Investment Wars

What happens when a startup employee helps build something valuable—but can’t afford to keep the equity they earned? In this episode of the Investment Wars podcast sponsored by Obsidian CIO , Joe Halpern sits down with Dave Thornton, Co-Founder and CEO of Vested , to explore one of the most overlooked problems in private markets: the liquidity gap facing startup employees with expiring stock optio...

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles: Mobility, Automation, and the Future of Infrastructure In this episode of Investment Wars sponsored by Obsidian CIO , Joseph Halpern sits down with Andrew Miller, a transportation consultant, author, speaker, and writer of the Changing Lanes Substack. This is a wide-ranging conversation about how transportation systems actually work — and why the future of mobility...

Prediction Markets — Forecasting, AI, and the Future of Information In this episode of Investment Wars, Joe Halpern sits down with Zvi Mowshowitz, a deep thinker with hands-on experience in professional trading, prediction market design, and AI, for a wide-ranging conversation on what prediction markets are, what they're actually good for, and where they're headed. Prediction markets get a lot of...

In this episode of Investment Wars, Episode 36, sponsored by Obsidian CIO, host Joe Halpern (Managing Partner and CIO of Obsidian CIO) sits down with Robert Grunewald — a 30-year veteran of middle market finance — to deliver a ground-up education on private credit and direct lending. Private credit has been making negative headlines as of late. Investors are asking hard questions about valuations,...

Debate: Liquidity, Valuation, and the Return of the Yield Curve Featuring: David Sherman, Founder of CrossingBridge Advisors David Sherman joins  Investment Wars for a wide-ranging discussion on navigating today’s complex fixed income and equity markets—from the aftermath of a decade of zero interest rates to the reemergence of inflation, tighter liquidity, and shifting policy dynamics. In this co...

Debate: Direct Lending and the Evolution of Private Credit Featuring: Alona Gornick, Managing Director & Senior Investment Strategist at Churchill Asset Management (an affiliate of Nuveen, the $1 trillion asset management arm of TIAA)  Alona Gornick joins Investment Wars to break down one of the fastest-growing corners of alternative investing: direct lending to private U.S. companies. In a wi...

Debate: Interest Rates and Economic Distortions  Featuring: Paul Musson , Former Senior Portfolio Manager at Mackenzie Investments & Author of Capital Offence Paul Musson joins Investment Wars to unpack one of the most misunderstood forces shaping modern markets: interest rates. In a thought-provoking conversation that touches on inflation, money supply, and the consequences of government inte...

Debate: Trade Imbalance – Is Reindustrialization the Key to U.S. Economic Resilience? Featuring: Eli Horton, Senior Portfolio Manager & Investment Committee Member at TCW. Eli Horton joins Investment Wars to debate one of the most pressing economic challenges of our time: the U.S. trade imbalance and the industrial response it demands. In a conversation spanning global supply chains, national...

Debate: Energy Infrastructure – Will It Double in the Next Decade? Featuring: Robert Thummel , Senior Portfolio Manager & Investment Committee Member at  Tortoise Capital . As the U.S. power grid strains under the weight of rising demand, AI-fueled data centers, and shifting global energy dynamics, one sector stands at the center of it all: energy infrastructure . In this episode, we break dow...

Debate: How to Measure and Navigate Market Uncertainty Featuring: Professor Nick Bloom is the William Eberle Professor of Economics at Stanford University, Senior Fellow at SIEPR, and Co-Director of the Productivity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Uncertainty is one of the most critical—and elusive—forces shaping markets today. How is it measu...

Debate: How Do I Select the “Right” ETF? Featuring: Adam Patti is the Co-founder and CEO of Vistashares, an ETF issuer designed to provide pure exposure to disruptive technology-driven supercycles. He is an industry pioneer and insider with vast ETF development and construction knowledge. There are at least 24 artificial intelligence-themed ETFs in the market. How can we differentiate one from the...

Debate: LA Fires - The Complexities of Insurance Featuring: Jerry Theodorou is the Director of the Finance, Insurance, and Trade Policy Program at the R Street Institute, a public policy research organization. In this role, he develops and promotes free-market public policy solutions to complex issues involving federal and state government interventions. In January, the LA area was ravaged by a se...

Debate: Innovation Episode - The Future of AI Featuring: Tejas Dessai is a Director of Thematic Research at Global X. His research has been extensively covered in the tech and financial press, including the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, The Washington Post, and Reuters.  This is a timely conversation given the recent major release of DeepSeek V3 which upended the world of AI given its leap in ef...

