Tom Morgan is Director of Communications and Content for the Knall/Cohen/Pence (KCP) Group at Stifel. He writes a weekly missive called The Attention Span, which curates and synthesizes content, ideas and frameworks to help readers make sense of an increasingly complex world. Tom, Richard, Mike and Adam wandered into a wide range of topics, but the central theme orbited around humanity’s universal craving for meaning and connection in the vacuum created by the post-modernist Western focus on emp...
Oct 28, 2021•2 hr 58 min•Ep. 101
Wes, Patrick and the Alpha Architect Team are long-time friends of ReSolve, and were gracious enough to join us last-minute to discuss their huge win in the ETF white label space, with the launch of the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF. Wes and team are known for their pure factor ETFs, but in the last few years they’ve pivoted from asset management to create an ETF Architect division, offering the “picks and shovels” for external managers to offer niche strategies with tight operations and low costs. W...
Oct 20, 2021•2 hr 31 min•Ep. 100
Traditional portfolios are faced with the prospects of depressed expected returns in the coming years, as implied by current stretched valuations of stocks, and near record low rates and credit spreads for bonds. Our recently released paper – Return Stacking: Strategies for Overcoming a Low Return Environment – co-authored by Rodrigo and our good friend Corey Hoffstein, shows how investors may materially improve their chances of success by allocating to uncorrelated managers that may offer more ...
Oct 14, 2021•2 hr 42 min•Ep. 99
Whether stemming from a recession, a policy shock, a terrorist attack, or a global pandemic, financial markets periodically go through major selloffs. It has always been this way. Euphoria eventually leads to panic, every time. Another way to look at these crashes is through the lens of volatility (and its commensurate rise), which has become a fundamental component of investment decisions. As time goes by, innovations can (and will) suppress volatility and can sometimes give the impression that...
Oct 05, 2021•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 98
We had a very special guest this week – Roy Niederhoffer, founder and president of R. G. Niederhoffer Capital Management, a NY-based quantitative investment firm. With a strong musical background and an original plan to become a neuroscientist, Roy might have led an academic life if it weren’t for his programming skills and an offer to join his older brother’s hedge fund, one that he couldn’t refuse. He joined us for a fascinating conversation, covering topics such as: His early life, a diverse ...
Sep 29, 2021•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 97
“The unfortunate truth is, very few want to hear an optimistic take on the world during a pandemic.” Human beings evolved to pay closer attention to negative vs positive information. For our ancestors, the cost of seeing danger where there was none was a cortisol spike and an unnecessary sprint, but dismissing a real threat might have led them to be a predator’s next meal. Our guest this week was Laurence Siegel, Director of Research at the CFA Institute Research Foundation and author of “Fewer,...
Sep 22, 2021•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 96
“Don’t hide from risk; find it and attack it.” We were joined this week by none other than Tom Basso (Enjoytheride.world), trend following legend, author of Panic-Proof Investing and The Frustrated Investor and known as ‘Mr Serenity’ from his depiction in Jack Schwager’s best-selling Market Wizard series. From his ten-dollar a week paper route, to earning enough money to buy his first mutual fund, our conversation spanned a few decades and included: A chemical engineer’s approach to capital mark...
Sep 14, 2021•2 hr 33 min•Ep. 95
As a growing percentage of Baby Boomers prepare for retirement, they are confronted with the uncomfortable prospect of record stock and bond valuations. Even the most optimistic capital market assumptions suggest the 60/40 portfolio is unlikely to deliver the returns many nest eggs have been built for. To help us get a clearer picture of the challenges and opportunities faced by retirees in the coming decade, we had the pleasure of speaking with Michael Finke (Professor of Wealth Management) and...
Sep 07, 2021•2 hr 46 min•Ep. 94
A casual observer of modern economies might be forgiven for feeling that life is pretty good. And they might reasonably credit neoclassical economic principles for facilitating what appears to have been a great leap forward in global prosperity. At the same time, we are occasionally confronted with news of looming global calamities, which are a product of the exact same policies that brought about this apparent prosperity: irreversible climate change, unprecedented global private credit, global ...
Aug 27, 2021•2 hr 3 min•Ep. 93
One of the major trends catalyzed by the era of low interest rates and excess liquidity has been the drive towards real assets. Uniqueness and scarcity premiums are paid in assets as diverse as real estate, art, digital assets, and fine wines. With our friend Jason Buck (CIO of Mutiny Fund) as co-host, we were joined this week by Atul Tiwari (CEO of Cult Wines) for a deep dive into the world of investable fine wines. Topics included: Atul’s journey – from reformed lawyer and finance executive to...
