ETF Industry Update: The Good, the Bad, and the Interesting - A Conversation with Dave Nadig, ETF.com

In this episode, we welcome back Dave Nadig, fresh from a brief retirement and now President of ETF.com. Dave is an industry stalwart, having seen the industry through decades of ETF product development and transformation. We discuss the current landscape for product development targeting institutional, financial intermediaries (aka advisors), and retail. We cover hot product areas such as non-traditional income, leveraged, private alternatives, and structured products such as autocallables and barriers as well as the expected approval of ETF share class launches of existing mutual funds. 

In this episode, we are pleased to be joined by first time guest, JoAnne Binaco, Partner and Senior Investment Strategist at BondBloxx ETFs. Recorded in early October 2025, we discuss the recent headlines around high profile collapses of some subprime lenders and how such collapses do not necessarily portend a systemic risk to the broader corporate lending environment and how investment opportunities may emerge with the rise in credit volatility.  BondBloxx disclaimer: Carefully consider the Funds' investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses before investing. This and other information can be found in the Funds' prospectus or, if available, the summary prospectus, which may be obtained by visiting https://bondbloxxetf.com/prospectuses/ or calling 800-896-5089. Read the prospectus carefully before investing. The Funds are distributed by Foreside Fund Services, LLC. There are risks associated with investing, including possible loss of principal.

In this episode, we have the pleasure of speaking with David Blanchett and Daniel Gutman from Prudential Investment Management and Prudential Retirement Services, respectively. We discuss recent innovations within the insurance product space to provide an "insurance overlay" on top of investment managed programs, affording retirees deferred lifetime income with the flexibility in managing their existing investment programs. Our guests also share recent insights into post-retirement spending patterns based on a May 2025 research paper, "Retirees: Doing Better with Less," which can be found at https://www.davidmblanchett.com/research.

Welcome back to the Advisor Success Series Podcast. After a brief hiatus, we are pleased to be joined by Jeremy Schwartz, CIO of WisdomTree Investments. In this episode, we cover the expanding scope of WisdomTree's knowledge offerings from positioning for key geopolitical themes to emerging trends in ETF product development such as return stacking and digital tokenization. 

In this episode, we are pleased to be joined by first time guest Phil McInnis, Chief Investment Strategist at Avantis Investors. Phil shares research on why investors should stay the course during periods of market volatility like what we recently witnessed following the trade tariff announcements on April 2 "Liberation Day." He reminds listeners the importance of maintaining a strategic mindset when investing in risky assets, such as equities, as the inherent risks are the reasons why stocks outperform bonds and cash over the long run. We also discuss their research into additional market risk premiums that have historically rewarded investors with higher returns such as value and cash flow profitability. 

In this episode, we are rejoined by Wes Crill, Senior Investment Director at Dimensional Fund Advisors to discuss the latest performance challenges for the Fama/French factor premium framework, namely small cap value within the U.S. market. Wes provides context for these performance challenges, especially in light of positive performance of the premiums outside the U.S. and for investors to stick with the premiums over the long run.

In this episode we are pleased to be joined by Jay Jacobs, Head of Thematic and Active ETFs at BlackRock, as we explore the firm's 2025 outlook for thematic investing. Key topics include opportunities driven by a lower interest rate environment, a renewed focus on improving U.S. physical infrastructure for transportation and manufacturing, and the buildout of artificial intelligence capabilities. We'll also cover essential factors to consider when incorporating thematic exposure into your portfolio.

In this episode, we are joined by Massimo Santicchia, Co-Founder of Alpha Quant specializing in systematically-managed portfolios using a quantitative approach. We discuss the current environment where U.S. large caps have handily outperformed small caps over the last decade and why the environment is shaping up to favor small caps over large caps. We also discuss why one should be more selective with respect to fundamental characteristics when building a small cap portfolio.

In this episode, we are pleased to be joined by Chad Farrington, Co-Head Municipal Bond Investment Strategy at DWS Asset Management. Chad provides an update on the federal tax-exempt bond market, which includes issuers spanning state and local municipalities to public use facilities such as mass transit, airports, and toll roads. We also discuss the interest rate environment in light of Federal Reserve policy and the upcoming federal elections. 

In this episode, we are rejoined by Taylor Lukof, CEO and Founder of ABR Dynamic Funds, to discuss the spike in market volatility catalyzed by the Bank of Japan's decision to raise interest rates that precipitated a sharp unwinding of Japanese yen-funded risk positioning. Taylor mentions how difficult it was for both professional and retail volatility traders to navigate around both the spike in market volatility as well as its quick reversion back to low levels. What happened in August is but another reminder of the challenges for do-it-yourself traders trying to positioning themselves to take a directional view on market volatility.