Today’s returning guest is Alpha Architect’s Wes Gray, and he’s joined by Bob Elwood, a business lawyer with a focus on investment funds. 

Wes and Bob just helped complete a separately managed account to ETF conversion of $770 million, so we had to get them on the show to walk through the process! They walk through the process of doing an SMA to ETF conversion via Section 351 from start to finish. They share some of the more nuances involved in the process and answer some common questions they hear over time.

While the most popular ETF story so far this year is the Bitcoin ETF, this is arguably a bigger long-term story and a trend to watch in the next few years.

(1:39) - Welcome to our guests, Wes Gray and Robert Elwood; Wes’ prior appearances on the show: how to launch an ETF, 2023 Radio Show, 2021 Radio Show

(2:11) - Update on Alpha Architect

(2:59) - Overview of converting SMAs to ETFs via Section 351

(13:58) - Mutual fund to ETF conversions versus separate account to ETF conversions

(19:34) - Weighing the advantages and disadvantages of SMA to ETF conversions

(26:01) - Is Your Alpha Big Enough to Cover Its Taxes? A 25 Year Retrospective

(26:35) - The case for the tax-free conversion of SMAs into an ETF via Section 351

(34:35) - Alpha Architect’s connection to former Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy

(36:37) - Esoteric examples of SMA to ETF conversions

(38:06) - When does it not make sense to do a conversion?

(43:23) - The future of Alpha Architect

Learn more about Bob and Wes: ETF Architect; Alpha Architect

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Past guests include Ed Thorp, Richard Thaler, Jeremy Grantham, Joel Greenblatt, Campbell Harvey, Ivy Zelman, Kathryn Kaminski, Jason Calacanis, Whitney Baker, Aswath Damodaran, Howard Marks, Tom Barton, and many more. 

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