Our guest this week was Vincent Deluard, Director of Global Macro Strategy at Stonex. StoneX (formerly known as INTL FCStone) is an institutional-grade financial services network that connects companies, organizations, traders and investors to the global markets ecosystem through a unique blend of digital platforms, end-to-end clearing and execution services, high-touch service and deep expertise. Our conversation covered: Comparing the narratives from other allocators Is the Fed Pivot here now ...
Dec 14, 2022•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 147
Our guest this week was Bradley Barrie, president and CEO of Dynamic Alpha Solution , a firm that is reshaping the way US advisors think about asset allocation through their multi-dimensional framework. Our conversation covered: His early career and almost becoming a math teacher Embracing difference and uniqueness from the very beginning The barren landscape for alternative strategies in the 1990s Style drift and closet indexers False diversification Defining Multi-Dimensional Asset Allocation ...
Dec 08, 2022•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 146
Alfonso – also known as MacroAlf – joined Adam and Mike to discuss his most recent report entitled “Yes, But When Recession?” Our conversation covered: Alf’s experience managing a $20B multi-asset book at a global bank Experience launching an independent macro newsletter for greater freedom of views Benefits of interacting with central bankers, regulators and senior officials at the bank Currently focused on recession – when and how bad will it be? Economic, social and market impacts of recessio...
Nov 29, 2022•54 min•Ep. 145
Our guest this week was Mark Yusko, founder, chief investment officer and managing director of Morgan Creek Capital Management. With deep experience in both digital assets and traditional finance, Mark took us on a rollercoaster as we dissected the recent turmoil affecting the ‘crypto-verse’. Topics included: A post-mortem of the FTX debacle – an evolving situation with many missing pieces The sequence of events that led to the debacle Why Mark passed on the opportunity to invest… three times Us...
Nov 23, 2022•1 hr 34 min•Ep. 144
It was our great privilege to welcome Mark Rzepczynski this week. Mark has over 25 years of experience in financial markets, is a former finance professor and writes frequently about global markets and quantitative investing. Our conversation covered: His early years, ‘forged in the chaos of the trading pits’ Pursuing a PhD and recognizing a career in research was not for him Working for John Henry – an apprenticeship in trend following Finding one’s comparative advantage and sticking to it Why ...
Nov 14, 2022•1 hr 52 min•Ep. 143
We have been eagerly waiting for this one for a while! Our friend Mike Green, Chief Strategist and Portfolio Manager at Simplify Asset Management, returned to the podcast this week. Always thought-provoking, Mike journeyed with us through a wide range of topics that included: Why the enthusiasm for central bank intervention is so asymmetric Options trading and the wild swings in Zero Days to Expiration Options (0DTE) Statistical anomalies in the labor market The primary drivers of inflation in t...
Nov 07, 2022•2 hr 13 min•Ep. 142
It was our great pleasure to welcome back Cem Karsan (also known as @jam_croissant on Twitter), Founder and Sr. Managing Partner at Kai Volatility Advisors. This deeply insightful conversation included topics such as: A recap of the last few months in equity markets Volume-weighted time and why seasonality matters more than most people know The acceleration of gamma, vanna and charm – a dangerous time to be short equities Dealer positioning as a major gravitational force in markets, often overlo...
Nov 01, 2022•1 hr 44 min•Ep. 141
Our guest this week was Darius Dale, founder and CEO of 42 Macro, an investment research firm focused on macroeconomics. Our conversation covered topics including: How higher inflation leads to higher inflation volatility and increased risk premia The core drivers of inflation and where the data currently points Complacency followed by overshooting – the central bank dichotomy Don’t count on a pivot anytime soon – why Powell is determined to “break things” An uncomfortable trade-off – under infl...
Oct 26, 2022•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 140
Wade Pfau is Professor of Retirement Income at The American College and has published several books on retirement, most recently The Retirement Planning Guidebook: Navigating The Important Decisions For Retirement Success. He joined us for an awesome discussion that included: The drawbacks of privatized retirement plans Why longevity pooling is so important Trade-offs between defined benefits and defined contribution plans Varying incentives across countries How different systems can withstand l...
Sep 27, 2022•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 138
Our friend Jeff Weniger, Head of Equity Strategy at Wisdom Tree, returned as this week’s guest. Our wide-ranging conversation covered topics including: How sticky has inflation really become Many ways to measure inflation Leading and lagging indicators The recent drop in US home prices and the health of the real-estate market How the recent rise in interest rates affects mortgages and affordability US money supply and the reversal of the TINA trade Japan – demographics, debt burden and a collaps...
