Weekend Reading – Vanguard’s Guide To Selecting An ETF Manager & 14 Destinations Where Retirees Thrive Abroad
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:
Balance is not something you find, it’s something you create.
Featured
Live and Let Buy: Which Bond Funds For Your Objectives? (Banker on Wheels)
Welcome to Part 2 of Licence to Yield – Our Definitive Guide to Bond Index Investing. Whether you are investing for the Short or Long Term, Bonds are a key component in a portfolio. Today, we will spotlight the bond categories that we will explore in this guide. We will also go through bonds you may want to avoid, to accomplish your goals. Let’s dive in!
Portfolio Construction
Asset Allocation
Hedging inflation in the stock market (Outcast Beta)
Can we find inflation hedges in the stock market? The answer is yes—at least to some extent. We find that certain industries, particularly those related to resource equities, have historically offered some protection against high inflation levels. In periods when inflation was largely driven by oil and energy crises, these industries also hedged against rising inflation. A more robust hedge, however, can be found through a combination of value and momentum factors.
- Risk parity underperforms a traditional 60/40 portfolio with inferior Sharpe ratios (SSRN)
- Risk, Return, Repeat: The Portable Alpha Revival (Top Traders Unplugged)
- Why Portfolio Diversification Has Helped in 2025 (Morningstar)
- Are Bonds Broken as Diversifiers for Stocks? (Morningstar)
- Buying the Dip? The Draw and Dangers of Contrarian Investing. (Aswath Damodaran)
Understand Financial Markets
BoW Tools: Bond ETF Calculator (Banker on Wheels)
Everyone has an idea about how the stock market works, yet bond markets are widely misunderstood. Retail investors often label them as ‘uninteresting’—to put it mildly. However, bonds play an important role in the overall success of your investment strategy. In 2025, not only do they offer a juicy yield, but they may also act as a powerful weapon in your portfolio. Play with our calculator to understand why.
- When banks rescue the government (Joachim Klement)
- Is dollar weakness a panic signal or healthy rebalancing? (Reuters)
- Bear Markets are a Necessary Evil (larry swedroe)
- Is China Dumping the Dollar? - And is Ray Dalio Right about Reserve Currencies? (Patrick Boyle)
- Charting the S&P 500's Post-Election Rollercoaster Ride (voronoi)
- Global Stock Market Returns in Q1 2025 (Visual Capitalist)
Lately, there's been a lot of chatter about how the Trump administration could radically restructure and refinance the US debt under the so-called "Mar-a-Lago Accord." In this episode, we speak with University of Virginia law professor Mitu Gulati about how far the administration could go to legally reform this huge and important market. We also talk about how to buy Greenland and whether Trump could make a few billion by collecting on some old loans from allies.
How To Invest
Active Investing
Factor Investing
Making Factor Strategies Work for Everyone (Alpha Architect)
This article explores the difference between tradable and on-paper (theoretical) risk factors in investing. Risk factors are strategies that help explain stock market returns, but many work only in theory and not in real life. Researchers developed ways to make these factors tradable by using mutual funds and ETFs, making them accessible to both large institutions and everyday investors. However, real-world costs like trading fees and shorting expenses can reduce returns by 2% to 4% each year. Understanding these costs helps investors make smarter decisions when choosing investment strategies.
- Quantitative Risk and Portfolio Management: Theory and Practice (CFA Institute)
- Enhancing Industry Momentum Strategies: Finding Hidden Neighbors (Alpha Architect)
- Trend Following: Complexity, Dispersion, and the Role of Luck (Price Action Lab)
- Quantitative Investing and Market Instability (larry swedroe)
Discretionary Investing
- Anatomy of a Market Crisis: Tariffs, Markets and the Economy! (Aswath Damodaran)
- The Impact of Uncertainty on Investment, Hiring, and Consumer Spending (Goldman Sachs)
- Francois Rochon - Outperforming the Market for 30+ Years Through Patience, Humility & Rationality (Meb Faber)
- Less-concentrated markets could buoy active managers (Vanguard)
- Diverging Destinies in Corporate Japan (Verdad)
Alternative Asset Classes
An introductory guide to royalty investing (Partners Group)
As private markets strategies continue to expand and specialize, royalties have emerged as an asset class with an estimated market size of USD 2 trillion and growing. Ranging from the ownership of rights to future revenues in music and pharmaceuticals to interests in carbon credits, this diverse asset class has distinctive characteristics.
Is Bitcoin Trading Like Tech Stocks? (Morningstar)
For many years after its inception, bitcoin was seen as an investment that traded unlike traditional assets. But as the cryptocurrency’s tumble thanks to US President Donald Trump’s tariffs demonstrates, these days, it’s trading much like any other risky investment. Bitcoin fell sharply in the wake of Trump’s tariff announcement on April 2, going from $84,600 to $75,000 within a week. That plunge extended declines that began in February.
