iShares

No performance chasers here; these investors buy on the downside.

New bond ETFs from the firm use alternative weightings to chase "superior risk adjusted and total returns” compared with market-cap weighted products.

There wasn’t a lot of diversification among the top funds as technology has dominated the market gains in recent years.

For clients looking for investment income, these funds excelled in the first half of 2017.

Aside from stocks, strong and consistent trends have been hard to come by this year.

Actively managed funds saw the majority of the largest outflows this year as investors flocked to less expensive passive alternatives.

Passive investments garnered most of the investor cash so far in 2017, but beyond that it was a wide net: S&P 500, small cap, emerging markets, fixed income — anything that could be structured as an ETF.

Small-caps carry risk, but they don’t have to be expensive too. Here are 20 with the best returns over the past five years and the lowest expense ratios.

Studies show smart beta beating their benchmarks more than active managers.

Clients may become mesmerized by dazzling short-term returns, so consider pushing solid growth on the cheap.