In today’s episode, Rusty and Robyn talk with Ryan Issakainen, ETF strategist and SVP at First Trust Portfolios. 

When Ryan graduated college, he spent nine weeks traveling Europe and hopped from temp job to temp job before landing at First Trust Portfolios. He realized pretty quickly that First Trust was a place he could happily grow into professionally. 22 years later, he’s certainly done so.

Investors succeed as a result of the advice and conviction presented by investment professionals. So for Ryan and First Trust, the best way to help investors is to help the advisors in their ears. At First Trust, Ryan helps the firm advocate for advisors through innovative products and intellectual property.

Ryan talks with Rusty and Robyn about all things ETFs including what’s ahead for the ETF industry, whether advisors should worry about inflation, and why transparency is everything. 

“The most important thing that an economist can do isn’t that they nail the S&P end of the year number, because nobody’s really gonna do that consistently. They’re not fortune-tellers. It’s really directionally, and that’s what their team is more focused on. They’ve got their models, but what they want to make sure they get right is to say, ‘the market is too cheap or too expensive with stocks’ or ‘commodities are going to be a good place to be.’ That is the most important part.” ~ Ryan Issakainen

Main takeaways 

• The ETF industry will continue to grow. However, the growth may not be in the S&P 500, but the less obvious avenues like active management, factors, and themes. 
• ETFs tend to be more tax-efficient regardless of which bracket you land in. However, it’s not the only feature that makes ETFs a hot commodity. The transparency and the real-time pricing are equally as valuable. 
• The benefits of transparent portfolios always outweigh the downfalls of transparency. 

Links

• Ryan on LinkedIn
• First Trust Portfolios
• Metallica
• Jack Johnson
• Wheaton College
• First Trust Newsletter
• RDVY
• FTGC
• FIXD
• FIW
• GRID
• US ETF Investors Mainly Motivated By Tax Loophole, Study Shows
• Rich Americans Fleeing Tax Hikes May Turbocharge Shift To ETFs

Connect with our hosts

• Rusty Vanneman
• Robyn Murray

Subscribe and stay in touch

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• Google Podcasts

1757-OAS-5/28/2021