New website offers model ETF portfolios

In addition to being a money manager, financial adviser and professor, J. Andre Weisbrod is now looking to add the title of ETF expert to his CV. Mr. Weisbrod, president of Weisbrod Financial Services Inc. and Staar Financial Advisors Inc. of Pittsburgh, is launching sfamoney .com next month as part of an effort to provide advisers and retail investors with model ETF portfolios, commentaries and various other planning tools. Staar Financial Advisors manages six funds with $50 million in assets under advisement. What makes this site distinctive is that Mr. Weisbrod provides advisers and the investing public with entire ETF portfolios, while others simply provide their picks on specific funds. "[With this website], the adviser has another window onto the ETF world that they cannot get anywhere else," said Mr. Weisbrod. "They will get insight into how I think and will get model portfolios and commentaries." On his site, Mr. Weisbrod offers aggressive, moderately aggressive or income-oriented portfolios. The site prompts investors to complete a questionnaire and designate a time horizon for their investment goals. It then uses the in-formation to determine the type of portfolio that fits their needs. For example, the aggressive portfolio exposes investors to a higher risk in order to earn a higher total return. "There is no doubt that advisers need a good level of advice on new investment vehicles," though this site is unlikely to provide such advice, said Jim Lowell, publisher of the Fidelity Investor newsletter in Needham, Mass. He said he did not see anything on the site that would suggest that it is anything more than a sales vehicle for Staar Financial Advisors. Depending on the price level, users will be given access to services including advanced planning tools, asset allocation tools, articles, essays, alerts on various ETFs, two hours of free financial planning assistance and access to podcasts. The site will allow all users access to the commentaries several weeks after they are published. Mr. Weisbrod plans to market his website to advisers, placing an emphasis on working with brokers who want to be independent from their firm's recommendations and invest on their own. He also plans to market to custodians who are working to get funds on a broker-dealer platform. E-mail Aaron Siegel at [email protected].