Just weeks after professional stock pickers celebrated their best year since 2017, the wind in the stock market has shifted, upending their fate.

The one-of-a-kind fund structure that helped turn Vanguard Group into the second-largest ETF manager in the world may be about to get a lot less unique.

With the new year in its infancy, it may be too early to think about where to spend Thanksgiving or booking your car’s fall tune-up.

I am often asked by advisors who are RIAs or are considering the model how they should explain that choice to their clients.

Northern Trust Asset Management (NTAM) is a leading global investment manager with $1 trillion in assets under management. It released “The Risk Report” late last year, which is an aggregated analysis of 280 institutional equity portfolios across the globe. The report revealed six common drivers of unintended investment results. As an investment manager that employs a quantitative risk-aware approach, NTAM regularly partners with investors and their consultants to provide them with a distinct analysis of underlying risk components impacting their portfolios’ ability to achieve intended outcomes. Of utmost importance to our Advisor Perspectives listeners and readers, the findings of the research are as applicable to portfolios managed by advisors for individual investors as they are to institutional investors. NTAM does indeed serve individual advisors through a number of offerings, including Northern Mutual Funds, FlexShares ETFs, and Diversified Strategist model portfolios. NTAM’s purpose in conducting the research behind the Risk Report was to help investors make needed adjustments consistent with NTAM’s core philosophy, which is that investors should get paid for the risks they take – in all market environments and in any investment strategy.

Cash flows into US sustainable funds plummeted last year as the broader market took a beating and anti-ESG crusaders targeted money managers including BlackRock Inc. for “woke capitalism.”

ESG proponents sell the idea to investors that they can achieve both altruism and high returns. In the end, they fail at both.

The recent embrace of so-called liquid alternatives by ordinary Americans seeking to fund their retirement is deeply troubling.

Retail demand for bars and coins in the U.S. and Europe hit a new annual record last year in response to stubbornly high inflation and the war in Ukraine. Western investors gobbled up 427 tons (approximately 15 million ounces), the most since 2011.

Are persistent outperformance and long-term alpha closely linked or is it possible to deliver alpha without being persistent?

Equal-weighted portfolios have long outperformed cap-weighted funds. Conventional wisdom is that was because of the small-cap factor, but new research shows more is at play.

Investors are still recovering from the municipal market beatdown of 2022, but the current higher absolute yield levels provide an attractive “re-entry” point for municipal market investors.

2022 was a banner year, and not in a good way.

For the 15 years preceding 2022, asset management was a great business, fueled by near-double-digit AUM growth driven by rising equity and bond markets. But that party ended in 2022, with big losses in the stock market and record losses in the bond market. My guest today is here to discuss what that means for asset managers, advisors, and the consumer who ultimately own mutual funds and ETFs.

Dina Ting, our Head of Global Index Portfolio Management, offers her perspective on the allure of multifactor US mid-capitalization strategies for 2023.

The US is headed for yet another standoff over the federal debt limit. House Republicans say they won’t raise the arbitrary cap on total borrowing unless President Joe Biden agrees to budget cuts.

As a financial coach whose mission is to talk fee-only advisors “off the fence” of procrastination, I frequently answer two questions.

Markets provided investors with a dozen lessons in 2022 (and a bonus one in the postscript).

The process by which advisors select a TAMP is the latest illustration of fiduciary failure, and the SEC has responded with ominous rulemaking that will have questionable value to our profession.

The Loomis Sayles Global Credit Sector Team discusses rate volatility, possibly deteriorating credit fundamentals and key technicals at play in the market.

The bond market is much cheaper than the stock market, according to Jeffrey Gundlach. Investors should abandon the traditional 60/40 stock/bond allocation in favor of a 40/60 split.

Although inflation appears to have peaked, historical data suggests that prices are unlikely to reverse themselves, which could lead to an extended period of wage inflation.

Commodities may seem like just another one of the bunch, but these products offer a unique way to invest your money in the market.

Countless investment practitioners and academics have unsuccessfully searched for the metric that can successfully identify future mutual fund outperformers. What follows is the saga of the latest failed attempt.

Investors who use a 60/40 portfolio had a rough year. In the past, putting 60% in stocks and 40% in bonds has often helped investors hedge against losses in either asset class. But 2022 had other ideas.

Build your ladder with multiple target-maturity ETFs representing different segments of the bond market, with different target years.

In the rough year ahead, bonds might be one of the only bright spots. It would mark a dramatic turnaround from 2022, when bonds fell alongside almost every other asset class, posting their worst year in a generation.

Optimists were still to be found in the world of US exchange-traded funds, where more than 400 new ETFs were launched despite a harsh bear market. Funds took in more than half a trillion dollars as more investors learned to embrace their easier-to-trade and tax-friendly structure.

Municipal Bond Strategist Jim Grabovac shares his views on outflows, trends and opportunities in the municipal sector.

Bob Doll, CIO at Crossmark Global Investments, provides his annual 10 predictions for financial markets.

Lawmakers and regulators are grappling with a question: What, if anything, should they do to civilize a market so rife with abuse?

Bank of America Corp. clients bought $2.8 billion of US stocks last week, marking a sixth straight week of equity inflows at the bank, as they made heavy purchases of exchange-traded funds and sold tech shares, BofA strategists led by Jill Carey Hall wrote in a note Tuesday.

It appears to us at Smead Capital Management that investors are behaving in a way that will damage their capital and cause them to suffer stock market failure.

The collapse in the personal US saving rate to near a record low has fueled a narrative that consumers are clearly strapped heading into 2023.

Structurally tight labor markets are providing support for tighter monetary policy, but the Fed may be fighting an uphill battle.

Investors are spurning mutual funds at a record clip, driving a $1.5 trillion gap in the flow of money from the old-school investment vehicles and into ever-popular ETFs.

The economic tea leaves suggest that 2023 could be another challenging year for both stocks and bonds. However, the outlook is more balanced given that equity valuations are much lower and bond yields much higher.

This fall was a memorable time in the Halverson household.

Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler has embarked on an ambitious reform of stock trading.

If you think high-yield savings accounts offer juicy rates to park some cash, wait until you see what money-market funds are paying.

Democratization has become a buzz word within the fintech industry as technology and innovation have emerged to battle the headwinds that previously blocked accessibility to a subset of investment vehicles such as structured products.

There are two types of tax-advantaged accounts for saving for college expenses: A Uniform Transfers to Minors Act (UTMA) account and a 529 Plan. While both plans have their differences and advantages, consider both as viable options.

One thing to consider when opening a 529 plan is whether it should be a custodial or individual account. While both allow you to save for college costs and enjoy some tax breaks, they differ in terms of who has control of the account and the assets in it.

Over the coming years, Direct Indexing is expected to grow at a faster rate than traditional financial products such as mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and separate accounts.* But what does it have to do with you and your clients?

For the first time in a long time, muni investors may be able to earn attractive yields without having to take undue risk.

It's the end of the world!

If a crushing bear market, inflation-fueled volatility and slump in inflows was meant to cool the booming US exchange-traded fund industry, issuers never got the message.

“95 years ago, your crystal ball reveals: Russian debt default, LTCM fail, DotCom implosion, 9/11 attacks, financial crisis and great recession, pandemic killing millions, 3 market crashes. Would you put your money into stocks? No? You missed a 10X return.”

An index strategy that’s all about customization is expected to grow faster than other investment vehicles over the next four years as investors’ desire for personalization intensifies.

There’s enormous scope for India and Greater China to increase GDP per capita relative to the U.S. and other developed nations