1 00:00:06,040 --> 00:00:12,600 Speaker 1: Welcome to Trillians. I'm Joel Webber America. I'll shootis I 2 00:00:12,640 --> 00:00:16,119 Speaker 1: am so excited about this week's guest Eric. It's like 3 00:00:16,200 --> 00:00:21,239 Speaker 1: the perfect guest for this moment. Yeah. This is a 4 00:00:21,320 --> 00:00:24,239 Speaker 1: company that has been putting et s out for I 5 00:00:24,280 --> 00:00:27,120 Speaker 1: believe about two years. They don't have a ton of them, 6 00:00:27,160 --> 00:00:29,240 Speaker 1: but they're interesting for variety of reason. But they hit 7 00:00:29,680 --> 00:00:33,159 Speaker 1: my radar specifically in the past two weeks because of 8 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:35,920 Speaker 1: this sort of what I'm calling the a m C eclipse. Uh. 9 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:38,440 Speaker 1: This is that movie chain company that a lot of 10 00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:42,080 Speaker 1: the redditors have, you know, sort of come back that 11 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:44,400 Speaker 1: once you put you know, Game stop, you know, to 12 00:00:44,440 --> 00:00:46,839 Speaker 1: the Moon back in January, and then it went right 13 00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:49,520 Speaker 1: back down. But they're back and they've really rallied around 14 00:00:49,520 --> 00:00:52,839 Speaker 1: a m C. It's gone up I don't know, each 15 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:56,440 Speaker 1: week for the past way. Yeah. Yeah. And here's the 16 00:00:56,480 --> 00:00:59,680 Speaker 1: thing with a m C is that they're really united 17 00:00:59,720 --> 00:01:02,160 Speaker 1: on this one. Um when games Stop happened in January, 18 00:01:02,200 --> 00:01:04,360 Speaker 1: then they splintered off. Some people wanted to go into 19 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:07,560 Speaker 1: a MC, some said silver. This time they're all into 20 00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:10,160 Speaker 1: a MC and it's showing. The volume on a m 21 00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:12,360 Speaker 1: C has been well over a hundred billion over the 22 00:01:12,400 --> 00:01:15,479 Speaker 1: past seven eight days, and it's traded more than any 23 00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:18,679 Speaker 1: other stock for seven days straight. Nothing has traded more 24 00:01:18,720 --> 00:01:20,679 Speaker 1: than Tesla and the Fang stocks for more than a 25 00:01:20,760 --> 00:01:25,039 Speaker 1: day in decades. It's just crazy. So there's a ton 26 00:01:25,080 --> 00:01:29,160 Speaker 1: of activity. And what what I was looking for is Okay, 27 00:01:29,400 --> 00:01:31,280 Speaker 1: AMC is having a good rally like what E t 28 00:01:31,400 --> 00:01:33,440 Speaker 1: F s own it and the the E t F 29 00:01:33,560 --> 00:01:36,000 Speaker 1: that owns the most am C and game Stop together 30 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:40,680 Speaker 1: about a twenty allocation as of today is uh so 31 00:01:40,880 --> 00:01:45,839 Speaker 1: fis fifty E t F, which I hadn't thought about 32 00:01:45,880 --> 00:01:48,160 Speaker 1: in a while, but now I get it. It tracks 33 00:01:48,240 --> 00:01:51,600 Speaker 1: the stocks that are used by their retail investors on 34 00:01:51,640 --> 00:01:54,240 Speaker 1: the discount brokerage. UM. I've been telling people it's like 35 00:01:54,360 --> 00:01:57,640 Speaker 1: maybe a slightly classier version of the Robin Hood fifty. UM. 36 00:01:57,720 --> 00:01:59,560 Speaker 1: You know the stocks that that were tracked by Robin 37 00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:02,080 Speaker 1: Hood all they stopped letting people track them. But this 38 00:02:02,160 --> 00:02:04,400 Speaker 1: is the probably the best way to capture that sort 39 00:02:04,440 --> 00:02:08,399 Speaker 1: of retail yolo kind of audience, I think. And yet 40 00:02:08,480 --> 00:02:11,119 Speaker 1: it's gone largely unnoticed and it's just been an interesting 41 00:02:11,400 --> 00:02:13,760 Speaker 1: case study for me for a variety of reasons. So 42 00:02:14,120 --> 00:02:16,000 Speaker 1: I thought it'd be interesting to talk to them about 43 00:02:16,040 --> 00:02:17,760 Speaker 1: this e t F but also some of the other 44 00:02:17,800 --> 00:02:19,880 Speaker 1: ones and just sort of how it works into their 45 00:02:19,919 --> 00:02:24,399 Speaker 1: bigger business plan. So joining us from so Far John Gardner, 46 00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:28,920 Speaker 1: he's the business head of investing at so Far. Can't 47 00:02:28,919 --> 00:02:34,400 Speaker 1: wait to speak with him this time on trillions. The 48 00:02:34,480 --> 00:02:39,040 Speaker 1: closest thing to a meme et F you can find, John, 49 00:02:39,080 --> 00:02:42,080 Speaker 1: Welcome to Trillians, Thanks for having me. The e t 50 00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:45,320 Speaker 1: F s F y F is almost the closest thing 51 00:02:45,400 --> 00:02:48,040 Speaker 1: to bottled lightning you could basically have for what's been 52 00:02:48,080 --> 00:02:51,640 Speaker 1: happening in the market this year. How does it feel 53 00:02:51,639 --> 00:02:54,520 Speaker 1: to have bottled lightning? UM? Well, I think we've you know, 54 