MoneyLion debuts thematic portfolios

With thematic investing, MoneyLion members can now invest in portfolios that reflect their personal preferences, interests and passions, such as clean energy, artificial intelligence, and social responsibility.

The new thematic portfolios are designed as packaged solutions to meet certain investment interests or preferences of MoneyLion investors, and are offered as part of MoneyLion’s fully managed investing offering. Additionally, MoneyLion members will be able to include their new thematic portfolios within their existing investment accounts, making MoneyLion the first digital offering to allow users to combine multiple strategies in a single account.

“In today’s world, people want to feel like they’re investing in something bigger, something that has the potential to change the world. Our new thematic portfolios put our member’s interests and passions first,” said Dee Choubey, MoneyLion CEO. “We’ve built an incredible managed investment platform for our members, many of whom are first-time investors, and with the launch of thematic investing, we’re allowing our members to further personalize and strengthen their MoneyLion investment accounts based on their personal interests and preferences.”

At launch, MoneyLion will offer three new portfolio themes, powered by Global X ETFs and Wilshire. Each portfolio theme lets members invest in a carefully selected set of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) aligned to a specific topic, including:
•
• Future
• Innovation:
• ETFs focused on disruptive technologies like robotics,
• artificial intelligence, and autonomous cars (powered by Global X ETFs)
•
•
• Earn
• & Grow:
• Dividend-paying equity ETFs can provide balanced and
• well-rounded exposures that offer higher yield with some growth (powered by Global X ETFs)
•
•
• Greater
• Good:
• ETFs aligned to companies that exhibit positive environmental,
• social and corporate governance (ESG) characteristics (powered by Wilshire)
•
Investors may choose a portfolio to meet an investment preference or capitalize on a growing trend. For example, the Future Innovation portfolio is benefited by the stay-at home economy. At the end of Q2 2020, there were 129 ETFs totaling $41.3B across the market that focused on investing in specific themes, up 65 percent from Q1 2020. While thematic investing is a long-term strategy designed to benefit from long-term structural changes that disrupt and redefine industries, COVID-19 sped up the clock. It has been an accelerant and market expander for many themes, almost forcing adoption to a broad audience. Segments including robotics, cloud computing, and e-commerce have been major beneficiaries.

As part of MoneyLion’s fully managed investment platform, members can now add these new portfolio themes as they choose, without encountering any investment minimums. Members will also be able to invest in the same portfolios whether they are investing $5 or $50,000, and they can adjust how much they invest in their core portfolio model vs. their portfolio theme at any time.

“Global X ETFs and Wilshire are clear thought leaders in the investment industry, offering timely, targeted solutions for investors, often across investment themes, which have traditionally been difficult to access in a managed portfolio. The addition of these portfolio solutions offered to MoneyLion members is a natural extension of our mission to deliver institutional quality investment offerings to our members," said Jon Stevenson, Head of Wealth Management for MoneyLion. "We are incredibly excited to give our clients access to models like the ESG, innovation and equity income portfolios."

Today’s launch of thematic investing marks the start of a new partnership between MoneyLion and Global X ETFs, the New York-based provider of ETFs known in part for its powerful and unique investment options and thematic investing strategies. The partnership will further MoneyLion's mission to provide members with access to investment solutions used by some of the largest wealth management firms in the country.

"Our aim at Global X ETFs is to support investors in achieving their investment goals by providing thoughtfully constructed portfolios designed for the modern global economy,” said Jon Maier, CIO at Global X ETFs. “It seems as though many years have been compressed into just a few months. The transformation and disruption occurring in many themes as result of our shifting circumstances validates the power and necessity of thematic investing. Thematic ETFs often focus on emerging trends like cloud computing, cybersecurity and fintech and can be an important component of growth-oriented portfolios. On the income side with rates at near zero, to generate meaningful income, yield-generating equity securities can be a potent solution for income-oriented investors.”