No one cares about your money more than you do. And we believe you can manage it yourself with the right tools. We provide them. Each month we’ll send you the best performing funds in your 401k. And you’ll be able to choose what fits you -- Conservative, Moderate or Aggressive. EZTracker allows you to customize your 401k for your investment style. Using EZTracker’s evaluation of your 401k funds, you can manage your own 401k. We want YOU to control your money.
We send you an email with a link to the latest newsletter on the last Sunday of each month. We identify the best performing funds in your 401k using the Tracker Average and highlight the changes for the coming month. You upgrade your portfolio. We give you step-by-step instructions to manage your portfolio. It's that easy.
The newsletter also contains all the EZTracker model portfolios, historical performance, and an overview of the current investment climate. We offer a free Help Hotline for personal assistance.
The Tracker Average calculates the best performers in your 401k. Using performance data for one, three, six and 12-month periods, we weight this information and rank each of the fund alternatives.
That depends on what type of investor you are. An aggressive investor is willing and able to assume the most risk. A conservative investor is willing to assume the smallest amount of risk. We publish portfolios for you to follow no matter what your style.
To determine your "risk quotient" ask yourself: How far am I from retirement? How much money will I need to have the lifestyle I envision for retirement? What are my financial obligations between now and then? How much risk can I afford? How much risk am I comfortable with? For help in thinking about your ability and comfort with risk, check out the risk quiz provided by our friends at Friedenthal Financial: Risk Tolerance Quiz.
All investments involve risk. EZTracker provides a portfolio for the aggressive, moderate and conservative investor. Before managing your own 401k, you determine how much risk you can withstand based on your needs and goals. You decide your retirement time frame and goals based on your tolerance for risk and the lifestyle you envision. Because we upgrade every month, the model portfolios are invested in the best performing funds in your 401k.
EZTracker is not a proponent of frequent trading. We are proponents of getting the best possible returns in your 401k. The typical holding period for the funds in our model portfolios is more than 90 days.
EZTracker is not a quick fix. EZTracker uses the Tracker Average to upgrade to the best performing funds in your 401k plan. We follow financial trends. We do not predict the financial future but stay in touch with the current financial trends. By using our upgrading and rebalancing methodology we have superior long-term returns.
EZTracker upgrades the portfolios to the best performing funds every month which allows us to keep the portfolios in tune with the markets.
That is a decision only you can make. EZTracker is not an investment advisor. We are a publishing company that provides information about 401k funds.
Times have changed. The “Buy and Hold” strategy is the conventional wisdom espoused by many investment banks and financial experts, but is it flawed? It does not respond or take advantage of changing market conditions. The EZTracker methodology follows market leadership as it rotates among large, medium and small cap stocks, growth and value styles, and international and domestic areas. Upgrading steers us to the areas of the market that demonstrate strength, an effective way to participate in a broad range of investment opportunities as they develop.
That decision is made by the 401k plan administrator hired by your company. These administrators restrict how often and what you can trade. You must be aware of these rules. EZTracker takes these restrictions into account for you and keeps you up to date about them.
No, you can also call your plan administrator. These numbers are included in the EZTracker newsletter.
No, EZTracker is a privately held publishing company and is not affiliated with any company, plan administrator or subsidiary.
We are publishers of financial information and do not manage 401k or investment accounts. We are not investment advisors. We believe you can manage your 401k if you have expert, reliable information. EZTracker provides it. Our goal is to put you in charge.
Yes, for some people. For instance, people with substantial assets outside of their 401k and those who are not comfortable managing their investment portfolio should consider a financial advisor. However, financial managers are not equal. It is very important that any advisor you select by a fiduciary which insures that your interests and the advisor recommendations are a priority. Some use a cookie approach, some promise custom portfolios and some are not transparent enough when it comes to commissions, source of advice, etc.. EZTracker has found a financial advisor, Friedenthal Financial, who we believe is a good fit with our philosophy.
We also publish EZTrackerETF, a monthly newsletter about Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) available through a separate subscription. It is for your IRA or other non-401k investments. (EZTracker 401k focuses solely on your 401k investments.)
EZTracker takes advantage of upward trends and eliminates the poor performers. We filter through thousands of ETF's to identify about 400 ETFs that meet specific liquidity, cost, and volume criteria. Then we use one, three, six and 12-month returns to rank all asset classes and their performance. By periodically upgrading the portfolios, we rotate into the best performing ETF sectors. Our goal is to deliver long-term superior results by seeking out the best performance that reflects current market conditions.
