EDITORIAL STANDARD

Research standards & methodology

How Monopoly MOAT sources, dates, calculates, reviews, and corrects the factual claims used in the Landlord Ledger and ETF comparison.

LAST REVIEWED AUG 26, 2026

The short version

We prefer primary sources, put unlike figures on the same basis before comparing them, preserve the date attached to every observation, and disclose where an estimate is still awaiting independent review. We do not convert a missing fact into a confident-looking number.

Return methodology

The currently displayed twelve-company figures are older estimates running from July 2016 through January 2026, with Spotify beginning at its April 2018 public listing. They remain labelled pending verification. The next calculation contract is fixed at July 29, 2016 through July 31, 2026, with a same-date SPY observation for Spotify, but that replacement will not be published until its provider, display rights, inputs, and independent review are complete. The current-fund panel has a pre-rendered issuer-NAV fallback through July 31, 2026. In the browser, that whole set is replaced only when the daily Marketstack adapter returns adjusted EOD market-price returns for MPLY, MOAT, TOLL, and SPY on one date: YTD from the prior year-end close and trailing 1Y from the last common trading close on or before the one-year anniversary. Marketstack's adjusted closes are intended to reflect splits and distributions; the calculations are labelled as market-price total-return estimates, not official issuer NAV total returns. The bases are labelled and never mixed. SPY is an ETF proxy; it is not presented as the S&P 500 index itself.

ETF overlap methodology

The ETF Overlap X-Ray excludes cash and calculates portfolio intersection as the sum of the smaller weight for every matched security. MPLY–TOLL uses CUSIP matching where available; pairs involving MOAT currently use normalized tickers. Each fund retains its own issuer observation date, so the output is a dated approximation rather than a synchronized portfolio. We publish derived pair metrics, not a machine-readable copy of the full issuer holdings, while redistribution and identifier rights remain under review.

Private-exposure methodology

We identify the disclosed portfolio instrument first, then follow the ownership chain only as far as primary evidence permits. TOLL's Aug 21 file discloses indirect private Kalshi exposure through an SPV at 7.64% of NAV. SpaceX began public trading as SPCX on Jun 12, 2026, and MPLY's Aug 25 file identifies its 4.337716% position as common stock; describing that current holding as private would be stale. MOAT's Aug 24 holdings disclose no current private-company or SPV position. Unknown legal, valuation, liquidity, fee, and look-through terms remain explicitly unknown rather than being inferred.

Thesis-falsification methodology

The kill sheet separates evidence completeness from trigger status. A user records an observable threshold before the current observation; missing or insufficient evidence is “untestable,” not a pass. The worksheet produces no score, rating, recommendation, or buy/hold/sell output, and custom entries remain in the browser and are not sent to analytics.

Inflation methodology

The cash illustration uses the not-seasonally-adjusted CPI-U US city average, all items series (CUUR0000SA0). It expresses the purchasing power of July 2016 dollars in July 2026 terms and rounds only the displayed dollar result.

Spending estimates

The spending table and receipt are internal, rounded illustrations of annual US consumer spending routed to the named companies. They are not audited household budgets. The table is an unconditional per-capita model; the receipt is an interactive scenario for a reader who selects a product or service. The two are kept conceptually separate even when a rounded input is shared.

Current primary sources

• MPLY issuer page Strategy Shares
• MOAT issuer page VanEck
• TOLL issuer page Tema ETFs
• SPY issuer page State Street
• CPI-U series guidance US Bureau of Labor Statistics
• CZAR liquidation filing US Securities and Exchange Commission

Review and corrections

The current ETF source snapshots and Research Desk calculations shown on this site were reviewed on Aug 26, 2026. The daily performance adapter publishes derived percentages only; raw Marketstack data and credentials never reach the browser. The Landlord Ledger's historical-return replacement and spending-model evidence remain subject to independent calculation and publication review. To challenge a figure or report a correction, email contact@mplymoat.com with the page, figure, preferred source, and observation date.