Excess Returns

In our latest episode of Show Us Your Portfolio, we are joined by Fairlead Strategies founder Katie Stockton. We discuss how Katie thinks about managing her personal portfolio and the investing process. We cover Katie's approach to asset allocation, how she incorporates technical analysis into her strategy, international diversification, the benefits of a financial advisor, her views on leavin...

In this episode, we speak with DBi founder Andrew Beer about his approach to managing his personal portfolio. We discuss how Andrew looks at his portfolio in the context of his life goals, his views on stocks and bonds, how he incorporates managed futures into his portfolio, his views on homeownership and charitable giving and a lot more. SEE LATEST EPISODES ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https...

In this episode, we are privileged to be joined by Chris Davis, Chairman and Portfolio Manager of Davis Advisors. Chris has built an outstanding long-term record as a value investor and also serves on the board of both Berkshire Hathaway and the Coca-Cola Company. We discuss his process for analyzing companies and his owner earnings-based approach that led him to companies like Amazon when many va...

Generative AI is probably the most rapidly developing technology we have ever seen. In this episode, we dig deep into it and its potential impact on both our lives and the investing world with ReSolve Asset Management CIO Adam Butler. Adam is one of the smartest people we know and has been dedicating a large amount of his free time to utilizing the technology, so we couldn't think of a better...

We have now conducted over 100 interviews on Excess Returns. At the end of all of them, we have asked the same closing question: Based on your experience in markets and your research, if you could teach one lesson to the average investor, what would it be? In this episode, we bring all of their episodes together into one episode and share the answers from all our guests, including Guy Spier, Rob A...

This episode is the first part II our Show Us Your Portfolio series. When we originally spoke to Larry Swedroe, we were very intrigued by his use of illiquid alternatives within his portfolio. But we didn’t have time in the original interview to dig into the details of his strategy and the individual components of it. In this interview, we correct that. We discuss Larry’s overall view of alternati...

In this episode, we are joined by Wes Gray, founder of Alpha Architect and ETF Architect. We cover his biggest lessons from growing the businesses from a startup to over $5 billion in assets. We also discuss the rapid growth of ETFs and ETF Architect's mission to help firms launch them. And we get Wes' take on a variety of issues related to factor investing including the struggles of value...

In this episode, we talk factor investing with Robeco's Matthias Hanauer. Matthias has written some excellent research papers on a variety of factor investing topics and we dig into the details behind two of our favorites: "Honey I Shrunk the Factor Zoo", and "Resurrecting the Value Premium." We also discuss the state of value investing in general and look at some interesti...

In this episode, we discuss the incredible life and investing career of Charlie Munger with George Washington Professor Lawrence Cunningham. Lawrence in one of the world's leading experts on Berkshire Hathaway and Buffett and Munger and w couldn't think of anyone better to help us pay tribute to Munger. We discuss Munger's life, his investing career, the core principles that governed h...

In this episode, we speak with Joel Tillinghast, who will retire as the manager of the Fidelity Low-Priced Stock Fund at the end of this year. Joel managed the fund for over 30 years and built an impressive track record, substantially outperforming the S&P 500 over his tenure. We talk to Joel about the biggest lessons from his career, his approach to finding undervalued stocks, what he learned...

Most investors reference the returns of popular indexes frequently. But most also do not understand the details of how those indexes are constructed. In this episode, we take a deep dive into index construction with Bloomberg's Athanasios Psarofagis. We start with basic indexes like the S&P 500 and NASDAQ and move to more complex ones like the Russell and S&P value and growth indexes....

In this episode we bring back one of our most popular guests. We speak with O'Shaughnessy Ventures founder Jim O'Shaughnessy about his transition from a factor investor to a venture capitalist and what he has learned along the way. We cover the current state of factor investing, Jim's biggest lessons from his career, his approach to venture capital, the attributes of successful founder...

