Trillions

With meme stock mania in full bloom again, many are asking why there isn't an ETF to play it. While there is some debate over whether a meme ETF is possible at all, there is an ETF out there that gets pretty close and counts AMC and GameStop as its top two holdings. The ETF is the SoFi 50 ETF (SFYF) which tracks the top 50 stocks that are held by the retail traders who use SoFi's brokerage platform. And while its up big it hasn't seen the rush of flows we are accustomed to seeing when an ETF surges like this.On this episode of Trillions we speak with John Gardner, the Business Head of Invest at SoFi, and the brains behind SFYF and the other ETFs they offer. We speak to him about this 'lightening in a bottle' moment with SFYF as well as SoFi's other ETFs and how they fit into the company's bigger business plans. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Victor Haghani is an ETF investor with one of the most storied resumes as one of the founding partners of the famous Long-Term Capital Management hedge fund, which employed Nobel-Prize winning economists and renowned Wall Street traders until its epic blowup in 1998. His path is rare but not totally unique as even many of the smartest active management minds on Wall Street have either morphed into indexers or use index funds or ETFs for their personal investments. On this episode of Trillions, Eric and Joel speak with Haghani about his days on the trading desk at Salomon Brothers, the culture and mindset of Long-Term Capital Management, and his emerging low-cost ETF advisory business that he started for friends and family but has since expanded. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While the Securities and Exchange Commission has yet to approve a crypto exchange-traded fund, similar products are proliferating abroad. These exchange-traded products offer a potential sneak peek of what may eventually come to pass in the U.S. On this episode of Trillions, Eric and Joel — along with James Seyffart of Bloomberg Intelligence — speak with Ophelia Snyder, co-founder and head of product for Amun, which has ETP-ized a dozen different cryptocurrencies under the 21Shares brand name. They discuss what goes into the products, how they work, who uses them, and her outlook for the U.S. market. She also talks about her relationship with ARK founder Cathie Wood, who recently joined Amun's board.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The stock market looks frothy, moves up and down tend to be steeper and quicker than the old days, and the bond market isn't the hedge it used to be. This is the situation that Simplify, an upstart new ETF issuer, is looking to solve with a lineup of ETFs enhanced with options -- to provide downside protection and also amplify the upside. On this episode of Trillions, Eric and Joel -- along with James Seyffart of Bloomberg Intelligence -- speak with Simplify co-founder Paul Kim as well as his recent hire Michael Green, who brings hedge-fund experience to the team. The group discusses the macro opportunity, how Simplify's funds work, and how financial advisers might use these ETFs in a portfolio.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In March, for the first time ever, a mutual fund went to sleep and woke up as an ETF. Two of them, in fact. And Guinness Atkinson, the issuer, couldn’t be happier about the experience — not that it didn’t take a lot of work to get across the finish line. Many more mutual funds will likely follow suit.On this episode of Trillions, Eric and Joel — along with Claire Ballentine, the Bloomberg News reporter who covered the story — go deep with Guinness Atkinson’s Jim Atkinson and his lawyer, Alexandra Alberstadt about their new ETFs, the SmartETFs Dividend Builder ($DIVS) and SmartETFs Asia Pacific Dividend Builder ($ADIV). They discuss why they converted, what the process entailed, and how other issuers should approach the topic. Did we mention there will be many more of these?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Much like kids, ETFs can grow up so fast. And while you can expect the Vanguards and BlackRocks to keep hoovering up assets, there are many lesser-known products that have gained respectable followings. Sometimes it's quite shocking to see just how big they've gotten since the last time you checked on them. On this episode of Trillions, Eric and Joel are joined by Todd Rosenbluth, Director of Mutual & Exchange Traded Fund Research at CFA, Claire Ballentine, reporter for Bloomberg News and Athanasios Psarofagis, analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence. They discuss and debate eight ETFs that got surprisingly large, including: $XSOE, $IQLT, $IVOL, $SOXL, $BUZZ, $UFO, $TMFC and $BUG. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Let's be honest, Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) ETFs probably aren't going to make you blush or quicken your pulse. But they can be extremely practical in a portfolio. Typically known for their ability to generate income, this category of ETFs has seen rapid evolution of late with new entrants that focus on areas such as data centers. It's also made picking the right REIT ETF all the more confusing since there's now dozens of them.On this episode of Trillions, Eric and Joel are joined by REIT trader David Auerbach of World Equity Group as well as Kevin Kelly, a managing partner of Benchmark Investments, the index provider for a few of the new REIT entrants. They discuss the basics of REITs, the pros and cons of category king $VNQ as well as the new generation of REIT ETFs such as $SRVR, $HOMZ, $NETL and, what else, $REIT.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A few decades ago, nobody really questioned vaccines. They were viewed as a standard part of staying healthy and safe. Today, the number of people questioning vaccines risks prolonging a pandemic that has already killed hundreds of thousands of Americans. How we got to this moment didn’t start with the rollout of vaccines or in March 2020, or even with the election of Donald Trump. Our confidence in vaccines, often isn't even about vaccines. It’s about trust. And that trust has been eroding for a long time. Doubt, a new series from Bloomberg’s Prognosis podcast, looks at the forces that have been breaking down that trust. We'll trace the rise of vaccine skepticism in America to show how we got here — and where we’re going. Doubt launches on March 23. Subscribe to Prognosis today on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

More than 150 years after the end of slavery in the U.S., the net worth of a typical white family is nearly six times greater than that of the average Black family. Season 3 of The Pay Check digs into into how we got to where we are today and what can be done to narrow the yawning racial wealth gap in the U.S.Jackie Simmons and Rebecca Greenfield co-host the season, which kicks off with a personal story about land Jackie's family acquired some time after slavery that they're on the verge of losing. From there the series explores all the ways the wealth gaps manifests and the radical solutions, like affirmative action, quotas, and reparations, that can potentially lead to greater equality.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This month showed how much inflation concerns and an uptick in bond yields can mess with a portfolio. It showed the vulnerability of high flying investments such as bitcoin and ARK as well as how a 60/40 portfolio can have both the 60 and the 40 go down together. So yeah, inflation is a big deal. But is it real or just another head fake?On this week's episode of Trillions we speak with Jim Bianco, president and founder of Bianco Research LLC, on why he's taking inflation more seriously this time and what a 60/40 investor can do. He also talks ARK ETFs and its haters, bitcoin's potential and why the retail day trader is here to stay even post-pandemic. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.