The 60/40 Portfolio Is Dying — BlackRock Just Revealed What's Next

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Earn Your Leisure

Episode: "The 60/40 Portfolio Is Dying — BlackRock Just Revealed What's Next"
Date: June 13, 2026
Hosts: Rashad Bilal & Troy Millings
Guest: Jay Jacobs (US Head of Equity ETFs at BlackRock)

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Overview

This episode dives deep into the future of portfolio construction as classic models like the 60/40 (stocks/bonds) allocation face new challenges. Jay Jacobs from BlackRock discusses how market dynamics have shifted, why traditional diversification strategies may no longer suffice, and what investors should do next—including a look at the rise of ETFs, the continuing dominance of AI as an investment theme, the place of alternative assets like Bitcoin, and what granular steps everyday investors should take to build resilient portfolios in an evolving financial landscape.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Market Context: Is There a Bubble in AI?

[03:17–05:35]

• The market has delivered unusually high returns over the past 10 years, with the S&P 500 averaging over 15% annually—"That's not normal. That's like double what's normal." (Jay Jacobs, 03:55)
• Resilience in the market has changed: stocks and bonds are no longer moving in opposite directions as reliably, making diversification harder.
• AI is the dominant theme but, contrary to bubble fears, earnings have outpaced price gains: "We actually don’t see there’s a bubble. AI companies grew their earnings faster than their stock prices went up last year." (Jay Jacobs, 05:49)
• Example: "We looked at one AI company...they grew their token sales last year 17x...a high growth company usually grows 17%. This was 17x in AI tokens." (Jay Jacobs, 06:21)

2. The Rise of ETFs and Portfolio Construction

[07:18–09:54]

• Rapid growth in ETF usage as investors move away from individual stocks for diversification and simplicity.
• Thematic ETFs allow exposure to sectors like AI or power infrastructure with a single trade: "You can be diversified across sectors, across geographies, looking across the AI value chain…with one click." (Jay Jacobs, 08:13)
• Development of "portfolio in one click" ETFs, similar to target-date funds in 401(k)s, but now available in ETF form.

3. When (and Why) Build ETFs in Narrow Sectors?

[09:29–10:42]

• BlackRock only creates sector/thematic ETFs when enough companies exist to provide real diversification: "ETFs are really at their best when they're investing in, call it 25 to a few thousand companies." (Jay Jacobs, 10:00)

4. 60/40 Portfolio’s Decline—What’s Next?

[10:42–12:13; 17:05–17:25]

• Classic 60/40 stock/bond portfolios are less effective as correlations remain high.
• New paradigm: "We think we're probably moving to a 50, 30, 20, that 20% [being] things that are not a stock or a bond. Think about gold, Bitcoin, liquid alternative strategies..." (Jay Jacobs, 11:20)
• Confirmed: "That's kind of the base case portfolio for your most average investor. People who are younger are going to want more stocks...but that 50, 30, 20 probably solves most people's allocations." (Jay Jacobs, 17:12)

5. The Role and Future of Bitcoin (IBIT) and Ethereum

[17:25–21:18]

• BlackRock is still bullish long-term on Bitcoin: "Bitcoin is a monetary alternative...as people look for things outside of the US dollar...Bitcoin will tend to benefit." (Jay Jacobs, 18:12)
• Strategic allocations are growing but education and comfort take time, especially among institutional investors.
• On Ethereum: Seen as the decentralized equivalent of the Apple App Store—a platform for smart contracts and more. "If Bitcoin's spiritual cousin is gold, Ethereum's spiritual cousin is really like the Apple App Store." (Jay Jacobs, 20:23)

6. The Future of the AI Investment

[21:18–23:20]

• “AI trade” (short-term) vs. “AI investment” (long-term): "The AI investment across the value chain is going to be a decade." (Jay Jacobs, 21:36)
• Current “infrastructure layer” (data centers, semiconductors) are benefiting now, but future growth will come from:
  • Companies adopting AI in their businesses
  • Real-world AI (autonomous vehicles, robotics) which is still in early stages

7. Advantages of Established vs. New AI Companies

[23:20–24:54]

