Investor Education
With Investing, Little Things Make a Big Difference
With Investing, Little Things Make a Big Difference
The difference between good and great is often found in the details. As discussed in this infographic, a few little ideas can make a big difference in the long run.
First, the equation for growing wealth is actually quite simple: produce more than you consume, and save the difference. Being disciplined and smart means that unnecessary expenses are cut, and any savings can go towards the bottom line. For example, if the money going towards a $4 latte each day was invested, it would amount to $25,994 in 10 years or $440,198 in 40 years. This is based on a fairly ambitious 8% annualized return, but still proves the point.
There are other expenses, including some coinciding with investing itself, that can eat away at the bottom line as well. Keep in mind that the investment industry is designed around taking a haircut off of each dollar spent, and that this money helps employ millions of people around the world. Fees, commissions, and other extras can add up. In the above example, a 1% difference in expenses translates to a $30,000 difference to the investor over 30 years. Keep in mind that the average mutual fund charges a whopping 1.163% in fees.
Related reading: The Myth of the Successful Money Manager.
Two other little things that make a big difference include investing early and proper portfolio diversification. By saving early, those extra years of compound interest can make an impact in the hundreds of thousands of dollars at retirement. By diversifying a portfolio, the example shows that 90% of risk from asset allocation can be avoided.
Original graphic from: Motif Investing
Technology
Thematic Investing: 3 Key Trends in Cybersecurity
Cyberattacks are becoming more frequent and sophisticated. Here’s what investors need to know about the future of cybersecurity.


Thematic Investing: 3 Key Trends in Cybersecurity
In 2020, the global cost of cybercrime was estimated to be around $945 billion, according to McAfee.
It’s likely even higher today, as multiple sources have recorded an increase in the frequency and sophistication of cyberattacks during the pandemic.
In this infographic from Global X ETFs, we highlight three major trends that are shaping the future of the cybersecurity industry that investors need to know.
Trend 1: Increasing Costs
Research from IBM determined that the average data breach cost businesses $4.2 million in 2021, up from $3.6 million in 2017. The following table breaks this figure into four components:
Cost Component | Value ($) |
---|---|
Cost of lost business | $1.6M |
Detection and escalation | $1.2M |
Post breach response | $1.1M |
Notification | $0.3M |
Total | $4.2M |
The greatest cost of a data breach is lost business, which results from system downtimes, reputational losses, and lost customers. Second is detection and escalation, including investigative activities, audit services, and communications to stakeholders.
Post breach response includes costs such as legal expenditures, issuing new accounts or credit cards (in the case of financial institutions), and other monitoring services. Lastly, notification refers to the cost of notifying regulators, stakeholders, and other third parties.
To stay ahead of these rising costs, businesses are placing more emphasis on cybersecurity. For example, Microsoft announced in September 2021 that it would quadruple its cybersecurity investments to $20 billion over the next five years.
Trend 2: Remote Work Opens New Vulnerabilities
According to IBM, companies that rely more on remote work experience greater losses from data breaches. For companies where 81 to 100% of employees were remote, the average cost of a data breach was $5.5 million (2021). This dropped to $3.7 million for companies that had under 10% of employees working from home.
A major reason for this gap is that work-from-home setups are typically less secure. Phishing attacks surged in 2021, taking advantage of the fact that many employees access corporate systems through their personal devices.
Type of Attack | Number of attacks in 2020 | Number of attacks in 2021 | Growth (%) |
---|---|---|---|
Spam phishing | 1.5M | 10.1M | +573% |
Credential phishing | 5.5M | 6.2M | +13% |
As detected by Trend Micro’s Cloud App Security.
Spam phishing refers to “fake” emails that trick users by impersonating company management. They can include malicious links that download ransomware onto the users device. Credential phishing is similar in concept, though the goal is to steal a person’s account credentials.
A tactic you may have seen before is the Amazon scam, where senders impersonate Amazon and convince users to update their payment methods. This strategy could also be used to gain access to a company’s internal systems.
Trend 3: AI Can Reduce the Cost of a Data Breach
AI-based cybersecurity can detect and respond to cyberattacks without any human intervention. When fully deployed, IBM measured a 20% reduction in the time it takes to identify and contain a breach. It also resulted in cost savings upwards of 60%.
A prominent user of AI-based cybersecurity is Google, which uses machine learning to detect phishing attacks within Gmail.
Machine learning helps Gmail block spam and phishing messages from showing up in your inbox with over 99.9% accuracy. This is huge, given that 50-70% of messages that Gmail receives are spam.
– Andy Wen, Google
As cybercrime escalates, Acumen Research and Consulting believes the market for AI-based security solutions will reach $134 billion by 2030, up from $15 billion in 2021.
Introducing the Global X Cybersecurity ETF
The Global X Cybersecurity ETF (Ticker: BUG) seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the Indxx Cybersecurity Index. See below for industry and country-level breakdowns, as of June 2022.
Sector (By security type) | Weight |
---|---|
Cloud | 28.0% |
Network | 25.1% |
Identity | 17.7% |
Internet | 15.0% |
Endpoint | 12.8% |
Country | Weight |
---|---|
🇺🇸 U.S. | 71.6% |
🇮🇱 Israel | 13.2% |
🇬🇧 UK | 8.2% |
🇯🇵 Japan | 5.5% |
🇰🇷 South Korea | 0.9% |
🇨🇦 Canada | 0.6% |
Totals may not equal 100% due to rounding.
Investors can use this passively managed solution to gain exposure to the rising adoption of cybersecurity technologies.

-
Technology13 hours ago
Infographic: 11 Tech Trends to Watch in 2023
This infographic highlights eleven exciting areas within the world of technology worth keeping an eye on in 2023.
-
Misc3 days ago
Visualizing the Odds of Dying from Various Accidents
This infographic shows you the odds of dying from a variety of accidents, including car crashes, bee stings, and more.
-
Energy3 days ago
Visualizing U.S. Consumption of Fuel and Materials per Capita
Wealthy countries consume large amounts of natural resources per capita, and the U.S. is no exception. See how much is used per person.
-
Economy3 days ago
The $16 Trillion European Union Economy
This chart shows the contributors to the EU economy through a percentage-wise distribution of country-level GDP.
-
VC+4 days ago
Get VC+ Before Prices Increase on February 1st
Prices for our premium memberships will be increasing on Feb 1st. Act now and get VC+ at its current rate.
-
Automotive5 days ago
The Most Fuel Efficient Cars From 1975 to Today
This infographic lists the most fuel efficient cars over the past 46 years, including the current leader for 2023.
-
Misc3 days ago
Visualizing the Odds of Dying from Various Accidents
-
Energy2 weeks ago
The Periodic Table of Commodity Returns (2013-2022)
-
Technology13 hours ago
Infographic: 11 Tech Trends to Watch in 2023
-
Misc4 weeks ago
Infographic: The Longest Lasting Cars, in Miles
-
Politics2 weeks ago
Which Countries are the Most Polarized?
-
Markets4 weeks ago
The U.S. Stock Market: Best and Worst Performing Sectors in 2022
-
Energy2 weeks ago
Visualizing China’s Dominance in Battery Manufacturing (2022-2027P)
-
VC+4 weeks ago
Join VC+ for 2023’s Global Forecast Report of Expert Predictions