Benjamin Felix September 30, 2014 Personal Wealth Why hire a firm that uses index funds and ETFs? PWL Capital uses index funds and exchange traded funds to gain exposure to thousands of stocks and bonds for a very low cost. This aligns with the foundation of our investment philosophy; we believe that nobody can truly predict which company or fund manager will produce strong returns, so we want to diversify broadly and maintain consistent exposure to the global markets. Many of the asset management firms that we compete with try to demonstrate their value as their ability to predict which company or fund manager is going to produce the best returns in the future. These firms are likely to think that using index funds and ETFs to gain exposure to the broad market is foolish; it contradicts the notion that they are able to determine which stocks an investor should be holding at a given time, or which fund manager is about to have a good year. The evidence continues to build in favour of PWL’s investment philosophy, and using ETFs and index funds to build efficient portfolios is becoming widely accepted as the best practice for most types of investors. This is a direct threat to the business model that the brokerage industry exists on. Most firms have been slow to accept change, and they are being left in the dust as investors discover the merits of implementing a portfolio strategy such as PWL Capital’s. Our competitors tend to think that firms like ours don’t provide any value, but we are simply in a unique position where we do not need to claim our value as an ability to pick stocks, pick fund managers, or predict the future. We stick to an evidence-based investment approach and create value through deliberate, strategic portfolio construction, tax minimization, and involved management of the overall investment experience. Share: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email IIROC AdvisorReport