Insightful Investor

David is co-founder and Managing Partner of Evoke Advisors and widely recognized as an industry trailblazer with over 32 years in wealth management. Having witnessed and contributed to the evolution of the industry, David shares valuable insights from his extensive experience as a dedicated client advocate.

This is part 2 of my conversation with Dave (part 1 was episode #43). Dave has over 30 years of experience managing risk across global markets and is the founder and CIO of Convex Strategies, based in Singapore. Dave shares insights about risk management, including identifying flaws in conventional risk frameworks.

Jeff is the founder, Chairman, CEO, and Head of Technical Research at Renaissance Macro Research, which he launched in 2011. A member of Institutional Investor's Analyst Hall of Fame, Jeff has been ranked the #1 technical analyst on Wall Street for over a decade. He shares insights about the benefits of technical analysis compared to fundamental analysis.

Dave has over 30 years of experience managing risk across global markets. He is the founder and CIO of Convex Strategies, based in Singapore. Previously, he built and ran emerging markets trading at Fortress, RBS, Bankers Trust, and Bank of America. Dave shares insights about risk management, including identifying flaws in conventional risk frameworks.

Adam is co-founder and CEO of Daffy, a fintech platform focused on charitable giving. Adam was a software engineer at Apple and held executive roles at eBay, LinkedIn, Dropbox and most recently was CEO at Wealthfront. He also teaches personal finance for engineers at Stanford. Adam shares unique insights about technology, finance, leadership and philanthropy.

Roy is Executive Director and Co-Chair of the Investment Management Committee at Walter Scott, a Scotland-based firm managing $100B in assets (as of 8/31/24). With a focus on long-term investing, he emphasizes the significance of compounding returns and the importance of a disciplined approach to risk management.

Doug is the CEO and President of Dermody Properties, a firm that has developed and acquired $8B in industrial logistics assets (as of 6/30/24) since its founding in 1960. He provides insights on e-commerce and logistics, market trends, and potential risks in the industry.

Last month, we examined the bull case for Bitcoin. In today's episode, we hear the counterargument from Mike Green, Chief Strategist and Portfolio Manager at Simplify Asset Management. Founded in 2020, Simplify aims to provide high-quality alternative strategies through low-cost ETFs and currently manages $5.8 billion (as of 8/31/24).

Sophie is a partner at Collaborative Fund, a New York-based venture capital firm that invests in companies operating at the intersection of for-profit and for-good. She shares insights on the dual objectives of generating financial returns while making a positive impact, discusses their unique “villain test,” and explores the emerging opportunities in climate and sustainability investing.

Jeff is the Founder and CEO of Rialto Capital Management, a firm that oversees $21B in commercial real estate assets as of 6/30/24. With his extensive experience over 4 decades, Jeff offers valuable perspectives on both private real estate property and debt investments. He also shares his outlook for various real estate markets.

Tom is co-founder and head of research and portfolio management at StepStone, which manages over $150B and focuses on private markets. Tom shares an overview and insights about the various segments within private markets: equity, credit, real estate, infrastructure and secondaries.

Ted is a podcaster and investment industry expert. He started his career working with David Swensen at the Yale Endowment and has spent the past 30+ years studying, speaking and writing about investing. He launched the Capital Allocators Podcast in 2017 and has published 3 books on investing. Ted shares insights on the investment industry, discusses his framework for constructing a portfolio, and explains the impact of behavioral finance.

Jeffrey is Deputy CIO of DoubleLine Capital, which manages over $90B (as of 6/30/24). Jeffrey provides excellent insights into the big economic picture, the fixed income market, and investment outlook.

Matt is the CIO of Bitwise Asset Management, which pioneered the first crypto index fund in the world. Prior to Bitwise, Matt was the CEO of ETF.com. Matt shares his perspectives on the history of Bitcoin, risks of investing, outlook and much more.

George is the Chief Gold Strategist at State Street Global Advisors. Prior to his decade at State Street, he spent 15 years at the World Gold Council and has been working with gold for about 50 years. George shares insights about the history of gold, how it can serve as a portfolio diversifier and his gold market outlook.

Dan is Group CIO of PIMCO, one of the world’s largest asset managers ($1.8 trillion as of 6/30/24). Dan is also the lead portfolio manager of the PIMCO Income Strategy that he launched in 2007. Dan shares valuable insights about the fixed income market and his market outlook.

