Financial planning firm USAA has stepped into the ETF arena, launching a suite of core investment strategies to provide actively managed fixed income and smart beta equity strategies to its clients and investors.
On Thursday, USAA rolled out two actively managed bond ETFs and four smart beta stock ETFs, including:
- USAA Core Short-Term Bond ETF (NYSEArca: USTB): net expense ratio 0.35%
- USAA Core Intermediate-Term Bond ETF (NYSEArca: UITB): net expense ratio 0.40%
- USAA MSCI USA Value Momentum Blend Index ETF (NYSEArca: ULVM): net expense ratio 0.20%
- USAA MSCI USA Small Cap Value Momentum Blend Index ETF (NYSEArca: USVM): net expense ratio 0.25%
- USAA MSCI International Value Momentum Blend Index ETF (NYSEArca: UIVM): net expense ratio 0.35%
- USAA MSCI Emerging Markets Value Momentum Blend Index ETF (NYSEArca: UEVM): net expense ratio 0.45%
The new suite of ETFs are built as core portfolio-building components and allow investors more choices at a competitive cost.
The new USAA ETFs “provide clients with core building blocks,” Lance Humphrey, executive director of global multi-assets at USAA Asset Management Co., told ETF Trends in a call. “The ETFs help build a low-cost global portfolio, leveraging USAA’s strategy that we have built over the years.”
For example, the new actively managed fixed income ETFs incorporate USAA’s decades of experience in Core Bond categories, with the USAA Core Intermediate-Term Bond ETF focusing on high current income without undue risk to principal and the USAA Core Short-Term Bond ETF targeting high current income consistent with preservation of capital.
Meanwhile, the new smart beta lineup focuses on the value and momentum factors, identifying stocks with attractive valuations and positive price momentum and weighting the two factors in such a way to help investors diversify against the risk of individual holdings.