American Association of Individual Investors

American Association of Individual Investors

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American Association of Individual Investors
American Association of Individual Investors
Supercharge Your Portfolio With a Nontraditional Index Fund

Supercharge Your Portfolio With a Nontraditional Index Fund

The payoff of a custom index approach that takes advantage of academic research can be substantial.

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AAII
Jul 03, 2025
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American Association of Individual Investors
American Association of Individual Investors
Supercharge Your Portfolio With a Nontraditional Index Fund
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If you think all index exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and mutual funds are created equal, I have news for you: They aren’t. This is good news for investors willing to venture beyond core index funds like those offered by Vanguard, Fidelity, BlackRock and others.

The payoff of a nontraditional approach can be substantial, whether you’re seeking returns from a total market index fund or something more specific like small-cap value stocks. When I say substantial, I mean it.

My goals in this article are to:

  • Clarify what a nontraditional index fund is;

  • Differentiate it from an actively managed fund;

  • Show some real-time results from nontraditional index funds;

  • Explain how those results came about; and

  • Suggest how you can use nontraditional funds to boost your returns without going too far out on a limb.

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