Wall Street
ETFs
UCITS ETFs
Beyond expense ratios: A guide to selecting an index fund manager (Vanguard)
While markets and financial returns are hard to predict, investors can control costs. These costs, including expense ratios, transaction costs and sales charges, can significantly erode returns. Is an ultra-low expense ratio the end of the story? Or should investors consider factors beyond price when evaluating an index fund manager? Some investors believe that index funds and ETFs (exchange traded funds) are differentiated only by their fees.
US ETFs
Wealth Management
Personal Finance
DEcoding Digital Investing (Amundi)
Following the success of our inaugural Decoding Digital research in 2024, Amundi has commissioned a new study with an expanded scope that doubles the number of countries involved and triples the sample size to further deep dive into Asia, Africa & Latin America. In the research, we explore the goals and investment drivers of individuals around the world and dig into the changing ways investors are educated and influenced. We also use the findings to take a look at the important topic of building loyalty and reducing dormancy.
- How Lexi Redefined Her Financial Goals (ChooseFi)
- Millionaire Expat: How To Build Wealth Overseas (Book Review) (Banker on Wheels)
- The problem with wealth taxes (FT)
- A stupid decision to sell my rental property (Fire V London)
- What It Means To Be Wealthy In Germany (Forbes)
- Welcoming tax regime tempts Irish professionals to settle in Portugal (The Portugal News)
(Early) Retirement
14 Budget-Friendly Destinations Where Retirees Can Thrive Abroad (Invested Wallet)
Retiring abroad can be a smart way to stretch your savings while enjoying a great quality of life. Finding affordable places that feel familiar can make the transition easier and more comfortable. By choosing one of these budget-friendly destinations, retirees can live well, save money, and still enjoy the comforts they’re used to.
Financial Advice
Design Your Lifestyle
Personal Development
- How Rich Barton Built Expedia and Zillow from $0 to $35B — Audacious Goals, Provocation Marketing, Scrabble for Naming, and Powerful Daily Rituals (The Tim Ferris Show)
- Co-Intelligence — Using AI to Think Better, Create More, and Live Smarter (Art of Manliness)
- Beyond Limits: Lessons from Mountaineering (Two Percent)
Health & Wellness
Careers & Entrepreneurship
Women Salaries (Europeanparliament)
Women in the EU earn, on average, 12% less per hour than men. So, when a man earns 100 euro, a woman earns 88 euro. These are the main reasons why:
- Career breaks: Women are more likely to take career breaks, affecting earnings.
- Low-paying sectors: Women dominate industries like care, health, and education.
- Leadership gap: Women are underrepresented in executive roles.
Travel
Tech & Economy
Economy
- The Growth of Industrial Robots by Country (Visual Capitalist)
- Revenge of the BRICS (Economics Explained)
- Why Europe’s Industry is Stronger Than It Looks (TLDR)
- The demographic divide: inequalities in ageing across the European Union (Bruegel)
- The Risk Sensitivity of Global Liquidity Flows: Heterogeneity, Evolution, and Drivers (Bank of New York)
- Systemic liquidity risk: a monitoring framework (European Systemic Risk Board)
- What Germany’s economy needs now (Deutsche Bank Research)
Is the world losing faith in the almighty US dollar? (FT- Paywall)
On August 15 1971, President Richard Nixon interrupted an episode of Bonanza to announce “a new economic policy” to American families gathered in front of their television sets that Sunday evening. Among the myriad measures the president outlined was a 10 per cent import tariff — and the suspension of the US dollar’s convertibility into gold. Although couched as a temporary measure, the US would never again return to the so-called gold standard.
Tech & Science
How Is AI Revolutionizing Medicine? (Bloomberg)
Dr. Rohan Khera, a data scientist and cardiologist, is using artificial intelligence technology created in his lab at Yale to find abnormalities in cardiovascular imaging scans that are invisible to the naked eye. We’ll learn about a variety of ways AI is being tailored to bring costly and invasive medical procedures to the general public, and what its limitations may be.
And Finally
What To Watch To Understand Market Crises (Banker on Wheels)
From Kathrin - As someone who was still in school during 2008, I know very little about the financial crisis and its origins. While I was aware of what went on at the time, I was still dependent on my parents. But the 2008 event still impacts all of us nowadays and has changed the world of banking forever. For this reason, I’ve set out to watch a trilogy of movies, in the hopes that they could help me understand why there was a crash, what happened, and what implications the downturn has for us today. Today, I’ll share my experience of watching The Big Short, Inside Job, and Margin Call.
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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