Excess Returns

In this episode we speak with Cem Karsan, the most popular guest from our first 200 episodes. But this time, we changed things up and asked him to talk about how he manages his personal portfolio. Many investors are used to building their portfolios using long-term buy and hold allocations to stocks and bonds, but Cem turns that on its head and takes a very different approach. We talk about the pr...

In this episode, we speak with Guy Spier. Guy has built a very successful long-term track record as a value investor, but the lessons we can learn from him go far beyond investing and apply to so many aspects of life. We discuss Guy’s unique approach to investing, what he has learned from Buffett, the importance of learning in public and a lot more. We hope you enjoy the discussion. SEE LATEST EPI...

In this episode, we talk factor investing with AJO Vista Head of Investments Chris Covington. We discuss their unique approach to factor investing and how they apply it to less crowded markets. We take a detailed look at their strategy and discuss value, quality, momentum and their approach to measuring stability. We also cover a wide range of other topics including multi-factor investing, the imp...

Direct Indexing has experienced rapid growth in recent years. Falling transaction costs and improving technology has allowed more and more investors to deploy an index-based strategy by owning the underlying securities rather than using an ETF or Mutual Fund. This has opened up opportunities to potentially improve after tax returns and to customize index-based portfolios for each investor’s needs....

With inflation returning after being dormant for decades, many investors have had a renewed interest in adding inflation fighting assets to their portfolios. But figuring out how to do that can be challenging. In this episode, we speak to VanEck's Head of Quantitative Solutions Dave Schassler to get some insights about how to attack the problem. We discuss the assets that work best to hedge agains...

With the failure of Silicon Valley Bank last week, we wanted to do a special episode to better understand what happened, and what all of us can learn from it. And we couldn’t think of anyone better to talk to than Cullen Roche of Discipline Funds, who is an expert on the internal workings of the monetary and banking systems.    The three big things you will learn in this episode are: &nb...

You might think that the return profile of the market looks similar during the day and overnight. But research has shown that isn't the case. In this episode, we discuss the "Night Effect" with NightShares founder Bruce Lavine. We discuss what the "Night Effect' is, what causes it, how it stands up to the tests of a strong investing factor and a lot more.   We hope you enjoy the discussion. S...

We are happy to announce the launch of our second podcast, The Education of a Financial Planner. We have been doing more financial planning with clients and have realized how much there is to learn in the area. So we decided to create a podcast to document our learning journey and bring in experienced planner Matt Zeigler to teach us. In the second episode, we take a detailed look at college plann...

In our latest Show Us Your Portfolio episode, we speak with Newfound Research founder Corey Hoffstein. We discuss how he constructs his personal portfolio and how he applies concepts like return stacking and capital efficiency in that process. We also cover a wide range of other topics, including the importance of human capital, international diversification, the role of valuations in his investme...

We are happy to announce the launch of our second podcast, The Education of a Financial Planner. We have been doing more financial planning with clients and have realized how much there is to learn in the area. So we decided to create a podcast to document our learning journey and bring in experienced planner Matt Zeigler to teach us.  In the first episode, we discuss the basics of goals-base...

In this episode we speak with Damped Spring Advisors founder Andy Constan. Andy has built a unique macro framework that incorporates growth, inflation, flows and risk premia. We discuss a wide variety of topics, including the interaction between Fed and Treasury policy, the biggest lessons he learned at Bridgewater, the future of inflation and what his framework says about the current market. We h...

Many investors take for granted that the earnings and other financial data that companies report provides an accurate representation of their business and its future. But the reality is that is often not the case. In this episode, we talk with Doron Nissim, who is the Ernst & Young Professor of Accounting & Finance Chair at Columbia University and one of the world's leading experts on earn...

We all often hear about the importance of sentiment in investing. But how to use it can be elusive. This week we are joined by someone who has done the empirical work and developed models that use sentiment to build real world investment strategies.  We speak with Ray Micaletti of Relative Sentiment Technologies. Ray has done extensive research on the use of relative sentiment in investment s...

In this episode we talk fund selection with Joe Wiggins, author of the new book "The Intelligent Fund Investor: Practical steps for better results in active and passive funds". We take a deep dive into the process of selecting funds and the many pitfalls' investors face along the way. We discuss the dangers of investing with star managers, what we can and can't learn from historical performance, t...

With the recent release of the Netflix documentary "Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street," many of us have been learning more of the details behind the scandal.  This week, are are joined by Andrew Cohen, who participated in the documentary and was both a trader on the legitimate side of Madoff's business and a victim of the Ponzi scheme. Andrew gives us a inside look at what it was like to wor...

In this episode, we speak with Smead Capital CEO and Portfolio Manager Cole Smead. Smead Capital has built a strong long-term record using a unique approach to value investing. We take a deep dive into their approach, the key metrics they use and how they think about portfolio construction. We also talk about his favorite investing books, discuss the most important lessons he thinks investors can...

In this episode, we speak with Andy Berkin, Head of Research at Bridgeway and co-author of "Your Complete Guide to Factor Investing: The Way Smart Money Invests Today." We cover a wide range of factor investing topics, including the future of value investing, composites vs. individual metrics, the different approaches to multi-factor investing and factor timing. We also talk about how his backgrou...

2022 was a great year for Excess Returns. We were able to interview some of the smartest people we know and more than doubled our audience as a result of the many great insights our guests have provided and the support of our loyal listeners. As has been the case since the beginning of our podcast, we tried to focus on talking to investors who have had long-term track records of success, and we tr...

In this episode, we speak with Jeff Muhlenkamp. Jeff is the manager of the Muhlenkamp Fund, which has managed client money for over three decades. We discuss his approach to finding undervalued securities and the portfolio management process he uses to manage the fund. We also cover the fund's unique approach to raising cash based on market conditions, the biggest lessons he learned from his fathe...

The ETF industry is dominated by the big players. They control most of the assets and they have some clear advantages over the smaller companies within the industry in terms of their ability to launch and grow products. We know this first hand since we launched our own value ETF in 2014 (not exactly the best timing for a value strategy by the way) and it eventually didn’t work out.    Bu...

In this episode, we talk Geopolitics with Marko Papic, Chief Strategist at the Clocktower Group.    We look at his framework for analyzing the geopolitical landscape to cut through the noise and identify the most important events and information. We also take a tour of the current world to look at some of the most important areas investors should be paying attention to including the Ukraine War, w...

In this episode we speak with Buckingham Strategic Wealth's Head of Financial and Economic Research Larry Swedroe. Larry is one of the most prolific producers of quality financial content we know and has committed much of his career to helping to educate investors. We talk to Larry about the current situation in the economy and markets and how long-term investors can make sense of it. We also disc...

In this episode we are joined by Harley Bassman, Managing Partner at Simplify ETFs. Harley's work on convexity and how to utilize it in portfolios earned him the nickname the Convexity Maven. We discuss convexity and how investors can benefit from it in their investment strategies and also cover a wide range of other topics, including inflation, housing, Fed policy and a lot more. We hope you enjo...

In this episode we talk with Ben Carlson, author of the popular A Wealth of Common Sense blog and Director of Institutional Asset Management at Ritholtz Wealth Management.  We discuss Ben's path to creating and building the blog and what he has learned along the way. We also get Ben's help putting the current market and economic situation in historical context and discuss some of the biggest...

When we started Show Us Your Portfolio, we assumed there would be one major requirement for each interview - a portfolio. But it turns out one of the most interesting episodes we have done is with someone who doesn't have one (at least in public markets).    We talk with Epsilon Theory founder Ben Hunt about why he doesn't invest in public markets and instead invests in the things closes...