Financial Thought Exchange Podcast

Exponential Wealth: Centuries of Stock and Bond Returns with Ibbotson and Siegel (Part 2)

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 13:00:00 +0000

Roger G. Ibbotson, PhD, and Laurence B. Siegel join Lotta Moberg, PhD, CFA, to continue their discussion of Exponential Wealth: Centuries of Stock and Bond Returns, a forthcoming CFA Institute Research Foundation book. This conversation focuses on the construction of long-run stock and bond market indices and the challenges of measuring returns across centuries of financial history. Ibbotson and Siegel examine index methodologies, including market capitalization weighting, equal weighting, and free-float adjustments, and discuss what investors can learn from historical data about concentration, volatility, survivorship bias, and the small-cap premium. The conversation also explores the book's international perspective, drawing on centuries of market data from around the world to provide context for capital market forecasts and long-term investment decisions.

Exponential Wealth is a 21-chapter compendium of data, insights, and essays by 24 distinguished authors on stock and bond markets. . The book is organized into four sections covering stock and bond return history, the past 100 years in US markets, centuries of US and global returns, and forecasts for the future. Topics include index construction, equity risk premiums, bubbles and crashes, commodities, global market history, and forecasting.

Contributing authors include David Chambers, Peng Chen, Thomas Coleman, Fernando de la Luz Reyes, Elroy Dimson, William N. Goetzmann, James Harrington, Thomas Idzorek, Antti Ilmanen, Rajkumar Janardanan, Paul Kaplan, Tadaaki Komatsubara, Otto Manninen, Paul Marsh, Edward McQuarrie, Carla Nunes, Xiao Qiao, Paul Rintamäki, Geert Rouwenhorst, Mike Staunton, Bryan Taylor, and James Tyler.

Related content and publications:

Exponential Wealth: Centuries of Stock and Bond Returns with Ibbotson and Siegel (Part 1)

https://youtu.be/wyVlpZQ6qc4

The Long-Run Drivers of Stock Returns: Total Payouts and the Real Economy

https://rpc.cfainstitute.org/research/financial-analysts-journal/2017/the-long-run-drivers-of-stock…

Financial Thought Exchange with Rob Arnott, Part 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox7-y7PZ_ek

Financial Thought Exchange with Rob Arnott, Part 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShaI1N1BrEM

Stocks, Bonds, Bills, and Inflation® (SBBI®): 2020 Summary Edition

https://rpc.cfainstitute.org/research/foundation/2020/sbbi-2020-summary-edition

Stocks, Bonds, Bills, and Inflation: Historical Returns (1926–1987)

https://rpc.cfainstitute.org/research/foundation/1989/rf-v1989-n3-sbbi-historical-returns

Stocks, Bonds, Bills, and Inflation: The Past and the Future, 1982 Edition

Exponential Wealth: Centuries of Stock and Bond Returns with Ibbotson and Siegel (Part 1)

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 14:06:52 +0000

Roger G. Ibbotson, PhD, and Laurence B. Siegel join Lotta Moberg, PhD, CFA, to discuss Exponential Wealth: Centuries of Stock and Bond Returns, a forthcoming CFA Institute Research Foundation book. Marking the 50th anniversary of Ibbotson’s landmark research on stocks, bonds, bills, and inflation, the conversation examines what more than 100 years of market data reveal about long-term wealth creation. Ibbotson and Siegel explore the power of compounding, the importance of total returns and dividend reinvestment, the relationship between market returns and economic growth, and how investors should interpret a century of evidence on stocks, bonds, and inflation.

Exponential Wealth is a 21-chapter compendium of data, essays, and insights on stock and bond markets. The book is organized into four sections covering stock and bond return history, the past 100 years in US markets, centuries of US and global returns, and forecasts for the future. Topics include index construction, equity risk premiums, bubbles and crashes, commodities, global market history, and forecasting.

Index Construction and Fundamental Indexing with Rob Arnott

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Rob Arnott joins Lotta Moberg, PhD, CFA, to continue their conversation on indexing, focusing on how index construction decisions shape outcomes for investors. Arnott examines the hidden effects of index membership, including how inclusion can influence valuations and create structural buying pressure, and why traditional market‑cap approaches may embed unintended biases. He introduces alternative approaches such as fundamental indexing, explaining how weighting by economic size rather than price can change portfolio behavior and return profiles. The discussion also explores turnover, momentum, IPO dynamics, and practical ways to think differently about benchmarks and passive investing. Arnott offers a perspective that challenges conventional definitions of "passive," encouraging a more critical view of how indices are built and used.

The Active Side of Indexing with Rob Arnott

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Thu, 09 Jul 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Rob Arnott joins Lotta Moberg, PhD, CFA, to discuss the ideas behind The Active Side of Indexing and challenge common assumptions about passive investing. Arnott explains why traditional market‑cap indices are not as passive as they appear, highlighting how index construction and rebalancing can lead to systematically buying high and selling low. The conversation examines the impact of index inclusion and deletion, turnover dynamics, and overlooked trading costs, as well as the implications for long‑term performance. Arnott also explores momentum, mean reversion, and the growing influence of index funds on market structure, offering a fresh perspective on how investors should think about benchmarks, efficiency, and the relationship between active and passive strategies.

Quantitative Investing with Petter Kolm, PhD, and Gordon Ritter, PhD

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Petter Kolm, PhD, and Gordon Ritter, PhD, join Lotta Moberg, PhD, CFA, to continue their discussion on quantitative investing, focusing on model design, implementation, and real‑world application. The conversation explores how quantitative strategies are refined in practice, the challenges of working with financial data, and the balance between theoretical rigor and practical constraints. Kolm and Ritter also discuss evolving market conditions, sources of edge, and how practitioners can think critically about models, performance, and risk. The discussion highlights the importance of adaptability and disciplined decision‑making when applying quantitative approaches in dynamic markets.

Risk, Models, and Financial Decision‑Making with Petter Kolm, PhD and Gordon Ritter, PhD

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Petter Kolm, PhD and Gordon Ritter, PhD, join Lotta Moberg, PhD, for a conversation on quantitative models, risk, and financial decision‑making. The discussion examines how models are constructed and evaluated, the assumptions that underpin them, and the trade‑offs involved when applying theory to real‑world financial problems. Kolm and Ritter share perspectives on model risk, uncertainty, and the role of judgment alongside data, offering insights relevant to both researchers and practitioners working at the intersection of finance and analytics.