00:02:54,600 --> 00:02:58,519 Speaker 1: we think about building products that resonate with our members 55 00:02:58,560 --> 00:03:01,760 Speaker 1: and help them become better investors and ultimately a chief 56 00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:05,720 Speaker 1: financial independence over time. UM. And you know we've we've 57 00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:09,000 Speaker 1: launched six ets to date. S F y F was 58 00:03:09,080 --> 00:03:12,959 Speaker 1: born about a year ago, UM and really just replicates 59 00:03:13,120 --> 00:03:15,760 Speaker 1: the top fifty holdings of our members. And you know, 60 00:03:15,800 --> 00:03:18,160 Speaker 1: we thought we saw something very interesting because we have 61 00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:21,840 Speaker 1: as part of a feature of our our retail brokerage platform, UH, 62 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:23,919 Speaker 1: something we call social Invested. So it's the ability to 63 00:03:23,919 --> 00:03:26,520 Speaker 1: actually follow what other members by and you can see 64 00:03:26,600 --> 00:03:28,400 Speaker 1: sort of buying a percentage basis, but not a dollar 65 00:03:28,400 --> 00:03:30,960 Speaker 1: basis what people are holding, and then you can comment 66 00:03:31,040 --> 00:03:33,880 Speaker 1: and engage with with other members. It's been pretty engaging 67 00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:36,840 Speaker 1: utility for for our members. So on the back of that, 68 00:03:36,880 --> 00:03:38,960 Speaker 1: we launched the s F y f UM as a 69 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:41,920 Speaker 1: mechanism basically enable our members to very quickly sort of 70 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:44,920 Speaker 1: replicate sort of the mind of of the group UM. 71 00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:47,520 Speaker 1: And you know, it's been interesting that I think it's 72 00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:49,840 Speaker 1: a sort of bifurcated between some of the meme stocks 73 00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:52,880 Speaker 1: and then more traditional holdings like Amazon or Apple or 74 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:56,560 Speaker 1: Tesla that our members hold. Yeah, Joel, look, let me 75 00:03:56,560 --> 00:03:58,200 Speaker 1: give you some numbers on this thing. So it's up 76 00:03:58,200 --> 00:04:01,480 Speaker 1: thirty three percent this year, probably a little more by 77 00:04:01,520 --> 00:04:06,240 Speaker 1: the time this airs. UM the Stars of right the 78 00:04:06,320 --> 00:04:11,040 Speaker 1: Cues is up seven um smps up. That's up more 79 00:04:11,080 --> 00:04:13,839 Speaker 1: because values having a big comeback this year, and then 80 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:17,440 Speaker 1: ARC is down twelve percent. So it's hard to come 81 00:04:17,520 --> 00:04:19,160 Speaker 1: up with an e t F this year that's sort 82 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:22,440 Speaker 1: of able to break out unless you're a value stock 83 00:04:22,520 --> 00:04:25,920 Speaker 1: et F for commodities, but for something that holds just 84 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:29,359 Speaker 1: general equities that are not value stocks. It's just an anomaly. 85 00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:32,320 Speaker 1: And as John said, it's interesting. It's also has like 86 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:36,280 Speaker 1: a lot of airline companies which obviously aren't you witness 87 00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:39,520 Speaker 1: associate them so much with um, you know, a growth stock, 88 00:04:39,960 --> 00:04:42,720 Speaker 1: it's got um what looks like a pot Company's got 89 00:04:42,720 --> 00:04:45,279 Speaker 1: Berkshire in here. It's got ex On Mobile, which is 90 00:04:45,279 --> 00:04:49,320 Speaker 1: having a great year, Virgin galactic Um. It's a real 91 00:04:49,520 --> 00:04:53,440 Speaker 1: interesting mix. I guess John, could you walk through how 92 00:04:53,560 --> 00:04:56,080 Speaker 1: the stocks are picked and how this et F works 93 00:04:56,800 --> 00:05:01,920 Speaker 1: in relation to those investors that are using your brokerage platform. Sure. So, 94 00:05:01,960 --> 00:05:05,440 Speaker 1: it's the top fifty most widely held US listed stocks 95 00:05:05,600 --> 00:05:08,200 Speaker 1: on our sofa in best platform. And mechanically, the way 96 00:05:08,200 --> 00:05:12,760 Speaker 1: that we look at it is by first the top 97 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:16,640 Speaker 1: fifty holdings by number of members that actually hold a 98 00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:19,080 Speaker 1: stock or a share or a portion of a stock 99 00:05:19,400 --> 00:05:22,680 Speaker 1: or share in the portfolio, and then we basically wait 100 00:05:22,720 --> 00:05:27,120 Speaker 1: the portfolio based on the value of the shares that 101 00:05:27,160 --> 00:05:30,400 Speaker 1: make that top fifty from waiting standpoint, and then we 102 00:05:30,400 --> 00:05:33,080 Speaker 1: re balanced the portfolio once a month to basically reflect 103 00:05:33,120 --> 00:05:38,080 Speaker 1: the mechanics that I just discussed. And