Create Your Own ETF Hedge Fund: A Do-It-Yourself ETF Strategy for Private Wealth Management Book

Acknowledgments     xv
About the Author     xvii
Introduction     1
Contemporary Investment Conditions
Hobson's Choice     7
Current Situation: The Captive Client     8
How the Investment Business Changed     9
The Age of the DIY Investor     11
If You Can't Beat 'Em, Join 'Em     13
Bad Apples and Unethical Practices     15
High Pressure Environment     17
The Regulators Crackdown     18
The Mother of All Mutual Fund Scandals     20
But Wait, There's More Potential Scandal Ahead     22
Client Rumblings and Grumblings     22
I Still Want Someone Else to Do It     23
Reports of My Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated     24
Future Area of Growth: Unified Accounts     26
The Future for Financial Advisors Never Brighter-Maybe     28
Two Body Blows to Wall Street Fees     29
Conclusion     30
ETFs-The New Investment of Choice     33
DIY Investors Take Charge     34
What Took ETFs So Long to Catch On?     36
Indexing versus Active Management     37
ETFs and Indexing     51
The ETF Tsunami     51
New Quantitative Indexes     53
International ETFs     55
Inverse ETFs     57
Ultra, Leveraged Short, or Long ETFs     60
Commodity and Currency ETFs     61
Actively Managed ETFs     64
With Growth Come Other Problems     64
A Disruptive Technology Indeed!     65
The Rise of Hedge Funds     67
What We Really Mean by Hedge Fund     68
Hot New Sector: Private Equity     78
Growth of Hedge Funds     78
Who Invests in These Complex Strategies?     80
Why Invest in Hedge Funds Anyway?     81
But Can Retail Investors Participate?     82
Hedge Fund Disasters     87
To Regulate or Not     88
Hedge Funds Are Here to Stay     90
A Convergence Story     91
Mutual Funds, ETFs, and Hedge Funds     91
Mutual Funds Adopting Some Hedge Fund Strategies     92
Futures Investment Strategies in Hedge Funds     93
Rydex Investments Leads a Big Change     94
PowerShares Actively Traded ETF     96
PowerShares Private Equity ETF     99
Commodity ETFs Direct     102
Currency ETFs Direct      104
Inverse ETFs Direct     105
New Margin Rules     107
The Zero Commission     110
Convergence Well Underway     110
The Bullish Bias Gets a Makeover     113
Other Contributing Forces     114
Commissions Out, Fees In     115
Recurring Fees     117
The Greenspan and Bernanke Put     117
Money Supply Shenanigans     118
Excess Liquidity and Stock Buybacks     120
I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles     120
Bye-Bye Glass-Steagall     121
"Da Boyz" and Primary Dealers Merge     123
Does the Fed or Treasury Manipulate Markets?     127
Time to Connect the Dots     130
The New Robber Barons     131
Two Jokers in the Deck     132
What Bears Are Up Against     133
Strategies
Market Neutral     137
The Northwest Quadrant     140
Even Here, Risks Remain     141
ETFs and Market Neutral Strategies     141
Alpha Strategies     149
Market Neutral Mutual Funds     155
Conclusion     156
Global Macro     159
LTCM Blows Up      160
Gunslingers     162
Think Global, Invest Global     162
Trade Global     165
So You Wanna Be a Gunslinger, Too?     172
Conclusion     178
Doing It Their Way     181
Selected Trader Profiles     183
Selected Stock Pickers Profiles     183
Selected Distressed Securities Profiles     184
Selected Quantitative Profiles     184
Other Famous Hedge Fund Practitioners     185
Insider Trading Building Performance?     186
So If It's a Game for the Big Boys, How Can We Play?     190
Trading-Do I Have To?     193
One True Thing     193
Market Timing Myths and Realities     197
The Lazy or Passive Investor: No Single Strategy Always Performs Best     200
The Lazy Hedge Fund Investor: The Do-Nothing Crowd     202
Merrill and Goldman Try to Shake Things Up: Can Passive Indexes Destroy Fees?     203
Day Trading: Frenetic and Intense     205
Shorting Explained: To Go North, Head South     208
Quantitative Trading: Reserved for the Left Brain Crowd     209
Multistrategy: All Things to All People     212
Conclusion     214
Hedge Funds for the Rest of Us
Lower-Risk Global Macro Long/Short Strategies     217
The ETF Digest Methodology     217
Overwhelmed     217
Fast-Forward 35 Years     219
Trend Following     222
Risk Management     228
The Two-Thirds Objective     230
Finding Your Sacred Cows     233
ETFs Provide the Tools for Implementing Global Macro Long/Short Strategies     238
The Trick Is Putting Them Together     242
Constructing Your Own ETF Hedge Fund     243
Typical Questionnaire     244
Long-Term Investor or Short-Term Trader     246
Awash in ETF Choices     247
Performance Myths and Realities of Style     251
One World Marker     255
True Diversification     257
Shorting Essentials     264
Portfolio Reallocation     264
Actively Managed ETFs and Mutual Fund Posers     265
Conclusion     265
ETF Hedge Fund Portfolios     267
Long-Term or Short-Term Approach     268
Aggressive Growth     272
Growth     275
Growth and Income     277
Dave's Special Portfolio     279
ETF Substitutes      280
Conclusion     281
Tools and Resources     283
Where to Get the Help You Need     283
Online Tools     283
Important Tools I Like     304
Market Information Resources     305
Conclusion     308
Eight Steps to Building Your ETF Hedge Fund     309
Define Yourself     309
Develop Your Hedge Fund Strategy     309
Use ETFs as the Primary Tool     310
Using Mutual Funds as an Alternative Vehicle     310
Get Help, Even If You're a DIY     311
If You Want to Use a Financial Advisor, Find the Right One     314
DIYs Need an Online Broker     314
Find the Support Tools You Need     315
Conclusion     315
Index     317