Index Funds Have Won

GM Freedom Fighters,

Welcome to today’s investor newsletter.

Here is what am sharing today;

• Index Funds are winning

• Financial tools directory launch

• The Power Broker (at page 910)

Before the deep dive, please forward this newsletter to one person who needs it. And if you received the newsletter from another person, you can subscribe below.

3 THINGS

Index Funds Have Officially Won

An article from John Rekenthaler shares that the inevitable has finally arrived. Originally, Vanguard introduced public index funds in 1976, and decades later they have proven to take off well.

For instance, as of 2015 ( an article from Money magazine), not only did index-fund assets exceed the 30% level in 2015, but their market-share growth has accelerated since then. Almost certainly, they will crack the 70% mark during the next decade.

However, there are several implications for the rise of index funds.

• Indexing’s success has distorted stock market prices, which is both unprovable and improbable.

• index-fund providers have control of too many assets.

These claims might be legit, but still preliminary. John offers his take on index funds victory.

The other two…

FIRE meets ICE - John Clement from Humble Dollar shared a case for Financially-free-early (FIRE) and I’ll continue-to-earning (ICE). In the article, John aims to answer this question: Should we strive to remain useful throughout our life, rather than bowing out of the workforce in our 60s or earlier?

Coast FIRE - is the state of finances where you don’t need to add to your retirement savings anymore, as long as you don’t withdraw from it. This means that, yes, you have to have a job that pays for your current lifestyle (and taxes, of course)…but that’s it. Check the full article.

Financial Tools Directory Launch

Am always working on several projects to help you level up your financial freedom. And this week, am glad to announce the launch of our financial tools directory. Here you will find tools like; Social Security Benefits Estimator, FINRA Fund Analyzer, and 15+ more.

WHAT AM READING

The Power Broker

Have continued reading The Power Broker, and am currently at page 910. Here are recent takeaways:

[ Highlighting notes in bullet points here ]

ARK ETF Trust Destroys $14 billion in Shareholders Wealth in 10 years

Two more…

• You Don’t Need More How-To Advice — You Need a Beautiful and Painful Reckoning (Tim)

• I've started watching Mr. & Mrs. Smith. It has potential.

RESOURCES

We are seeing rates on savings accounts and money market accounts hold steady.

• Savings Accounts: 5.50% APY

• CDs: 3-month (5.51%), 6-month (5.55%), 12-month (5.50%), and No-Penalty (5.36%)

• Money Market Accounts: 5.35% APY

• Best Bank Bonuses (up to $2,000)

We continue seeing new signup bonuses on personal (including certain airline and hotel credit cards) and business credit cards (NEW: Some business cards just announced some of the biggest signup bonuses I've ever seen).

ICYMI

• The Burgeoning Science of Search and Rescue (Undark)

• The Berkshire Hathaway Playbook (The Rational Walk)

• The Ramen Lord (Chicago)

• Overcoming our nihilistic, uncreative world (Hot Takes)

• Why Writing Daily Will Transform Your Life (Darius Foroux)

• I Stopped Using Passwords. It’s Great—and a Total Mess (Wired)

Best,

Rob Berger

P.S. To reach me just hit reply. I read every email!

P.P.S. You can find archives of this newsletter here.