Meb is Co-Founder, CEO and CIO of Cambria Investment Management, which manages about $2.5B (as of 6/30/24). He also started a podcast 8 years ago called the Meb Faber Show where he interviews some of the brightest minds on Wall Street. Meb shares insights about the investment management industry, the financial advisory industry and portfolio construction.

Karen Karniol-Tambour is Co-CIO at Bridgewater Associates, which is one of the world’s largest hedge funds. Drawing from her 18-year career at the firm, she offers valuable insights into her professional journey, Bridgewater's current market outlook, and strategies for effective portfolio construction.

Michael is the Founder of Cendana Capital, a San Francisco-based firm that invests in very early-stage venture capital funds globally. Kelli Fontaine joined the firm 6 years ago and is a Partner. Cendana was launched in 2010 and has over $2B in assets (as of 3/31/24). Michael and Kelli provide insights into the world of VC and seed investing, why they prefer smaller funds and how they select managers.

Jacob is a Partner and Portfolio Manager at Glynn Capital Management, which invests in private and public technology growth companies. The firm was founded 50 years ago and Jacob has been right at the forefront, witnessing AI innovation up close and regularly interfacing with pioneers from top private and public technology companies. With this uniquely insightful vantage point and a talent for simplifying complexity, Jacob summarizes artificial intelligence into easily understandable explanations.

Rob is Founder and Chairman of Research Affiliates ($147B in assets as of 3/31/24), which he launched in 2002. Rob shares insights into quant investing, the outlook for various asset classes, mean reversion, rebalancing alpha, asymmetric risks and much more.

Steve is the Co-Founder and CEO of Cliffwater, a $78B investment advisory firm specializing in alternative investments. He also manages two private debt funds with combined assets of $23B. Steve shares insights into the history and future prospects of the private debt market.

Martín Escobari is Co-President, Head of Global Growth Equity and Chairman of the Investment Committee at General Atlantic. GA is a leading growth equity firm that manages $84B and has been one of the pioneers of growth equity since its founding in 1980. Martín covers a wide range of topics including his philosophy, entrepreneurship and the outlook for growth equity.

Melissa is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Asia Alternatives, which manages over $15B and focuses on private equity in Asia. Melissa shares insights into China and India and discusses investing in private markets in these two large markets.

Jim (Founder and Chairman), Bobby (CEO), and Danny (President) of JRK discuss multifamily and hotel investing. JRK has owned and operated over $9 billion in assets since its launch in 1991. They share insights into the investing landscape, their unique approach, and their outlook.

Bob is the Founder and Chairman of High Street, which is a private real estate manager that has invested over $5B in industrial and logistics properties over 20+ years. Bob shares insights about the industry’s evolution over the past few decades, the impact of e-commerce on logistics and growing demand for “small boxes.”

Matt is a Senior Fund Manager at Ruffer, a $30B UK-based absolute return manager that is highly regarded for its macro perspectives. Matt shares insights about Ruffer’s unique investment philosophy, risk management, financial markets history and the firm’s market outlook.

Mike is Founder and Managing Partner of Kline Hill Partners, a $5B alternative asset manager that invests in secondaries. Mike shares insights about the secondaries market and private investments.

David is the founding partner and lead portfolio manager of the Artisan International Value Team, which manages about $40B. David shares his perspectives about value investing, the importance of buying at a discount to intrinsic value and risk management.

Hal is a Professor of Marketing, Behavioral Decision Making, and Psychology at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, and the author of Your Future Self: How to Make Tomorrow Better Today. Hal shares key insights about how people make decisions and common behavioral biases.

Gerard is Co-CEO, Co-CIO and Director of Dimensional Fund Advisors. DFA applies financial science to investing and manages over $700B. Gerard shares his perspectives about flexible index investing, market cycles, diversification and AI.

Kjerstin is Founder and Managing Principal of Lapis Advisers, which she launched in 2009 to focus on special situation securities in the municipal bond market. Kjerstin provides insights into the unique nature of the muni market and the inefficiencies that lead to investment opportunities.

Glenn is Founder, Senior Partner and CEO of Oak Hill Advisors, a $63B alternative investment firm. In a broad ranging conversation, Glenn talks about his formative years in the investment industry, explains how to scale an organization and shares insights about private credit.