now just real quick, Um, 104 00:05:38,200 --> 00:05:40,720 Speaker 1: your your ideal weight for a stock isn't going to 105 00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:45,479 Speaker 1: be nine, but a MC has grown to We saw 106 00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:47,960 Speaker 1: this with game stock UM and the video game et 107 00:05:48,080 --> 00:05:51,600 Speaker 1: F where it became like a thirty waiting um. Can 108 00:05:51,640 --> 00:05:53,400 Speaker 1: you talk a little bit about how that works, Like, 109 00:05:53,839 --> 00:05:56,880 Speaker 1: if the stock like this goes on some crazy run, 110 00:05:57,560 --> 00:05:59,640 Speaker 1: it's going to have a bigger waiting for a while 111 00:06:00,240 --> 00:06:02,920 Speaker 1: until there's a the stock goes back down or rebalance. 112 00:06:04,400 --> 00:06:07,200 Speaker 1: That's exactly right. So I think that this was someone 113 00:06:07,279 --> 00:06:09,880 Speaker 1: fortuitous for us. So we saw a massive run up 114 00:06:09,920 --> 00:06:12,400 Speaker 1: into the end of the month, and then we did 115 00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:15,800 Speaker 1: the rebalance. So while the stock was you know in 116 00:06:15,839 --> 00:06:19,400 Speaker 1: the in i think total of holdings for a period 117 00:06:19,440 --> 00:06:21,080 Speaker 1: of time, when we we balanced that it's back to 118 00:06:21,160 --> 00:06:24,680 Speaker 1: somewhe somewhere around a six percent waiting right now. So 119 00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:27,640 Speaker 1: when did you get a sense that AMC was gonna 120 00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:32,680 Speaker 1: light up? I think, as probably most people, we watched 121 00:06:32,680 --> 00:06:34,880 Speaker 1: the NBC all day and you could see that the 122 00:06:34,880 --> 00:06:37,400 Speaker 1: stocks started trending, and you know, we we look at 123 00:06:37,440 --> 00:06:40,120 Speaker 1: all the meme boards, the redded boards and things like that, 124 00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:42,240 Speaker 1: and you can start to see some momentum behind it. 125 00:06:42,520 --> 00:06:44,800 Speaker 1: But again, I think we're we're agnostic, you know, I 126 00:06:44,800 --> 00:06:48,480 Speaker 1: think we're we're we we philosophically, UH as a company 127 00:06:48,480 --> 00:06:50,560 Speaker 1: want to provide a lot of selection for our members 128 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:52,840 Speaker 1: UH and make it easy for them to invest, which 129 00:06:52,839 --> 00:06:54,839 Speaker 1: is why we do things more broadly on the on 130 00:06:54,880 --> 00:06:57,039 Speaker 1: the retail broken side, like no commissions and being able 131 00:06:57,160 --> 00:07:00,360 Speaker 1: to do fractional share trading. So while it was again 132 00:07:00,400 --> 00:07:02,000 Speaker 1: fortuitous that we saw a sort of a run up 133 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:04,760 Speaker 1: in the stock, I think we you know, we're literally 134 00:07:04,760 --> 00:07:07,040 Speaker 1: just trying to give our members, you know, the best 135 00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:10,440 Speaker 1: and easiest way to invest their money and then an 136 00:07:10,480 --> 00:07:13,240 Speaker 1: easy way for both our members on the platform, but 137 00:07:13,320 --> 00:07:16,400 Speaker 1: then you know, off platform and other brokerage brokerage platforms 138 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:20,040 Speaker 1: the ability to sort of easily with a single purchase 139 00:07:20,160 --> 00:07:22,160 Speaker 1: be able to you know, get an exposure to the 140 00:07:22,360 --> 00:07:24,680 Speaker 1: mind of sort of what our members are doing. So, 141 00:07:25,080 --> 00:07:26,760 Speaker 1: you know, one of the things that I get asked 142 00:07:26,760 --> 00:07:28,920 Speaker 1: a lot on Twitter, especially when one of these stocks 143 00:07:28,960 --> 00:07:32,200 Speaker 1: goes crazy, is how come there isn't a meme TF 144 00:07:32,800 --> 00:07:34,640 Speaker 1: and trying to explain to people that it is hard 145 00:07:34,680 --> 00:07:37,840 Speaker 1: to predict a meme stock or a situation before it happens. 146 00:07:38,360 --> 00:07:40,960 Speaker 1: Potentially a short squeeze et F would make sense because 147 00:07:40,960 --> 00:07:43,920 Speaker 1: the memurs seem to want to buy stocks that are 148 00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:47,000 Speaker 1: heavily shorted. But I guess this brings up labeling because 149 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:49,119 Speaker 1: if you look at the c t F, it's taken 150 00:07:49,360 --> 00:07:52,160 Speaker 1: a little bit of cash over the past week. Um. 151 00:07:52,200 --> 00:07:55,080 Speaker 1: But relative to this sort of shiny object moment it 152 00:07:55,200 --> 00:07:59,720 Speaker 1: is having where it's you know, doubling tripling the market, Um, 153 00:07:59,760 --> 00:08:02,680 Speaker 1: it's not a lot. And I wonder if there's any 154 00:08:02,680 --> 00:08:06,480 Speaker 1: temptation to to change it or I don't know, not regret, 155 00:08:06,560 --> 00:08:08,240 Speaker 1: but like do you do you ever think about, well, 156 00:08:08,240 --> 00:08:10,520 Speaker 1: if this had a ticker that was more clear that 157 00:08:10,600 --> 00:08:14,040 Speaker 1: it was tracking retail traders or something or are you 158 00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:16,640 Speaker 1: just let me let me ask a question from my friend. 