Weekend Reading – UBS Global Returns Yearbook & JP Morgan Guide to ETFs
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:
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Featured
Do Sustainable Funds Outperform? Unfortunately not, Weapons Do. (Banker on Wheels)
This article is part of Bankeronwheels.com definitive guide to Sustainable Investing. We previously busted the first myth surrounding ESG. Wall Street didn’t want you to know that ESG Ratings are not about protecting the planet. And yet, over the past few years, ESG investments have, sometimes significantly, outperformed. Today, let’s bust the second myth by looking at academic research. ESG doesn't outperfom. Sectors like weapons do.
Portfolio Construction
Asset Allocation
The 2025 UBS global investment returns yearbook is here! (UBS)
Over the years, the body of work assembled by Professor Paul Marsh and Dr. Mike Staunton of London Business School and Professor Elroy Dimson of Cambridge University has established itself as the definitive source for the analysis of the long-term performance of global financial assets. The Yearbook allows us to use history to better contextualize current market issues, including market concentration, returns, drawdowns, correlations, and changing inflation and interest rate dynamics.
Can we all invest like yale? (cambria)
David Swensen is regarded as one of the greatest capital allocators of all time, if not the greatest. The endowment returned over 13% per annum, higher than any relevant benchmark, including the unstoppable US stock market, and with lower volatility, too. Swensen’s massive success led many investors to attempt to adopt the “endowment style” of investing, or more specifically, the “Yale model.” What does this phrase mean?
Understand Financial Markets
- Dividends are just a tax-inefficient way to return capital to shareholders. (Morningstar)
- The Market Illusion: Mike Green on Inflation, Geopolitics and the Hidden Recession (Excess Returns)
- Goldman Sachs’ Peter Oppenheimer - Concentration & Correction: What To Do Next (Meb Faber)
- Investing is an Inherently Probabilistic Activity (Italian Leather Sofa)
Trump tariffs: mostly talk, or big action? (Goldman Sachs)
President Trump’s tariff actions since his inauguration have been nothing short of striking. While markets have begun to react to these developments, deep tariff risks are still being underpriced. Whether that will continue to be the case largely depends on if Trump tariffs end up as mostly talk, or action. Trump’s former Deputy USTR Jeff Gerrish believes the latter is more likely when it comes to broad tariff action given the President’s long-held goal of correcting global trade imbalances. And Wiley Rein LLP’s Tim Brightbill argues that Trump likely has the legal authority to implement such a bold reshaping of trade policy.
How To Invest
Active Investing
Factor Investing
International Quality (GMO)
The U.S. stock market has been the place to be for some years. With that backdrop, the average U.S. investor is likely to have increasingly concentrated exposure to the largest U.S. growth stocks. In this context, diversification has been a tough sell. Allocating to anything else has only reduced returns when looking in the rearview mirror. Of course, when you build a portfolio, you do so for the future, not the past.
Discretionary Investing
- Using Inflation Data for Systematic Gold and Treasury Investment Strategies (SSRN)
- ROE, Returns to Shareholders, Good/Bad Companies and Efficient Markets: Back to Basics (Aswath Damodaran)
- Unlocking Shareholder Value in Japanese Balance Sheets (Verdad)
- Abnormal FX Returns and Liquidity-Based Machine Learning Approaches (CFA Institute)
Sustainable Investing
Alternative Asset Classes
A sovereign crypto fund is a new way to pay out regime cronies (Noahpinion)
Selectorate theory is certainly a very oversimplified explanation of politics — it ignores important things. But it does really get you thinking about regime payouts — how a leader can effectively deliver state funds to his favored cronies. In fact, even if said cronies aren’t actually the ones that put the leader in power, and he’s just paying them out because he likes them, it’s still interesting to think about. Watching the Trump administration at work, it has occurred to me that cryptocurrency is an important innovation in the payments field — but perhaps not in the ways its creators hoped.
