Best Mutual Funds & ETFs to Hedge Against Inflation [Vanguard, DFA & Schwab Index Funds] - YouTube

Channel: Financial Intelligence

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In this video, I want to introduce you to six highly rated mutual funds and ETFs that
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you should consider if you want to protect your investment portfolio against inflation.
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These mutual funds and ETFs will give your portfolio exposure to certain asset classes
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that have been historically resilient against inflation and are also endorsed by the top
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investment research firm Morningstar.
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A disclaimer before we get started.
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Note that I am not a financial advisor and the content provided in this video is based
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on my research.
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For professional advice, you should talk to a financial advisor.
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In the first part of this video, I am going to quickly talk about four asset classes that
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are in general considered good hedges against inflation.
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In the second part of the video, I am going to explain how you can screen for highly rated
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mutual funds and ETFs and in the third part of this video, I am going to share with you
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these six mutual funds and ETFs that you can add to your portfolio as a hedge against inflation.
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Part 1: Protection against inflation The ideal investments for hedging against
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inflation include those that maintain their value during inflation or that increase in
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value over that period of time.
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We know that inflation increases the cost of products and services.
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Any investment that stands to benefit from these price increases is considered as a good
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hedge against inflation.
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With any diversified portfolio, keeping inflation-hedged asset classes on your watch list is critical.
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Gradually investing in these types of assets over time can help your portfolio thrive when
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inflation hits.
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Common anti-inflation assets include Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities or TIPS for
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short, various real estate investments, commodities, and precious metals.
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If you are interested in learning more about these asses classes, you can watch my other
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video linked here.
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Part 2: Selection Criteria
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I used two criteria to choose these six mutual funds and ETFs.
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The first criterion was to only choose mutual funds and ETFs that track one of the four
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anti-inflation asset classes that I mentioned earlier.
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The second criteria was to choose mutual funds and ETFs that have had a solid track record
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of risk-adjusted returns and lower management fees.
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I have identified these mutual funds and ETFs using the amazing tools offered by Morningstar
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which is an independent investment research firm.
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You can actually create a free account on their website to access the data that I am
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sharing with you for free during their 14 day trial period.
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I will add the link in the description box below, just in case you want to check them
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out.
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Morningstar has come up with a rating methodology for mutual funds and ETFs that is widely used
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in the industry.
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These ratings reflect Morningstar analysts' forward-looking analysis of a fund, expressed
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on a five-tier scale with three positive ratings of Gold, Silver, and Bronze, a Neutral rating,
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and a Negative rating.
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The main takeaway here is that of the six mutual funds and ETFs that I am going to share
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with you, track one of the four anti-inflation asset classes and are Gold-rated funds meaning
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that they are among Morningstar鈥檚 top recommendations.
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Part 3: Selected mutual funds and ETFs As I mentioned earlier, the four asset classes
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that provide good protection against inflation are TIPS, various real estate investments,
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commodities, and precious metals.
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While doing my research on Morningstar鈥檚 website, I was not able to find any Gold-rated
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mutual funds and ETFs that would provide exposure to commodities or precious metals.
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Therefore, mutual funds and ETFs that I am going to share with you are focused on either
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TIPS or real estate.
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Let鈥檚 first look at the ones that are based on TIPS.
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The mutual funds and ETFs shown on this slide will provide exposure to TIPS.
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If you are not familiar with what TIPS are, you can watch my previous video on this topic.
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These funds are all Gold-rated according to Morningstar鈥檚 website.
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The first column in this table is the funds Sharpe which is a measure of risk-adjusted
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return.
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It describes how much excess return you receive for the volatility of holding a riskier asset.
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The higher the sharpe ratio, the higher the amount of returns you receive for taking on
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the risk associated with investing the fund.
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The second column shows how much money you would have had today, if you had invested
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$10,000 in the fund 10 years ago.
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The third comun is the management fee which shows you how much money each investment firm
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is going to charge you on an annual basis for managing the fund.
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The two Vanguard funds have higher Sharpe Ratio which means that they have less volatility.
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However, these two funds have had lower gains over the past 10 years as you can see in the
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second column.
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The management fees are very low for all of them compared to the industry average which
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is roughly 0.4%.
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Note that there is no cleanser winner here because higher gains usually come with higher
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volatility.
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At the end of day, it is up to you to decide which one is the right choice for you.
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The mutual funds and ETFs shown on this slide will provide exposure to real estate.
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They are all also Gold-rated according to Morningstar鈥檚 website.
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These funds have lower Sharpe Ratio because historically they have offered higher returns,
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but they are also more volatile.
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The second column again shows the amount of money you would have had if you had invested
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$10,000 in these funds.
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All three of them have performed more or less the same and also have relatively small management
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fees compared to the industry average.
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Therefore, any of them is a good hedge to consider against inflation.