• Big tech companies have critical advantages: data, software engineers, and low cost of capital, enabling huge capital expenditures.
• Small innovators can move faster but existing giant firms have “entrenched moats.”
  • "Their cost of financing is actually a really important part of this puzzle. But...small innovative companies can move quickly...I think some of these big companies have really entrenched moats..." (Jay Jacobs, 24:19)

8. Trends Among Young Investors: Thematic & Options Trading

[24:54–27:11]

• Post-COVID surge: Over 40 million new investor accounts.
• Younger investors gravitate to ETFs for both buy-and-hold and tactical strategies.
• Thematic investing (AI, geopolitics, infrastructure) is rising, moving away from traditional sector focus.
  • "Markets are up and down because of AI, because of geopolitics, because of different infrastructure needs." (Jay Jacobs, 25:45)
• Growth in options trading for income or downside protection.
• Digital asset ETFs (like IBIT) signal the merging of traditional and decentralized finance.

9. What Investors Should Look at Before Buying an ETF

[27:11–32:56]

• Examine underlying holdings, not just the ETF's name—it doesn't always reflect actual exposure: "The number one thing is look at the holdings. What is it actually investing in?...Is that the kind of exposure you want?" (Jay Jacobs, 27:19)
• Fees, liquidity, and concentration are key considerations; S&P 500 now has top 10 stocks at 40%—a record high.
• Suggestion: Consider equal-weighted, mid-cap, small-cap, or international ETFs for diversification.

10. Final Thoughts and BlackRock’s Engagement with Retail Investors

[33:43–38:44]

• BlackRock’s ongoing commitment to investor education and communication at events like Invest Fest.
• Remark: "If they give you a roadmap for the next six or seven years in that presentation, you won't even have to guess what to invest in. You just have to know the timeline." (Host, 37:36)
• It's rare for ordinary investors to get direct access to institutional strategies and thought leadership from BlackRock.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• AI Growth vs. Bubble Concerns:
  “AI companies grew their earnings faster than their stock prices went up last year. That means valuations actually came down because their earnings were going up faster than their stock price.”
  — Jay Jacobs, [05:49]

• 60/40 Portfolio Is Out, 50/30/20 Is In:
  “We think we're probably moving to a 50, 30, 20, that 20% [being] things that are not a stock or a bond...gold, Bitcoin, liquid alternative strategies.”
  — Jay Jacobs, [11:20]

• Bitcoin's Long-Term Case:
  “Bitcoin is a monetary alternative...as people look for things outside of the US dollar, outside of other fiat currencies...Bitcoin will tend to benefit.”
  — Jay Jacobs, [18:12]

• Ethereum Is a Platform for the Future:
  "If Bitcoin's spiritual cousin is gold, Ethereum's spiritual cousin is really like the Apple App Store."
  — Jay Jacobs, [20:23]

• ETF Homework for Investors:
  “The number one thing is look at the holdings. What is it actually investing in?...Is that really what you see under the hood, and is that the kind of exposure you want?"
  — Jay Jacobs, [27:19]

• Market Concentration Warning:
  “The top 10 names in the S&P 500 make up 40% of the index. That's historically high.”
  — Jay Jacobs, [32:27]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [03:17–05:35]: AI valuation & bubble discussion
• [07:18–09:54]: ETFs vs. individual stocks, thematic ETF growth
• [10:42–12:13]: Decline of 60/40 portfolio and the shift to 50/30/20
• [17:25–18:12]: BlackRock’s outlook on Bitcoin
• [20:23]: Ethereum’s analogy and future
• [21:33–23:20]: Layers and future of the AI investment
• [27:19–33:43]: How to evaluate ETFs—holdings, risk, concentration

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Practical Takeaways

• Diversify beyond stocks and bonds: Consider alternative assets like gold, Bitcoin, and private or “liquid alternative” strategies, moving from 60/40 to 50/30/20 allocations for most investors.
• ETFs are increasingly the best way to pursue both broad market and thematic exposures—do your homework on ETF composition, fees, and liquidity.
• AI is not a bubble—yet. Current revenue and earnings growth justify valuations, but investors should look for future opportunity in implementation and real-world applications, not just infrastructure and chipmakers.
• Bitcoin and Ethereum remain viable, long-term components for certain portfolios, with unique roles (monetary alternative vs. decentralized platform).
• Younger and newer investors are driving market changes via thematic ETFs and options trading, reflecting a move towards both simplicity and customization.
• Market concentration remains a risk—look beyond the top names and consider diversification strategies like equal-weighted or international ETFs.