Wall Street
Bad Bets
ETFs
UCITS ETFs
World ex-US: How To Reduce Your Allocation To U.S. Stocks (Banker on Wheels)
This article is Part 4 of our definitive guide to Equity Index Investing. Some of our readers like to implement tilts towards markets that are exposed to cheaper Value Sectors in Europe and Asia. We believe in diversified investing. But, if implementing a tilt can make more expensive US Stocks more bearable for some investors so that they can stick to their strategy in the long run, it is a sin worth pursuing. Today, getting exposure to ex-US Markets is possible with just one ETF.
Guide to ETFs (JP Morgan)
This Guide to ETFs provides a comprehensive overview of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), covering market trends, investment strategies, and trading best practices. It highlights the growth of ETFs globally, the shift from mutual funds, and the rise of active ETFs. The report also explores fixed-income ETFs, thematic investing, and liquidity considerations. Additionally, it discusses the tax efficiency of ETFs and their role in diversified portfolios.
US ETFs
A Groundbreaking New ETF Arrives (Morningstar)
Regulators allowed State Street and Apollo’s ground-breaking private-credit exchange-traded fund Wednesday. Initially filed back in September 2024, the proposal attempts to offer private-credit exposure through an ETF. That raised several concerns and questions, such as how the ETF would address the illiquidity and valuation of those private-credit holdings. The ETF plans to overcome those concerns through a contractual agreement with Apollo, which will supply private-credit assets for the fund to buy and provide it with bids, or prices, on those same assets.
Wealth Management
Personal Finance
Platforms
How To Choose A Cheap Stock Broker? (Banker on Wheels)
This is part 5 of Bankeronwheels.com Definitive Guide to choosing a Stock Broker. Over the past months, as we developed our Broker Fee Comparison Tool, we looked into the different fees in Europe and the UK. You probably won’t be surprised to hear that the fee structures are almost designed not to be easily comparable! But, the portfolios of our readers are often relatively simple, so coming up with a lifetime accumulation phase simulation of all fee components to choose the cheapest broker is not only feasible, but necessary.
(Early) Retirement
Financial Advice
Design Your Lifestyle
Personal Development
Health & Wellness
Lance Armstrong's Cycling Safety Tips (Two Percent)
I’ve always been interested in road cycling. It’s a hell of a way to build your health and endurance—it gets you outside and cranking yet puts minimal impact on your body. The lack of impact on your joints makes it more sustainable and is also why cyclists generally have the best endurance markers of any athletes1. But there’s a catch. One big thing about cycling holds me back: Cars. Speeding cars driven by texting, distracted humans. According to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 1,105 bicyclists were killed in motor-vehicle traffic crashes in 2022, a 13% increase from 976 in 2021. A study on accidents in Europe found “2035 cyclists died in Europe in 2019. Furthermore, the relative proportion of seriously injured cyclists also increased from 7 percent in 2010 to 9 percent in 2019.” The vast majority of these cycling deaths, over 70 percent, involve vehicles. The Consumer Product Safety Commission also reports 405,411 emergency department-treated injuries associated with bicycles.
Careers & Entrepreneurship
Travel
Breathe: Bikepacking Across Portugal (Video) (Bikepacking.com)
“Breathe” is a 20-minute video from Dmytro Prudnikov that captures a north-to-south bikepacking journey across Portugal and into Spain. It’s a visually spectacular collection of moments from more than 1,300 kilometers through some of Europe’s most enchanting landscapes. Our journey encapsulated some 1,320 kilometers through Portugal, from Porto in the north to Sagres in the far south, then turning east and heading to Seville in Spain. Fog, sun, the ocean, tarmac, gravel roads, and endless stories.
Tech & Economy
Economy
Tech & Science
And Finally
Good Luck and Keep’em* Rolling!
(* Wheels & Dividends)
Trade Wars, Real Wars, but Equities Close To All-Time Highs: Is It A Good Time To Invest?
7 Reasons Why Japan May Be Your Next Cycling Adventure
Nomads in 2026: Genki vs SafetyWing – Which Travel Insurance Wins?
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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