Infrastructure Debt with Clements, Ricciardelli, Beckman and Le Bret

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Thu, 21 May 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Philip Clements, CFA, Alfonso Ricciardelli, CFA, Matthieu LeBret and Simon Beckman join Will Goodhart (CFA Institute Research Foundation Board of Trustees), to discuss their recent brief on infrastructure debt and its growing role in institutional portfolios. The conversation explores how infrastructure debt has evolved from a niche allocation into a core component of alternative credit, shaped by the energy transition, government funding needs, and limits on bank balance sheets. The guests examine risk characteristics across the asset class, including construction risk, technology change, political uncertainty, and interest‑rate regimes, as well as how infrastructure debt fits alongside equity, private credit, and real assets. The discussion also covers renewable energy, data centers, and why infrastructure is increasingly central to long‑term investment strategy.

Designing Pension Systems for Emerging Markets with Seda Peksevim, PhD

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Laurence B. Siegel hosts a conversation with Seda Peksevim, PhD, Founder & Managing Director of Pensión Research & Consulting and Lecturer at Sabancı University, on how pension systems must be designed differently in emerging market economies.

Dr. Peksevim explains why retirement outcomes are shaped by three interconnected challenges: behavioral biases that limit saving, unstable and risky labor income, and heightened financial market volatility. She discusses the critical role of automatic enrollment, default options, and lifecycle fund design—and why importing pension models from developed markets without adjustment can produce poor results.

The discussion also explores multipillar pension systems, behavioral and technological tools to improve participation, micro‑pension innovations, and the complexities of both accumulation and decumulation under uncertainty. The central takeaway: effective pension systems must be context‑specific, behaviorally informed, and aligned with local economic realities.

Hedge Funds Explained: Risk, Returns & Due Diligence with Stephen J. Brown, PhD

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 17:00:00 +0000

In this episode of the Financial Thought Exchange, Lotta Moberg, CFA, PhD, speaks with Stephen J. Brown, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Finance at Monash University in Australia and at the Stern School of Business at New York University, and winner of the CFA Institute Research Foundation 2025 James R. Vertin Research Award.

Brown discusses the origins of hedge funds, their role as liquidity providers, and why their performance often disappoints relative to public markets. He explains how hedge fund risk differs from traditional market risk, the limits of diversification, and why rigorous due diligence is essential. The conversation also explores his research on sensation‑seeking behavior among hedge fund managers and its implications for risk‑adjusted returns.

Related research by Stephen J. Brown:

• Why Hedge Funds

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.2469/faj.v72.n6.6

• Sensation Seeking and Hedge Funds

https://www.jstor.org/stable/26656034

How LLMs Transform Investment Workflows: Fine-Tuning, RAG & Agents with Francesco Fabozzi

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 16:00:00 -0100

In Part 2, Francesco Fabozzi, PhD—Managing Editor of the Journal of Financial Data Science—joins host Lotta Moberg, CFA, PhD, to explore how modern NLP and large language models are reshaping investment management. Building on the technical foundations from Part 1, this episode turns to real-world applications: when to fine‑tune models versus rely on prompt engineering, how retrieval‑augmented generation (RAG) keeps models current with fast‑changing financial information, and why agentic systems are emerging as powerful tools for research automation. Fabozzi explains practical use cases ranging from sentiment‑driven return prediction to efficient knowledge‑distillation workflows, research assistants that read earnings reports, and coding agents that help back‑test investment ideas. The discussion closes with a look at where innovation is headed, including the potential of "general price transformers" for market forecasting. This episode is essential for anyone applying AI within investment processes.

How NLP Evolved: From Word Counts to Transformers with Francesco Fabozzi, PhD

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 17:00:00 -0100

Francesco Fabozzi, PhD, Managing Editor of the Journal of Financial Data Science, joins Lotta Moberg, CFA, PhD to unpack how natural language processing matured into the powerful tool it is today. The discussion traces early finance‑focused techniques—dictionary counts, sentiment word lists, and sparse document‑term matrices, along with their limits around context and negation. Fabozzi then explains how neural networks introduced embeddings and contextual meaning, paving the way for recurrent models and eventually transformer architectures. He breaks down how self‑attention, encoder–decoder designs, and decoder‑only LLMs transformed language understanding and made large‑scale modeling feasible.

This episode lays the groundwork for understanding how modern NLP models interpret financial text. Look for Part 2, where the conversation turns to practical applications in investment management.

Future Quantum Finance Applications & Risks with Oswaldo Zapata, PhD

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 17:00:00 -0100

In the concluding episode, Lotta Moberg, CFA, PhD and Oswaldo Zapata, PhD look toward the future of quantum computing in finance. They discuss potential high‑value applications such as optimization, option pricing, machine learning, and large‑scale simulations. Zapata also highlights the cyber‑security implications of quantum technologies, including the threat of breaking RSA encryption and the urgency of adopting quantum‑safe protocols. The conversation covers industry readiness, from hedge fund research to major institutions investing in quantum capabilities, as well as the emerging need for "quantum‑quants." This episode provides a forward‑looking view of how quantum computing may reshape financial services, risk management, and professional skill sets in the decade ahead. To read Oswaldo Zapata, PhD's chapter in AI in Asset Management, follow this link: https://rpc.cfainstitute.org/research/foundation/2025/chapter-9-quantum-computing-for-finance

Quantum Computing Challenges in Finance with Oswaldo Zapata, PhD

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 18:30:00 -0100

Part 2 explores the technical hurdles shaping quantum computing's readiness for financial applications. Oswaldo Zapata, PhD and host Lotta Moberg, CFA, PhD discuss qubit quality, error rates, and why today's devices remain in the "noisy intermediate‑scale quantum" (NISQ) era. The episode breaks down hybrid classical‑quantum approaches, quantum‑inspired algorithms, and the complex process of encoding classical data into quantum states. Zapata explains why portfolio optimization is a promising—but still aspirational—area for quantum speedups, and how current hardware limitations constrain real‑world deployment. This conversation offers an honest assessment of where the technology stands today and what breakthroughs are still needed before quantum tools can meaningfully impact finance. To read Oswaldo Zapata, PhD's chapter in AI in Asset Management, follow this link: https://rpc.cfainstitute.org/research/foundation/2025/chapter-9-quantum-computing-for-finance