159 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:20,680 Speaker 1: Why isn't the e t F called meme or you know, 160 00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:24,480 Speaker 1: a the retail trader something that would allude to the 161 00:08:24,520 --> 00:08:28,200 Speaker 1: fact that you're capturing young retail traders. That is definitely 162 00:08:28,280 --> 00:08:30,760 Speaker 1: missing from the E t F marketplace. That's why it's 163 00:08:30,760 --> 00:08:34,880 Speaker 1: an interesting situation. So I have a couple of observations. 164 00:08:35,160 --> 00:08:38,640 Speaker 1: First of all, I do think the ticker name is 165 00:08:38,640 --> 00:08:42,439 Speaker 1: critically important in creating brand awareness. Um. And you know, 166 00:08:42,559 --> 00:08:44,439 Speaker 1: one of our other products is called the gig g 167 00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:46,559 Speaker 1: i G for the gig economy, which we can talk 168 00:08:46,559 --> 00:08:48,920 Speaker 1: about later. The reason why we didn't call this the 169 00:08:49,160 --> 00:08:52,600 Speaker 1: meme stock um e F is largely because really what 170 00:08:52,600 --> 00:08:54,360 Speaker 1: we're trying to do is reflect sort of the mind 171 00:08:54,360 --> 00:08:57,040 Speaker 1: of the retail invest there. And what's been interesting is 172 00:08:57,040 --> 00:08:59,560 Speaker 1: that while we're capturing I think UM some of the 173 00:08:59,600 --> 00:09:02,319 Speaker 1: early friends for from meme stocks, and you know, and 174 00:09:02,600 --> 00:09:05,480 Speaker 1: more broadly, we've seen like our investors started buying Tesla 175 00:09:05,520 --> 00:09:07,120 Speaker 1: before we got into the SP five hundred, and there 176 00:09:07,160 --> 00:09:09,760 Speaker 1: was a big position in the portfolio. UM. We also 177 00:09:09,800 --> 00:09:12,640 Speaker 1: see that that our retail investors are holding more traditional 178 00:09:12,679 --> 00:09:16,240 Speaker 1: names like Apple and Amazon and Microsoft and Disney UH 179 00:09:16,280 --> 00:09:18,719 Speaker 1: in big positions. So I think you get a good 180 00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:23,520 Speaker 1: balance of sort of opportunistic high price movement UM stocks 181 00:09:23,520 --> 00:09:25,880 Speaker 1: with some of the meme things, but then also more 182 00:09:25,960 --> 00:09:28,319 Speaker 1: high growth, traditional high growth companies. And you know, I 183 00:09:28,400 --> 00:09:31,360 Speaker 1: also think that while you might try to chase the 184 00:09:31,400 --> 00:09:34,240 Speaker 1: meme stocks, and Eric you alluded to this that you know, 185 00:09:34,280 --> 00:09:36,400 Speaker 1: it's really hard to sort of identify what's going to 186 00:09:36,480 --> 00:09:39,120 Speaker 1: take off and and those things, those things turn around 187 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:41,520 Speaker 1: just as quickly as they as they scale up. So 188 00:09:41,800 --> 00:09:44,280 Speaker 1: you know, we're trying to build basically products that haven'tdurt 189 00:09:44,360 --> 00:09:47,199 Speaker 1: and during value for our members um and are basically 190 00:09:47,200 --> 00:09:50,080 Speaker 1: trying to solve for specific needs. So um, you know, 191 00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:52,400 Speaker 1: the reason we created the s F y F portfolio 192 00:09:52,559 --> 00:09:55,120 Speaker 1: initially was because we saw, as I alluded to before 193 00:09:55,120 --> 00:09:57,360 Speaker 1: on our social investing platform, that there's a high degree 194 00:09:57,400 --> 00:10:00,400 Speaker 1: of interest in following successful investors on the PLA form, 195 00:10:00,400 --> 00:10:01,720 Speaker 1: and we thought this would be a great way to 196 00:10:01,760 --> 00:10:04,120 Speaker 1: sort of very easy make it very easy for our 197 00:10:04,120 --> 00:10:06,880 Speaker 1: members to basically, with one trade, be able to get 198 00:10:06,880 --> 00:10:09,800 Speaker 1: exposure to the mind of basically the entire member basis 199 00:10:09,840 --> 00:10:19,400 Speaker 1: so far okay. So the difference that I guess I 200 00:10:19,480 --> 00:10:22,079 Speaker 1: see here or or could potentially see, is like you 201 00:10:22,440 --> 00:10:26,559 Speaker 1: have a membership and a so far investors set that 202 00:10:26,600 --> 00:10:29,840 Speaker 1: you're clearly targeting, but at the same time, like assets 203 00:10:29,920 --> 00:10:32,320 Speaker 1: under management in this in this particular et F is 204 00:10:32,360 --> 00:10:35,200 Speaker 1: what twenty two million like you there seems like there's 205 00:10:35,320 --> 00:10:41,640 Speaker 1: such a bigger opportunity with a different presence of chicker 206 00:10:42,320 --> 00:10:45,000 Speaker 1: or sell to the marketplace, because I mean, what you're 207 00:10:45,040 --> 00:10:47,319 Speaker 1: what you have under the hood here is kind of amazing, 208 00:10:47,880 --> 00:10:51,360 Speaker 1: and yet the assets still reflected necessarily and look, can 209 00:10:51,400 --> 00:10:53,640 Speaker 1: I jump in on that real quick? Just because we're 210 00:10:53,679 --> 00:10:55,960 Speaker 1: so used to the opportunism in the e t F 211 00:10:56,040 --> 00:11:01,040 Speaker 1: market that it might also speak to your main at 212 00:11:01,520 --> 00:11:04,280 Speaker 1: so far, you're not an e t F fishuer, you're 213 00:11:04,360 --> 00:11:08,240 Speaker 1: a fintech company that that happens to have E t s. 214 00:11:08,240 --> 00:11:10,440 Speaker 1: Can you just walk through that balance and is that 215 00:11:10,559 --> 00:11:14,480 Speaker 1: why that that you can that your aren't maybe thinking 216 00:11:14,600 --> 00:11:19,839 Speaker 1: in such but the word is like marketplace trends and 217 00:11:20,280 --> 00:11:23,280 Speaker 1: terminology and maybe you just have no interest in being 218 00:11:23,360 --> 00:11:26,720 Speaker 1: that thing to the market. Yeah, I think that it's 219 00:11:26,840 --> 00:11:28,440 Speaker 1: I think it would be helpful just to step back 220 00:11:28,480 --> 00:11:30,640 Speaker 1: and sort of introduced so far for those um that 221 00:11:30,679 --> 00:11:33,520 Speaker 1: aren't familiar with it. So we're an online personal finance 222 00:11:33,559 --> 00:11:37,600 Speaker 1: company that enables people to invest, borrow, save, spend and 223 00:11:37,640 --> 00:11:41,439 Speaker 1: protect their money. UM. We were recently listed on the 224 00:11:41,520 --> 00:11:45,800 Speaker 1: nasdac UH. We went public vs back through social with 225 00:11:45,880 --> 00:11:49,439 Speaker 1: Social Capital H and SAM and you know, broadly, our 226 00:11:49,480 --> 00:11:51,800 Speaker 1: goal is to help people achieve their financial independence, to 227 00:11:51,800 --> 00:11:53,640 Speaker 1: realize their ambition. And we'll be able to do that 228 00:11:53,720 --> 00:11:56,840 Speaker 1: for for millions or millions of our members. And you know, 229 00:11:56,880 --> 00:12:00,400 Speaker 1: as I think about the invest leave and specifically for 230 00:12:00,400 --> 00:12:02,480 Speaker 1: for so far, you know, we we want to be 231 00:12:02,559 --> 00:12:04,920 Speaker 1: the one stop shop for our members to help them 232 00:12:04,920 --> 00:12:07,880 Speaker 1: achieve that financial independence. So we started out with auto 233 00:12:07,920 --> 00:12:13,040 Speaker 1: investing and then migrated into also offering a Brokeren solution, 234 00:12:13,080 --> 00:12:15,600 Speaker 1: which we call active investing. And there, you know, we 235 00:12:15,600 --> 00:12:18,440 Speaker 1: were very early on and going commission free. We were 236 00:12:18,600 --> 00:12:21,120 Speaker 1: we were one of the first firms to offer fractional 237 00:12:21,160 --> 00:12:23,280 Speaker 1: share trading that we did UM initially on about a 238 00:12:23,320 --> 00:12:25,880 Speaker 1: hundred fifty names and now we do on about names 239 00:12:25,880 --> 00:12:28,320 Speaker 1: in a real time basis. And then UH in two 240 00:12:28,320 --> 00:12:31,040 Speaker 1: thousand and nineteen, we also launched a crypto platform so 241 00:12:31,080 --> 00:12:33,720 Speaker 1: that basically members that had brokerage accounts could very easily 242 00:12:33,720 --> 00:12:37,160 Speaker 1: open a crypto account UH and get access to something 243 00:12:37,160 --> 00:12:41,520 Speaker 1: more traditional UH cryptocurrencies. And I think as we think 244 00:12:41,559 --> 00:12:44,120 Speaker 1: about why we entered the marketplace for ETFs, you know, 245 00:12:44,440 --> 00:12:47,000 Speaker 1: we want to continue to provide selection for our members 246 00:12:47,280 --> 00:12:50,319 Speaker 1: that help them become better investors. And UM we found, 247 00:12:50,480 --> 00:12:53,240 Speaker 1: you know, we found that there were some interesting request 248 00:12:53,320 --> 00:12:54,959 Speaker 1: the needs that we could we thought we could we 249 00:12:55,000 --> 00:12:58,160 Speaker 1: could support. So we we came to market in two 250 00:12:58,200 --> 00:13:01,680 Speaker 1: thousand and nineteen with our first E t F first 251 00:13:01,679 --> 00:13:04,240 Speaker 1: two E t F s, s F Y and s 252 00:13:04,360 --> 00:13:06,760 Speaker 1: F y X, and we were first to market with 253 00:13:06,880 --> 00:13:09,880 Speaker 1: no fee E t F s. They were basically passively 254 00:13:09,960 --> 00:13:14,400 Speaker 1: managed accounts that were replicating the SMP five and then 255 00:13:14,440 --> 00:13:17,920 Speaker 1: sort of the next five. From there, we've launched a 256 00:13:18,040 --> 00:13:20,280 Speaker 1: handful of other UH E t F s that we 257 00:13:20,320 --> 00:13:23,079 Speaker 1: think meet specific needs for our members. So we came 258 00:13:23,120 --> 00:13:25,360 Speaker 1: to market with a product called t g i F 259 00:13:25,559 --> 00:13:30,280 Speaker 1: which was a week fixed income weekly UH weekly dividend 260 00:13:30,320 --> 00:13:34,679 Speaker 1: payment UM fund, which recently won UH the UH Best 261 00:13:35,280 --> 00:13:37,600 Speaker 1: Best Named E t F for two thousand and twenty, 262 00:13:37,960 --> 00:13:41,160 Speaker 1: and then more recently launched w K o I which 263 00:13:41,200 --> 00:13:44,439 Speaker 1: is basically the equity component of weekly dividend e t F. 264 00:13:44,559 --> 00:13:47,160 Speaker 1: Sea can I jump here on these two? T G 265 00:13:47,240 --> 00:13:48,800 Speaker 1: I F Remember when it came out? So this is 266 00:13:48,840 --> 00:13:52,040 Speaker 1: a it pays the dividend out weekly. Now what's the 267 00:13:52,160 --> 00:13:55,199 