FundQuest Releases Whitepaper to Help Advisers Navigate ETF Market

FundQuest has released a new white paper titled, “ETFs Are Not All Alike—How to Navigate the Rapidly Evolving ETF Landscape.” 

This new 16-page paper, authored by Daphne Gu, senior analyst, and Jane Li, manager of Investment Management & Research team, describes recent exchange-traded fund (ETF) industry trends and provides a variety of methods and tools that advisers can use to evaluate ETFs, FundQuest said. The paper was written to help investment professionals to better navigate the ETF marketplace in order to identify ETFs that are appropriate for their clients’ portfolios. 

Some of the key subjects in the paper include: critical differences in the formulation and updating of the wide variety of indexes on which passive ETFs are based; the role of actively managed ETFs; and some insights into the potentially unexpected results from leveraged and inverse ETFs, according to FundQuest.

“The ETF landscape is changing quickly as innovative products are introduced continuously,” Gu said. “While we expect this exciting trend to continue, industry research indicates that advisers are overwhelmed by the large number of untested and unproven ETFs and by the complexity of the categories of ETFs. This new white paper was written to help financial advisers to understand some of the key ETF attributes.”

The paper can be downloaded here.


Schwab Study Finds More Diligence in Retirement Savings

Investors are paying more attention to their retirement savings, according to the Real Life Retirement quarterly pulse survey conducted by Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.

More than half of all investors (52%) are getting more involved in retirement planning. According to a release of the results, self-reliance increased after hearing about experiences of a friend or loved one going through a personal financial crisis.

In addition, younger investors are saving more money now, taking advantage of their longer time horizon. Approximately half of Gen Y (48%) and Gen X (53%) have increased their retirement contributions.

Ninety-five percent of all respondents said they would not be willing to spend less in retirement, and in addition to planning and saving more, they are willing to work longer to make sure they don’t have to.

Among Older Boomers and Gen Y, 40% of both groups plan to postpone their retirement date. Compared to the previous survey, postponement declined among older generations (previously 61%) but rose for Gen Y (previously 28%), the study found.

Nearly half (47%) of workers aged 65 and older are prepared to work during retirement, compared to 10% and 11% among Gen X and Gen Y, respectively, and 20% of Baby Boomers.

The survey was conducted by Kelton Research among 1,000 Americans between October 28 and November 2.

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