
$150B Built on One Idea: Why Cap-Weighted Indexing Is Broken | Rob Arnott, Research Affiliates
From Behind the Ticker by Brad Roth
April 5, 2026 · 32 min
About this episode
Rob Arnott discusses the flaws in cap-weighted indexing and the advantages of fundamental indexing.
Rob Arnott chose Wall Street over astrophysics, built his career applying scientific method to markets, and coined the fundamental indexing revolution that now runs $150B+ in assets. He breaks down the hidden drag inside cap-weighted indices -- stocks get added after they soar and deleted after they crash -- and explains how RAFI's rebalancing alpha has beaten cap-weighted value in three out of four years over 20 years live. We dig into RAUS (fundamental selection, cap weighting, 99.9% correl...
People in this episode
Host: Brad Roth
Guest: Rob Arnott
Topics covered
- cap-weighted indexing
- fundamental indexing
- investment strategies
- market analysis
- rebalancing alpha
Keywords
- cap-weighted indices
- fundamental indexing
- investment
- market performance
- RAFI
- rebalancing
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Research Affiliates, Wall Street
Books & works: fundamental indexing
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