Direct Indexing

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

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

Great articles don’t always get the readership they deserve. We’ve posted the 10 most-widely read investment, planning and practice management articles over the last two days. Below are another 10 that you might have missed, but I believe merit reading.

Here’s a breakdown of the pros and cons of trading in your traditional bank for a virtual banking experience.

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.

We’ve broken down nine of the best 529 plans.

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.

Depending on where they live, student borrowers may soon face an unexpected tax burden.

Dietrich spent the previous 15+ years in senior business development roles with Morningstar and brings extensive experience in indexing and direct indexing across the asset management and wealth spaces

One investment with the ability to provide current income, inflation protection, and even the potential for capital appreciation has been largely overlooked – rising dividend stocks.

Insurance protects against losses – fires, floods or a wrecked car. Because of the life-altering consequences of such as loss, clients rarely question the cost of the insurance. When viewed through an analogous framework, the cost of lifetime-income insurance, such as a GLWB, is fairly priced.

How do taxes impact the 4% rule for retirement spending?

Here are some key points that advisors should keep in mind when dispensing advice and recommendations on thematic ETFs.

Direct indexing is the fastest growing segment of the asset management industry. In this interview, Brandon Thomas of Envestnet explains how direct indexing helps clients gain low-cost, tax-efficient exposure to asset classes, ESG and quantitative strategies.

Investors increasingly want more control and customization of their portfolios. Personalized managed accounts give them the opportunity to do that.

I often hear that indexing has become so popular that it is destroying “price discovery” – making it impossible for investors to know that they are paying a fair price for a security. Some say that makes indexing worse than Marxism. New research shows that this concern is unjustified.

The long-running active versus passive debate has become even more heated than usual during the recent stock market turmoil.

I have a vision of a profession where the most straightforward advisors, not the coolest ones with the best spiel, rise to the top. To achieve that ideal, here are 17 ways that acting more honestly than the competition will win more clients.

Buying individual bonds takes more work but is usually worth it in the long run.

I am not implying that brokerage firms that pay their advisors via a “payout” are lying, but there is no shortage of misleading when it comes to payouts.

I don’t care how many PhDs are going to argue against me; direct indexing is Wall Street’s attempt at squeezing more fees out of the America public using advisors as the pawns.

The surging popularity of direct indexing has led to confusion. Some believe it is barely indistinguishable from indexed investing, while others claim it is active management “in drag.”

There is a genre of investment research that continuously predicts economic disaster that I call “macro doom.” It has become very popular. It seems that everyone is an expert in macroeconomics today, and they’re all predicting a bust of some kind.

The value of bonds directly owned by households fell by $18 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021, dropping to the lowest level since 2008, according to Federal Reserve data. Instead, those buyers are moving toward mutual funds and exchange traded funds, which have roughly doubled their muni holdings over the last decade.

Reflecting on the history of our family office, our investing philosophy mirrors how previous generations built their wealth through farming. They patiently waited to harvest the crops they planted; we buy securities and patiently wait for them to appreciate.

This article, which is written for clients, explains that direct indexing portfolios are broadly diversified with individual stocks that are personalized to meet the needs, values, and preferences of an investor.

In this interview, Kevin Knowles and Nick Zylkowski discuss Russell Investments’ Personalized Managed Accounts (PMA) program, a suite of advisor-sold customized SMAs that support tax-loss harvesting and ESG mandates.

If I was still a wealth advisor, I’d consider another career.

For almost three decades the acronym TAMP, for turnkey asset management program, has stuck. It’s time to kill it.

Frank Pape is the senior director, portfolio consulting for Russell Investments’ advisor and intermediary solutions business. In this interview, he discusses the latest research on how advisors can maximize the after-tax income for their clients.

The top ten stocks in the S&P500 add up to 27% of the index. Is that a problem?

A comeback by megacap growth stocks and the stalling of the value trade arrived at exactly the wrong moment for one $15.3 billion exchange-traded fund.

Dimensional Fund Advisors just became one of the biggest players in the $6.5 trillion exchange-traded fund arena.

This “fat, juicy pitch down the middle” stock-picking opportunity could stretch many months into the future. Professional managers and investors should embrace this opportunity for as long as it lasts.