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Final Thoughts

This episode is a must-listen for investors seeking to understand why the old playbook no longer works, and how to build a resilient, future-focused portfolio. Whether it’s using ETFs for diversified, theme-driven investing or understanding the long-term potential of digital assets, the insights from BlackRock’s Jay Jacobs offer actionable advice backed by institutional research.
"Have your questions ready…It can change your life for sure." (Podcast Host 4, [38:44])

Transcript

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[Jay Jacobs]

I'm Brian. I care because I know what it's like to not speak the language. It's not easy. Health insurance is complicated. I would say our job is to make everything easy for our UHC members. I work for United Healthcare. I'm committed to care.

[Podcast Host 3 / Interviewer]

All right, let's bring our guest up, shall we? Hey, how's it going?

[Jay Jacobs]

Hi. Good afternoon.

[Podcast Host 1]

How you feeling, man?

[Jay Jacobs]

I'm great. How are you guys?

[Podcast Host 4]

Very good. Glad to have you here.

[Jay Jacobs]

It's good to be back. I was on the show last year and lucky enough to be invited back again.

[Podcast Host 1]

Yeah, we appreciate you being here again.

[Podcast Host 3 / Interviewer]

Appreciate you having you. Jay Jacobs, US head of equity ETFs at BlackRock. Yes. Pleasure to have you back. How are you doing?

[Jay Jacobs]

I'm doing well. Markets are good, weather is good, Tough

[Podcast Host 3 / Interviewer]

to complain, for sure. So let's get into it. You're the head of Equity ETFs at BlackRock. It's been a great ride over the last year. Two years, really, since COVID Actually, it's kind of just been up. Friday was a short reset. Everybody's talking about a bubble. Everybody's talking about a bubble. Panic, fear, saying that it's too good to be true. AI valuations. How. How are you looking at the space right now for your. Your ETF portfolio that you guys have in blackrock and just the market overall?

[Jay Jacobs]

Sure. Well, first off, if you go back 10 years, the average return that an investor got buying the S P 500 was over 15. That. That's not normal. That's like double what's normal. So it's been a tremendous ride for investors, frankly, just doing kind of the most basic form of investing, which is just getting exposure to a broad asset class like US, US stocks. But a lot has changed over the last 10 years. In fact, one of the things I think has changed the most is how we think about resilience in the markets. So historically, if you wanted to build a diversified portfolio, you'd buy some stocks and you'd buy some bonds, and usually those two things kind of move in opposite directions, which gives you good diversification. What we've seen over the last couple of years is stocks and bonds are moving together. So it's really hard to get a more diversified portfolio to weather the storm of the sell offs that we've seen here and there over the last couple of years. On top of that, we've seen bouts of volatility Whether it's because of trade relationships, whether it's because of AI, whether it's because of economic doubts. So people have been trying to navigate that. And then third, I think a lot of people are just trying to understand kind of where the world is headed. There's so much new technology, there's so much change. People are trying to make more resilient portfolios that can kind of stay out ahead of all that change. So over the last 10 years, again, like a really simple portfolio just did great. Just own stocks, have stocks, bonds, like it was really simple. I think things have gotten a little bit more complicated for investors. But that doesn't mean there isn't more opportunity. People just have to think about the world a little bit more granularly than they did in the past.

[Podcast Host 3 / Interviewer]

So, but, but so are you, are you, are you nervous or concerned that we could have a major cliff moment where the stock market goes down 40% in one year?