Quantum Computing Basics for Finance with Oswaldo Zapata, PhD

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 18:32:00 -0100

In Part 1 of this three-part interview, host Lotta Moberg, CFA, PhD, speaks with Oswaldo Zapata, PhD, co‑founder of the Quantum Finance Boardroom and contributor to the CFA Institute Research Foundation monograph AI in Asset Management. This episode introduces the fundamentals of quantum computation, outlining how qubits, superposition, and quantum gates differ from classical computing. Zapata explains why quantum systems can process information in exponentially richer ways and discusses the challenges of building reliable qubits in real‑world laboratory environments. The conversation sets the groundwork for understanding how quantum computers may eventually tackle computational problems that classical machines cannot. This episode is ideal for finance professionals seeking a clear, accessible foundation in quantum technologies before diving into applications. To read Oswaldo Zapata, PhD's chapter in AI in Asset Management, follow this link: https://rpc.cfainstitute.org/research/foundation/2025/chapter-9-quantum-computing-for-finance

Causality in Factor Investing: Marcos López de Prado, PhD & Vincent Zoonekynd, PhD

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 14:38:00 -0100

Marcos López de Prado, PhD and Vincent Zoonekynd, PhD, of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority discuss their Research Foundation brief, Causality and Factor Investing: A Primer. They explore why many factor models fail, the risks of confounder and collider bias, and why factor investing requires a causal—not purely statistical—approach. Learn how causal graphs and theory-driven methods can improve attribution and model design. A must-watch for quantitative researchers and finance professionals seeking deeper insights into risk premia and robust factor modeling.

Dr. William J. Bernstein on Economic Growth, Passive Investing & Retirement Realities

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 17:00:00 -0100

Larry Siegel speaks with Dr. William J. Bernstein—author, neurologist, and investment thinker—about the pillars of prosperity: property rights, scientific rationalism, capital markets, and infrastructure. They examine cultural influences on economic growth, the Henrich hypothesis on trust, and the future of globalization. Bernstein shares his philosophy on passive investing, liability-matching portfolios, and why TIPS matter for retirees. He also previews a new book with Ed McQuarrie that challenges assumptions about long-term stock returns. A deep dive into history, markets, and strategies for financial security.

De-risking Global Pension Systems with David Knox, PhD

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Thu, 13 Nov 2025 17:00:00 -0100

In this episode of the Financial Thought Exchange podcast, host Lotta Moberg, CFA, PhD, speaks with David Knox, PhD, former senior partner at Mercer and author of the Research Foundation brief De-risking Global Pension Systems. Knox explores the complexities of global pension structures, the shift from defined benefit to defined contribution plans, and the growing reliance on private pensions. He discusses demographic pressures, funding challenges, and the importance of governance, regulation, and communication in securing retirement outcomes. A timely conversation for professionals navigating the future of pension policy and retirement planning.

Leadership, Storytelling & Investing: Insights from Sébastien Page, CFA

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Thu, 09 Oct 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Sébastien Page, CFA, Head of Global Multi-Asset and CIO at T. Rowe Price, joins the FTE Podcast to explore the intersection of leadership psychology and investment strategy. Drawing from his books Beyond Diversification and The Psychology of Leadership, Page shares how storytelling enhances financial education, the importance of resilience in investing, and how personality traits like openness and agreeableness shape portfolio management. He also reflects on goal-induced blindness, the underrated skill of quitting, and the deeper meaning behind active management. A must-listen for finance professionals and aspiring leaders.

Custom Indexing, Tax Efficiency & Factor Investing with Ehren Stanhope, CFA

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Thu, 02 Oct 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Ehren Stanhope, CFA of O'Shaughnessy Asset Management explains how custom indexing builds on direct indexing by integrating tax loss harvesting, ESG preferences, and quantitative equity factors. He discusses how platforms like Canvas enable personalized portfolio construction while maintaining benchmark alignment. Stanhope also shares insights on the implications of rising interest rates, inflation, and changing asset correlations for long-term investment strategy and risk management.

Marlena Lee on Factor Investing, Market Insights, and Smarter Diversification

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Marlena Lee, Global Head of Investment Solutions at Dimensional Fund Advisors, explains how her team bridges investment research with client needs through systematic, evidence-based approaches. Rather than chasing short-term market moves or stock-picking, Dimensional builds portfolios grounded in decades of academic research and practical data analysis. Lee highlights how the firm evaluates traditional factors—such as size, value, and profitability—while carefully testing new ideas to avoid data-mined results. She underscores the importance of looking beyond simple measures like correlations or Sharpe ratios, encouraging investors to dig deeper into underlying holdings, factor overlaps, and global perspectives. From the challenges of timing premiums to the distortions caused by mega-cap stocks, Lee emphasizes the value of strategic, long-term allocations over tactical shifts. Her remarks offer clarity on what true diversification means and how investors can navigate trade-offs between tracking error and long-term outperformance.

Decoding Investor Behavior and Avoiding Mistakes with Peter Lazaroff

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Thu, 04 Sep 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Welcome to the Financial Thought Exchange, where we bring you insights from the brightest minds in finance! In this episode, recorded live from the CFA Institute Annual Conference in Chicago, we are honored to sit down with Peter Lazaroff.

Peter is the author of "Making Money Simple" and the Chief Investment Officer at Plancorp Wealth Management, overseeing $7 billion in AUM. He is also the host of the fantastic "Long Term Investor" podcast.

In this deep dive, Peter shares his key takeaways from a panel on decoding investor behavior. We discuss how behavioral finance goes beyond just identifying biases, moving towards strategies that truly help clients feel more confident and content with their financial decisions.

We cover:

The evolution of behavioral finance and its practical application in wealth management.
How to tailor financial education across different generations, from Baby Boomers to Millennials.
The distinct approaches to advice for inherited vs. self-made wealth, and why empathy is crucial.
Peter's firm's philosophy of avoiding mistakes over chasing perfect returns, and the biggest "mistake" he focuses on mitigating: setting the wrong expectations.
The role of risk aversion in portfolio design and how Plancorp customizes strategies based on a client's stock/bond split and liquidity profile.
Why, despite advancements in behavioral finance, human errors will persist, and how technology might assist without replacing the essential human connection in financial advice.

Join us for a candid and insightful conversation that will change how you think about client relationships and investment strategy!

