Smart Beta - Old Wine in new Bottles

Be careful not to be taken in by fashionable slogans. Smart Beta is currently pushed by Asset Managers but basically it is nothing else than Style Investing - and that idea has been around for decades! The problem is of course that you still have to select the right style/strategy.

Chinese Shares - ready for Mum and Dad?

News that a commercially-driven entity may decide how billions of investor's savings are deployed in the fast-growing Chinese Equity markets should set alarm bells ringing. After all, China is still in the grip of a communist dictatorship. Recent economic growth may well be impressive - unless you are belonging to the millions who have been pushed out of employment by cheap Chinese labor - but that should not mean that question of morality and fair play are forgotten in order to lure investors into a market that is anything but transparent - at least not as far as 'Western' Investors and Savers are concerned. Allowing index designers free reign over the fate of our Savings is totally irresponsible.
China's A-Shares Prepare to Flood Your ETFs (Barron's)