- Freedom is up 77% since inception.
- “Just build it” is a good ethos.
- Do you have enough international exposure?
“This ETF needed to exist in the world. So I built it.”
That’s Perth Tolle, the founder of Life + Liberty Indexes.
You know something is good when the builder feels so intensely the need for it to exist that they build it themselves.
Perth is a friend of mine. She’s great.
It’s not even about the money, although she’s doing just fine with officially over $1 billion in assets!
Perth’s flagship ETF, the Freedom 100 Emerging Markets ETF (FRDM), uses personal and economic freedom metrics as primary factors in its investment process.
You can read the fact sheet here. Notice there’s no China. There’s no Saudi Arabia. India is only 2% of assets under management (AUM).
There’s no exposure to any country where they treat people like shit.
Perth just wanted this to exist…
And it’s paying off.
Investors Are Being Rewarding
FRDM just printed fresh all-time highs:
When you look at other emerging markets ETFs, none of them look like this.
This is the leader of the pack.
FRDM launched in May 2019. Look at the massive outperformance from this fund over similar funds:
The Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund (VWO) is barely up half of what FRDM is up during this period.
The most popular, the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM), is trailing the pack.
And even the iShares Emerging Markets ex-China ETF (EMXC) is nowhere near where FRDM is.
The Freedom 100 Emerging Markets ETF stands out – and its outperformance is no fluke.
It’s a direct result of prioritizing free societies with solid underlying fundamentals.
Old School Media Is Catching On
The Wall Street Journal published a note yesterday about international markets leading the way higher this bull market:
It’s not just the emerging markets.
You’re seeing it in developed markets too!
Here’s the iShares MSCI EAFE ETF (EFA), which includes a lot of Europe and Japan:
In a majority of bull markets throughout history, international stocks outperformed the United States through much of them.
You’re seeing it this cycle too.
Great Minds
It’s interesting…
My friend Morgan Housel said almost exactly the same thing about his first book, The Psychology of Money, that Perth said about her ETF.
“This book had to exist. So I wrote it.” Morgan’s probably the best financial writer of my generation.
Those conversations happened within weeks of each other.
And, of course, both of them are killing it.
Morgan has sold more than 3 million books, might even be over 4 million now, lol
And Perth just hit $1 billion this week…
There’s zero chance Perth has any idea who World B. Free is.
But I’m sure she’d appreciate something Lloyd Bernard Free said as he legally changed his name the day before his 28th birthday…
“I’m still the same guy I was when I was Lloyd, though. I’ll say what I’m going to do, and then I’ll go out and do it.”
Stay sharp,
JC Parets, CMT
Founder, TrendLabs