Energy and Tech Expert Mark Mills Reflects on AI and the Next Industrial Revolution

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 17:00:00 +0000

In this podcast episode, Mark Mills, a physicist, energy expert, and "tech guru," argues that the hype around AI is justified but misunderstood, emphasizing its roots in statistical inference (which is not what humans do when they think). He explains that AI's strength lies in handling fuzzy, human-like tasks, unlike traditional computing's whiz-bang ability to calculate. This making AI transformative for automation.

Mills addresses concerns about AI displacing jobs, noting that automation historically eliminates some roles but creates others, with 60% of 1960s job categories gone by 2020, yet employment and wages rose. He predicts AI, combined with advancements in materials and machines, will drive a massive productivity boom over the very long run, akin to previous industrial revolutions like the 1920s. He notes that the universe is made up of only three things—matter, energy, and information—and that all three are undergoing simultaneous revolutions, a historically rare event.

Mark Mills on the Need for Abundant Energy and Rational Tradeoffs between Economy & Environment

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 17:00:00 +0000

In this episode of Financial Thought Exchange, host Larry Siegel interviews Mark Mills, a physicist turned energy and tech expert. Mills argues that there has never been a true energy transition, except for abandoning whale oil. Even as we pursue an energy transition, humanitycontinues to rely on traditional energy sources such as hydrocarbons, wood, even animal power. Mills criticizes the slow adoption of nuclear energy, attributing it to public fears and stringent regulation. He sees promise in new small reactor designs, such as molten salt reactors, while traditional reactor designs suffer from regulatory and technical constraints.

Mills uses the snail darter (which, it turns out, doesn't exist) as an example of environmental policy gone amuck, hindering growth. He asks that policies weigh environmental considerations against the need for economic development. Mills emphasizes the need for affordable energy to support technologies like air conditioning in developing nations, noting that only increased wealth and advanced technology can achieve the resilience against climate challenges that we need.

Robo-Advisors vs. AI in Financial Planning: What You Need to Know

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Thu, 07 Aug 2025 17:00:00 +0000

In this episode of the Financial Thought Exchange podcast, Jason Pereira, host of the Fintech Impact Podcast and an advisor to technology and AI startups, delves into the evolving landscape of robo-advisors and the revolutionary impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in wealth management.

Private Credit Panel: Is There an Oversupply of Capital?

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Mon, 04 Aug 2025 13:13:00 +0000

A lively debate on the state of the private credit market, recorded live from the CFA Institute Annual Conference! Financial historian Mark Higgins and alternative investment strategist Alfonso Ricciardelli face off on a critical question of whether the massive influx of capital into private credit is a dangerous bubble or a new, permanent structural shift. Hosted by Lotta Moberg, this panel explores the risks of "herd behavior," the importance of setting realistic investor expectations, and the vast alpha opportunities in underserved markets. Mark shares historical context, while Alfonso provides a structural counterpoint. This discussion is essential for anyone seeking to understand the future of alternative investments and the crucial role of manager selection.

Elroy Dimson on Rates of Return Since the Middle Ages, University Endowments, the Equity Risk Premium, and Wine

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 18:14:00 +0000

Elroy Dimson and Larry Siegel discuss the origins of long-term investing by medieval universities, then move to rates of return, both past and future, on stocks versus bonds – there are some surprises in the older data suggesting the equity risk premium may not be as high as it appears. Dimson recounts his involvement with long-term investors such as the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund, and presents lessons for the future. He concludes with "curiosity assets" such as wine, art, and postage stamps. (You should not invest in postage stamps.)

Elroy Dimson on a Hundred Years (or More) of International Investing

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 14:11:00 +0000

Elroy Dimson, who co-authored the first very long-term study of worldwide asset returns, explains to Larry Siegel how he was inspired by Roger Ibbotson to research the topic. Then, he and Larry discuss the relative merits of investing in the United States, other developed markets, and emerging markets as their economies have evolved. While U.S. stocks now form the dominant market in the world, that has not always been the case and may not be in the future. Dimson concludes by recalling how World War II reshaped the world's capital markets and set the stage for the economic boom that followed.

U.S. Fiscal Dominance and Sovereign Default Scenario

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Thu, 10 Jul 2025 14:00:00 +0000

This episode of the Financial Thought Exchange Podcast features a discussion between host Lotta Moberg and James Grant, founder and editor of Grant's Interest Rate Observer. They explore the U.S. fiscal situation, potential default scenarios, and the implications for interest rates and bonds, highlighting the complexities of fiscal dominance and historical precedents in U.S. monetary policy. This episode is the second of a two-part series. Check out the previous one, which focused on the fundamentals of interest rates.

A Fundamental Deep-Dive into Interest Rates

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Thu, 03 Jul 2025 14:00:00 +0000

In the Financial Thought Exchange podcast, host Lotta Moberg interviews James Grant, founder and editor of Grant's Interest Rate Observer, about interest rates and their fundamental nature. They dig into the fundamental nature of interest rates and how they reflect scarcity, opportunity cost, and the human tendency to prioritize immediate gratification over future benefits. The discussion also touches on the complexities of credit risk and the historical context of interest rates. This episode is the first of a two-part series, with the next focusing on U.S. debt and potential defaults.

Tom Coleman on Inflation, Inequality, and Risk

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Thu, 12 Jun 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Thomas Coleman, an economics professor at the University of Chicago, discusses a novel theory of money and inflation, inequality, and risk management with the CFA Institute Research Foundation's Larry Siegel.

The "money" referred to in monetary economics is a thing of the past, says Tom, because nobody has any "money" (cash, checking accounts, savings accounts). They have marketable assets instead. So monetarism is outdated as a theory of inflation. Instead, Tom argues inflation is better explained by the Fiscal Theory of the Price Level (FTPL), which relates the price level to the value of government-issued securities (bonds and cash) as determined by the cash flows backing them. These cash flows are taxes minus government spending.

The FTPL explains the low inflation of 2008 and high inflation of 2022 better than any other theory.

Coleman also discusses inequality. While conventional measures of inequality look at taxable incomes, he takes a broader view, including transfer payments and other items not reported on tax returns as income. When you do this, inequality – while still worse than in the 1980s – is less severe than it appears. In fact, households in the bottom half of the income distribution face a tax rate that is negative!

Tom concludes with thoughts on risk, a topic on which he has written two excellent books.

