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Practical, opinionated guides on ETF investing. No fluff, no affiliate links. Just what you need to invest with confidence.
Factor Investing: The Tilt That Works If You Can Hold It
Value, momentum, and quality are real return premia. Capturing them means holding a tilt through a decade of underperformance most investors abandon.
Asset Location: Why Your Two Accounts Shouldn't Match
Holding the same allocation in every account leaves money on the table. Asset location puts each asset where tax hurts least, and the rule changes by country.
Catastrophe Bond ETFs: Insurance-Linked Returns
Catastrophe bond returns turn on whether a hurricane makes landfall, which makes them a genuine diversifier. The new ETF wrapper needs scrutiny.
Core-Satellite Portfolio: How Much in Satellites?
A core-satellite ETF portfolio pairs a broad cheap core with 10-30% in satellites for factor tilts and alternatives. Satellite size matters more than picks.
Bond ETFs Explained
How bond ETFs work, the risks they carry, and how they compare to alternatives like TIP, gold, and managed futures.
How Many ETFs Should You Own?
The right number depends on how much you're investing. A practical scale from one fund at $2k to six past $100k, with the reasoning behind each tier.
Gold ETFs: The Complete Guide
Physical gold trusts, mini versions, gold miners, UCITS equivalents. What gold does in a portfolio, and how to pick the right wrapper.
ETFs to Avoid: 6 Structural Red Flags
Leveraged, YieldMax, JEPI-style covered-call, buffer ETFs: the structural traps that look attractive on paper but underperform a plain index over time.
Money Market and T-Bill ETFs: Where Cash Earns a Yield
Short-term Treasury and money market ETFs pay real yields with near-zero credit risk. What they hold, where they beat a savings account, and where they don't.
Low-Volatility ETFs: Calmer, Not Safer
Low volatility ETFs have historically matched the market with fewer swings. But calmer is not the same as safer, and the gap costs you return.
Home Bias: Why You Need International ETFs
Investors everywhere overweight their home country. History shows why that's a risk, and how globally diversified ETFs fix it.
Understanding Expense Ratios: The Fee That Eats Your Returns
The expense ratio is the most important number on an ETF factsheet. What it is, and why a fraction of a percent costs you six figures over decades.
How Beacon Picks and Ranks ETFs
Beacon classifies every ETF by the job it does for your portfolio, then scores it on cost, size, liquidity, and track record. The full method, no black box.
What Is an ETF? (And Why It Matters)
An ETF is a basket of investments you can buy in a single trade. How they work, and where the modern ETF market hides its traps.
The 3-Fund Portfolio Explained
Three index funds. That's all you need for a diversified, low-cost portfolio that beats most professional money managers over time.
Investing to Grow Your Wealth Long-Term
Growth is the default goal for most investors. How to build a growth ETF portfolio that compounds for decades, and what to keep out of it.
Investing for Passive Income With ETFs
Dividend ETFs can pay steady income, but high yield often hides risk. Sustainable income comes from dividend growth: companies that keep raising payouts.
Why You Can't Beat the Market (And That's OK)
Decades of data show almost nobody consistently beats the market. Why that's good news for how you invest.