If you have worked as a professional in Hong Kong since the first MPF scheme was launched in December 2000, and contributed the minimum each month into a low-cost Hong Kong stock index fund, you should have over $1,000,000 in MPF by now. MPF stands for Mandatory Provident Fund, and is Hong Kong’s equivalent to […]
Hong Kong ETFs are, and are likely to remain, the best way to trade and broadly allocate to China, it is not hard to argue that Hong Kong has the best ETF market in Asia. As a reference, I am posting below a scan of the brochure the HKEX handed out at a recent ETF […]
For non-US ETF portfolios, I find it useful to keep handy short lists of ETFs listed on other top ETF exchanges in London, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Tokyo. Here is a short list of the top 55 London-listed ETFs I look at, mostly for my own reference when I need to look this up on […]
London listed ETFs and Frankfurt listed ETFs together form the world’s second largest and most diverse ETF market after the US. For non-US taxpayer investors, Frankfurt and London listed ETFs may provide tax advantages in accessing the US market, as well as access to asset classes even the US ETF market does not yet cover, […]
I find it important to look at exchange traded funds (“ETF”) as a benchmark for what investments in stocks, bonds, or real estate investment trusts (REITs) could be doing as a “fire and forget” trade to track a broad benchmark index with minimal transactional and ongoing costs. The US remains by far the largest, most […]
I have been working with “smart beta” strategies since 2006 (before they were even called “smart beta”), and continue to believe that investing through these rules-based factors provides better risk-adjusted returns than index funds at far lower cost than actively managed mutual funds. In GFM-managed client accounts, we continue to apply the well-researched factors, of […]
My latest SeekingAlpha article lists 6 reasons regulators (and exchanges) should reject Bitcoin ETFs, ranging from the practical and technological to arguably moral and social reasons. I wrote back in 2014 about how 21st blockchain technology should wrap and replace 20th century mutual fund and ETF technology. ICOs are a start towards this, but I […]
More than almost anything else, I believe the financial services industry needs greater price literacy and price transparency. In almost any other business, customers are used to looking at and comparing the prices of the goods they buy from a store or website and the services they buy from a tax preparer or hairdresser, but […]
A good savings plan, at a minimum, has the following features: Secure, automated handling of regular monthly contributions Allocation of those contributions to an appropriate balance of stocks and bonds to grow those savings at a rate of 4 – 12% per year, on average Flexibility to withdraw funds or increase contributions at any time […]
I have long been a fan, observer, and investor in emerging markets, ranging from the most frontier the most developed of emerging markets (often repeating that the US can be called “the most successful emerging market in history). Anyone who knows me personally knows that this interest in emerging markets drove me to travel through […]