Frontier Investing with Larry Speidell: Diamonds, Mobile Money & Exotic Opportunities (Part 1)

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Thu, 29 May 2025 17:15:00 +0000

In this two-part episode, Lawrence Speidell, founder and CIO of Frontier Global Partners, discusses his Indiana Jones-like foray into frontier markets in search of stocks to buy for his firm's clients. Frontier markets are countries that are less developed than those in emerging market indexes.

Larry's interest in frontier markets began during a lecture trip to China in the 1980s. Frontier markets include Vietnam, Bangladesh, Romania, Colombia, and many countries in Africa. Speidell argues that, despite political instability, such markets are not necessarily riskier than developed ones, which have also seen increasing volatility. Frontier markets, he says, are highly varied with a low correlation to developed markets, so they are a good diversifier. While frontier-market economies are a significant share of global GDP, their stock markets remain underdeveloped. Speidell believes this gap will close over time, offering long-term investment opportunities. Progress in frontier markets is slow, however, and requires patience, which Speidell argues is a good approach to investing generally.

Frontier Investing with Larry Speidell: Diamonds, Mobile Money & Exotic Opportunities (Part 2)

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Thu, 29 May 2025 17:15:00 +0000

In this second episode segment, Larry Speidell, founder and CIO of Frontier Global Partners focuses on personal stories, travel experiences, and deeper insights into frontier markets.

For example, Speidell praises Botswana's development, aided by diamond discoveries, but also discusses the "resource curse," where reliance on natural resources can hinder broader economic growth.

Speidell's firm does not shy away from politically unstable countries such as Peru and Georgia. In such environments, he says, strong companies can thrive, and investors must be patient.

Larry describes the transformative impact of mobile technology in frontier markets, such as Kenya's M-PESA, a banking app that greatly helps the previously "unbanked" to make a living.

The episode blends investment insights with cultural reflections, emphasizing patience, optimism, and the human side of global investing.

David Booth on Founding a Firm Based On Revolutionary Academic Innovations (Part 2)

CFA Institute — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 13:15:00 +0000

In Part 2, David Booth reflects on how Dimensional Fund Advisors expanded by partnering with fee-only financial advisors, helping to bring academic investing principles to individual clients. He emphasizes the importance of low fees both in appealing to personal investors and in delivering superior results to them. Booth discusses how his collaboration with leading finance professors led him to regard the University of Chicago as a business partner and describes his gift to the school as a "partnership distribution."

David Booth on Founding a Firm Based On Revolutionary Academic Innovations

CFA Institute — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 13:00:00 +0000

David Booth, one of the best-known investors in the world, founded Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA) along with Rex Sinquefield and brought asset-class investing, a description that embraces both index funds and the index-based but value-added strategy that DFA pursues, to individual investors as well as institutions. David, who received a PhD from the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business, also made the largest donation in the University of Chicago's history and, in recognition of that gift, the university renamed its business school the Booth School of Business.

In building DFA, David pioneered the use of finance academics as advisors and board members. Eugene Fama, the Nobel Prize-winning economist associated with the efficient market hypothesis, was his dissertation chairman, an early investor in DFA, and a current director of the firm. Other noted academics associated with the firm include Robert Merton, Roger Ibbotson, and Kenneth French.

In Part 1 of his interview, Booth joins Larry Siegel to reflect on the academic revolution that reshaped investing, the launch of Dimensional's first small-cap strategies, and the challenges of selling a new idea to skeptical markets at a time when index and index-like funds were in its infancy. He shares stories from the University of Chicago's golden age of financial economics and explains why investing in an index with an eye to adding value through trading and inventory management – not strictly passive indexing – became Dimensional's guiding philosophy.

The Hidden Skeletons of Financial Reporting: Part 1

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 17:00:00 +0000

In this episode of the Financial Thought Exchange podcast, host Lotta Moberg, CFA, and Marty Fridson, CIO at Lehman Livian Friedson Advisors, delve into the complexities of financial statements and corporate reporting. They discuss how companies often present financial health to their advantage, using Fridson's book, "Financial Statements," as a guide. The conversation covers regulatory impacts, the role of goodwill in valuation, and the challenges of assessing acquisitions. Fridson emphasizes the importance of critical analysis and cash flow generation in valuing companies, providing insights into navigating financial reporting pitfalls.

The Hidden Skeletons of Financial Reporting: Part 2

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Author Gregory Zuckerman on Jim Simons And His Unmatched Hedge Fund Returns

CFA Institute — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 17:00:00 -0100

Jim Simons, the late founder of Renaissance Technologies, achieved a track record that surpasses Warren Buffett and all the other great investment managers – by a lot. In a beautifully written account, The Man Who Solved the Market, Gregory Zuckerman, the Wall Street Journal who previously profiled John Paulson in The Greatest Trade Ever, talks about Renaissance's unique culture. The firm brought geniuses from far outside the investment world – mathematicians, computer scientists, linguists – together into an effort that, surprisingly, beat the investment community's best analysts and traders at generating returns and catapulted "quant" investing to the forefront.

Allison Schrager on Personal Risk: Big Wave Surfers, Tightrope Walkers, and Big Financial Losses

CFA Institute — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 20:00:00 -0100

Allison Schrager is one of the world's foremost experts on personal risk. An economist by training, she has broadened her reach to learn about the risk management strategies of people who jump out of airplanes, surf big waves, and work in brothels. She is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a contributing editor at City Journal, and a columnist at Bloomberg Opinion and practically everywhere else.

Cliff Asness Talks Quantitative Strategies and the Less Efficient Market Hypothesis

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Mon, 25 Nov 2024 13:27:00 -0100

Cliff Asness, co-founder of AQR Capital Management, shares his origin story, detailing his academic background at the University of Chicago, where he was influenced by prominent figures like Eugene Fama, who encouraged him to explore momentum investing although Fama did not think it could possibly work. Asness recounts his transition from portfolio manager at Goldman Sachs to co-founder and principal research at AQR Capital, one of the best-known investment management firms in the world. He reflects on the tumultuous market period after AQR's founding in 1998, when the nascent firm almost went out of business.

The conversation addresses market efficiency, with Asness presenting his views on the "Less Efficient Market Hypothesis." Despite advancements in technology and data availability, he says, the processing of information has not necessarily improved, leading to inefficiencies in the market. Asness discusses the impact of passive investing on market dynamics and the challenges of generating alpha in a landscape where traditional value investing has performed poorly. The episode concludes with Asness sharing insights on the role of machine learning in quantitative finance, emphasizing its potential to enhance research and signal generation while maintaining a balance with economic theory.