Sep 20, 2022•1 hr 52 min•Ep. 137
As we returned from the summer break, the season’s opening episode brought the ReSolve crew together for a deep dive into Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA) strategies, often referred to as Managed Futures, covering topics that included: The path we all took to become CTA fund managers The role these strategies can and should play in portfolios How to position them within a broader asset allocation framework ‘Closet betas’ vs true diversifiers Are CTAs necessarily synonymous with trend following? T...
Sep 14, 2022•1 hr 47 min•Ep. 136
Today’s guest is Claudia Sahm, who is the founder of Stay-At-Home Macro Consulting. She also writes a Substack of the same name, stayathomemacro.substack.com . She is a former Federal Reserve analyst, and also a former White House economic adviser. Claudia and I discussed the interaction between fiscal and monetary policy, and how the government and the Federal Reserve might more effectively combine forces to use the best tools available to address many of the major challenges that are ongoing i...
Aug 05, 2022•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 135
Logan is one of the foremost experts on the state and health of the U.S. housing market. In his capacity as Lead Analyst for HousingWire, he invokes a comprehensive data-driven framework for understanding the fundamental drivers of housing supply and demand. Logan demonstrated his expertise on the subject, bringing to bear data and analysis from a variety of sources and perspectives. The housing market is extremely complex with many agents and feedback effects. Logan’s insights into the motivati...
Jul 29, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 134
The conversation was motivated by Demetri’s tweets about MMT and fiscal policy, which stirred up quite a conflagration, and involved several primary exponents of MMT including Warren Mosler and Rohan Gray. Adam and Demetri spent the first 35 or 40 minutes on MMT, mostly overcoming the frustration around the politicization of the concept. They discussed inequality and government’s involvement in the economy. The conversation then shifted to what’s happening currently in the economy and to the US ...
Jul 22, 2022•1 hr 32 min•Ep. 133
This week we welcomed back our good friend Jason Buck (founder and CIO of Mutiny Fund) for the final episode before the summer break. Our conversation included: Recent price action in the commodity space The incredible confidence of the ‘buy the dip’ equity investors An end to the “bad news is good news” regime The mental pivot required to successfully navigate regime shift Why prolonged bear markets have become a foreign idea to most investors The kind of environment in which the difference bet...
Jun 29, 2022•1 hr 58 min•Ep. 132
This week we had the pleasure of welcoming Jeff Snider (Head of Global Investment Research at Alhambra Investments) and Emil Kalinowski (enterprising investor, author and host of both a talk radio show and a podcast). Together, they co-host Eurodollar University podcast and shed light on the complexities of the global monetary system. Our conversation included: Back to basics – how the global currency and monetary systems actually work The origins of the Eurodollar system Triffin’s Paradox and t...
Jun 21, 2022•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 131
For this week’s special episode, Adam, Mike, Rodrigo and Richard gathered to explore the building blocks of an ultimate All Weather portfolio. Our conversation included: The blind spots of the 60/40 stock-bond portfolio Regime dependency and economic shocks Diversifiable versus non-diversifiable risks How to create an optimal portfolio that can navigate most regimes Why Global Risk Parity is the natural starting point for any investor with a long-term view Different ways to implement Risk Parity...
Jun 17, 2022•1 hr 49 min•Ep. 129
We had the pleasure this week of speaking with Cem Karsan (the pronunciation can be a bit challenging, bit the hint is in his Twitter handle - @jam_croissant ), founder of Kai Volatility Advisors . His deep knowledge of market structures and investment flows took us on a fascinating conversation that included: Joining a team early in his career that would become one of the Street’s largest options market makers Developing a profound understanding of the reflexive game of dealer positioning and i...
Jun 15, 2022•1 hr 35 min•Ep. 130
This week Adam and Rodrigo of ReSolve Global* had the pleasure of speaking with Jason Josephiac of Meketa Investment Group. Our conversation spanned topics including: His background in the industry and joining Meketa Asset Allocation: label/category diversification vs. risk/functional diversification Risk Parity vs. Traditional Asset Allocation What Portable Alpha Synthetically creating your own “bond” with risk factors not directly tied to spreads and rates Risk Mitigating Strategies (RMS) Long...
Jun 06, 2022•1 hr 41 min•Ep. 128
Our guest this week was Rob Van Wielingen, President & CEO of Viewpoint Investment Partners, a boutique investment management firm offering systematic strategies to private and institutional investors. Our conversation included: The Van Wielingen family background in the oil and gas industry Rob’s decision at an early age to focus on finance and technology Learning from his grandfather’s experience: “I know what it’s like to be rich – I’ve been rich three times” How the family gradually move...
