KIDZ Beating The Market? A Case For Children-Focused Thematic Index (KIDZ)

Abstract

Thematic exchange traded funds (ETF) have been growing in popularity, based on recent trends. They are used to exploit unique investment opportunities in equities based on some “theme.” In this article, we construct an index, KIDZ, comprising 39 companies that cater to children. We compare the performance of KIDZ index, with that of S&P 500 index over the period January 1, 2006 to December 10, 2018, a period long enough to cover several market corrections. Our results indicate that our constructed index consistently outperformed the traditional market index in both absolute as well as risk-adjusted terms. We believe that KIDZ index can serve as a good investment tool for financial advisors and investors alike. It can also be used in advancing financial literacy among parents, as this index is very easily understood due to its composition of children-focused companies.