Ted Lucas, Head of Investment Strategies and Solutions, Hartford Funds met with Julie Cooling, Founder & CEO, RIA Channel to discuss his outlook on the ETF market. Cost and tax efficiency are just a few of the reasons the ETF structure has been embraced by investors. While cap-weighted passive strategies make up a large part of current ETF assets, much of the rapid growth over the last few years has stemmed from strategic beta or factor based investing. Actively managed ETFs have also been on the rise in recent years. Hartford Funds presently offers seven strategic beta ETFs, all self-indexed, and four active ETFs. “We have a distinctive investment philosophy,” explains Lucas on the firm’s emphasis on risk allocation as the main driver of returns over time. In balancing both offensive and defensive measures, the strategy aims to capture beta, while still prioritizing diversified, low correlation stocks across a variety of weights, countries and sectors. To learn more about Harford Fund’s ETF offerings, head here.