Debate: Will the Fed Cut Rates in 2025?   Featuring: JoAnne Bianco, CFA is a Partner and Senior Investment Strategist at BondBloxx. Bondbloxx is the first ETF issuer to focus solely on providing precision tools in managing exposures within Fixed Income Markets. Prior to joining Bondbloxx, JoAnne was a Senior Portfolio Manager at PPM as well as Director of Corporate Bond Research. She has over thir...

Debate: Are We Entering a New Golden Age of US Manufacturing?   Featuring: Chris Semenuk is a fund manager at Tema ETFs where he is currently focusing on the theme of American Reshoring as captured in the American Reshoring ETF (Ticker: RSHO). Prior, Chris was with TIAA where he was a portfolio manager for a $5 billion equities mutual fund.   The decision of where to place the next factory has bec...

Debate: Should We Invest in China?   Featuring: Brendan Ahern , the Chief Investment Officer at KraneShares. He is a preeminent expert in global financial markets with a particular focus on China.   China is considered the second largest economy in the world behind the US yet represents less than 5% of a typical diversified global equity exposure as compared to over 50% for the US. In this episode...

Debate: Why Are Interest Rates Now Declining?   Featuring: Lara Rhame, the Chief U.S. Economist and Managing Director on the Investment Research Team at FS Investments.   Last week, the Federal Reserve lowered the Federal Funds rate by 0.50%. This was the first decrease in rates in over two years, reflecting the start of an “easing” cycle. We explore what major market characteristics the Fed revie...

Debate: What Will Jobs Look Like in 2040?   Featuring: Stephanie Aliaga, a Global Market Strategist with JP Morgan Asset Management assisting in formulating and communicating economic views, delivering timely commentary and maintaining forecasting models on behalf of JP Morgan. Additionally, Stephanie is on the committee that produces the long-term capital market assumptions underpinning JP Morgan...

Debate: NEW JERSEY! Is NJ a Bellwether for What Lies Ahead for the US in a Complex and Changing World? Featuring: John Hasse, Professor of Geography at Rowan University, Director of the Geospatial Research Lab, and Director of the Community and Environmental Planning Program. New Jersey, the most dense state in the US, features 127 miles of coast, deep ports beneficial for shipping, prime agricult...

Debate: The Upcoming Election: Will the Winner Materially Affect Market Performance in the Near Term? Featuring: Paul Hickey, co-founder of Bespoke Investment Group.   40% of the population will be devastated come November 5th as their (hopefully) voted for president-elect loses. While we emphasize and are saddened by the polarization in our political system, we explore how much our next president...

Debate: How Demographics May Affect Future Interest Rate and Debt Levels   Featuring: James Meyers, CFA, Principal and Portfolio Strategist for Prudential Group Investment Management (PGIM) Fixed Income.    We discuss how shifting demographics (i.e. America is getting older!) will affect pretty much everything in our economy inclusive of productivity, tax rates, debt levels and interest rates. Whe...

Debate: Will the Crypto Ecosystem Disrupt Both Fiat Currency and Digital Technologies? Featuring: David LaValle, Senior Managing Director and Global Head of ETFs at Grayscale Investments, the world’s largest digital currency asset manager.   We discuss how cryptocurrencies may live side by side with a fiat currency like the US Dollar or the Nigerian Naira to use an example of a weaker currency and...

Debate: Will the Fed Really Cut Rates Three Times this Year?   Featuring: Michael Shaoul, Chairman, Portfolio Manager and CEO of Marketfield Asset Management, an asset manager specializing in global macro investing.   Macro investing focuses on an in-depth analysis of the economic, monetary and credit environments in assessing what markets and products to have exposure to. Using this context, one...

Debate: Do Recent Disruptions in the Real Estate Sector Create Opportunity in 2024?   Featuring: Lauren Hochfelder, Co-Chief Executive Officer of Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing (“MSREI”) and Head of MSREI Americas, one of the longest-tenured real estate investment management businesses, with a number of offerings across the risk spectrum. The Real Estate sector has experienced one disruption...

Debate: Will Robots Take over the World?! Featuring: Zeno Mercer, an expert on Robotics with VettaFi RoboGlobal Indexes. Zeno is an Investor & Researcher in Robotics, AI & Healthcare. Amazon may have more robot “workers” than human ones. Robots are increasingly replacing humans on factory floors given upgrades in their technologies. Furthermore, robots may be an integral part of the answer...