[Jay Jacobs]

I mean, volatility is never out of the question. I think overall we see that the market is resilient. We've seen a tremendous earnings environment over the last quarter or so. Companies are delivering earnings much faster than people expected. You know, you were asking about a bubble. Usually that's tied to artificial intelligence. We actually don't see there's a bubble. AI companies grew their earnings faster than their stock prices went up last year. That means valuations actually came down because their earnings were going up faster than their stock price. So like a stock for earning ratio was cheaper. And a lot of this is justified. These AI companies are delivering just tremendous amounts of growth. We looked at one AI company. You know, the unit of sales for an AI company is tokens. Right. It's kind of a unit of intelligence. They grew their token sales last year 17x, like a high growth company usually grows 17%. This was 17x in AI tokens. And you know, yes, AI companies are growing really quickly. Yes. You know, we've, we've really never seen this, this kind of rapid escalation in a theme like this. But so far it looks fairly justified. Given the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence and the total market opportunity.

[Podcast Host 1]

It feels like AI is in all rights the defining investment theme of our lifetime.

[Podcast Host 3 / Interviewer]

Right.

[Podcast Host 1]

Every time you listen to professionals and you kind of just alluded to it, we've never seen anything like this before. Like this is such a new thing, the way that these companies are growing. Like you said, the revenue is incredible, the multiples are incredible. What also is happening is the creation of ETFs. I mean, it's at a record number. I wonder how you're looking at it from your standpoint, right? Are people going into individual equities or more people looking at ETFs?

[Jay Jacobs]

At this point, ETFs have been growing tremendously quickly. And I think a lot of it is people moving from buying stocks to buying ETFs, going from kind of picking an individual company to buying a basket of companies. And a lot of the reason is for diversification and simplicity. You know, a lot of people might buy a semiconductor company because they like AI and they say, you know, I'll buy a big semiconductor company. But instead of doing that and having the risk of one company, you can buy an ETF that invests in 50 different AI companies. You're going to be diversified across sectors, across geographies, looking across the AI value chain. So not just a semiconductor company, but a large language model company, a data company, a company using our artificial intelligence and its products and services, digital infrastructure, names involved in power or real estate. You can access all of that in one trade with an ETF one called RD Arty. And it's, it's, it's just simple for investors to be able to access that entire theme with one click. You could even take it further than just one theme, though. So there's ETFs out there that actually are an entire portfolio in one click. So think about, you know, usually when people have a 401k in their companies, they have the option to buy a target date, sorry, a target date fund. You know, I'm going to retire in 2065, so I'm going to allocate 100% of my 401k savings to that target date 2065 fund. Inside that fund there's stocks, there's bonds, probably thousands of positions overall. But now you can do that in the ETF as well. It's not just limited to your 401k. You can buy an ETF with one click that gives you a diversified portfolio with thousands of positions.

[Podcast Host 1]

So I'll just ask to follow Jacob really quickly because as I'm looking, they're growing so fast. I wonder how you, as, as the company, look at a subsector like memory and say, hey, there's companies that are moving and this, this subsector is moving at an exponential rate. Right. Do we now have to create something to say we, we can, we need to take advantage of, we need to put our community inside of this, this subsector.

[Jay Jacobs]

If there's a durable investment case that's doable in an etf, it's something that we'll absolutely consider. Some of these themes are a little too narrow, that it's really just kind of looking at a couple of companies, not really a basket of companies. And if it's really just about a couple of companies, we don't think it makes sense in an ETF today. ETFs are really at their best when they're investing in, call it 25 to a few thousand companies, where you're really getting that benefit of diversification. But when it's AI, when it's infrastructure, we see a ton of people looking for ways to play power infrastructure as AI is going to use more electricity demand. If you're looking at defense companies, when you're looking at, you know, autonomous vehicles, all of these are very doable baskets in an etf. And we, and we've built products for all of those.

[Podcast Host 4]

As a follow up to the bond market topic that you brought up, it's been six years since the 30, 10 year, 2 year have been down on the long term trend. Do you think the 6040 portfolio is dead? And if not, what do you think is going to take for the bond market to stabilize and get back to being a balanced diversification kind of investment for the 6040 portfolio?

[Jay Jacobs]

I mean, the correlations between stocks and bonds have been more resilient than I think people expected. Originally the narrative was as rates were going up really quickly, this is why bonds were selling off. And it was also not great for the stock market. A lot of the stock market is tech stocks. They tend to be more sensitive to rates. So rates went up and everything sold off together. Everyone kind of thought once rates peaked and maybe started to come down, you would see that correlation break. And frankly it just hasn't broken yet. So the implication for portfolios is 6040 used to be kind of the base case for most people's portfolios. We think we're probably moving to a 50, 30, 20, that 20% have things that are not a stock or a bond. Think about gold, Bitcoin, liquid alternative strategies. Think about like hedge funds, long, short strategies, some private exposures, basically just looking for stuff that lives outside of stocks and bonds because you're not getting a really diversified portfolio any anymore just looking at those two assets.

