Jun 11, 2018
Tom Lydon is one of the leading experts in the ETF and mutual fund industries. He is the founder and CEO of ETF Trends, a business he created in 2004 whose website, etftrends.com, is filled with news, analysis, and webcasts about the world of ETFs. Before creating ETF Trends, Tom ran a financial advisory and publication business that followed the mutual fund industry.
Our conversation covers the evolution of mutual funds in the 80s and 90s and the rise of ETFs in the 2000s. We discuss the composition of the ETF marketplace, structure and tax advantages of ETFs, passive, factor and actively managed funds, characteristics of a superior manager, leveraged ETFs, VIX blowup, potential future problems in high yield and emerging market ETFs, and coming trends in the space.
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Show Notes
2:01 – A look at Tom’s early career
4:52 – What drove people to buy or sell a mutual fund in those early days
5:33 – How did Tom's sell signal just before Black Monday impact the business
6:21 – What were the right funds to invest with
6:56 – What were the key trends during the 80’s and 90’s
8:25 – Layers of cost for mutual funds in the early days
9:04 – Average active management fee back then
10:56 – Evolution of ETF’s
13:49 – Some numbers on the ETF landscape today
15:40 - Why did the last downturn foster more growth in ETFs
18:08 – The institutional presence in the ETF market
18:55 – Fees in the ETF space
19:50 – Distribution of ETFs
21:29 – Actively managed ETF’s
23:35 – Tax efficiency of ETF’s
26:42 – Judging ETF managers
31:26 – Do levered ETFs add any value
34:00 – Ted paper against levered ETFs
35:18 – Potential landmines in ETFs
38:49 – Risks in the ETF space today
42:11– How do ETFs impact pricing distortions
46:16 – What’s happening in active fixed income ETFs
47:43 – Will fund flows chase hot managers?
48:35 – The big trends on the horizon
49:52 – What happens with liquid alternatives
51:08– What are businesses have thrived in the ETF space
53:56 – A deep dive into Tom’s business ETF Trends
55:41 – Closing questions