Trillions

You never go full crypto, right? Yet clearly some in the ETF industry see a massive opportunity, hence the steady talent trickle to the nascent space. To date, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has received more than 25 filings for ETFs featuring Bitcoin. They're effectively the participants in a Cannonball Run-esque race to gain the SEC's approval -- and whoever earns that blessing and is first to market could have a multi-billion-dollar product. But is this asset class even ready for primetime? How would it even work? What roadblocks must be overcome?  On this episode of Trillions, Joel and Eric are joined by the perfect guest to discuss all of this: Matt Hougan. The vice president of Bitwise Asset Management and a veteran of the ETF industry, Hougan has deep knowledge of both industries. He's also a face in the Cannonball Run race. His firm just filed for the Bitwise Hold 10 Cryptocurrency Index Fund, which is the first proposed ETF that's a basket of cryptocurrencies. Hougan also gives his take

What is the best ETF for the long-term? How important is index selection? Is there a pot ETF? Can you get private equity exposure through an ETF? These are just some of the questions that Joel and Eric attempt to answer in this episode of Trillions where they dig into the proverbial "mailbag" of questions from listeners on various platforms.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Trade tensions and tariffs are a new variable for investors. How should investors differentiate between noise and reality? Should they adjust their portfolio? What ETFs can be used? Joel and Eric are joined by reporter Sarah Ponczek and advisor John Davi to discuss. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

No one person has had a bigger impact on the fund industry than Vanguard founder Jack Bogle, the legendary investor who invented indexing and popularized low-fee mutual funds. One of Vanguard's biggest advantages: Its mutual fund ownership structure, which is an original Bogle breakthrough. Bogle now thinks other firms will have to follow suit to survive in the future -- one of a few topics he plans to explore in his next book, Stay the Course: The Story of Vanguard and the Index Revolution (Wiley, October 2018). If he's right, the financial ecosystem is in for major changes. During their visit to Vanguard, Joel and Eric also picked Bogle's brain on ETFs, financial advisors, active share, behavior, and Bitcoin for this special episode of Trillions. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

