Version 1.4, published Oct 22, 2026: 12 seats, 12 with their method published here.

The IQ Investment Committee: 11 investing philosophies, applied to ETFs

11 investor traditions and the ETFIQ Skeptic review an ETF on ETFIQ data, under version 1.4 of the method, Oct 22, 2026. A Chair writes the minutes.

How a seat reaches its state

Each criterion reads one measure against the seat's two thresholds: Supports where the supports condition holds, Challenges where the challenges condition holds, Mixed between them, Not enough data where the measure is missing. A criterion whose scope does not cover the subject is left out, and a seat whose scope does not cover it does not apply. The seat's score is the weighted mean of its readable criteria at +1, 0 and -1. A criterion marked veto that Challenges makes the seat Challenge, whatever the rest reads or could not read. Otherwise the seat reads Not enough data when the criteria it could read carry less than half of its weight, or when a criterion marked required cannot be read; it Supports at 0.5 or more and Challenges at -0.5 or less, and is Mixed between. A criterion that caps the seat keeps it from Supporting when it Challenges. A criterion the seat needs keeps it from Supporting unless it reads Supports itself. A seat that reads a fund's holdings states its own rule on its page.

In compare mode each seat orders the funds by its state first (Supports, then Mixed, then Challenges, then Not enough data) and by its score within a state, highest first; a tie is broken by the seat's tie-break measure. A fund the seat Challenges never ranks above one it Supports. A line marked like for like that one fund in a comparison cannot read is read on none of them.

How the seats are tested

Every voting seat carries 3 to 5 textbook cases with the result it must give, such as a 0.03% index fund for the Low Cost seat. A seat that misses its textbook case does not ship. A seat that observes carries cases proving it gives no state. Each seat page lists its cases.

Where to next

Low Cost

Margin of Safety

Quality

Growth at a Reasonable Price

Global Contrarian

All-Weather

Cycles & Risk

Macro & Liquidity

Diversification

Disruptive Innovation

Trend Following

The Skeptic

Ask IQ

Every method

Scope

Put one ETF, several ETFs or a model in front of the committee in Ask IQ. Each seat applies one investor’s published principles to ETFIQ data. Each voting seat states one of four results; a seat whose investor judges by observation, not calculation, prints dated observations and gives none.

The committee gives no advice. It records findings, agreement, disagreement and open questions. Every figure comes from ETFIQ data and carries its date.

Each criterion is sourced to the investor’s own published words. Peer-reviewed research is a second layer on how each is measured: 8 of the 46 published criteria carry research that supports their measure, 7 carry research that weakens it, and each page says which.

Seats are named by philosophy. The investor appears as a byline and one sourced quotation: no voice, no likeness. A name comes off the day its person objects.

Lenses apply publicly known investing principles to ETFIQ data. No investor named is affiliated with or endorses ETFIQ. Not investment advice.

Choose who sits: all seats, any subset down to one, or a bench. The Chair always sits. The Skeptic sits unless you remove it.

Cost & diversification: Low Cost, Diversification, The Skeptic

Risk bench: All-Weather, Diversification, Macro & Liquidity, Cycles & Risk

Income & cost: Low Cost, The Skeptic, Cycles & Risk

The seats, the question each asks, and how strong its sources are

Definitions and method

Each seat reads a few criteria. Each criterion compares one ETFIQ measure with two thresholds, and the seat page says whose each threshold is.

What this cannot tell you

How to check any of this

Every seat, criterion, threshold, weight and test case is in one file. The committee reads that file, and so does this page.

Every published figure is free as JSON on the open data page. Use ETFIQ's figures with attribution and the as-of date. Issuer data stays under its owner's terms. Independent code recomputes every number nightly from the raw sources, and the statistics page shows the result. Errors are listed on the corrections page. A figure marked ETFIQ is one ETFIQ computed. Every other figure is the issuer’s or the exchange’s, and is labeled that way.