Jim is a Senior Portfolio Strategist and Head of Client Service at Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund. He is also Editor of the Bridgewater Daily Observations, which launched about 40 years ago. Jim discusses his experience at Bridgewater and shares insights about diversification and his market outlook.

Jeremy Grantham is the Co-Founder and Long-Term Investment Strategist of GMO, which manages over $60B. Jeremy discusses his background and shares fascinating insights about a broad range of topics including investment bubbles, AI, crypto, reversion to the mean, climate change, population growth and natural resources.

Fran Kinniry is Principal and Head of Vanguard Investment Advisory Research Center. Vanguard is one of the largest investment firms in the world with over $9 trillion of AUM. Fran provides insights into the unique nature of the investment world, shares observations about common investment mistakes and discusses the concept of Advisors Alpha.

Rich Bernstein is the Founder, CEO and CIO of Richard Bernstein Advisors (RBA), a $15B manager that combines macroeconomic and quantitative analysis to construct portfolios. Prior to launching RBA in 2009, Rich spent 21 years at Merrill Lynch and served as the Chief Investment Strategist. Rich shares insights about his market outlook and investment opportunities.

Wes Whitman is the Co-Founder of Whitman Peterson, a $2B opportunistic private real estate manager. Wes shares insights about the real estate landscape, inefficiencies in real estate investing and his market outlook.

Rajiv Jain is the Founder, CIO, Chairman and Portfolio Manager of GQG, a $120B global equity firm that he launched in 2016. Rajiv shares insights about running a successful business, his investment framework, the importance of adapting and his market outlook.

Vineer Bhansali is the Founder and CIO of LongTail Alpha, which he launched after serving as a portfolio manager at PIMCO for 15 years. Vineer focuses on managing risk and protecting portfolios against material losses.

Tony Cusano is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Banner Ridge, a $7B alternative asset manager that focuses on secondaries. Tony describes the private market landscape and the unique opportunities available in the secondaries market.

Brian Higgins is the Co-Founder, Managing Partner and Co-Portfolio Manager of King Street, a $25 billion global alternative asset manager. Brian offers insights into his risk management approach, describes how he built one of the industry's premier hedge funds, and shares his market outlook.

Ben Reeves, the CIO at Wealthsimple, oversees one of Canada's fastest growing and most trusted consumer finance companies. Offering distinctive insights, Ben explores the dynamics between institutional and retail investors and discusses the pivotal role that alternative investments play in optimizing portfolios.

Bob Elliott serves as the CEO, CIO, and co-founder of Unlimited, a company that leverages the power of machine learning to produce low-cost index replications of alternative investments. Before undertaking this role, Bob served as the head of Ray Dalio's investment team at Bridgewater, amassing 13 years of valuable experience. In today’s conversation, Bob delves into his insights on effective portfolio construction and offers a glimpse into his macro outlook.

Paul Podolsky, a prolific writer and investor, founded Still Press Media and Kate Capital. With 15 years as Senior Portfolio Strategist at Bridgewater, the world's largest hedge fund, he possesses a depth of expertise. Paul shares unique insights on investment philosophies, markets, and geopolitics.

Welcome to Episode #1, where we introduce our host, Alex. In this inaugural episode, Alex delves into his background, revealing key investment lessons from his multi-decade journey in the field. He also discusses his inspiration behind starting this podcast. Special guest Damien Bisserier, Alex's long-term business partner and Co-CIO of Evoke Advisors, takes on the role of interviewer.

The Insightful Investor Podcast is a weekly series hosted by Alex Shahidi, Co-CIO of one of the nation's leading RIAs. In a conversational, "fireside chat" format, Alex interacts with the globe's premier investors and business icons to unearth distinct market insights rarely found elsewhere. While many investors echo common sentiments, our definition of "insights" includes concepts that are counterintuitive, widely misunderstood, or underappreciated. With two decades of experience managing over $10 billion in client assets, Alex gains unique access to the industry's top thinkers. He has authored two investment books, contributed to leading financial journals, and consistently ranks among the elite financial advisors by Forbes and Barron's. As an independent and innovative voice, Alex offers a fresh take compared to mainstream investment experts. We invite you to tune in. If something resonates, we'd love to hear your feedback.