With so much of the innovation driving our economy coming from venture capital-backed companies, why can’t you find VC in most people’s investment portfolios? It’s because early-stage investing has been the sandbox of institutions and the wealthy. These savvy investors allocate to VC to take advantage of the high-growth prospects of startups. It helps that they have the means to withstand the massive financial commitments and fees, the risks of betting on a small number of companies and the years of illiquidity.

No fair. Ordinary investors could also benefit from enhancing their equity holdings with exposure to companies outside the public realm. What if they could have both the exposure to gross returns of the venture capital universe and the daily liquidity of public stocks? One index solved for that back in 2012. The Thomson Reuters Venture Capital Index (TRVCI) uses private company data to identify the systematic drivers of performance in the VC world and then assembles a portfolio of publicly traded securities that replicate those drivers.

Only one mutual fund, the AXS Thomson Reuters Venture Capital Return Tracker Fund (LDVIX), tracks this index by holding what is in the portfolio. That means retail investors can circumvent the restrictions of traditional VC investments and add well-diversified exposure to the high growth potential of the VC space.

(Washington)

Advisors and their clients have spent the whole summer dreading Biden’s tax plans. Two of Biden’s budgetary linchpins for raising taxes on the wealthy are: nearly doubled capital gains taxes and the elimination of the step-up in basis in inheritance. Until now, they had merely been proposals. However, yesterday the House Democrats passed a budgetary resolution to bring a full vote on the topic. It is expected to pass along party lines.

FINSUM: The Democrats have a very narrow path to getting this passed as part of their $3.5 tn spending package. However, if they can get every Democrat in the Senate to sign, it becomes a reality.

(New York)

Here is a tough fact for clients to accept: the major of retirees will need long-term care as they age. From an emotional perspective, that is difficult to expect. From a financial perspective, it is even worse. The average cost of long-term care is between $53,000 to $105,000 per year. This presents a major funding challenge for retirees.

FINSUM: Advisors need to help clients come to terms with this likelihood. Long-term care insurance is a good option for this situation. This usually costs between $1,375 to $3,600 a year for a 55 year-old man, and between $2,150 and $6,4000 for a 55 year-old woman.

(New York)

ESG has grown exponentially over the last couple of years as trillions of dollars have flowed into the sector. However, as the sector has grown, some gaps in its coverage have emerged. One big glaring hole is in income-focused ESG funds. Traditionally, it has always been thought that an investor who cares about income, just wants income and doesn’t care much where it comes from. This helps explain how out of 439 ESG funds aggregated by Morningstar, only 8 had an income focus.

FINSUM: The lack of ESG income funds makes sense as income-focused products often cater to retirees—the current age of whom generally makes them less interested in ESG. But opportunity awaits.

(New York)

UBS just put out a very interesting warning to a large segment of the equity market. As part of their overall market outlook update, UBS explained their view on earnings and the direction of the S&P 500. There are two very notable points they made. Firstly, and most importantly, they reminded investors to stop fretting over valuations. In their words “While valuations are higher than average, we remind investors that valuations have no correlation with market returns over time horizons less than three years … And valuations typically don't contract meaningfully unless investors are concerned about a sharp growth slowdown or a policy error by central banks. And secondly, they think the S&P 500 will rise 11.5% by the end of 2022.

FINSUM: This is a brilliant reminder—equity valuations mean very little and are more a reflection of macro outlook than a concern in their own right.