Trillions

Hosted by Bloomberg

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Episodes

277

Latest episode

Nov 2026

Language

EN-US

About the show

Money goes where it’s treated best. That simple truth is a big reason why more and more money (trillions, in fact) flows into a powerful, low-cost tool that’s quietly transformed investing. Exchange-traded funds let you invest in everything from the stock market to gold like never before. This biweekly podcast will demystify them—and hopefully delight you in the process.

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60 recent

November 12, 202632 min

Quit Your Job, Live Off an ETF?

What if an exchange-traded fund could help you quit your job and travel the world? Self-described “dividend nomads” are trying to do just that, using derivative-income ETFs to generate the cash they need to live abroad. The funds can offer eye-popping yields — sometimes well into the double digits — and the category has recently exploded in popularity. But generating that much income comes with tradeoffs, and making the nomad math work can be more complicated than it looks. On this episode of Trillions , Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber are joined by Bloomberg Money’s personal investing reporter Zijia Song and financial adviser Mark Moberg of Green Ocean Global Advisors. They discuss the rise of derivative-income ETFs and some of the people using them, whom Song recently documented in her story “The ‘Dividend Nomads’ Investing Their Way Out of the 9-to-5.” They explain how funds such as the JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF (JEPI) and YieldMax COIN Option Income Strategy ETF (CONY) generate their payouts, what investors may sacrifice in exchange for all that income, and the risks of building a lifestyle around them. They also wrestle with a bigger question: How much future financial security is worth trading for the freedom to live a little more now? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

November 5, 202612 min

Godzilla vs. King Kong, Degen Dip-Buyers and Anthropic

Vanguard and BlackRock have spent years battling for supremacy in the ETF market. But now one of them may finally be pulling away from the other. And that’s just one interesting data point of late. Expiration dates, dip-buying and another pre-IPO frenzy are all making headlines. On this episode of Trillions , Joel Weber is joined by Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst Athanasios Psarofagis and Bloomberg TV markets reporter Isabelle Lee to dig into — as one of the show's recurring episodes — some of the noteworthy recent trends in the ETF industry. They examine the latest chapter in the Godzilla-vs.-King Kong battle between Vanguard and BlackRock, what the “degens” are doing with leveraged semiconductor ETFs, and how ETF investors and issuers are gearing up for Anthropic’s initial public offering. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

October 29, 202621 min

The ETF Graveyard: This Has Been a Record Year for Closures

The ETF industry is on pace for another record year of launches. But there’s another record within reach: closures. About 250 funds have already been laid to rest in 2026, including leveraged bets that barely survived infancy and funds tied to ESG, the metaverse and cannabis. With about 2,500 products now buried in the ETF Graveyard, launching a fund is clearly no guarantee of longevity. On this episode of Trillions , Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber — joined by Andre Yapp, a senior ETF research associate with Bloomberg Intelligence, and Todd Sohn, ETF strategist at Baird Strategas — take another tour through the ETF Graveyard. They examine which strategies died out this year, why leveraged ETFs account for so many of the casualties, and which funds closed despite having substantial assets or strong returns. And because some ETF ideas refuse to stay dead, they nominate a few fallen funds that might someday join the “Lazarus list” and get resurrected. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

October 22, 202618 min

New ETFs to Watch: A $2.5 Billion Launch, Anthropic and S&P 10,000, Anyone?

A new ETF seeded with $2.5 billion from the University of California's investment arm invests 90% in the S&P 500 and 10% in short-term bonds — essentially the same allocation Warren Buffett has recommended for his own family. At the other end of the spectrum, there’s now an exchange-traded product offering pre-IPO exposure to Anthropic — and another ETF that allows for a "highly speculative" bet on the S&P 500. On this episode of Trillions , Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber — joined by Bloomberg TV markets reporter Isabelle Lee — run through the latest ETFs to watch. They discuss the arrival of the State Street SPDR UC Investments 90/10 ETF (UCBG), a European product offering synthetic exposure to private AI giant Anthropic (CLAU), and an options-based ETF from Roundhill designed for investors betting that the S&P 500 will reach 10,000 by 2030 (XX). They also discuss a new ETF combining the S&P 500 with a managed-futures strategy (SPXP). See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

October 15, 202634 min

Wall Street’s Plan to Make Sports an Investable Asset

In sports, wins and losses determine standings. Soon they could help determine something else: a price. A group of financial firms is trying to turn sports results and statistics into something investors can actually trade. The idea starts with indexes that measure the performance of individual teams, creating the foundation for futures, ETFs and potentially an entirely new asset class built around sports. On this episode of Trillions , Eric Balchunas and Vildana Hajric, a cross-asset editor with Bloomberg News, speak with FutureSports co-founder Leigh Taylforth and Head of Index Services Jodie Gunzberg about the financial infrastructure they’re building behind the new crop of sports ETF filings. They explain how to put a price on a team’s performance, why sports might offer investors something different from stocks and bonds, and how businesses could even use the products to hedge their exposure to wins and losses. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

October 8, 202643 min

Can Corgi Become the Walmart of ETFs?

