NYLI CBRE Real Assets ETF (IQRA)

IQRA (NASDAQ: IQRA) is an exchange-traded fund built to capture the returns of real, physical assets — the power lines and toll roads, the apartment buildings and office parks, the oil fields and agricultural land and copper ore that form the backbone of the real economy. It is a bet on the idea that hard assets, because they are scarce and in constant demand, will weather inflation better than the paper claims that sit atop them.

A portfolio of things the world actually needs — power, food, shelter, and the minerals that everything else requires.

The fund tracks the CBRE Real Assets Index, which is constructed to blend four distinct categories: real estate (REITs that own operating properties), infrastructure assets (toll roads, airports, utilities, and pipelines), commodities (oil, metals, and agricultural products), and real-asset equities (companies whose core business is extracting or building things of tangible value). None of these categories is meant to dominate; the index keeps them balanced so that if real estate stumbles, infrastructure or commodities might compensate.

Why real assets?

Real assets occupy a unique place in a portfolio because they behave differently from both stocks and bonds. A utility bill arrives whether the economy is growing or shrinking; food is eaten in recessions and boom years alike; a toll road collects fees regardless of the broader market’s mood. They are not entirely immune to economic cycles — infrastructure investment falls in recessions, commodities can crash, real-estate values can deflate — but they are less correlated with traditional equity markets than tech stocks or growth names.

Most importantly, real assets tend to hold their value when prices rise broadly (inflation). A barrel of oil or a hectare of farmland or a rent-yielding apartment have intrinsic value tied to real scarcity, not to investor sentiment. That is why institutional investors and economists often recommend real assets as an inflation hedge: when the dollar’s purchasing power declines, the price of the asset itself often rises in nominal terms, offsetting the erosion.

The CBRE Real Assets Index approach

The underlying index is built by CBRE (Coldwell Banker Richard Ellis), a global real-estate and infrastructure firm, and includes:

• Real Estate: REITs and real-estate companies that own or manage offices, apartments, industrial warehouses, hotels, and shopping centers
• Infrastructure: Utilities, energy transmission, airports, toll roads, and other hard infrastructure with long concessions and stable cash flows
• Commodities: Exposure to oil, metals, and agricultural products, typically via commodity-linked securities or commodity-focused companies
• Real-Asset Equities: Companies whose primary business is extraction or production of raw materials

The index rebalances periodically, so the weights shift as the real economy changes. The fund simply holds that index, making it a transparent, low-cost vehicle for capturing the returns of real assets without picking individual properties or commodities.

Diversification across hard assets

One of IQRA’s strengths is that it does not ask an investor to bet everything on a single real-asset class. Real estate and infrastructure correlate with each other moderately; commodities have historically had even lower correlation with both. Agricultural futures move differently from metals, which move differently from energy. By bundling all four, the fund reduces the risk of being badly wrong about any one category — if someone overpays for commercial real estate, the commodities and infrastructure pieces of the portfolio may still perform well.

This diversification also dampens volatility. A pure commodities fund can be extremely volatile; a pure real-estate fund is steadier but exposed to interest-rate swings. IQRA, by blending them, aims for steadier, less gut-wrenching returns in exchange for not maximizing any single bet.

Costs and holding-period expectations

IQRA has a notably low expense ratio for a multi-asset fund — typically in the 0.40% range. The underlying index is mechanical, and commodity and real-estate holdings require minimal stock-picking. The fund is also relatively liquid for an alternative-asset ETF, trading millions of shares daily, so bid-ask spreads are narrow.

Because the fund blends inflation-sensitive hard assets with income-yielding real estate and infrastructure, it is best suited for longer holding periods (several years or more). Real assets are often cyclical — periods of high commodity prices can be followed by years of weakness — and trying to time in and out can easily destroy returns. An investor who holds IQRA through a full economic cycle is more likely to benefit from its diversification and inflation-hedging properties than one who trades it frequently.

Tax and distribution considerations

IQRA’s distributions include dividends (from the REITs and utility holdings), interest (from commodity-linked notes and bonds), and capital gains. The mix varies by year depending on how each asset class performs. Commodity returns can include significant short-term gains if prices swing sharply. Real-estate and infrastructure dividends are often subject to preferential tax treatment (qualified dividend rates) if you hold the fund in a taxable account, though some portions may be ordinary income. A financial adviser can clarify the precise tax treatment for your situation.

Who might own this fund

IQRA appeals to investors who:

• Want a single, diversified vehicle for real-asset exposure without buying individual REITs, commodity funds, and utility stocks separately
• Believe inflation risk is elevated and want a broader hedge than stocks alone offer
• Seek assets with stable or rising cash flows rather than growth-dependent earnings
• Are comfortable with the cyclicality and volatility that real assets can bring, but want diversification across multiple asset types to smooth that volatility

It is not a substitute for a core equity position, nor is it a safe haven — real assets can fall sharply in recessions or when interest rates spike. But for an allocation dedicated to inflation hedging or to the belief that hard, scarce things will outperform financial assets, IQRA offers a clean, transparent entry point with low fees.

Researching the fund

IQRA’s prospectus outlines the CBRE Real Assets Index methodology and the fund’s fee structure. The fund’s fact sheet (available on the provider’s website) shows the current breakdown by asset class and country. CBRE publishes index documentation explaining how the index is weighted and rebalanced. As with any real-asset fund, understanding the current macro backdrop — inflation expectations, commodity prices, real-estate sentiment, interest rates — is essential to assessing how IQRA might behave in your portfolio.