Speaker 1: point of this, Like normally an e t F that 268 00:13:55,280 --> 00:13:57,880 Speaker 1: holds equities and whether it's divid or not, will pay 269 00:13:57,920 --> 00:14:01,800 Speaker 1: out monthly. UM Is this is because the younger investor 270 00:14:01,960 --> 00:14:06,679 Speaker 1: wants that payment on a quicker basis or is there 271 00:14:06,679 --> 00:14:10,080 Speaker 1: another reason like what's behind the need for weekly payout? Yeah? 272 00:14:10,080 --> 00:14:13,839 Speaker 1: I think I think broadly, we you know, as we 273 00:14:13,920 --> 00:14:16,240 Speaker 1: think about so FI RIT large, you know, we help 274 00:14:16,360 --> 00:14:18,240 Speaker 1: we try to help people think about their cash flow 275 00:14:18,520 --> 00:14:20,920 Speaker 1: management UM and We have a tool called Relay as well, 276 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:23,920 Speaker 1: which is basically our advice platform that you can aggregate 277 00:14:23,920 --> 00:14:25,880 Speaker 1: all your data and we provide helpful tips around how 278 00:14:25,880 --> 00:14:28,720 Speaker 1: to sort of optimize your finances. Uh, And we thought that, 279 00:14:28,960 --> 00:14:30,720 Speaker 1: you know, I think a couple of things. One is 280 00:14:30,760 --> 00:14:33,160 Speaker 1: it's just a more predictive income on a weekly basis. 281 00:14:33,560 --> 00:14:35,040 Speaker 1: And then too, to the extent that you're going to 282 00:14:35,120 --> 00:14:36,960 Speaker 1: sell out of out of the port the out of 283 00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:40,000 Speaker 1: the the e t f UM, you're basically not missing 284 00:14:40,160 --> 00:14:43,200 Speaker 1: any of the fun distributions, which is probably more wele 285 00:14:43,280 --> 00:14:44,680 Speaker 1: than on the w k l Y, which is the 286 00:14:45,160 --> 00:14:47,120 Speaker 1: which is the equity etf But I think it was 287 00:14:47,120 --> 00:14:50,360 Speaker 1: a combination of those two things. So when you think 288 00:14:50,400 --> 00:14:52,680 Speaker 1: about overall strategy and you walk through a lot of 289 00:14:52,720 --> 00:14:55,560 Speaker 1: the products that you you currently have brought to market, 290 00:14:55,640 --> 00:14:56,680 Speaker 1: like what do you what do you feel like the 291 00:14:56,840 --> 00:15:00,440 Speaker 1: endgame looks like I think, you know, we're trying to 292 00:15:00,520 --> 00:15:02,040 Speaker 1: build and they can go back to go back to 293 00:15:02,040 --> 00:15:06,920 Speaker 1: answer your original question. You know, while obviously it's important 294 00:15:06,960 --> 00:15:09,920 Speaker 1: for us to grow assets on these platforms, you know, 295 00:15:09,960 --> 00:15:12,880 Speaker 1: I think ultimately we want to create a suite of 296 00:15:13,200 --> 00:15:17,080 Speaker 1: enduring financial products and ETFs UM that specifically support that 297 00:15:17,160 --> 00:15:20,160 Speaker 1: sort of things that our members are most interested in. So, UH, 298 00:15:20,640 --> 00:15:24,360 Speaker 1: while you know, it's it's uh, it's it's interesting to 299 00:15:24,400 --> 00:15:28,280 Speaker 1: potentially chase UM revenue opportunities and try to scale assets, 300 00:15:28,400 --> 00:15:30,160 Speaker 1: you know, really really quickly, and you never know when 301 00:15:30,160 --> 00:15:33,040 Speaker 1: you're gonna catch lightning in a bottle UM. You know, 302 00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:36,480 Speaker 1: I think we've had this product in market for less 303 00:15:36,520 --> 00:15:38,880 Speaker 1: than two years. I think all of our funds, like 304 00:15:39,040 --> 00:15:41,200 Speaker 1: we literally have been in market for about two years, 305 00:15:41,520 --> 00:15:43,600 Speaker 1: just over two years for all of them. I think 306 00:15:43,640 --> 00:15:45,720 Speaker 1: what we're starting to see is we're starting starting to 307 00:15:45,720 --> 00:15:49,800 Speaker 1: reach at inflection point UM, both from performance and track 308 00:15:49,880 --> 00:15:53,680 Speaker 1: record that we're starting to get more attention. So, you know, 309 00:15:53,800 --> 00:15:56,680 Speaker 1: I look at this as building and enduring platform of funds. 310 00:15:56,720 --> 00:15:58,960 Speaker 1: We've got six today, we plan on launching another three 311 00:15:59,400 --> 00:16:01,400 Speaker 1: by the end of a year. UM. There'll be more 312 00:16:01,480 --> 00:16:03,760 Speaker 1: thematic in nature. They'll touch on different aspects of what 313 00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:06,160 Speaker 1: we think our members are interested in. UM. You know 314 00:16:06,240 --> 00:16:08,320 Speaker 1: in our view that this this will be a significant 315 00:16:08,360 --> 00:16:10,680 Speaker 1: and profitable stand a little business for for so far 316 00:16:10,800 --> 00:16:12,880 Speaker 1: over time. UM, but it's always going to be in 317 00:16:12,960 --> 00:16:15,240 Speaker 1: the service of really thinking about what our core members 318 00:16:15,320 --> 00:16:18,360 Speaker 1: that are investors on the SOFI active invest platform are 319 00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:21,400 Speaker 1: looking for and building around those needs. Can you put 320 00:16:21,480 --> 00:16:24,480 Speaker 1: yourself in your own portfolio, in your own e t 321 00:16:24,640 --> 00:16:28,920 Speaker 1: F