ETFs act like mutual funds but trade like stocks. ETFs track a particular market sector while providing diversified exposure. ETFs can be used to obtain broad market exposure (Total World, Europe, U.S., etc.) as well as specific investment sectors (Technology, Energy, etc). There are ETFs that hold commodities (Oil, Gold, etc.) while others provide exposure to geographic alternatives (Emerging Markets, China, Germany, etc.)
Investors can use ETFs to implement a wide variety of investment strategies. In addition, many ETFs represent market indices and therefore have lower expense ratios than traditional mutual funds making them more cost efficient.
EZTracker does the work for you. With hundreds of ETFs mentioned in newspapers, magazines and on television and radio every day, it is almost impossible to filter all that information. We evaluate more than a thousand ETFs, filter through and eliminate ones with poor liquidity, low assets under management, high expenses, and come up with over 400 ETFs. We rank their performance for possible inclusion into one of the ETF 3 model portfolios.
Our methodology is guided by professional judgement and performance. Using one, three, six and 12-month data, EZTracker identifies the best performing alternatives for the model portfolios. EZTracker identifies changes to the model portfolios and moves out of funds when they fall in our rankings and into the best performers every month.
EZTrackerETF isn’t influenced by corporate publicity, a prognosticator's crystal ball or emotions. We judge performance on one thing—results.
The risk associated with the ETF Portfolios is above market average. EZTrackerETF is for sophisticated investors who understand the inherent risks and the potential for significant losses of principal. Investors who want to follow one of these portfolios should have a minimum of $25,000 - $30,000 to invest.
The EZTrackerETF Aggressive model portfolio carries a high level of risk (95% equity/5% bond); the EZTrackerETF Moderate model portfolios take a moderate investing approach and typically target a 70% equity/30% bond allocation; the EZTrackerETF Conservative model portfolio targets a 40% equity/60% bond allocation. Depending on extreme market conditions, the portfolios may overweight bonds or cash for short periods of time.
Long-term investing is the best way to beat the market. However, investors don’t need to hold ETFs for years to be considered long-term. Long-term adherence to an investing strategy is much more important. We practice a disciplined monthly upgrading approach and reevaluate all holdings on a regular basis. Holdings that continue to meet the criteria of EZTrackerETF are kept in the portfolios. Those that do not are replaced.
We sell ETFs quickly if they no longer meet our criteria. It is a principle that economists refer to as “opportunity cost.” For instance, if we choose to hold a particular ETF in a model portfolio, we give up the opportunity to hold a different one instead. So, even if an ETF in our portfolio has returned 10%, we could still be losing money if an alternative returned 20% over the same period.
By cutting our losses quickly on ETFs with deteriorating fundamentals (and changes in market direction) and replacing them with ETFs that more closely meet the tests of our models, we increase our return over the buy and hold strategy. EZTrackerETF strategies involve numerous and frequent trades.
The EZTrackerETF strategy is not a quick fix. It is not a “get rich quick" scheme. We follow financial trends. We do not predict the financial future but are in touch with current financial trends in each portfolio by re-screening our ETFs regularly. Following a model portfolio requires you to upgrade periodically to take advantage of the current trends and to get out of underperforming positions as soon as possible.
EZTracker's model portfolios identify the top performing ETFs and the most advantageous market cycles. By upgrading each month to the best performing alternatives and following market trends, you significantly increase the likelihood of superior performance. Unlike buy and hold approaches, our portfolios respond to changing market conditions. By upgrading monthly to new market leaders, you can participate in a broad range of opportunities as they develop.
No. Our goal is to maximize your returns. Consult with your tax advisor about your individual situation.
Stop-loss orders allow investors to minimize losses. You might find them helpful in managing your portfolio. Our ETF model portfolios do not use stop-losses. This is a personal decision of the investor.
EZTracker began publishing in 2002 for employees of American Airlines. Since that time, Alaska, Amazon, Atlas Air, Air Wisconsin, Delta, Envoy, FedEx, Frontier, General Motors, JetBlue, NetJets, Qualcomm, Republic, SkyWest, Southwest, Spirit, Sun Country, United , UPS, TSP, and Starbucks were added. In 2004 EZTrackerETF was added in response to subscriber requests for help with investments beyond their 401ks.
You can learn more about us here.
Yes. Visit our Newsletters page and click on the company you are interested in receiving a sample newsletter for.
E-Mail: contact@eztracker401k.com
Mail: P.O. Box 455, Tenafly, NJ 07670-0455.
Text or Phone: Subscription help and general questions: 201-503-6445 or 201-503-6571.
