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Dear all,

I didn't want to turn this newsletter into a monthly thing, and will try now to. But I got completely sucked in to the world of HTML, CSS and JavaScript. The bootcamp consumes a lot of my energy. My lovely family takes the rest :-)

More regarding this experience in other emails. But I actually wanted to share with you the 30th anniversary of the beloved Exchange Traded Fund back in January.

On January 29, 1993, the first US ETF—what is now known as the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust— was launched at American Stock Exchange. It had only $6.5 million in assets, an odd hanging spider logo and no one paid it much attention.

This has changed. With $375 billion in assets, the first US ETF is now the world's largest, and the ETF sector as a whole will have amassed $6.5 trillion by the end of 2022. While mutual funds still have three times the assets of ETFs, the tide is turning: last year, investors poured $600 billion into US ETFs on a net basis while withdrawing nearly $1 trillion from mutual funds.

How does an ETF work (in case you didn't know already), and why are they so popular? An ETF is simply a security that tracks the performance of a specific investment basket, such as stocks. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF, for example, tracks the performance of S&P 500 companies. Many other ETFs follow indexes as well, allowing investors to park their money in funds that track the ebbs and flows of the broader market. Plus:

• In general, ETFs charge lower fees than mutual funds.
• They have tax advantages built in.
• They're available to anyone with a brokerage account, and you can buy and sell them just like stocks. Although you are always better off if you buy & hold (the longer the more compounding, the better).

Aside from these benefits, the rise of ETFs has been fuelled by a growing recognition that investing in individual stocks is very different ball game that requires a lot of your own research and a clearly defined strategy.

Passive index funds, which aren't designed for frequent trading, have risen to account for nearly half of US fund assets, up from less than 2% in the early 1990s.

My first ETF will turn 3 in May, what about yours?

Happy investing!

Take care

Your André

 PS - as always, spread the word and share the link love