Thank you for being part of our growing community here on Substack! We spent decades working primarily for a limited number of high net worth families. We were fiduciaries, which means we operated in a manner that prioritized their specific objectives above our own. We retired from that investment advisory business 6 years ago. But we didn’t retire completely.
In fact, we work as hard now as ever. But the focus is very different. We offer the experience of being “in the trenches” of Wall Street from 1986 through the present, enough to experience and learn from a long list of market cycles. Especially the rough ones.
We’ve put 130,000+ hours of hands-on investment research, strategic thinking, intellectual property development (ROAR, YARP, etc.), and a habitual belief in thinking “outside the box” to work here. At ETFYourself.com. And now, at ROAR.PiTrade.com too.
As I’ve written here many times, and shared with our weekly live learning group, investing for yourself is really about answering some very straightforward questions. Note: I didn’t say easy. But once you answer them for yourself, the stress and emotion it takes out of your investing, and by extension your life and lifestyle, is enormous. We are living proof of that. The questions:
WHY…are you investing the way you do, to what end goal? It’s personal to everyone.
WHAT…will you consider owning? Maybe not today, but at some point.
WHEN…will you own those ETFs, stocks, etc. and under what conditions?
HOW…will you run your portfolio strategy? And do you even have one? Or, is it really (be honest) a “collection of securities” without a portfolio plan?
Those are some straightforward questions. Not easy ones. But how do you even think through them for yourself? Isn’t that what investment advisors and brokers do?
The good ones absolutely do, and there are many of them around. There are also many who, unfortunately, do not. That’s usually because they are part of a big herd, where their role is more a part of an army, and they can only go so far in personalizing the advice and experience.
By the way, neither can we at ETFYourself.com. Our firm, Sungarden Investment Publishing, is NOT a provider of personalized advice. That was our old role.
What we do now? Teach others to be their own portfolio manager. The way I was to others, and now to my own family. And while “ETF Yourself” might sound like we are cursing at someone (not you, we promise!), it actually means:
Create portfolios…using ETFs…by yourself!
As our paid subscribers know, we also use stocks, and have now created a wide range of portfolios. None of them are complex, and some are quite simple. All are VERY easy to implement yourself. Or, you can click over to PiTrade.com, the investment advisory firm run by our partners in ROAR.PiTrade.com, and have my model portfolio traded for you. With no management fee.
We’ve licensed our research and ROAR methodology to them, so that we could bring my decades of chart-reading to a wider audience.
Now, for the last part of the story. The part where YOU get to decide how you want to access 130,000 hours of my experience, and the dynamic platform we built. A package that combines:
My writing, research and timely insights at ETFYourself.com
AND
The powerful analytics and portfolio-building capabilities of ROAR.PiTrade.com
We covered the WHY, WHAT, WHEN and HOW above. So the last one is…you guessed it…the WHO!
And, while this would be an opportune time for me to riff on the work of Roger Daltry, Pete Townshend, and the rest of that classic rock band, this is about a different WHO: who you will use as a resource to help you be your own portfolio manager.
We think you consider us. And to do so soon. Here’s why:
We offer 3 levels of subscription (non-personalized) access to all of the above:
LEVEL 1: Introductory paragraphs to what I’m talking about behind the paywall.
LEVEL 2: All my writing/research at ETFYourself.com ($150/year or $15/month).
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LEVEL 3: The whole package. All Level 1 benefits plus full access to ROAR.PiTrade.com. ETF and stock analysis updated daily, create your own watchlists, all the model portfolios, and admission to me weekly live show and subscriber chat. And you’re one click away from free copy trading of those models over at PiTrade.com.
That’s all for $600 a year…through May 31, when the annual price will rise to $1,000 a year, and we’ll start offering a monthly subscription at $100 a month.
This is the Build Your Own Portfolio package. We think there’s nothing like it.
We built it this way to provide DIY investors with the professional-grade insight and analytics they want, with the type of coaching they prefer, at a price that is a fraction of the $20,000-$50,000 a year our private clients paid for the personalized investment management experience we offered in our “prior life.”
Let’s recap
Here’s what you can expect:
1. Free Membership
The Essentials for Every Investor
ROAR Scores: Real-time momentum and risk ratings for any stock or ETF.
Custom Watchlists: Track your personal holdings with ROAR-integrated data.
Standard Portfolios: Access to our entry-level model strategies.
Market Summary: Real-time snapshots of major indices and all 11 market sectors.
2. ROAR Premium (The Research Package)
Full Portfolio Models, Strategy, and Coaching — $600 / year
Exclusive 10-ETF Portfolio: Our most popular dynamic model. See the current positions and weightings at any time.
The Dow 30 Model: A risk-managed take on the 30 blue-chip leaders.
Full Research Archive: Every deep-dive article from ETFYourself.com delivered to your inbox and searchable on-site.
Sunday Highlights: Weekly curated links to my latest columns on Barchart and Seeking Alpha.
Weekly Live Show: Join our live market coaching sessions for direct communication and DIY investor support.
Daily “Marked-to-Market” Weights: Portfolio weightings change frequently; access the exact, updated allocations daily.
Starting June 1, this service will revert to full price at $1000, but we are offering a 40% legacy discount to anyone who signs up by May 31.
Where to find Rob on the Web
ETFYourself.com – Our primary home for tactical research and personal portfolio moves.
ROAR.PiTrade.com – The interactive research portal and portfolio construction tool.
PiTrade.com - Copy trade Rob’s portfolios through this Robo Advisor
Barchart.com – Read Rob’s weekly column on technical analysis and market primers.
YouTube - Learn more from our live communication