Roger Ibbotson on Stocks, Bonds, Bills, Inflation, and the Future of Finance and Humanity

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Thu, 07 Nov 2024 13:18:00 -0100

Roger G. Ibbotson, Professor Emeritus at Yale School of Management and chairman and CIO of Zebra Capital Management LLC, has authored numerous articles and books, including Stocks, Bonds, Bills, and Inflation, which serves as a standard reference for information and capital market returns.

Laurence B. Siegel is the Director of Research at the CFA Institute Research Foundation and a writer, speaker, and consultant. Siegel graduated from the University of Chicago with both a BA & a MBA. His website is http://www.larrysiegel.org.

Ibbotson and Siegel discuss the driving factors behind long-term returns, how human behavior and investor psychology intervene in financial decision-making, and the future of returns in an interconnected world. From systems of economic production to sustainable investing, they draw on decades of research in financial markets to dive further into these topics.

Financial Thought Exchange is brought to you by the CFA Institute Research Foundation. If you would like to support the show and our work, please use the following donation link: https://rpc.cfainstitute.org/en/research-foundation/donate

Lotta Moberg, CFA, and Brian Singer, CFA: Balancing Active and Passive Investment Horizons

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 14:49:00 -0100

Anthony DeChellis hosts industry veterans Brian Singer, CFA, and Lotta Moberg, CFA, to discuss their recently released CFA Institute Research Foundation brief, Financial Entrepreneurship: Balancing Active and Passive Investment Horizons. The conversation explores the evolution of the asset management industry over the decades, highlighting shifts from traditional investment approaches to innovative strategies. Brian and Lotta share insights from their decade-long collaboration and the journey that led to their current research, shedding light on the changing landscape of finance and investment. Tune in to discover how these developments impact investors and the financial sector as a whole.

William Hardin on Education in Finance

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Fri, 26 Jul 2024 18:29:46 +0000

In this episode, host Lotta Moberg is joined by Dr. William Hardin to discuss the philosophical relationship between education and finance, and how to properly utilize a financial education in the business world at large.

Dr. William Hardin is Dean of the FIU (Florida International University) College of Business. He is Founding Director of the Tibor and Sheila Hollo School of Real Estate and was Associate Dean for the Chapman Graduate School of Business at FIU.

Philip Maymin on the Future of AI in Finance

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Tue, 16 Jul 2024 18:49:46 +0000

In this episode, host Lotta Moberg is joined by Philip Maymin via Starlink to discuss the future of AI in the finance industry.

Dr. Philip Maymin is Portfolio Manager and Director of Asset Allocation Strategies at Janus Henderson. He is also the Endowed Schramm Chair of Analytics and the MSBA Program Director at Fairfield Dolan, the CTO for Swipe.bet, and an instructor at Analytics.Bet.

In the past, he has been a portfolio manager at Long-Term Capital Management, Ellington Management Group, and his own hedge fund. He was Assistant Professor of Finance and Risk Engineering at the NYU School of Engineering, as well as an analytics consultant with several NBA teams and the Chief Analytics Officer for Vantage Sports.

Maymin co-founded the journals Algorithmic Finance and the Journal of Sports Analytics. Additionally, he was a policy scholar for a free market think tank, a Justice of the Peace, a Congressional candidate, and an award-winning journalist.

Philip was a finalist for the 2010 Bastiat Prize for Online Journalism. He was awarded a Wolfram Innovator Award in 2015. He won the Wolfram Live Coding Challenge in 2016 and second place in 2018, and he won the Wolfram One-Liner Competition in 2015, 2016, 2018, and 2019. He was a finalist for the Hackathon and won the Grand Prize for Best Research Paper at the 12th Annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in 2018, and won the Hackathon at the 14th Annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in 2020. His popular writings have been published in dozens of media outlets ranging from Bloomberg to Forbes to the New York Post to American Banker to regional newspapers, and his research has been profiled in dozens more, including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Financial Times, Boston Globe, NPR, BBC, Guardian (UK), CNBC, Newsweek Poland, Financial Times Deutschland, and others. Maymin holds a Ph.D. in Finance from the University of Chicago, a Master's in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University, and a Bachelor's in Computer Science from Harvard University. He also holds a J.D. and is an attorney-at-law admitted to practice in California. Financial Thought Exchange is brought to you by the CFA Institute Research Foundation. If you would like to support the show and our work, please use the following donation link: https://rpc.cfainstitute.org/en/research-foundation/donate

William Goetzmann on Financial Archeology

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Tue, 02 Jul 2024 18:19:36 +0000

In this episode, Prof. William Goetzmann joins host Larry Siegel to discuss financial archeology, and how the early history of financial institutions can inform modern practices.

William N. Goetzmann is the Edwin J. Beinecke Professor of Finance and Management Studies at the Yale School of Management, and executive editor of the Financial Analysts Journal. He won the James R. Vertin Award from the CFA Institute for "research notable for its relevance and enduring value to investment professionals."

He is author of the highly acclaimed book, Money Changes Everything: How Finance Made Civilization Possible.

Prior to his academic career, Goetzmann worked as an archaeologist, a writer and producer of PBS documentaries, and served as the director of the American Museum of Western Art in Denver, Colorado during 1984–85.

Laurence B. Siegel is the Gary P. Brinson Director of Research at the CFA Institute Research Foundation and a writer, speaker, and consultant. He is the author of Fewer, Richer, Greener: Prospects for Humanity in an Age of Abundance and Unknown Knowns: On Economics, Investing, Progress, and Folly. He has also written or co-authored several CFA Institute Research Foundation monographs and briefs.

Earlier in his career, Larry was director of research in the investment division of the Ford Foundation and, before that, Ibbotson Associates (now part of Morningstar). He holds BA (1975) and MBA (1977) degrees from the University of Chicago. His website is http://www.larrysiegel.org

Joseph Simonian on Model Validation in Finance

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Fri, 21 Jun 2024 21:40:41 +0000

In this episode, host Lotta Moberg is joined by Joseph Simonian to discuss the importance of understanding the field of model validation and how it applies to the financial industry.

