The ETF Strategist: Balancing Risk and Reward for Superior Returns seems dated from the fact that that the book was written in 2008. The writer Russ Koesterich was employed by Barclays as Managing Director and Head of Investment strategy. In June 2009 the index department of Barclays was acquired by BlackRock. In recent years iShares grew fast under the wing of BlackRock.

In 243 pages, the author takes you into the world of multi assets. The book consists of two parts, the challenges and the solutions. The challenges are about the investor, be it an individual or an institutional investor, there are always goals. Also, there are always risks which need to be manageable. The solution is to spread across multiple asset classes with the CAPM-model.

Alpha and beta are also discussed to deal appropriately with skill. However, if you read an book about investment, it is important to know the background of the writer. Although there is no direct judgment made about passive investing, Russ Koesterich works for an ETF producer.

Chapter two discusses the problem of active funds. If the writer had active management as an investment belief, then it is certain that this chapter would be titled “the problems of passive funds”. Koesterich discusses the book in a way that creating alpha is similar to a beta game. The beta is cheapest in ETFs and if there is an optimal asset allocation, than that is the optimal portfolio.

OpinioPro vs The ETF Strategist

Asset allocation can be approached both active and passive. On the platform of OpinioPro there are many active views to be found, but passive is certainly present in the form of white papers. Cheap and expensive is an important theme, but if the price is to prevail then the quality comes under pressure on the long-term.

On the platform of OpinioPro a lot of research in the field of ETFs can be found. Currently, on www.opiniopro.com many searched and read about Brexit, asset allocation and smart beta.

OpinioPro has currently over 2,500 investment research reports on these subjects at its platform. The best ‘research engine’ is now available without registration at www.opiniopro.com

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