Less than a year ago, Corgi Invest launched its first ETF. It now has more than 200, with hundreds more registered and potentially on the way. If they all make it to market, Corgi could soon offer more ETFs than BlackRock. The strategy is audacious: Launch as many products as possible, compete aggressively on price and see what catches on. Or, as the company's new chief investment officer puts it, try to become the Walmart of ETFs. On this episode of Trillions , Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber speak with Corgi's Jeff Weniger, who recently joined the startup after a decade at WisdomTree. They discuss why Corgi is launching ETFs at a record pace, how AI and a youthful startup culture are helping it move so quickly, and the challenge of turning a memorable brand into actual assets. Weniger also talks about Corgi’s ambitions to get into Trump Accounts; why the ETFs are effectively a side hustle for the insurance business; and, naturally, the corgis behind the name, Hamilton and Napoleon among them. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

October 1, 202613 min

The 80/20 Portfolio, Bipartisan Stocks and Slumpy Septembers

The 60/40 portfolio has been Investing 101 for generations. So why are ETF investors now closer to 80/20? Meanwhile, Republican and Democratic lawmakers don't agree on much — but their portfolios have some surprising stocks in common. And then there's September, historically the market's worst month but one of the busiest times of the year for new ETF launches. On this episode of Trillions , Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber are joined by Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst Athanasios Psarofagis and Bloomberg News cross-asset reporter Isabelle Lee to dig into some of the more surprising signals hiding in the ETF data. They explore the rise of the 80/20 portfolio, what the holdings of US lawmakers reveal about their bipartisan investment tastes, and why September can be so lousy for markets — even as ETF issuers keep launching new funds. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

September 24, 202617 min

Want to Find the Next Nvidia? Here’s How to Watch What ‘Big Active’ Is Buying

A decade ago, Nvidia was the 387th-biggest stock in the market. Before it became the world’s most valuable company, some of the biggest active managers were buying it on the way up. In the movie Wall Street, Gordon Gekko had a code phrase for that kind of valuable tip: “Blue Horseshoe likes Anacott Steel.” Insider trading is illegal, of course. But the rise of active ETFs has created a perfectly legal way to peek at what some of the world’s biggest stock pickers are buying — every single day. On this episode of Trillions, Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber explore “Blue Horseshoe,” a new Bloomberg Intelligence tool designed to track what “Big Active” is buying and selling. Bloomberg Intelligence’s Sharoon Francis and David Cohne join to explain how the daily transparency of active ETFs made the tool possible, how it can surface stocks while managers are still building their positions, and what names are attracting attention now. Blue Horseshoe likes Okta, anyone? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

September 17, 202618 min

New ETFs to Watch: MANGOS, Tax Tricks and Boring Bitcoin

What's a new way to invest in artificial intelligence? And what's the latest tax strategy for wealthy investors? There's no shortage of exchange-traded funds, but some of the latest launches reveal important trends — and also what fathers can learn from their sons. In this week's New ETFs to Watch episode, Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber — joined by Bloomberg News cross-asset reporter Isabelle Lee — sift through the latest launches. They highlight the Investment House ETF (TIH) and the growing use of ETFs to defer taxes, how the Yorkville America MANGOS Plus Index ETF (FRUT) is betting on the next generation of AI winners, and whether investors really want a hedged version of Bitcoin (HBIT). They also explore Eric's negative aura. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

September 10, 202624 min

Vanguard’s Plateau Is Exactly What Jack Bogle Wanted

Today, Vanguard is synonymous with low-cost index investing. But as the firm marks 50 years since the launch of the first index fund, something surprising has happened: After decades of relentless gains, Vanguard’s share of the fund industry has plateaued. For most companies, that would be bad news. Yet Jack Bogle might have seen it differently. More than 30 years ago, Vanguard’s founder said he’d know his mission was succeeding when competitors became so cheap that Vanguard itself began losing market share. On this episode of Trillions , Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber — joined by Bloomberg News cross-asset reporter Isabelle Lee — revisit Bogle’s legacy. They trace the unlikely rise of the index fund, why it took decades to catch on and how Vanguard’s low-cost model eventually forced the rest of Wall Street to change. They also explore what Vanguard’s plateau means now that the Bogle Effect has become so much bigger than Vanguard itself. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.