[Podcast Host 4]

So it'll be 50% stock, 30% bond, 20% alternative earners.

[Podcast Host 1]

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[Podcast Announcer]

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[Podcast Host 2]

Hey, what up, y'?

[Jay Jacobs]

All?

[Podcast Host 2]

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[Podcast Host 4]

And is that split? 50% bonds, 30. 50% stocks. 30% bond, 20% alternative.

[Jay Jacobs]

That's right. Yeah. Yeah. That's kind of the base case portfolio for your, you know, most. Most average investor. People who are younger are going to Want more stocks, People in retirement might want more fixed income, but that 50, 30, 20 probably solves most people's allocations.

[Podcast Host 3 / Interviewer]

Okay, let's talk about Bitcoin, Ibit and you know, BlackRock, obviously one of the largest holders of bitcoin, IBIT has suffered this year, just like bitcoin has suffered this year. A lot of volatility and recently, you know, went down a lot last week. So are you guys still bullish on bitcoin? What is the outlook? What is the plan? I know it was a lot of talk about moving it more into 401ks and having more adoption. A lot of that conversation kind of has not been had recently. It's not, it's not in the news obviously because bitcoin's price is down. So nobody's really talking about it in that form of adoption. So what's the message for IBIT and bitcoin as a whole in regards to blackrock's thinking? In regards to it?

[Jay Jacobs]

I mean, our long term case hasn't changed. Bitcoin is a monetary alternative. So as people look for things outside of the US dollar, outside of other fiat currencies issued by centralized governments that they want to have be decentralized, non sovereign, global in nature, Bitcoin will tend to benefit. And you know, we've seen, we've seen bitcoin do well over the longer term. If you zoom out over three or four years, the performance is still very strong. Similarly, its spiritual cousin is gold and that's done quite well over the same period as well. Because people look to gold as a monetary alternative. As you see rising debt of different governments around the world, distrust of governments and fiat currencies, et cetera. The case for Bitcoin is the fundamental case for bitcoin I think is still very strong in the near term. A lot of it is driven by supply and demand dynamics and we actually know what the supply of bitcoin is at any given time. So largely it's driven by shifts in demand and sentiment. But that tends to be a much more shorter term phenomenon over the longer term. I think it's really about education, more people understanding what bitcoin can do in a portfolio. This is not just about individual investors. This is about financial advisors across the United States. This is about institutional investors like sovereign wealth funds and endowments making more strategic allocations. A lot of that education process is happening, but it takes time and it happens kind of quietly. People don't just wake up one day and buy bitcoin. It takes, for professional investors, it can take many months or years to get to that level of comfort. So all of that is continuing to happen. But in the meantime, the price of Bitcoin is volatile as it has been over its entire history.

[Podcast Host 1]

Yeah, I wonder if the thesis is the same around Ethereum. Obviously blockchain, when we talk about platform and we talk about digital assets, people have Bitcoin. But Ethereum, it used to be in the conversation. I feel like it's kind of been left out. I wonder if the thesis is still the same when you look at the Ethereum Trust ETF that you guys hold. Is it the similar outlook for this as well?

[Jay Jacobs]

I think there's certainly some similarities. I would say the similarities are education is definitely a key piece of the puzzle where more people understanding what Ethereum is, what blockchain technology is and how it can be used is a really important part of the story. But Ethereum we just look at very differently than Bitcoin. You know, if Bitcoin's spiritual cousin is gold, Ethereum spiritual cousin is really like the Apple App Store. You know, it's really, it's a decentralized computer. It's a platform for being able to use technology for decentralized software, things like stable coins, tokenized real world assets. There's growing interest in these use cases, but we're still early. So I think just the more we hear about tokenization, the more value it can provide to Defi and stablecoins. I think the more powerful that narrative is going to be over time.