When you say ourselves, you mean SOFI? Yeah, Um, yeah, 322 00:16:28,960 --> 00:16:30,960 Speaker 1: that's a that's a great question. So no, So for 323 00:16:31,080 --> 00:16:34,240 Speaker 1: the UH, it would be significantly heavily weighted on s 324 00:16:34,320 --> 00:16:36,600 Speaker 1: F y F if we could know we purposely excluded 325 00:16:36,680 --> 00:16:42,760 Speaker 1: so far as a as a constituent member in the portfolio. Eric, 326 00:16:42,800 --> 00:16:45,600 Speaker 1: does anybody do that? Do they have themselves in their 327 00:16:45,640 --> 00:16:49,960 Speaker 1: own portfolio? Well, this is what aren't got in trouble 328 00:16:50,040 --> 00:16:52,160 Speaker 1: with or not trouble. I don't have a problem with it. 329 00:16:52,240 --> 00:16:55,560 Speaker 1: But in a r k X the space ETF, the 330 00:16:55,640 --> 00:16:59,760 Speaker 1: second or third biggest holding is a r k uh 331 00:17:00,160 --> 00:17:01,960 Speaker 1: PR and T the three D printing e t f 332 00:17:02,720 --> 00:17:06,760 Speaker 1: UM black Rock. They have target date type funds that 333 00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:10,520 Speaker 1: hold black Rock ETFs UM, and black Rock probably has 334 00:17:10,560 --> 00:17:12,920 Speaker 1: a couple of atfs that own black rock stock. It's 335 00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:15,800 Speaker 1: not unheard of. Um, it depends on what it is. 336 00:17:16,119 --> 00:17:18,520 Speaker 1: In this case though, if you're tracking the holdings and 337 00:17:18,600 --> 00:17:20,960 Speaker 1: they outright hold so far way more than a normal 338 00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:23,280 Speaker 1: person would, that you wouldn't want it in there. That's 339 00:17:23,280 --> 00:17:26,720 Speaker 1: like a distortion, but I wouldn't I wouldn't like ding 340 00:17:26,840 --> 00:17:30,480 Speaker 1: them on that if it were like a reasonable waiting John. 341 00:17:30,520 --> 00:17:32,040 Speaker 1: One of the things we talked about a lot is 342 00:17:32,119 --> 00:17:36,280 Speaker 1: how it really does seem like the marketplace for E 343 00:17:36,400 --> 00:17:39,760 Speaker 1: t f s has been polarized, for lack of a 344 00:17:39,840 --> 00:17:45,399 Speaker 1: better term, between really cheap stuff, you know, cheap beta 345 00:17:45,600 --> 00:17:48,200 Speaker 1: as Eric will call it, and like on the other side, 346 00:17:49,040 --> 00:17:53,440 Speaker 1: shiny objects. And so I'm wondering how you you kind 347 00:17:53,480 --> 00:17:55,920 Speaker 1: of attempt to thread that needle, because in a way 348 00:17:56,000 --> 00:17:59,240 Speaker 1: you can effectively kind of do both. Yeah, So I 349 00:17:59,520 --> 00:18:02,040 Speaker 1: I think if you look at the funds that we have, 350 00:18:02,200 --> 00:18:05,240 Speaker 1: obviously we came with the no fee UM e t 351 00:18:05,440 --> 00:18:07,480 Speaker 1: f s and we we decided just to extend the 352 00:18:07,560 --> 00:18:09,600 Speaker 1: no fees for for a third year, which I think 353 00:18:09,600 --> 00:18:13,080 Speaker 1: we're doing the filing for UH this week. UM. I 354 00:18:13,240 --> 00:18:16,760 Speaker 1: think obviously you want to provide value and differentiated value 355 00:18:16,800 --> 00:18:19,720 Speaker 1: from return standpoint that you can charge for UM. We 356 00:18:19,800 --> 00:18:22,119 Speaker 1: currently charge twenty nine basis points for the s F 357 00:18:22,320 --> 00:18:25,840 Speaker 1: y F product because it is basically a mechanical nature 358 00:18:25,840 --> 00:18:28,320 Speaker 1: in the way that we UM construct and manage it. 359 00:18:28,800 --> 00:18:30,560 Speaker 1: And then we charge fifteen nine basis points for the 360 00:18:30,600 --> 00:18:33,440 Speaker 1: gig product because it's an actively managed product. I think 361 00:18:33,520 --> 00:18:36,560 Speaker 1: my view is broadly, you know, we don't want to 362 00:18:36,800 --> 00:18:38,800 Speaker 1: it's gonna it's very hard to compete with the eye 363 00:18:38,840 --> 00:18:41,240 Speaker 1: shares of the world at vant guards of the world 364 00:18:41,320 --> 00:18:43,960 Speaker 1: in low costs. So I think where our opportunity is 365 00:18:44,080 --> 00:18:47,720 Speaker 1: is to find uh unique investment opportunities or themes that 366 00:18:47,800 --> 00:18:50,240 Speaker 1: we want to play and and bring those uh to 367 00:18:50,400 --> 00:18:52,480 Speaker 1: our members and you know, be able to charge what 368 00:18:52,560 --> 00:18:54,000 Speaker 1: we think is a reasonable fee of something you know, 369 00:18:54,040 --> 00:18:56,639 Speaker 1: somewhere between twenty nine and fifty nine basis points UH, 370 00:18:56,640 --> 00:18:58,480 Speaker 1: and that's potentially a little bit more if we find 371 00:18:58,560 --> 00:19:00,680 Speaker 1: something that's actively managed, it's a little bit more heavy 372 00:19:00,720 --> 00:19:05,240 Speaker 1: lifting to manufacture and manage. So um. You know, I'm 373 00:19:05,280 --> 00:19:08,040 Speaker 1: looking at your product lineup and there's a couple other 374 00:19:08,160 --> 00:19:12,720 Speaker 1: issuers that we have seen where you could tell there 375 00:19:12,760 --> 00:19:14,600 Speaker 1: it's like maybe they have beta and then they tilt 376 00:19:14,680 --> 00:19:17,960 Speaker 1: urse of growth growth area. I would assume maybe you 377 00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:20,720 