In this episode, we speak with 3Fourteen Research founders Warren Pies and Fernando Vidal. We discuss 3Fourteen’s systematic macro process and how they are using it to analyze the current challenging environment. We also cover a wide range of macro topics, including the importance of the duration of treasury issuance, Fed policy, the changing correlation dynamics of stocks and bonds, their unique...

In this episode, we take an in depth look at the credit market with Asterozoa Capital CIO Joe Hegener. We cover the basics of the credit market, the current state of the market, the potential upcoming refinancing wall and the most important fundamental criteria Joe looks at when evaluating companies. We hope you enjoy the discussion. SEE LATEST EPISODES ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://ww...

When fund managers outperform, they tend to attribute it to their skill. When they underperform, they tend to blame external factors. While that information has been known for some time, it wasn't something that researchers were able to quantify. But the advent of ChatGPT and large language models has changed that. In this episode, we are joined by Meng Wang, a PhD student at Georgia State Uni...

In this episode, we talk all weather investing with Standpoint's Eric Crittenden. We discuss the case for an all weather strategy relative to a stock and bond portfolio, the challenges of looking different than the market, portfolio construction, international diversification, leverage, the characteristics of a good back test and a lot more. We hope you enjoy the discussion. SEE LATEST EPISODE...

We have launched a new podcast called the OPEX Effect with Spotgamma's Brent Kochuba. The monthly podcast will look at the impact of options on the stock market and how long-term investors can better understand it. We have included the first episode in the Excess Returns feed, but if you would like to receive future episodes, please subscribe using the links below. SUBSCRIBE ON APPLE PODCASTS...

In this episode we take a behind the scenes look at one of our favorite podcasts, Flirting with Models, with its host Corey Hoffstein. We discuss the podcast's origin story, how Corey thinks about selecting guests, what he has learned about interviewing, how he thinks about the podcast as part of his overall business strategy and a lot more. We also talk about Corey's days as a pirate host...

In this episode we speak with Chesapeake Capital founder Jerry Parker about how he manages his personal portfolio. We discuss Jerry's trend following based approach and how he uses it to construct a portfolio that balances risk and return. We also discuss the problems with the 60-40 portfolio, the details of building a trend following strategy, charitable giving, leaving money to children and...

In this episode, we speak with FPA Crescent Manager Steve Romick. Steve has built an exceptional long-term record using an approach that combines value investing with protection of capital and drawdown management. We discuss the biggest lessons he has learned in his decades of managing money, get his take on the current state of value investing and talk about many of the unique aspects of managing...

It has been a painful last decade for value investors. In this episode, our good friend Tobias Carlisle returns to commiserate about the struggles of value and also to talk about the future opportunity it may create. We discuss value spreads, the importance of enduring pain, the comparison with 2000 and a lot more. We also get an update on Toby's new book. We hope you enjoy the discussion. SEE...

In this episode, we take a deep div into quantitative investing with Michael Robbins, author of the new book "Quantitative Asset Management: Factor Investing and Machine Learning for Institutional Investing." We discuss data science and machine learning, factor investing, risk management, the qualities of a good back test and a lot more. We hope you enjoy the discussion. SEE LATEST EPISO...

In this episode, we talk trend following and conservative investing with Sierra Mutual Funds CIO James St. Aubin. We talk about their unique banded moving average approach to trend following and how they utilize it to manage risk in client portfolios. We also discuss the importance of educating investors, what makes a good investment manager, quantitative vs discretionary management and a lot more...

In this episode of Show Us Your Portfolio, we speak with Damped Spring Advisors founder Andy Constan. Andy has spent his career working at some of the most successful firms in the asset management industry, including Bridgewater and Brevan Howard and he explains how the lessons he has learned throughout his career led to how he constructs his portfolio today. We discuss how he combines a risk pari...

In this episode, our good friend Cullen Roche returns to the podcast for his 5th appearance. But this time, instead of talking about the macroeconomy as we have in his previous appearances, we discuss how he manages his personal portfolio. We talk about Cullen's unique approach of matching the duration of the asset classes he invests in with his personal goals. We also discuss whether his macro vi...