[Podcast Host 4]

For the investor who may be worried about the length of how long the AI trade will last. How long do you think we have for the AI investment? And what do you think are some second or third layer opportunities coming in the future for us to be able to invest in?

[Jay Jacobs]

It's a great question. And I would say there's a, there's a difference between the AI trade and the AI investment, because I think the AI trade implies a little bit more of a shorter term outlook. And a lot of that has been focused on semiconductor stocks and large language model developers. The AI investment across the value chain is going to be a decade. This is just where you're seeing entire economies and business models shift to accommodate artificial intelligence, much like we saw with the Internet 30, 40 years ago. What's kind of the next stage? We're looking at it from a couple of different angles. I would say right now really the beneficiaries have been more in the infrastructure layer. The data centers, the power infrastructure, and the semiconductors are a lot of Today's winners. And it makes sense because that's where the revenue is going. You have to build a data center, you have to fill it with semiconductors and you have to pay the power utility or your, or buy some power generators to be able to, to turn on these AI machines. The next phase I think will be a little bit more about the implementation of AI. You could look at this at some of the companies that are adopting artificial intelligence. They're not the builders of AI, they're just companies that are being smart about using it and it can really benefit their business. And another group that I think will be really interesting is more about real world AI. Think about autonomous vehicles, robots, et cetera. The ways that AI is being used. Not just sort of in a digital sense when you interact with ChatGPT, but more in a physical world sense. That's still in the really early stages because frankly that's much harder AI, it's more AI or it's more compute intensive. So that's where I think over the next several years we'll start to see more growth as well.

[Podcast Host 3 / Interviewer]

Are you more bullish on the newer companies we just talked about? Marvell, we talked about obviously Micron, a variety of these companies or the established companies like the Googles of the world, where they have moved slower, but they're probably in position to kind of still be the leaders if, if they can maintain their dominance.

[Jay Jacobs]

I mean, that's the big question, right? Maintaining the dominance. I think there's huge advantages to the biggest companies in the world. They have some of the most data, proprietary data, whether it's their social media that they operate, whether it's the software that they operate, etc. These guys have data. They have some of the most software engineers on the planet because this is what they've been doing for decades. And then they have the lowest cost of capital. These are huge mega cap companies that get to issue debt really cheaply compared to small businesses. And a lot of this artificial intelligence game is literally just the math of how much data, how much engineering, and how much does it cost to be able to fund all these capital expenditures. I mean, these companies are going to spend close to a trillion dollars this year on capex. So their cost of financing is actually a really important part of this puzzle. But with that being said, really small innovative companies can move quickly and do things that others can't. So I think there will be a balance. I mean, certainly we're seeing some new companies that could be ipoing this year that are fast and nimble and newer. So it'll be a little bit of a blend. But I think some of these big companies have really entrenched moats that are going to be difficult to displace.

[Podcast Host 1]

I wonder, as you're watching it from, you know, your perspective, what are some of the themes that you're seeing? The younger investors moving to ETFs? Are options straight? Like, what are some of the themes that you're seeing from your side?

[Jay Jacobs]

I mean, definitely huge growth of individual investors participating in the markets. This started with COVID You saw about 40 million accounts in the United States open up during COVID of individual investors starting to participate in the markets. A lot of those new investors using ETFs as their vehicle of choice to express views. Some people just want to buy the broad market and sit and sit there and hold their funds for a long time. Other people, a little more tactical, a little more trading oriented. But either way, they're using ETFs to express those views. A couple of trends, though. One is a huge amount of growth in thematic investing. And it just makes sense. This is what's driving the markets today. Markets are up and down because of AI, because of geopolitics, because of different infrastructure needs. Those are themes playing out in real time. So it makes sense that people are increasingly thinking about their portfolio not through traditional classifications of us versus international or technology versus healthcare, but through themes like AI and geopolitics. The second, though, is definitely the growth of option investing. A lot of this is really about investors trying to get more control over their investments. You know, what are you trying to get out of your investment? Are you trying to get income, which you can use options to generate more income by selling covered calls? Are you trying to protect against the downside? Another thing you can do using options really kind of buy protection, buy insurance, using option products. So option growth has been a huge piece of the puzzle. And then we mentioned this before as well. Digital assets. Just a huge amount of, frankly, taking two worlds that have been fairly distinct, the traditional finance world and the decentralized finance world, and then being pulled closer together. Ibit's a great example of Bitcoin, a decentralized finance asset being brought into the tradfi world via an etf. And we're increasingly seeing these two worlds interact closer and closer.