Speaker 1: are you looking at other areas that have started to 378 00:19:21,040 --> 00:19:24,200 Speaker 1: come back this year that have been sort of lagging 379 00:19:24,280 --> 00:19:28,760 Speaker 1: for the past decade. That would be value, small caps, um, international, 380 00:19:28,800 --> 00:19:34,160 Speaker 1: emerging markets, commodities. Good question. Yeah, I mean I think 381 00:19:34,680 --> 00:19:37,600 Speaker 1: we're spending a lot of time this year UM is 382 00:19:37,640 --> 00:19:40,800 Speaker 1: our retail investor business grows and we we think about 383 00:19:40,880 --> 00:19:43,440 Speaker 1: the types of things that they're investing in UH and 384 00:19:43,480 --> 00:19:45,359 Speaker 1: where we see some thematic trends in the marketplace that 385 00:19:45,440 --> 00:19:48,320 Speaker 1: we might take advantage of, where we want to introduce 386 00:19:48,520 --> 00:19:51,440 Speaker 1: the next funds UM. I think that they're probably less 387 00:19:51,920 --> 00:19:55,440 Speaker 1: focused around sort of style UM and asset class and 388 00:19:55,480 --> 00:19:58,840 Speaker 1: more around thematic investing, where I think it's just a 389 00:19:58,920 --> 00:20:02,320 Speaker 1: way to easily express view UM for our for our members. 390 00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:04,760 Speaker 1: So I want to bring it back to s F 391 00:20:05,119 --> 00:20:08,920 Speaker 1: y F because we started there and I'm curious, like, say, say, 392 00:20:09,040 --> 00:20:12,720 Speaker 1: your members got really keen on on something and you know, 393 00:20:12,880 --> 00:20:17,879 Speaker 1: maybe as keen as they've gone on AMC, and we 394 00:20:18,240 --> 00:20:20,480 Speaker 1: you know, you all have to, you know, give it 395 00:20:20,960 --> 00:20:23,480 Speaker 1: a spot, a special spot in in the portfolio and 396 00:20:23,520 --> 00:20:25,399 Speaker 1: in the e t F. Well, what happens if it's 397 00:20:25,400 --> 00:20:28,879 Speaker 1: a done right? AMC definitely went up and and everyone 398 00:20:29,480 --> 00:20:32,320 Speaker 1: looks like geniuses for it. But but what happens if 399 00:20:32,359 --> 00:20:35,399 Speaker 1: it goes the other way? So a couple of things. So, 400 00:20:35,640 --> 00:20:37,959 Speaker 1: so one, we have a security max weight of ten 401 00:20:38,040 --> 00:20:41,919 Speaker 1: percent on the rebalancing, so there's some constraint even if 402 00:20:41,920 --> 00:20:45,320 Speaker 1: you see an outsized position in the portfolio and a 403 00:20:45,400 --> 00:20:49,960 Speaker 1: sector sector max weight of thirty UM with buffer to 404 00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:53,359 Speaker 1: sort of the limit UM turnover around those numbers, and 405 00:20:53,440 --> 00:20:55,920 Speaker 1: then we'll rebalance on on a monthly basis. So I 406 00:20:56,000 --> 00:20:58,600 Speaker 1: think it would naturally wash out, uh, you know, on 407 00:20:58,680 --> 00:21:01,760 Speaker 1: the rebalancing both the upside, and then if things underperformed 408 00:21:01,840 --> 00:21:04,119 Speaker 1: that we would reweight them down UM to sort of 409 00:21:04,160 --> 00:21:08,320 Speaker 1: manage against that. All right, John, I've got my closing 410 00:21:08,400 --> 00:21:11,399 Speaker 1: question for you, which is what's your favorite e t 411 00:21:11,560 --> 00:21:16,520 Speaker 1: F ticker that is not your own? Um. I really 412 00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:20,640 Speaker 1: like what Kathy Wood's doing at ARC obviously. I think 413 00:21:20,680 --> 00:21:23,080 Speaker 1: it's a line to the types of things that uh, 414 00:21:23,280 --> 00:21:26,240 Speaker 1: you know, big, big thematic trends in the marketplace. You know. 415 00:21:26,359 --> 00:21:29,600 Speaker 1: I think she's a good thinker and taking relatively concentrated 416 00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:32,680 Speaker 1: positions and being early on things. And UM, I like 417 00:21:32,880 --> 00:21:34,760 Speaker 1: the brand because I think they're so transparent in the 418 00:21:34,800 --> 00:21:38,040 Speaker 1: way they think about uh, their investment ccs, how they're 419 00:21:38,080 --> 00:21:41,160 Speaker 1: doing research, and what's in the portfolio. Okay, so that's 420 00:21:41,200 --> 00:21:44,480 Speaker 1: a vote for a r K K. Okay, there we go, 421 00:21:45,119 --> 00:21:47,879 Speaker 1: John Gardener, thanks for joining us on trillions. Nice out 422 00:21:47,920 --> 00:21:55,160 Speaker 1: with you. Guys, Thanks, thanks for listening to Trillions. Until 423 00:21:55,240 --> 00:21:57,240 Speaker 1: next time. You can find us on the Bloomberg Terminal, 424 00:21:57,440 --> 00:22:01,440 Speaker 1: Bloomberg dot com, Apple podcast Spot, Defy, and wherever else 425 00:22:01,480 --> 00:22:03,159 Speaker 1: you like to listen to, but we'd love to hear 426 00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:06,000 Speaker 1: from you. We're on Twitter, I'm at Joel Webber Show, 427 00:22:06,240 --> 00:22:09,080 Speaker 1: He's at Eric Paul Junas, and you can find more 428 00:22:09,119 --> 00:22:13,200 Speaker 1: about so Fie at Sofi. This episode of Trillions was 429 00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:16,600 Speaker 1: produced by Magnus and Rixon Manjessica Levy is the head 430 00:22:16,680 --> 00:22:23,080 Speaker 1: of Conberg Podcast. Bye m