May 24, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 127
This week we had the pleasure of speaking with Andy Constan (CEO / CIO at Damped Spring Advisors) and prolific member of the FinTwit community under the @dampedspring penname. Our conversation spanned topics including: His long and interesting career in the investment world Starting with equity derivatives and eventually earning his ‘global macro education’ at Bridgewater Associates The constantly evolving challenge of generating alpha Trading and managing portfolios at scale and the importance ...
May 18, 2022•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 126
Vincent Deluard is the Global Macro Strategist for StoneX, where he advises institutional investors on asset allocation and risk management. He joined us for an awesome conversation that covered topics including: His early life in France - expectations for public service but ‘saved’ by a scholarship to study abroad Bitten by the ‘quantitative bug’ from the very start of his career How his macro framework evolved Inflection points in the mega trends that have endured for the last 40 years Concern...
May 11, 2022•1 hr 34 min•Ep. 125
It had been a while since we riffed with our good friend Meb Faber (co-founder and the Chief Investment Officer of Cambria Investment Management), and as always, he didn’t disappoint. Our thought-provoking conversation covered topics such as: Meb’s big announcement – his Idea Farm, which curates investment content from a wide variety of sources, is now free Recent equity market dynamics and the pain that historically comes with inflation Why dogmatism and inflexibility are two of the worst trait...
May 03, 2022•1 hr 43 min•Ep. 124
We were joined this week by Kris Abdelmessih, who spent most of his career as an options trader and now writes about the relationship between money, work and creativity in the Moontower blog and weekly newsletter. Our conversation covered topics that included: Becoming a derivatives and options trader straight out of college Defining the difference between trading and investing Identifying alpha – understanding your edge and capitalizing on it The business of trading Not just surviving but thriv...
Apr 26, 2022•1 hr 52 min•Ep. 123
Our guest this week was Rohan Grey, assistant professor at Willamette University College of Law where he teaches Contracts, Business Associations and Securities Regulation. Rohan is also a prominent advocate of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) and has also recently been involved in drafting regulations in the digital asset and currency space. Our wide ranging conversation took us through historical periods, current policy debates, and included: Why laws have historically been ‘kind to the rich’ and ...
Apr 15, 2022•2 hr 15 min
Dr. Antti Ilmanen, Principal and Global Co-head of the Portfolio Solutions Group at AQR Capital Management joins ReSolve Global CIO Adam Butler to discuss the core themes from Antti’s new book, “Investing Amid Low Expected Returns.” In this 100 minute conversation we explore the following themes at length: The pros and cons of several models for forecasting stock returns The role of bonds in portfolios when yields are low. How to measure and optimize the credit risk premium The sources of return...
Apr 13, 2022•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 122
Our guest this week was Stuart Barton, co-founder and Chief Investment Officer at Volatility Shares. Our conversation ranged across topics that included: Early career as a vol trader and how the space has changed over time Volatility Shares’ investment approach – probability-weighting and active trading ETNs, ETFs and other ‘packaging’ models – benefits and drawbacks Settlement as a crucial variable – matching vehicles and their underlying assets A post-mortem on the ‘Volmageddon’ episode in Feb...
Apr 05, 2022•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 120
This week we had the pleasure of welcoming Bilal Hafeez, founder, CEO and Head of Research at Macro Hive, and the host of the Macro Hive Conversations podcast. We had a broad global macro conversation that included: Bilal’s journey in the finance industry through North America, Asia and back to Europe Retiring from corporate life and founding a ‘hive-mind’ research firm A top-down approach with an eye for structural trends and a cyclical view Interest rates as the main concern for both retail an...
Mar 29, 2022•1 hr 41 min•Ep. 119
Our good friend Eric Balchunas (Senior ETF Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence) joined us once again, this time to discuss his new book “The Bogle Effect: How John Bogle and Vanguard Turned Wall Street Inside Out and Saved Investors Trillions”. We covered topics that included: Bogle’s early life as a university student and his 1949 thesis Becoming the young CEO of Wellington Fund at age 35 Bogle’s initial enthusiasm with active management before building his “passive juggernaut” The beginnings of ...
Mar 24, 2022•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 118
We were joined this week by Preet Banerjee, host of the Mostly Money podcast, management consultant focused on commercial applications of behavioral finance, and founder of MoneyGaps’: "Light Financial Planning" software for advisors. Our conversation included topics such as: Preet’s diverse background – from neuroscience and financial advisory to auto racing Realizing everything is about psychology Outgrowing his advisory practice and becoming a consultant Setting out to quantify the value of f...
Mar 16, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 117
