The full-court press for higher-fee management is on at the big money managers, and former BlackRock executive turned Vanguard CEO has been in on it from the start. BlackRock is planning to put digital currency-backed exchange-traded funds (i.e., crypto funds) into its model portfolios by the end of 2024 as “portfolio diversifiers.” You already know how Your Survival Guy feels about crypto-currencies.
Despite his newfound commitment to the ways of John Bogle, Vanguard’s CEO Salim Ramji said as recently as July that he thinks the trend of adding crypto to managed portfolios is “going to be massive.”
In 2017, Bogle made his feelings about bitcoin and crypto clear when he told a meeting of the Council on Foreign Relations, “Avoid bitcoin like the plague. Did I make myself clear?”
He continued, “Bitcoin has no underlying rate of return. You know bonds have an interest coupon, stocks have earnings and dividends, gold has nothing. There is nothing to support bitcoin except the hope that you will sell it to someone for more than you paid for it.”
Bogle is explaining that for cryptocurrencies, “prices” have replaced “investing.” Your Survival Guy thinks investors living on prices are living on a prayer.
Action Line: Ramji says he won’t be creating cryptocurrency ETFs at Vanguard. But is that true? Or is Ramji a wolf in sheep’s clothing who will pounce on the high fees he can charge on crypto funds by integrating them into model portfolios? Be wary. Click here to download my free SPECIAL REPORT: The Trouble with BlackRo… er… ummm, Vanguard.
Originally posted on Your Survival Guy.