[Podcast Host 4]

In your opinion, what should people be looking at inside of the ETF before they actually buy if they haven't invested in one before?

[Jay Jacobs]

I mean, the number one thing is look at the holdings. What is it actually investing in? It might have a name, the ETF will have a name, but what's being reflected in that name? Is that really what you see under the hood, and is that the kind of exposure you want? There's a lot of different ways to build an AI etf. There's a lot of ways to build a US Large cap etf.

[Podcast Host 1]

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[Podcast Host 2]

Hey, what up, y'?

[Jay Jacobs]

All?

[Podcast Host 2]

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[Podcast Announcer]

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[Jay Jacobs]

And so I think investors, while they have more choice than ever before because there's so many ETFs available to them, it does make the homework a little bit harder of trying to understand what's really the best fit. So the holdings matter, the fees matter, the liquidity matters. How easy is it to trade that etf? All of those things come into play to make sure you're buying the right product for your, for your portfolio.

[Podcast Host 4]

Can I follow up real quick?

[Jay Jacobs]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host 4]

Is there a weight in, in your opinion that is too dangerous? So, like, if a ETF, let's say it's weighted towards, I don't know, 38% or 40%. At what point is it too dangerous to maybe not that you guys do the Blackrock, but if they're looking at other ETFs, what weighting is too dangerous in your opinion?

[Jay Jacobs]

It's a great question. I mean to everyone it's going to be different. Right. If your option was buying an individual stock versus buying an ETF that even is very heavily concentrated in one position but still provides exposure to other stocks as well and on a relative basis that ETF will still be more diversified. What's happening in the markets today broadly though is there's more and more concentration. So the top 10 names in the S&P 500 make up 40% of the index. That's historically high.

[Podcast Host 4]

Yeah.

[Jay Jacobs]

So for any investor, I think concentration is a big thing to focus on. And for your long term investors that want to manage their risk and make sure they're diversified, I think they need to think about this. And that means maybe you don't just buy a market cap weighted ETF, maybe you buy an equal weighted ETF that's spreading its bets equally across, you know, 500 plus companies. Maybe you buy mid cap and small cap companies. A lot of investors forgot about international investing over the last 10 years because international stocks didn't do so great. But last year they did wonderfully. So just thinking about kind of getting going beyond just those top names for more diversification. Yes, I said those top names might do really well in the AI world, but it's still useful to have diversification across broader markets.

[Podcast Host 3 / Interviewer]

Well, Jay, you want to thank you for coming on but before we leave, you talk about investors. I know you guys have come last year and you know we always appreciate you guys coming. Do you have any plans that you can talk about this year for investors?

[Jay Jacobs]

We're sending a few folks from the team. They're excited to go down there back to Atlanta. I think it's really just about hearing from, from investors what's on their mind, trying to help people with education as they think about kind of what's how the investing landscape has changed in the last year. I mean, I think, I'm sure we talked about AI last year, but AI has evolved a lot in the last 12 months. I'm sure we talked about retirement last year. Even the retirement landscape has changed as we think about that shift from the 60:40 portfolio to the 50, 30, 20. So investing is always an interesting topic and we're excited to hear from investors.

[Podcast Host 3 / Interviewer]

Well, we appreciate it, appreciate it. Thank you so much having you guys and thank you for your time.

[Jay Jacobs]

Thanks for having me.

[Podcast Host 3 / Interviewer]

I appreciate you, man.

[Podcast Host 1]

Have a good one.

[Jay Jacobs]

Take care of.

[Podcast Host 3 / Interviewer]

All right.

[Podcast Host 4]

Gotta keep that long term view. Yeah. Always a great guest. Yeah, yeah. We're only in what year? Three.

[Podcast Host 1]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host 4]

A lot more time to go. You have a lot more time to go.