His published work on the topic can be found here: https://rpc.cfainstitute.org/en/research/foundation/2024/investment-model-validation

Joseph Simonian is a globally renowned investor and researcher who has conducted extensive research in quantitative finance, machine learning, factor investing, and portfolio construction. Over the course of a 20-year career in the investment industry, he has held senior portfolio management and research positions in several prominent asset management firms. He is also the founder and CIO of Autonomous Investment Technologies.

Simonian is a noted contributor to leading finance journals and a prominent speaker at investment events worldwide. He is co-editor of the Journal of Financial Data Science, is on the editorial board of the Journal of Portfolio Management, chairman of the board of directors of the Financial Data Professional Institute, and a member of the CFA Institute Research and Policy Center Technical Commitee. Simonian has authored over 40 publications in leading investment journals. He is co-author of the book Quantitative Global Bond Portfolio Management and author of Computational Global Macro, slated for release in 2024.

Financial Thought Exchange is the official podcast and video channel of the CFA Institute Research Foundation. If you would like to support the show and our work, please donate here: https://rpc.cfainstitute.org/en/research-foundation/donate

William Sharpe & Martin Leibowitz on Equity Risk Premium, Spending Rates & Investing for Retirement

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Sat, 15 Jun 2024 17:12:57 +0000

Bill and Marty Join host Larry Siegel to discuss equity risk premium, spending rates, and investment strategies for retirement.

William F. Sharpe, born in 1933, is the STANCO 25 Professor of Finance, Emeritus at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business. He was one of the originators of the Capital Asset Pricing Model and is the best-known exponent of it. He developed the "Sharpe Ratio" for investment performance analysis, and is one of the most widely published and celebrated authors of journal articles in the history of finance. He wrote the best-selling textbook, Investments, and many other books. In 1990, he received the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.

Martin L. Leibowitz is President of Advanced Portfolio Studies LLC (APS), a consulting firm focused on issues of asset valuation and portfolio allocation. Dr. Leibowitz currently serves on the investment committees of Singapore's GIC, the Institute for Advanced Study, the Carnegie Corporation, the IMF pension system, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

In 2021, Leibowitz received the Singapore National Day Award for his work with the GIC fund. In 2015, he was named "Financial Engineer of the Year" by the IAQF. He has written over 300 articles and has been the most frequently-published author in both the Financial Analysts Journal (FAJ) and the Journal of Portfolio Management (JPM). Ten of his FAJ articles have received Graham and Dodd Awards. He is one of very few recipients who have received all three of the CFA Institute's highest awards.

Mark Kritzman on Relevance-Based Prediction, An Alternative to Machine Learning

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Sat, 01 Jun 2024 17:26:39 +0000

Mark joins host Lotta Moberg to discuss relevance-based prediction, a transparent and adaptive alternative to machine learning.

Mark Kritzman, CFA is a Founding Partner and CEO of Windham Capital Management, LLC. He is also a Founding Partner of State Street Associates, and he teaches a graduate finance course at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Mark served as a Founding Director of the International Securities Exchange and as a Commissioner on the Group Insurance Commission of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He also served on the Advisory Board of the Government Investment Corporation of Singapore (GIC) and the boards of the Institute for Quantitative Research in Finance, The Investment Fund for Foundations, and State Street Associates.

He is currently a member of the Advisory Board of the MIT Sloan Finance Group, the Board of Trustees of St. John's University, the Emerging Markets Review, the Journal of Alternative Investments, the Journal of Derivatives, the Journal of Investment Management, where he is Book Review Editor, and The Journal of Portfolio Management.

Relevance-based prediction is a new approach to data driven forecasting which serves as a favorable alternative to both linear regression analysis and machine learning. In this episode, Mark Kritzman, one of the leading researchers in this field, joins us to discuss the seminal scientific innovations underlying this approach to predictions, namely the Prasanta Mahalanobis' distance measure and Claude Shannon's information theory.

We also discuss the three key tenets of relevance-based prediction, that of relevance, which measures the importance of an observation to a prediction, fit, which measures the reliability of each individual prediction task, and codependence, which holds that the choice of observations and predictive variables should be determined jointly for each individual prediction task. Get ready for a highly educational, stimulating, and demanding episode!

To review Mark's work for yourself, use the links below:

JOIM paper (Relevance)

https://globalmarkets.statestreet.com/research/portal/insights/article/5985847c-60d8-418a-9334-5838b009058f

JFDS paper (Relevance-Based Prediction)

https://globalmarkets.statestreet.com/research/portal/insights/article/7c6fcbd8-8ed3-4c84-b722-d2d24d99c082

To purchase a copy of his book, use the links below:

https://www.predictionrevisited.com/

https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Prediction+Revisited%3A+The+Importance+of+Observation-p-9781119895596

Tom Idzorek & Paul Kaplan on Lifetime Financial Advice: Part Four

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Fri, 03 May 2024 19:11:00 +0000

In this episode, Tom & Paul join host Lotta Moberg for the fourth time to finish their conversation covering how life-cycle finance provides a practical, integrated three-stage model for financial planning that not only embraces life-cycle finance but also integrates it with single-period optimization models.

Thomas M. Idzorek, CFA, is chief investment officer, retirement, for Morningstar Investment Management LLC. He also serves as a member of Morningstar's 401(k) committee, Public Policy Council, Global Investment Committee, U.S. Investment Policy Committee, the editorial board of Morningstar magazine, and the Journal of Investment Management conference series Advisory Board.

Paul D. Kaplan, CFA, was director of research for Morningstar Canada and a senior member of Morningstar's global research team. He led the development of many of the quantitative methodologies behind Morningstar's fund analysis, indexes, adviser tools, and other services. Kaplan conducted research on asset allocation, retirement income planning, portfolio construction, index methodologies, and other investment topics.

To review their research in its entirety, click here: https://rpc.cfainstitute.org/en/resea... Financial Thought Exchange is the official podcast and video channel of the CFA Institute Research Foundation. If you would like to support the show and our work, please donate here: https://rpc.cfainstitute.org/en/resea...

Tom Idzorek & Paul Kaplan on Lifetime Financial Advice: Part Three

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Wed, 01 May 2024 20:09:37 +0000

In this episode, Tom & Paul join host Lotta Moberg for the third time to continue their conversation covering how life-cycle finance provides a practical, integrated three-stage model for financial planning that not only embraces life-cycle finance but also integrates it with single-period optimization models.

To review their research in its entirety, ⁠click here⁠.

