Episode 93, Why Retirees Should Own More Stocks from Blackrock's Head of ETFs

In this episode of the Bogleheads® on Investing podcast, host Jon Luskin, CFP®, sits down with Jay Jacobs, US Head of Equity ETFs at BlackRock, to answer community-submitted questions about how to invest simply and effectively for retirement. Jay oversees more than 300 iShares ETFs spanning US equity, international, outcome, and digital asset strategies, and brings deep institutional expertise to the Bogleheads community's most pressing investing questions.

Jon and Jay explore the powerful tax-efficiency advantages of ETF structures over mutual funds, particularly for investors using all-in-one and target-date products in taxable brokerage accounts. The conversation covers how ETFs use in-kind creation/redemption mechanisms to minimize capital gains distributions, a significant edge over traditional mutual funds.

The episode dives into the research and methodology behind glide path design, including how demographic shifts (people working and living longer), inflation expectations, and capital markets assumptions all influence how the stock/bond mix evolves over an investor's lifetime. Jay explains the rationale behind the LifePath funds' 40% stock/60% bond terminal allocation, why a market-weight approach to international exposure makes sense for long-term investors, and more.

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Jon Luskin, CFP®, a long-time Boglehead and financial planner, hosts this episode of the podcast. The Bogleheads® are a group of like-minded individual investors who follow the general investment and business beliefs of John C. Bogle, founder and former CEO of the Vanguard Group. It is a conflict-free community where individual investors reach out and provide education, assistance, and relevant information to other investors of all experience levels at no cost. The organization supports a free forum at Bogleheads.org, and the wiki site is Bogleheads® wiki.

Since 2000, the Bogleheads® have held national conferences in major cities across the country. In addition, local Chapters and foreign Chapters meet regularly, and new Chapters form periodically. All Bogleheads activities are coordinated by volunteers who contribute their time and talent.

This podcast is supported by the John C. Bogle Center for Financial Literacy, a non-profit organization approved by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) public charity on February 6, 2012. Your tax-deductible donation to the Bogle Center is appreciated.

Resources mentioned:

2026 Bogleheads conference registration

https://boglecenter.net/2026conference/

Jon Luskin's talk on all-in-one funds at the Bogleheads Conference

https://youtu.be/TYLWfC4fijo

Previous Bogleheads episode with Bill Bengen on safe withdrawal rates

https://youtu.be/_qDoiBkH45E

2025 Bogleheads Conference videos

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBxq9XvQsXjgUg5jRD9Jtdzwa6B3SLuHZ

Bogleheads® is a registered trademark of the John C. Bogle Center for Financial Literacy.