[Podcast Host 1]

We do, we do. And that interesting idea, like they're looking at it from the institutional side. So like yes, we can talk. And when you hear it coming from the institutional side of how they're thinking about AI and how they're seeing. We've never seen this before. This may not be about. It's interesting to hear that perspective but I think there's some similarities. Like when we were talking about brokerages, when we're talking about Robinhood and what's leading the charge, similar things. Right. The ETF trading options has changed everything. And Bitcoin. Right. That idea of alternative assets to invest in has really catapulted. We could have, I mean they had poly market and predictive markets that have changed it as well. But that core fundamental, those three have really changed the way trading has developed over the past three or four years for sure.

[Podcast Host 3 / Interviewer]

So yeah. So once again, shout out to blackrock. They will participate. They will be participating in Invest Fest Friday. They have a workshop on Friday just to kind of give you guys a quick overview if you've never been Friday. Invest Fest starts Friday so you probably should get there Thursday to get your, get your tickets and get your badges so you can have access all weekend. But Friday is all education workshops, presentations. This is stuff inside the vendor marketplace. We have two other. We have the other stage and then we have the theater as well. Right? Theater's upstairs.

[Podcast Host 1]

Yep, upstairs.

[Podcast Host 3 / Interviewer]

It's the first year that we've done that. So logistically it's something new that we added this year. But it's upstairs, so just be aware of that. But this is all workshops. These are all workshops. Yeah, you can say like breakout sessions in a sense where it's just all education. This is very much hands on education learning from companies like BlackRock and highly skilled professionals. Ms. Business has a presentation that she's going to be doing. A variety of different things will be happening on Friday so that's important. A lot of times people may not be familiar with that. Invest Fest starts Friday but you should register on Thursday. Register Thursday come Friday. I think it starts like 9 o' clock in the morning on Friday. Friday, all day Friday. Then Friday night is VIP black tie affair at a different location. It's not at gwcc. It's a different location for VIP holders. And then Saturday and then Sunday, but it does not start Saturday. Starts Friday.

[Podcast Host 4]

Friday, yep.

[Podcast Host 3 / Interviewer]

And Friday is all day. Education, workshops, panels, hands on learning from industry experts. That's like, you know, very important.

[Podcast Host 4]

And if we're gonna be very honest, it's not easy to be able to talk to somebody at blackrock about their thoughts on the market. This is normally done on an institutional side. They don't come and talk to retail. So I will argue, get there Wednesday night so you can be rested for Thursday and then Friday you're ready to hit the ground running. Because if they give you a roadmap for the next six or seven years in that presentation, you won't even have to guess what to invest in. You just have to know the timeline. So get to that session early, take notes, because that information alone can change your life.

[Podcast Host 1]

I think that's the part that gets overlooked is that, I mean, BlackRock, we're talking about the largest asset manager in the world, right? Talking to retail customers. I mean we've been in those offices. Not something that happens too often. The fact that this is the third year that they're going to be down at Invest Fest and they're going to be talking about what's actually happening in the market, how you can benefit from it, how you can create income, how you can create, turn dividends into income. All the things, ETFs, all the things talking directly to you. It's a very, very rare moment.

[Podcast Host 4]

Have your questions ready. Like for me, I've accessed 60, 40 question to 15 people. He was the first one to say now it's 50, 30, 20. Just that little calibration I've asked everyone under the sun. He was the only one that kind of gave a formula because the institutions normally don't let those leak out until 10 to 15 years later. Have two or three great questions prepared for those sessions. It can change your life for sure.

[Podcast Host 1]

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[Podcast Host 2]

What's up, y'? All? Summer's got a different tempo. Everything's a little looser, brighter. One plan turns into another. You hear something, you stay a little longer. Next thing you know, you're somewhere you didn't plan to be. It's those in between moments. That's where the ideas hit. Conversations stretch out. Little memories sneak up on you. And sometimes it's just about what's in your hand. That color. That chill. The new Tropical Butterfly Refresher from Starbucks. Guava and passion fruit flavors with mango pineapple flavored pearls. Yeah, that feels like summer before you even taste it. Funny how one small stop becomes the best part of the day. Start your summer rhythm with Starbucks. Try the new Tropical Butterfly Refresher from Starbucks.

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[Jay Jacobs]

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[Podcast Announcer]

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