Aug 12, 2021•2 hr 37 min•Ep. 92
If you’ve been following international news over the past few years, you’ve likely noticed brewing tensions between major countries, even before the pandemic struck. Proxy wars, diplomatic tensions and regional skirmishes have been flaring up across the globe. To help us make sense of these events and how they may impact financial markets, we had the distinct pleasure of hosting none other than Dr. Pippa Malmgren, former presidential advisor, best-selling and award winning author. Her expertise ...
Aug 05, 2021•2 hr 42 min•Ep. 91
With our good friend Dave Nadig (CIO and Director of Research at ETF Trends) as co-host, we had the pleasure of speaking with Matt Hougan, CIO of Bitwise Investment, which manages the world’s largest crypto index fund. A veteran of the ETF industry, Matt brings institutional gravitas to a nascent sector and has recently authored the CFA Institute’s curriculum guidelines for digital assets. Our conversation included: Crypto as a currency looks highly unlikely to succeed, but as a technological ad...
Jul 27, 2021•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 90
This is “ReSolve’s Riffs” – live on YouTube every Friday afternoon to debate the most relevant investment topics of the day, hosted by Adam Butler, Mike Philbrick and Rodrigo Gordillo of ReSolve Global* and Richard Laterman of ReSolve Asset Management. Following our first conversation with David Fauchier (Portfolio Manager at Nickel Digital Asset Management), he insisted that we had to speak with Thomas Braziel, Founder and CIO of 507 Capital, who he claimed was one of the most interesting and i...
Jul 20, 2021•2 hr 30 min•Ep. 89
For this podcast we had the pleasure of being joined by Fred Pye, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of 3iQ Corp. He is also the Chairman of 3iQ Digital Holdings Inc. 3iQ is a pioneer manager in the digital asset space, with a variety of Canadian and international mutual funds and ETFs providing access to a variety of cryptocurrencies. On this episode we discuss: The early history of trailblazing unique asset classes The QSC/OSC and Bitcoin – a commodity, a security or a currency Closed-end fu...
Jul 20, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 88
This is “ReSolve’s Riffs” – live on YouTube every Friday afternoon to debate the most relevant investment topics of the day, hosted by Adam Butler, Mike Philbrick and Rodrigo Gordillo of ReSolve Global*. “A year ago, digital assets were a fringe asset class, the mere mention of which could spell career risk. Now, the career risk is likely if you completely ignore the space.” Global markets are evolving at a blinding pace, and investors often find themselves in a race to catch up with what are so...
Jul 13, 2021•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 87
This is “ReSolve’s Riffs” – live on YouTube every Friday afternoon to debate the most relevant investment topics of the day, hosted by Adam Butler, Mike Philbrick and Rodrigo Gordillo of ReSolve Global*. “There are two types of truths – one that can be derived from first principles, and another that emerges from a common set of beliefs or a shared narrative.” It was our great pleasure to speak this week with Demetri Kofinas, host of the popular Hidden Forces podcast. We have been keen listeners ...
Jun 29, 2021•3 hr 33 min•Ep. 86
This is “ReSolve’s Riffs” – live on YouTube every Friday afternoon to debate the most relevant investment topics of the day, hosted by Adam Butler, Mike Philbrick and Rodrigo Gordillo of ReSolve Global*. “As the discount rate drives towards zero, it inflates every asset on the planet, including their correlations. Today’s dominant factor is discount rate risk.” Fasten your seatbelt and dial down the speed on your podcast player, because you are in for an epic ride. With our good friend Corey Hof...
Jun 22, 2021•3 hr 32 min•Ep. 85
This is “ReSolve’s Riffs” – live on YouTube every Friday afternoon to debate the most relevant investment topics of the day, hosted by Adam Butler, Mike Philbrick and Rodrigo Gordillo of ReSolve Global*. “Life – and investing – are more like poker than chess”. This week we had the honor to speak to none other than Annie Duke, former World Series of Poker champion, author of “Thinking in Bets” and “How to Decide”, and thought leader in the field of decision-making. Co-hosted by our good friend Br...
Jun 16, 2021•2 hr 3 min•Ep. 84
How we can prepare for every investment scenario. We discuss: Risk Parity and Futures Markets Leverage and Value Diversification Outsourcing Expertise Integrating Asset Classes to Maximize Returns
Jun 09, 2021•19 min
This is “ReSolve’s Riffs” – live on YouTube every Friday afternoon to debate the most relevant investment topics of the day, hosted by Adam Butler, Mike Philbrick and Rodrigo Gordillo of ReSolve Global*. This week we were joined by Brandon Caruana and Brian Tang, cofounders of Cayman-based Cartan Group, a consulting firm that specializes in blockchain technology solutions. The two combine for a deep and broad knowledge base of the emerging digital asset space, which made for a fascinating and wi...
