Blue Owl Capital, bless their hearts, decided to limit withdrawals. A little hiccup, they called it. First Brands Group, a parts maker, failed recently. And now, whispers about artificial intelligence disrupting everything. So it goes. These private credit things, they’re always…interesting.
You’re probably wondering if you should run screaming into the hills if you own a few ETFs. Don’t bother. It’s mostly noise. Just noise, really.
The Cracks Are Showing
Blue Owl sold off a billion and a half dollars in investments, returning the money to investors. Noble, perhaps. But they sold the good stuff first, apparently. Left the lemons for someone else. That’s how these things work, isn’t it? A canary, they say. Always a canary.
If Blue Owl is the canary, the entire private credit market could be in for a bit of a wobble. Not a catastrophe, mind you. Just a wobble. Bubbles inflate, that’s what they do. Easy credit, bad ideas. The usual. And then, inevitably, those ideas don’t pan out. It’s a pattern. A sad, predictable pattern.
Don’t panic. If you have a well-thought-out ETF portfolio, stick to your plan. Really. It’s just a plan. A little attempt to impose order on a chaotic universe.
Slow and Steady, If You Can Stomach It
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF, the first one ever, just keeps chugging along. Up, mostly. Despite everything. Dot-com booms and busts, recessions, pandemics…it just keeps going. Look back even further, before ETFs, and the S&P 500 did the same. A slow, relentless climb. It’s almost…irritating.
Downturns are unpleasant, naturally. But they happen. They always happen. If you stick with your broad-based index funds, you’ll probably be fine. You might even get a chance to buy more when things are cheap. A fleeting opportunity, perhaps, but an opportunity nonetheless.
An S&P 500 ETF is diversified, sure. But it’s not fully diversified. A little bit of everything is better. Consider adding a bond fund, like the Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF. Bonds go up and down too, of course. But they’re a little less…enthusiastic. A little bit of stability can be useful. It’s not a guarantee, naturally. Nothing is. But it’s something.
Just Keep Swimming
History is remarkably consistent. Don’t get caught up in the daily drama. Focus on the long term. Broad-based index ETFs are a simple way to do that. Don’t abandon that plan just because a few cracks are appearing in the private credit world. It’s just a crack. A small crack in a very large, very complicated system. So it goes.
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2026-03-10 14:22