Ryan Issakainen

About the Author

Ryan Issakainen

Ryan Issakainen is an exchange-traded fund strategist for First Trust Advisors, L.P.

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  Don’t Ignore the Risks of High-Yield and Senior Loan ETFs

  By Ryan Issakainen  |  April 29, 2013

  The inability of these products to manage risk may leave investors exposed to significant risks when credit quality deteriorates or interest rates rise.

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  Do Not Fear Small ETFs

  By Ryan Issakainen  |  April 1, 2013

  Advisors can make the mistake of eliminating funds from consideration by overemphasizing the importance of an ETF’s assets under management.

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  Equity Income ETFs: Incognito Sector Funds?

  By Ryan Issakainen  |  January 21, 2013

  Over the past few years, as retail investors have fled en masse from equity funds to bond funds, dividend strategies have been one of the few categories of equity ETFs to consistently attract net inflows.

• Making Sense of Commodity ETFs

  By Ryan Issakainen  |  December 21, 2012

  Over the past decade, the emergence of new ETFs and other exchange-traded products (ETPs) has effectively democratized access to certain asset classes that had previously been out of reach for many non-institutional investors.

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  Rise of the ETF Asset Managers

  By Ryan Issakainen  |  November 20, 2012

  As an ETF strategist, much of my time is spent parsing the differences between funds in an ever-increasing universe of exchange-traded funds (and other ETPs).

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  ETFs for Tax Planning

  By Ryan Issakainen  |  October 23, 2012

  Exchange-traded funds are often regarded as more tax efficient than traditional mutual funds largely due to the fact that many ETFs have been able to avoid the annual capital gains distributions that often frustrate investors in traditional mutual funds.

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  The Future of Actively Managed ETFs

  By Ryan Issakainen  |  September 25, 2012

  In the months leading up to the launch of the first actively managed ETFs a few years ago, ETF industry commentators were generally divided into two camps.

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  Contemplating Capacity: Where Do We Go From Here?

  By Ryan Issakainen  |  August 21, 2012

  Over the past two decades, the ETF industry has grown to asset levels that few predicted when the first U.S.-listed ETF was launched in 1993.

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  The Hidden Tax Burden of MLP ETFs

  By Ryan Issakainen  |  July 24, 2012

  In an environment of persistently low interest rates, investors have increasingly looked beyond traditional fixed income investments toward other income-producing alternatives.

• Square Peg in a Round Hole?

  By Ryan Issakainen  |  June 26, 2012

  After a decade of tremendous growth among both retail and institutional investors, in which assets under management eclipsed the $1 trillion mark, exchange-traded funds have yet to gain a meaningful foothold in 401(k) plans, which are still dominated by traditional mutual funds.