After publication of a 444-page book (Muscular Portfolios), its 576 links to authoritative sources, and 47 email newsletters so far, there’s plenty of information out there to help you save money without having to pay anyone for “wealth management.” But this issue of the newsletter features an updated overview of everything you need to know about the index-investing revolution. See Newsletter #47.

Buy-and-hold investors are mourning the fact that the S&P 500 has collapsed into a full-blown bear market (down more than 20% from its bull-market high), and the Nasdaq is in a true crash (down 30%). Meanwhile, investors who follow either of the two Muscular Portfolios have enjoyed watching their nest eggs retain their value or even rise during the carnage. See Newsletter #46.

On May 20, the S&P 500 index fell intraday below the 20% threshold that marks a bear market before recovering somewhat. Meanwhile, both of the two Muscular Portfolios have actually risen since the beginning of 2022. See Newsletter #45.

The S&P 500 is down 13.3% in the first four months of 2022. The Nasdaq caved all the way into a bear market, losing 21.2%. But the two Muscular Portfolios have actually gone up during these four months. This remarkable strength has given investors healthy gains, avoiding the stroke-inducing collapse of the equity market. See Newsletter #44.

A free service provides an alternative way to find out which ETFs are statistically the most likely to gain in the coming months. And did someone mention winning? From Jan. 3 to Mar. 10, 2022, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were suddenly way down: –11% and –17%, respectively. But Muscular Portfolios gave investors gains of +0.92% and +3.44% in the same time period when the indexes were collapsing. How do they work this? See Newsletter #43.

Fifteen years of tracking by two respected data-analysis authorities show that Lazy Portfolios perform poorly. Beginning on Jan. 1, 2007, the S&P 500 turned $100 into $449 by the end of 2021. Muscular Portfolios generated significantly better ending values: $486 to $523. Lazy Portfolios badly lagged, growing your $100 nest egg to just $193 to $323 in 15 years. See Newsletter #42.

Exchange-traded funds that claim to buy only shares of companies with good environmental, social, or governance policies — so-called ESG funds — are attracting more and more dollars each year. But experts say ESG products are primarily a way for sponsors to lure in unsuspecting investors and charge them outrageous fees without actually improving environmental, social, or governance practices. See Newsletter #41.

Some investors who follow Muscular Portfolios were surprised on Dec. 3 when PDBC, an ETF that tracks commodities, recorded a dividend of $5.39 a share — a yield of more than 26%. The truth is that PDBC gained over 90% in the 18 months since the “coronavirus” bear market ended in spring 2020. The big distribution is a sign of excellent performance and, fortunately, was nothing to worry about. See Newsletter #40.

Independent tracking reveals that, on the whole, top hedge funds far underperform simple financial-technology formulas in which low-cost exchange-traded funds are used, as well as vastly lagging the mainstream S&P 500. You can do better. See Newsletter #39.

Investors who hold solely US large-cap stocks are missing out on gains. The S&P 500 was the best-performing asset class in only about 1% of all months in the past 15 years, according to a new study. In about 99% of all months, some other asset class — commodities, real estate, even bonds — gained more than the S&P 500. See Newsletter #38.