Jun 09, 2021•2 hr 12 min•Ep. 83
How can we manage for scenarios when Liquidity evaporates? We discuss: The mechanics of a Liquidity Shock The Fed and the Long Volatility Gap Diversification, Tail Hedge Protection and Theta Bleed Dennis Rodman and the Long Vol Trade Yield, Growth and Inflation
Jun 02, 2021•21 min
This is “ReSolve’s Riffs” – live on YouTube every Friday afternoon to debate the most relevant investment topics of the day, hosted by Adam Butler, Mike Philbrick and Rodrigo Gordillo of ReSolve Global*. Our guest this week was Robert Cantwell, founder and CIO of Upholdings, the first hedge fund in the US to be converted into an ETF. His career arc, beginning on the institutional side of the business and then actively seeking out more experience as a business operator, armed him with the flexibi...
Jun 01, 2021•2 hr 30 min•Ep. 82
This is GestaltU from ReSolve Asset Management where we debate the most relevant investment topics of the day, hosted by Adam Butler and Rodrigo Gordillo of ReSolve Global. The Crypto space is gaining more interest every day. David Fauchier is a Portfolio Manager and allocator at Nickel Digital Asset Management, with eight years of experience in the digital asset space. Prior to joining Nickel, David was CIO of Cambrial Capital, a London based fund of funds, which specialized in sourcing and sel...
May 31, 2021•2 hr 40 min•Ep. 80
This is “ReSolve’s Riffs” – live on YouTube every Friday afternoon to debate the most relevant investment topics of the day, hosted by Adam Butler, Mike Philbrick and Rodrigo Gordillo of ReSolve Global*. And in the blink of an eye, a year went by. In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, we recorded a conversation on the global investment landscape in the wake of competing narratives and heightened uncertainty. The Pandemic Portfolio episode paved the way for what would become ReSolve Riff...
May 26, 2021•2 hr 13 min•Ep. 80
How can we move from Factor Beta to Alpha? We discuss: Swensen, Yale and aligning incentives The cycles of factor investing Machine learning, the Bias/Variance trade off and Alpha Ensembles Sustainable Alpha through continuous Innovation
May 26, 2021•27 min
What additional Sleeves can we add to maximize diversity? We discuss: Style premia, factors, smart beta – the benefits and risks Efficient negative Sharpe ratios Redemptions and “noise traders” Larry Swedroe and anomalies Value characteristics and correlations Flows and Arbitrage opportunities
May 19, 2021•23 min
This is “ReSolve’s Riffs” – live on YouTube every Friday afternoon to debate the most relevant investment topics of the day, hosted by Adam Butler, Mike Philbrick and Rodrigo Gordillo of ReSolve Global*. “The global macro game is far from boring!” Juliette Declercq, Founder & Global Macro Strategist at JDI Research, is not one to mince words, neither on her monthly reports, or on the rare occasions she grants an interview. We had the privilege of hosting her this week for some deeply insightful ...
May 17, 2021•2 hr 33 min•Ep. 79
How do we eat Sharpe ratio and meet financial goals with a maximally diversified portfolio? We discuss: Using leverage in a robust and diversified portfolio to preserve diversification while achieving target returns Why “credit” is not a distinct asset class and does not increase diversity Integrating your bets The repercussions of levering up What makes Risk Parity hard
May 12, 2021•19 min
This is “ReSolve’s Riffs” – live on YouTube every Friday afternoon to debate the most relevant investment topics of the day, hosted by Adam Butler, Mike Philbrick and Rodrigo Gordillo of ReSolve Global*. Jim O’Shaughnessy (chairman and co-CIO of O’Shaughnessy Asset Management) is a Wall Street legend. He is one of the “OGs” of quantitative investing, a best-selling author, and more recently also turned podcaster with his Infinite Loops channel. Jim joined us for a roller-coaster of a conversatio...
May 11, 2021•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 78
Traditional yields are low, so how do we meet our funding obligations? We discuss: Rebalancing highly diversified portfolios to generate 3%-5% in excess returns The Diversification Ratio and maximally diversified portfolios The increased value of maximally diversified commodity sleeves Special advantages for non-institutional investors Hosted by Adam Butler, Mike Philbrick and Rodrigo Gordillo of ReSolve Global.
May 05, 2021•23 min
