Weekend Reading – CFA Institute Guide to ETFs And Why & Which Bonds To Choose
Weekend Reading is a collection of Investment Research and Lifestyle topics from all corners of the Web. We source the highest quality insights from Wall Street and Main Street that you may apply to your investment process. Unlike the rest of Bankeronwheels.com, this series is provided without additional guidance. As usual, everything is to be used at your own risk. Below is the type of content we shortlist:
Diversification is the only free lunch in investing.
Featured
How Much Equity Risk Should You Take? (Banker on Wheels)
Larry Describes The Three Tests That Are Needed In Order To Determine An Equity Allocation. - The Ability To Take Risk – is determined by four factors including the investment horizon, the human capital, the need for liquidity and the presence of a Plan B. The Willingness To Take Risk – is determined by the ‘stomach acid’ test. The Need To Take Risk – is the rate of return required to achieve an investor’s financial objectives. Staying rich requires an entirely different approach from getting rich.
Portfolio Construction
Asset Allocation
Choosing Bond Duration: Friend or foe in your portfolio? (First Links)
Before the 2008 Global Financial Crisis (GFC), duration was the bedrock of defensive allocations in investor portfolios. However, in more recent times, this has changed. And for good reason. Low bond yields meant traditional fixed rate bonds paid very little income. But one thing we know for sure is that markets are always evolving. And today, an important question investors should be asking is whether duration is still something to be feared.
Why owns Bonds? (Wells Fargo)
Long term interest rates have climbed in the past three years and some fixed income investors are asking: Should I add more bonds into my portfolio? Since rates are relatively higher than where they have been in the past decade, new bond purchases may generally offer investors better income opportunities. We believe fixed income can continue to play an important role inside a well-diversified portfolio, even in a volatile and elevated interest rate environment.
Understand Financial Markets
Preparing for Equity Drawdowns (Man)
When a significant drawdown happens, we may imagine that a green light flicks to red on a big machine somewhere. In reality, there’s no agreed-upon definition. Drawdowns come in several shapes and sizes Hedges broadly work, but the hedged return is often anaemic compared with the equity loss Usually, on the eve of a drawdown, there is at least one indicator flashing red
- Asset bubbles of the past 50 years (Mike Zaccardi)
- Richard Bernstein on the Risks of Tariffs and Passive Investing (Excess Returns)
- How Bond Vigilantes Made Trump Blink (Bloomberg)
- Global Financial Stability Report (International Monetary Fund)
- How Do Investors Form Long-Run Return Expectations? (AQR)
President Trump's unveiling of sweeping tariffs against pretty much every single US trading partner has not only roiled global markets, but is shaking up international politics as well. On this episode we speak with Wolf, the chief economics commentator for the Financial Times, about what Trump's reordering of global trade means for the world, how Europe and China might respond, and the origins of the US administration's economic discontent.
How To Invest
- FoMO in Investment: A Critical Literature Review of Fear of Missing Out in Investment (SSRN)
- Avoid the Unforced Investment Errors Even Billionaires Make (Ritholtz)
- How Tax Efficiency Can Smooth Returns, Not Just Boost Them (Aptus Capital Advisor)
- How Vanguard Saved Investors $1 Trillion (and Counting) (Of Dollars and Data)
Active Investing
Factor Investing
Greg Zuckerman is an award-winning Special Writer at the Wall Street Journal and the author of several books on financial firms, hedge funds, trading, and other investing and business-related topics. This podcast focuses on trading and the fierce competition individuals face when attempting to trade against sophisticated hedge funds that employ the best and brightest mathematical minds in the business. We discuss Greg's book, The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution.
