answer a series of questions, at your convenience, over a seven-day period. It will take approximately an hour to answer the questions. At the completion of the seven-day period, Advisor Perspectives will pay you $100, either to your PayPal account or as an Amazon gift card (your choice). Alternatively, you may designate that the $100 be donated to one of four charities: the American Red Cross, the USO, the Foundation for Financial Planning or the Jimmy Fund (a cancer-research organization).

To participate in this focus group, you must meet the following criteria:

• Be an RIA or dual-registered advisor;
• Have at least $250 million in assets under management (AUM);
• Be involved in your firm’s selection of mutual funds for client portfolios;
• Your firm must have at least a 10% allocation to actively managed US equity funds; and
• Not plan to decrease this allocation in the next six months.

An anonymous sponsor is looking for 30 advisors to participate in an online focus group to be hosted on APViewpoint. The purpose of this focus group is to gather advisors’ observations on actively managed US equity funds. This focus group will take place as a private APViewpoint conversation.