Tag Archives: Vanguard Group

race-to-zero blackrock

ETF Fees-BlackRock Leads Race To Zero

Unless you are Rip Van Winkle, you don’t need to be a MarketsMuse to know that the primary value proposition put forth by the ETF industry has always been: “Lower Fees Vs. Mutual Funds!” Yes, the secondary ‘advantage’ is “liquidity,” given that investors can move in and out of exchange-traded-funds throughout the trading day, whereas mutual funds are priced on an end-of day basis.

Well, Issuers of exchange-traded funds are now eating their own lunches, as competing Issuers are now pursuing a “race-to-zero” path when it comes to administration fees—adding a further crimp to the mutual fund industry’s marketing complex—which is being rocked by allegations from PIMCO’s former top honcho Bill Gross who has alleged in a recent lawsuit that PIMCO’s administrative fees are equal to the management fees the firm charges (but, that’s another story!)

Courtesy of today’s column by WSJ’s Daisy Maxey ETF Fees: “The Arms Race to Nothing”, the story at hand is worth two in the bush…here’s an excerpt:

 

Daisy Maxey, WSJ
Daisy Maxey, WSJ

BlackRock Inc. exchange-traded fund can now claim the title of the lowest-cost stock exchange-traded fund—but it probably won’t have that distinction to itself for long.

BlackRock, the largest global provider of ETFs, on Tuesday cut fees on seven of its iShares Core ETFs. That included trimming the annual expenses of the $2.7 billion iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF to 0.03% of assets from 0.07%, bumping a pair of Charles Schwab Corp. ETFs from the lowest-cost spot.

Within hours, Schwab vowed to match the cut on its $4.9 billion Schwab U.S. Large-Cap ETF, which currently has expenses of 0.04%.

“Our intention has always been to be the price leader in the ETF space, and we’re going to maintain that,” said a spokesman for Schwab, who didn’t give an exact time frame for the company’s planned move.

Low fees have been one of the big attractions of ETFs and providers have competed fiercely to whittle down their charges by additional hundredths of a percentage point. The latest cuts by BlackRock are being viewed as a challenge to Vanguard Group, the No. 2 in ETF assets, as well as a sign of the success of BlackRock’s iShares Core ETF lineup, launched three years ago.

The giants of the ETF business are BlackRock, with $818 billion in U.S. ETF assets under management; Vanguard, at $479 billion; and State Street Global Advisors, the asset-management business of State Street Corp. , at $418 billion, according to Thomson Reuters Lipper. Schwab is a distant No. 7, with $38 billion in U.S. ETF assets, according to Thomson Reuters Lipper.

BlackRock’s iShares Core ETFs, which now number 20, are marketed as simple and low-cost portfolio building blocks.

The lineup has grown to $160 billion in assets as of Sept. 30, according to BlackRock.

For the full story from WSJ, click here

Robo Adviser Beat:Betterment Claims Better ETF Construct for 401ks

MarketsMuse curators note that “there is always a better way, until its not better. ..”But that isn’t stopping Betterment LLC, the startup robo-adviser that claims to offer a solution for investors who seek an automated approach to stuff ETFs into their401k portfolios.

Betterment, a leading robo-adviser, announced last week that it will launch a 401(k) platform for employers starting early next year. Portfolios will be made up of exchange-traded funds.

Jon Stein, Bettterment CEO
Jon Stein, Bettterment CEO

According to Betterment CEO Jon Stein.. “Current 401(k) offerings—and we have examined them all—have poor user experiences, high costs, and a clear lack of advice. Not anymore. Betterment for Business will bring our smarter technology to the workplace and the millions of Americans who badly need it to meet their retirement needs. “It’s time that all Americans have low-cost, unconflicted advice and smarter technology for retirement planning.”

Betterment says it currently has 100,000 retail customers and $2.6 billion in assets under management in its diversified mix of exchange-traded funds.

Fast-growing ETFs remain a tiny part of the 401(k) market. Anne Tergesen at The Wall Street Journal notes that two key benefits of owning ETFs — intraday trading and tax-efficiency — are sound much less exciting in reference to 401(k)s:

“A couple of ETFs’ biggest selling points don’t give them an edge in the 401(k) market. ETFs trade all day long like stocks, but that typically isn’t a feature that employers want to offer in retirement plans. Employers want employees “to take a long-term perspective—not to be day trading,” Ms. Lucas said.  “ETFs are also tax-efficient, but that doesn’t matter in tax-sheltered retirement plans,” said Brooks Herman, head of data and research at BrightScope.”

In offering an ETF-only menu for its 401(k), Betterment joins Charles Schwab Corp. , which last year launched an all-ETF version of its Index Advantage 401(k) platform. Other companies that offer ETFs within 401(k) plans include Vanguard Group and Capital One Financial Corp.’s ShareBuilder 401(k).

For the full story from the WSJ, please click here