Another ETF. So it goes.

They tell you about “concentration risk.” A fancy way of saying a few companies own everything. Like a handful of people hoarding all the good marbles. The S&P 500, that supposedly broad measure of… something… is, predictably, top-heavy. Five stocks account for nearly a third of it. As of February 9th. It’ll change tomorrow. It always does.

The solution, naturally, is another Exchange Traded Fund. Because that’s always the answer. Invesco’s S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (RSP +0.62%) tries to spread the wealth. Gives every stock a roughly equal slice of the pie. It’s $86.3 billion worth of pretending things are fairer than they are. Turns 23 in April. A whole lifetime in the stock market. So it goes.

A Slightly Less Bad Way to Do It

The Invesco ETF isn’t wrong, exactly. It just… is. And equal weighting can occasionally benefit from the whims of the market. Smaller companies having a good day. Value stocks briefly being in fashion. But assigning equal weight to individual stocks is a bit… blunt. Like trying to fix a watch with a sledgehammer.

The ALPS Equal Sector Weight ETF (EQL +0.43%) does things a little differently. It weights sectors equally, not stocks. Holds eleven Sector SPDR ETFs issued by State Street. A fund of funds. A Russian nesting doll of finance. It’s all very neat. And, of course, generates fees at every level. So it goes.

Right now, technology owns a ridiculous portion of the cap-weighted S&P 500. More than a third. The ALPS ETF limits tech to a mere 8.5%. A small, almost reasonable number. As of the end of the third quarter of 2025, sector weighting outperformed stock weighting. Over every time period they measured. Which, naturally, they will highlight in their marketing materials.

The reason? It doesn’t dilute the gains of the big winners quite as much. Nvidia, for example, isn’t overly represented in either fund. Less than 0.48% in the Invesco ETF. A pittance, really. The ALPS ETF keeps a larger share of Nvidia’s appreciation. Because, let’s be honest, that’s where all the money is going anyway. So it goes.

Accomplished, But Not Famous

The Invesco ETF is the big name. The one everyone knows. Investing isn’t a popularity contest, though. It’s a zero-sum game disguised as growth. The ALPS ETF is 16 years old and manages $634 million. Not insignificant. And, yes, it’s rewarded investors. With returns that are, statistically speaking, indistinguishable from everything else. The expense ratio is 0.27%. A perfectly reasonable amount to surrender to the machine. So it goes.

They’ll tell you it’s about diversification. About managing risk. It’s mostly about fees. And the illusion of control. We all want to believe we can outsmart the market. We can’t. But we can keep buying ETFs. It’s a comforting ritual. A way to feel like we’re doing something. Even if it doesn’t matter. So it goes.

2026-02-13 18:32

A Slightly Less Bad Way to Do It

Accomplished, But Not Famous

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