Typically, the combination of market turmoil, economic uncertainty and a surging interest rate environment would present big picture challenges for asset managers, especially in the world of packaged products such as mutual funds and ETFs.
This is especially so given the dominance of passive management, with an emphasis on indexed equity investments and capital appreciation.
But for Sound Income Strategies, this is a moment to shine. The firm, which is led by tech-savvy and income-focused industry leader Dave Scranton, has delivered consistent outperformance with its Sound Equity Income ETF, which trades under the ticker symbol DIVY, since the ETF’s launch in December 2020.
DIVY ETF Ranks in Morningstar’s Top 4% of US Large Value Funds
According to a press release shared by Sound Income Strategies, a Florida-based RIA with more than $2 billion in assets under management, DIVY ranked in Morningstar’s top 4% of the 1,229 U.S. large value funds based on total returns as of Dec. 31, 2022.
The announcement from Sound Income Strategies notes that, according to Morningstar, DIVY delivered a market total return in 2022 of 4% compared to -18.11% for the S&P 500.
For 2021, DIVY delivered a market total return of 34.58% compared to the S&P’s 28.71%, placing the fund in the top 5% out of 1,207 active managers and indices in the Large-Cap Value category.
DIVY has generated a two-year cumulative return of 19.23% compared to 4% for the S&P 500, or almost five times better.
Market Challenges Create New Investor Needs and Opportunities
In a statement shared with DWN, Scranton, the CEO of Sound Income Strategies, notes, “Our achievement of outperforming 95% of all active large-cap value managers and passive indices in the past two years as measured by Morningstar has exceeded our shareholder’s expectations.”
“We were fortunate to deliver this strong performance and positive returns during a time of market challenges. We created DIVY three years ago from a portfolio of income-producing equities to account for challenging times, and we are pleased with its results.”
Founded by Scranton in 2014, Sound Income Strategies also offers income advisory solutions as a third-party asset manager to wealth management firms. The firm launched DIVY (formerly SDEI) in 2020 as part of its strategy to help investors generate income during retirement.
Sound Income Strategies is part of Sound Income Group, a diversified financial services company that was launched in 2022, also under the leadership of Dave Scranton.
Sound Income Group also includes Retirement Income Source LLC and Advisors’ Academy, a financial advisor coaching and business growth consultancy.