Citywire RIA reported in a Fund Files item published on 27 October that a Fidelity portfolio manager is leaving a $33bn fund. The same item covered the launch of the VanEck Wealth Builder ETF, which trades on the NYSE under the ticker WBMO. The material available for this report does not name the Fidelity manager or the fund, so no further detail on that change is offered here.
According to VanEck's press release, distributed through Business Wire, the fund launched at 8:00 a.m. EDT on 27 October. VanEck describes the ETF as actively managed and says it is designed to give investors a diversified portfolio in a single fund. The fund carries the Wealth Builder model portfolio approach into a single ETF, combining global stocks and bonds with real assets and a limited bitcoin position, according to VanEck's release. VanEck selects the investments, manages the allocation and rebalances the portfolio.
Citywire's summary notes that, as with the models it is built from, WBMO's holdings are a mix of outside passive ETFs from other managers and a small set of VanEck's own funds. Its largest holding at launch is the State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF (SPYM), at 17.54%. Bitcoin Magazine reported that the ETF owns no bitcoin itself and gets its bitcoin exposure through digital asset exchange-traded products, and that a wholly owned Cayman Islands subsidiary holds part of its portfolio.
VanEck's release gives a gross expense ratio of 0.33%, with fee waivers bringing the net ratio to 0.26%. Crypto Briefing reported that VanEck will cover the fund's offering costs through at least 1 February 2028. The same outlet reported that the Wealth Builder model had been available only to financial advisers through third-party platforms, and that WBMO packages it for any investor with a brokerage account. Crypto Briefing named David Schassler, VanEck's Head of Multi-Asset Solutions, in coverage of the fund. A KuCoin item gave 26 October as the date on which VanEck's product page shows the fund was set up, whereas the press release and most other coverage put the launch on 27 October.
VanEck is headquartered in New York, with offices in Europe, Australia, Asia and Latin America. Its company website reports $244.1bn in assets under management as of 30 September 2026, although a UK page on the same site cites $244.4bn. The firm was founded in 1955 by John C. van Eck and is privately held. An SEC filing says Jan F. van Eck and family members own 100% of the voting stock. SEC filings list its principal address as 666 Third Avenue, New York.
On the Fidelity side, Fidelity Investments is headquartered in Boston and was founded in 1946. EBSCO's research profile says it is privately held. Sources differ on its size: Wikipedia cites $7.8tn in AUM and $19.9tn in assets under administration as of June 2026, while EBSCO cites about $18tn in customer assets under administration for 2025. Those are different measures and are not directly comparable.
Citywire has run earlier Fund Files items on Fidelity manager changes, but those concern separate events. No earlier coverage of the WBMO ETF itself was found in the material reviewed. The new element is the move of the Wealth Builder model from advisor platforms into an ETF open to any investor with a brokerage account.