- The Dark Side of Value Investing: Practical Lessons from Aswath Damodaran (Excess Returns)
- Ride the Right Horse: a Systematic Trend Strategy for Superior Return Using Portfolio Utility Optimization (SSRN)
- Explaining the Recent Failure of Value Investing (SSRN)
- The Market's Best-Kept Secret | Travis Prentice on Momentum's Surprising Edge (Excess Returns)
- A short history of trend-following hedge funds (Rupak's Substack)
Discretionary Investing
Small Caps vs. Large Caps: The Cycle That’s About to Turn (CFA Institute)
Despite their recent struggles, small caps aren’t dead — they’re just misunderstood. After eight consecutive years of underperformance relative to large caps, some investors are ready to write them off entirely, even calling for exclusion from portfolios. But declaring the death of US small-cap equities is premature. History, valuation metrics, and macro conditions suggest a different story. That’s why it’s critical to reassess their role in a modern portfolio.
Alternative Asset Classes
- The Fastest Growing Luxury Real Estate Markets (Visual Capitalist)
- Gold in a fragmented world: Safe haven and strategic asset (FTSE Russell)
- Taking the Private out of Private Equity, with the Morningstar PitchBook Buyout Replication Index (Morningstar)
- Wellington, Vanguard, and Blackstone to Collaborate on Private Assets (When Endownements are selling!) (Vanguard)
Wall Street
Bad Bets
ETFs
UCITS ETFs
60-page Comprehensive Guide to ETFs (CFA Institute)
This CFA Institute Research Foundation book is the second edition of A Comprehensive Guide to ETFs, first released in 2015. The updated edition reflects the rapid growth and evolution of the exchange-traded funds (ETFs) industry over the past decade. It provides investors and market professionals with the knowledge they need to understand how ETFs work, why they’ve become so widely adopted, and how to use them effectively in today’s dynamic markets.
- Tax-Free Compounding – Accumulating vs. Distributing ETFs (Banker on Wheels)
- Amundi commences 'core' range with low-fee S&P 500 ETF (ETF Stream)
- Robeco unveils active emerging markets ETF (ETF Stream)
- HSBC AM plots active ETF entry with systematic equity trio (ETF Stream)
- ETFs are turning credit into a monthly market (FT)
Wealth Management
Personal Finance
Platforms
(Early) Retirement
Financial Advice
- Jason Pereira: Expert Financial Planning (Rational Reminder)
- From Emotion To Logic: 6 Questions To Help Clients Navigate Market-Related Fears Productively (Kitces)
- Optimizing The Planning Process To Address Challenges For Clients Who Are 1 Year Away From Retirement (Kitces)
- Attracting HNW Clients By Focusing Not On Estate But Legacy Planning Instead (Kitces)
Design Your Lifestyle
Personal Development
Health & Wellness
Countries Where People Don’t Exercise Enough (Visual Capitalist)
Two-thirds of the UAE isn’t getting enough exercise, the highest rate for any country in this study. In West and South Asia, around half the population falls short of recommended physical activity levels. Roughly one in three Americans aren’t hitting the minimum exercise mark. The World Health Organization recommends 2.5 hours of moderate activity or 1.25 hours of vigorous activity every week. What counts as moderate and vigorous activity? A good rule of thumb is checking heart rate and breathing. If you can talk but not sing while doing the activity (walking, hiking), then it’s a moderate level of exercise.
Careers & Entrepreneurship
Travel
Tech & Economy
Economy
Tech & Science
And Finally
How Long Does Plastic Take to Decompose? (Visual Capitalist)
Plastic is everywhere—from everyday packaging to essential medical tools. But once discarded, these items don’t just disappear. They linger for decades, centuries even, posing long-term environmental threats. Meanwhile, only 9% of plastic gets recycled globally. Plastic is derived from petroleum and doesn’t occur in nature. Its carbon bonds differ from those in nature, making it harder and more energy-intensive to break down. The quickest to break down, cigarette butts, still take five years. Plastic bags follow at 20 years, and plastic-lined coffee cups at 30 years, according to data from Chariot Energy.
Good Luck and Keep’em* Rolling!
(* Wheels & Dividends)
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How You Can Cycle The World – A Practical Guide
Weekend Reading – Vanguard Cuts Fees across 15 ETFs & IBKR launches prediction markets
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