ETF flows are one of the best ways to get inside the mind of investors. They tell you which asset classes, sectors, strategies and specific ETFs both traders and long-term investors are favoring. But interpreting flows is as much art as science. On this week’s Trillions, Joel and Eric are joined by Todd Rosenbluth of CFRA to dissect ETF inflows and outflows from the first half of what is at once both a typical and atypical year. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There are over 120 U.S. ETF issuers, but only one has more than $1 trillion in assets, over 300 products and knows what it is like to beat Vanguard: BlackRock. The asset manager made the equivalent of the Louisiana Purchase when it acquired iShares from Barclays in 2009, a move that has made them the most dominant player in the industry. Joel and Eric interview Martin Small, head of U.S. iShares, about ETFs, investing and his insatiable appetite for guitars.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this special report, Rachel Evans interviews Hal Lambert, the creator of the MAGA ETF, to learn how he turned his idea for the fund into a reality. The episode examines his strategy—buying companies that donate to the Republican Party—how this contrasts with other values-based products, and whether ads on conservative talk shows will translate into investor dollars.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s a big, expensive, global mystery. Why do women still make less money—a lot less—than men? In the US, the average woman makes 80 cents to every dollar a man makes. Launching May 9, the Pay Check is an in-depth investigation into what that 20 percent difference looks like. In this miniseries we'll show you how the gender pay gap plays out in real life. We'll hear from Lily Ledbetter, Mo’Nique, and a lot of other women who weren’t happy to be paid less. We'll find out what happens when a whole country tries to tackle the pay gap. And we'll talk to some women who are taking things into their own hands. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Are ETFs turning mom and pop into maniacal day traders? Are investors using the right type of trade orders? This week, Joel and Eric speak with Matt Gouletof Fidelity, whose platform serves 9 million households, to discuss insights about retail investors’ ETF usage as well as stories about the active fund giant's foray into the ETF world and attempt to out-Vanguard Vanguard. And where is the coveted white space? According to Fidelity the untapped area is the retail investor, who are just beginning to understand and use the product.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Smart-beta is one of the hottest trends in not just ETFs but all of investment management. Assets in the category have grown from $0 to almost $1 trillion in barely a decade. But what is it, exactly?  On this week’s Trillions, Joel and Eric explore the mysteries of smart-beta. To some, it's all a mutation of passive indexing; to others, it's a better, cheaper version of active management. "Imagine R2D2 with the head of Peter Lynch," says Eric.  And to help you understand how investors can use the products, Nir Kaissar, a Bloomberg Gadfly columnist and financial advisor, and Tom Psarofagis, an ETF analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence and former issuer of smart-beta ETFs, join to offer their perspectives. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While the very largest ETFs attract the bulk of flows, a few smaller products manage to beat the odds and emerge from obscurity each year to capture investors' imagination and assets. Over the past year, growth in robotics, the Internet and China have led to outsized investments into smaller ETFs.  On this week's Trillions, Joel and Eric highlight and analyze up-and-comer ETFs of the past, present and future. They are joined by Bloomberg News' Carolina Wilson on a mission to find the next big things in ETF Land. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tickers are special. Not only can they catch our eye, they also tell a story. Some ETF tickers are especially great -- take MOO, for instance, or TAN. But with hundreds of them cluttering the stock market, you sort of have to wonder: Which ETF ticker is the very best? On this episode of Trillions, Joel and Eric harness the spirit of March Madness with a team of Bloomberg News reporters and create a tournament bracket to determine the champion. Chaos ensues -- but one ticker gets crowned the winner. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What happens when ETF nerds/Radiohead superfans take over the podcast? You get the Radiohead Guide to Good ETF Investing. Trillions goes full prog rock this week as Joel and Eric are joined by Bloomberg reporter Rachel Evans for a dive into the band's ground-breaking catalog and the hidden ETF Investing advice contained in it.  Does your ETF portfolio put Everything in Its Right Place or is it filled with Fake Plastic Trees? Are you Optimistic enough to let your portfolio grow Little By Little? These are just some of the Radiohead-inspired questions that get answered in the name of accessible ETF education.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The last few weeks have reminded investors that the market can go down as well as up (who knew?). Hedging can help protect a portfolio, and ETFs can help with that cause, but you're effectively picking your poison; some limit the potency of the hedge, others carry unforeseen costs. Joel and Eric sit down with self-described “ETF nerd” Michael Venuto of Toroso Investments to discuss the pros and cons of the various approaches, including volatility products, inverse funds, hedge fund strategies, gold, put options, treasuries and cash. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This month, Bloomberg is excited to bring you a brand new show. Every Friday on What'd You Miss This Week, we'll feature the most interesting interviews from Bloomberg's daily market close show, "What'd You Miss" hosted by Scarlet Fu, Julia Chatterley and Joe Weisenthal. We want to take you beyond the headlines and bring you a unique perspective on the week's top stories, and those you may just have missed. It's the perfect way to kick off your weekend. Be sure to subscribe now, so you don't miss a thing! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Movies get ratings, so why not ETFs? After all, there are more than 2,100 ETFs, with one new one launching every day, that provide exposure to every asset class, sector, region, country, commodity, currency, factor, theme, derivative and strategy that you can think of, as well as some you’ve never heard of. While most are “plain vanilla,” many come with twists, and some are downright dangerous carrying unforeseen risks. Unforeseen risk was on full display this week as some inverse volatility exchange-traded products turned disastrous, falling over 90% in a day and forcing several banks to issue redemptions. In this episode, Joel and Eric discuss the recent market turbulence, welcome Eric’s new colleague James Seyffart to the show, and also introduce Bloomberg Intelligence’s new “ETF Spotlight” System. The green-yellow-red model couldn’t get any easier to understand and will help you discern safer products from the potentially lethal ones -- before it’s too late. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy infor

What do you get when you cross ComiCon, the Catalina Wine Mixer and low-cost passive investing? You get "Inside ETFs," the world's largest ETF conference, which is getting bigger and more colorful by the year, in no small part to the growing mountain of flows coming into ETFs each year.  The event – which has grown from 450 people to 2,400 in eleven years featured panels, presentations and booths on everything from Vanguard to VIX and from Bitcoin to Quincy Jones.  Joel and Eric discuss takeaways from the event as well as some select interviews on the ground, which include issuers both big and small as well as self-described “ETF nerds” and one famous music producer. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the fourth episode of Trillions, we get a first-hand look at how a professional builds ETF portfolios that work for different types of investors with varied goals. We look at how ETFs are chosen and assembled as well as the psychological methods Betterment uses to keep investor eyes on the prize, and not the market.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What questions should you ask about an ETF before you make an investment? What about when two or three ETFs seem practically the same? In this episode, Todd Rosenbluth, a mutual fund and ETF analyst with CFRA, joins the podcast to discuss his due diligence checklist. This is a topic that can get weedy in a hurry; if you're new to ETFs, just think of it like you're looking under the hood of a car. Start by evaluating the holdings, weightings, and costs, and then you can start wading into next-level stuff like liquidity and volatility. By the end of this episode, you'll learn how expert analysts view any ETF. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Right now there are about  2,100 ETFs -- 2,078 if you want to get specific about it. That's a lot of stuff to choose from. How should you approach navigating a store with this much selection? One aisle at a time. On the second episode of Bloomberg’s new podcast, Trillions, we take a stroll through the most popular aisles to meet some ETFs and get a better sense of the offerings. From the Cheerios of equities to the fresh produce of bonds, this episode provides an entertaining and incredibly simple way to make sense of ETFs and why they allow investors to ride capitalists' coattails. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.