Financial Thought Exchange is the official podcast and video channel of the CFA Institute Research Foundation. If you would like to know more about who we are and what we do, please ⁠click here⁠.

If you would like to support the show and our work, please donate using this link: ⁠https://rpc.cfainstitute.org/en/research-foundation/donate

Tom Idzorek & Paul Kaplan on Lifetime Financial Advice: Part Two

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Fri, 26 Apr 2024 18:25:36 +0000

Tom & Paul join host Lotta Moberg for the second time to continue discussing how life-cycle finance provides a practical, integrated three-stage model for financial planning that not only embraces life-cycle finance but also integrates it with single-period optimization models. Here is a link to their research: https://rpc.cfainstitute.org/en/research/foundation/2024/lifetime-financial-advice-a-personalized-optimal-multilevel-approach

Mike Dowdall on the Future of Alternative Credit

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Fri, 19 Apr 2024 17:41:47 +0000

Mike Dowdall is Chief Investment Officer of Alternative Fund Advisors and the portfolio manager of the AFA Private Credit Fund. He is responsible for the investment sourcing, due diligence, and positioning of the AFA Private Credit Fund.

Prior to joining Alternative Fund Advisors, Mike was a director and the portfolio manager at BMO Global Asset Management, where he managed the US multi-asset and multi-alternative portfolios.

Mike is a member of the CFA Society of Chicago and is a CFA Charterholder. He received an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a BBA from the University of Notre Dame.

In this episode, Mike joins host Lotta Moberg to discuss the future of alternative credit and the myriad of associated factors and risks.

His published work on the topic can be found here (pages 84-93): https://rpc.cfainstitute.org/-/media/documents/article/rf-brief/introduction-to-alt-credit.pdf

Financial Thought Exchange is brought to you by the CFA Institute Research Foundation. If you would like to support the show and our research, please use the following link: https://rpc.cfainstitute.org/en/research-foundation/donate

Nick Cleary on Infrastructure Debt

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Fri, 12 Apr 2024 17:45:38 +0000

Nick joined Vantage Infrastructure in 2012 to build out the global infrastructure debt platform and has more than 25 years of relevant experience. Nick leads the North American business, including investments origination, execution and portfolio management. He is a member of the Investment Committee and the firm's global Executive Committee.

Prior to joining Vantage Infrastructure, Nick spent over six years in the banking industry across energy, resources, project and infrastructure financing.

Nick holds a Bachelor of Surveying degree from the University of Tasmania, and a Master of Business Administration from the Macquarie Graduate School of Management, Australia.

Nick joins host Lotta Moberg to discuss the intersection of the infrastructure and financial industries and how infrastructure debt finances the interconnected world we live in today.

His published work on the topic can be found here (pages 67-73): https://rpc.cfainstitute.org/-/media/documents/article/rf-brief/introduction-to-alt-credit.pdf

Financial Thought Exchange is brought to you by the CFA Institute Research Foundation. If you would like to support the show and our research, please click here.

#alternativecredit #infrastructure #altcredit #financepodcast #businesspodcast

Zack Ellison on Venture Debt

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Fri, 29 Mar 2024 15:04:50 -0100

Zack Ellison, CFA, CAIA is the founder and managing general partner of Applied Real Intelligence (A.R.I.) and the chief investment officer of the A.R.I. Senior Secured Growth Credit Fund, which provides debt financing solutions to premier startups in North America.

He previously worked as a loan structurer and underwriter, investment banker, corporate bond trader, and fixed income portfolio manager at three firms with over $1 trillion in assets – Scotia Bank, Deutsche Bank, and Sun Life.

Mr. Ellison holds an MBA from the University of Chicago, an MS in Risk Management from NYU, and is completing his Doctorate in Business Administration at the University of Florida.

His views on investing in innovation and venture debt are showcased in monthly columns he writes for Venture Capital Journal and Built In, as well as engaging discussions with leading investors each week on The 7 in 7 Show with Zack Ellison (Podcast). Additionally, he authored the Venture Debt chapter in the recently released book from the CFA Institute Research Foundation: An Introduction to Alternative Credit. For a deeper dive into A.R.I.'s pioneering growth credit and venture debt solutions and to discover how they're shaping the future of startup financing, visit www.arivc.com.

Financial Thought Exchange is the official podcast and video channel of the CFA Institute Research Foundation. If you would like to support the show and our work, please use the donation link below: https://rpc.cfainstitute.org/en/research-foundation/donate

Thomas Idzorek & Paul Kaplan on Lifetime Financial Advice

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 14:37:26 -0100

Tom & Paul join host Lotta Moberg to discuss how lifecycle finance's wide, encompassing approach provides an over-arching framework for individuals to better invest their money over the course of their life. Here is a link to their published research: https://rpc.cfainstitute.org/research/foundation/2024/lifetime-financial-advice-a-personalized-optimal-multilevel-approach

Stephen Sexauer & Laurence Siegel on Remembering Harry Markowitz, the Father of Modern Finance

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 16:21:19 -0100

Stephen Sexauer is SDCERA's Chief Investment Officer and oversees SDCERA's $17 billion pension Trust Fund, investment team, and investment consultants. Sexauer graduated from the University of Illinois with a BS in Economics and from the University of Chicago with an MBA in Economics and Finance.

Sexauer and Siegel describe the "bolt from the blue" represented by Harry Markowitz's 1952 discovery of mean-variance optimization for investment portfolios. They indicate how optimization has been applied and misapplied, and suggest a new heuristic for combining optimizer outputs with other information.

Their published work on the topic can be found here: https://rpc.cfainstitute.org/en/research/financial-analysts-journal/2023/harry-markowitz-and-the-philosophers-stone

Alfonso Ricciardelli on Alternative Credit

CFA Institute Research Foundation — Tue, 12 Mar 2024 18:40:28 -0100

Alfonso Ricciardelli, CFA, is based in New York City. He is a Co-Founder at Noosk, a social platform for knowledge-based content. Alfonso's career spans 15 years between politics and finance.

Alfonso joins host Lotta Moberg in the first ever episode of the Financial Thought Exchange podcast to discuss the basics of alternative credit and its usefulness as an asset class. His published work on the topic can be found here: https://rpc.cfainstitute.org/research/foundation/2024/an-introduction-to-alternative-credit

Like what you hear? Support the podcast and the CFA Institute Research Foundation's work by donating using this link: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=SWD7KR9V7RR86&ssrt=1710192489993