Financial Times Guide to Exchange Traded Funds and Index Funds, The

David Stevensonis a columnist for the Financial Times Weekend edition and authors the Adventurous Investor section where he writes about everything from investing in Mongolia through to using ETFs in your portfolio. He’s also a columnist for the Investors Chronicle (based around his SIPP) and before that was a columnist for Citywire. David writes extensively about ETFs for the FT and has developed a series of Master Portfolios that make use of index tracking funds for the Investors Chronicle.

• INTRODUCTION – By Matthew Vincent, FT  CHAPTER 1 – Investing 2.0 The Revolution Begins·   Decline of the stockpicker and now the decline of active fund manager·   Need to emphasize cost in this low return world·   Investors waking to the reality that they have to diversify especially after bear markets·   The rise of asset class investing, related to but separate from ETfs and index funds·   The rise of the dreaded term beta…  CHAPTER 2 – A BIT OF THEORY Where it all came from academically. The academic revoltThe efficient markets theoryThe fundamentalists wade inThe first ETF structures and index funds. The legendary John Bogle and the Vanguard Phenomena  CHAPTER 3 – WHAT ARE INDEX OR TRACKER FUNDS? Index mutual funds and how they developed from these into these…Exchange Traded funds, US StyleEuropean ETFs – the rise of the swapETNs in the US and certificates in EuropeETCs (commodities) and synthetic ETFsThe mechanics – full replication, partial replication, fully synthetic replicationComparing ETFs vs traditional mutual funds vs index mutual fundsAdvantages of different structures and the regulatory structureNew innovations – inverse ETFs, multi-ETF portfolios, actively managed ETFs  CHAPTER 4 – THE FIDDLY DETAIL….RISKS, CAVAETS and the INIDICES What to watch out for – premiums/discounts, tax complications, tracking error, charging (some are expensive – the 1% rule)Counter Party Risk Why the index matters – not all indices created equally. Some are too concentrated, carry currency risks, aren’t very liquid, and some are just pointless  CHAPTER 5 – THE RISE OF THE FUNDAMENTALISTSGuest writer – Rob Davies, fund manager of the Munro Fund, a fundamental index fund The academic theory surrounding fundamental indexing Does it work ? The results so farHow to implement it via a fund – black boxes, dividends and the measures usedWill it work in the future – might value investing be dead ?  CHAPTER 6 – BIG THEME INVESTING AND INDEX FUNDSGuest Writer – Stephen Barber, Head of Research at Selftrade Momentum investing works and particularly a focus on big themes, big structural changesEmerging MarketsAlternative AssetsNew Energy and Green marketsInfrastructure and utilitiesCommodities  CHAPTER 7 – RUNNING A PORTFOLIO : SOME BASICSGuest Writer – James Norton, Head of investment at Evolve Financial Planning A passive portfolio – why it matters vs ActiveBuy and HoldAsset Allocation explained – correlation and diversificationInflationIncome investingLong Term returns ?The GlidePath  CHAPTER 8 – ACTIVE PORTFOLIOS USING ETFSGuest Writer – Mark Glowrey, Investors Intelligence How to combine ETFs into an active portfolio using technical analysisThe measures suedRunning the portfolio    CHAPTER 9 – PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER INTO A PORTFOLIO THAT WORKS FOR YOU ! Asset Class InvestingValue vs Growth vs Momentum – all work but difficult to capture these strategiesImportance of international diversificationLazy Portfolios and why they’re so usefulThe idea behind building your own MASTER PORTFOLIOSLifeycle InvestingOur MASTER PORTFOLIOS – the assumpti