Chat With Morningstar's Sam Lee
Listen to The ETF Store Show every Tuesday at 9am on ESPN 1510 as we cover everything you need to know about Exchange Traded Funds and the world of investing.
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As Exchange Traded Funds have grown in popularity, investment research behemoth Morningstar has ramped up their ETF coverage in kind. Long known for their robust analysis of traditional mutual funds, Morningstar is now leveraging that expertise on the ETF side as investors flock en masse to ETFs. On our most recent radio broadcast, Sam Lee, Morningstar ETF Strategist and Editor of Morningstar ETFInvestor, joined us to talk about Morningstar's ETF research and discuss some of the key factors investors should consider when evaluating an ETF. Sam also offered some thoughts on the financial markets, as well as a few ETFs that investors might consider for their portfolios.
In our weekly market update, we dissected last week's comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and explained how the recent triple talking from the Fed is Exhibit A on why investors should avoid trying to trade "headline" events. We also offered a crash course on the Federal Reserve's dual mandate of attempting to promote maximum employment and stable prices (along with moderate long-term interest rates). In our weekly ETF Spotlight, we gave our take on the proposed Bitcoin ETF. While many in the financial media quickly panned the idea from the Winklevoss twins, we explained why we believe this instead highlights the power of the ETF structure and the continued innovation within the industry. While we're certainly not advocating investing in Bitcoins (though an investment thesis could be argued given that Bitcoins are not beholden to any government or the money printing whims of central banks), the point is that ETFs allow investors efficient and cost effective access to a wide range of investments. At the end of the day, we believe more asset classes at our disposal (whether or not we choose to invest in them) and the ability to potentially further diversify a portfolio are net positives for investors. Learn more about the proposed Bitcoin ETF by visiting www.etfbuzz.com.
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