Money Life with Chuck Jaffe

Joe Quinlan, head of CIO market strategy for Merrill Lynch and Bank of America Private Bank, says that the market is in a sweet spot right now -- neither too hot nor cold -- but when inflation heats up and Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell tells the market his thoughts, 'that's when things will get dicier.' Quinlan doesn't expect the market to hit a wall, but he expects a 'true testing period...

Mark Fleming, chief economist at First American Financial Corp,, says that the increase in home prices is being fueled by low interest rates -- which increases purchasing power -- a lack of supply of homes and a generational shift of young families striving to get a home, all fundamental reasons for higher prices without actually inflating a bubble. Fleming also discusses why rising delinquencies...

Jack Brennan, former chairman and chief executive at The Vanguard Group, discusses his new book 'More Straight Talk on Investing: Lessons for a Lifetime' and talks about how the financial world has changed in the 17 years since the original 'Straight Talk on Investing' debuted, and how investors can best navigate what lies ahead. Also on the show, Janie Quek of Left Brain Investment Research cover...

Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for the Independent Advisor Alliance, says that while the market is poised for continued growth -- especially as the economy reopens -- savvy investors may want to diversify further and tighten their asset allocations so that they are better positioned to survive trouble when it arrives. He notes that he prefers value to growth right now, and notes that w...

Many experts have been on Money Life recently saying that the classic 60 percent stocks/40 percent bonds portfolio doesn't work; some have suggested changing the mix of holdings that make those percentages, others have recommended making stocks 70 or 80 percent of a standard portfolio. Today on Money Life, John Ruth, chief executive officer at Build Asset Management, suggests turning the entire eq...

Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist for LPL Financial, and Buck Klintworth, portfolio manager at Chase Investment Counsel, say in successive interviews that they see the market as poised to take a breather, a correction, a downturn or whatever you want to call a small setback. Both of them, however, were clear that any setback now and through the summer is a clear buying opportunity, as they bel...

Steven McClurg of Valkyrie Investments -- which has filed registration papers to create two different Bitcoin-related ETFs -- says that cryptocurrency shouldn't be seen as a replacement for gold and precious metals or as a store of value, but instead is growing into a way that transactions are being done around the world, and is starting to become something that corporations must invest in as part...

Scott Crowe, chief investment officer at CenterSquare Investment Management, says that real estate investment trusts currently are cheap, currently trading where it was pre-pandemic. That said, some of that issue stems from certain parts of the real estate world being scary; the pandemic-driven change to working from home will impact office space, Crowe discusses whether office space could have th...

Avi Gilburt, editor of the Elliott Wave Trader, says that he sees the Standard and Poor's 500 having a summer rally -- after a small near-term pullback -- to finish the year at 4,600 and maybe slightly higher, but his long-term outlook is that the index will reach 6,000 by 2023. Also on the show, Steve Wendel, head of behavioral research at Morningstar, discusses new research on how the pandemic i...

Tracie McMillion, head of global asset allocation strategy for the Wells Fargo Investment Institute, says that investors preparing for a post-pandemic stock market and economy will want to broaden their exposure to different equity asset classes and sectors, will need to be picky about fixed-income investments, but will also want to build up their holdings in commodities and add alternative asset...

Patrick Galley, chief executive and chief investment officer at RiverNorth Capital Management and the RiverNorth Funds, does two interviews on today's show, one focused on closed-end funds -- which he believes represent a strong value in today's marketplace and which could be the way that investors changing their bond allocations look to goose returns -- and the other mostly on special-purpose acq...

Diana Henriques, author of 'The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust,' discusses the death of the man who was behind the world's largest investment fraud and the lessons that will forever be attached to his disgraced name. Henriques -- who corresponded with Madoff in prison up until 2017 -- gives her take on whether Madoff had any remorse for his crimes, whether he ever came clean...

Brad McMillan, chief investment officer at Commonwealth Financial Network, says the economy and stock market aren't completely out of the woods of the pandemic, but we can see the sunlight from here. He says the market has been backing and filling as stocks react to the lingering coronavirus news but also start to price in the reopening and the economic boost to come. Also on the show, Noland Lang...

Emidio Checcone, co-manager of the DoubleLine Equity Value Strategy, says that the recent value surge is just the start of what should be a long run where the value investment staples dramatically  outperforms growth. Checcone notes that at the end of 2019, value was lagging growth by record margins, and that differential grew bigger by 35 percent in 2020 as the stock market took off. Now, Checcon...

Jeffrey Cleveland, chief economist for Payden and Rygel, says he expects the Federal Reserve to continue its aggressive and accommodative monetary policies through this year and potentially all the way to 2023, and he notes that whenever there is strong earnings growth with an accommodative Fed -- like we have right now -- tend to be good years for the market. Also on the show, Howard Gold of Mark...

Technical analyst Toni Turner of TrendStar Group says she is worried that the market has gotten back to record highs but that it has done it on low volume, noting 'when you get this quiet feeling' where everything seems perfect, almost any bad news could be a catalyst to drive the market back to support levels. In the Big Interview, John Johnson of Edgeworth Economics talks about how hard it is to...

Frank Holmes, chief investment officer at U.S. Global Investors, says that inflation should be a key concern right now for investors and says that it is unavoidable given economic conditions, the massive government stimulus around the globe and more, but he doesn't think that inflation will derail the stock market because there will be strong economic growth for at least six months that will keep...

Giorgio Caputo, head of multi-asset strategies for J.O. Hambro Capital Management, doesn't expect a huge jump in inflation, but he warns that anyone waiting for proof-positive of inflation, there's a good chance that their bonds will be underwater before they decide how to react. Thus, it is time today to create resilient portfolios that can manage through the risk, which he says means rotating to...

Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Cresset Capital Management, says investors should expect big economic growth numbers in the second and third quarters -- fueled by the release of pent-up demand plus inflation pressures -- but notes that nominal GDP growth of roughly 10 percent in those quarters will be in the United States and not around the world, leading to what he called a 'lumpy recover...

Legendary stock market observer Roger Ibbotson -- whose landmark research is the basis for most people believing that large-cap stocks deliver 10 percent per year -- has said for years now that investors should not expect the future to stand up to the past. The chairman of Zebra Capital Management says in The Big Interview that low interest rates and other conditions will make it that the market i...

Scott Kimball, portfolio manager of the BMO TCH Core Plus Bond Fund, says that there are some warning signs that the fixed-income market could be headed for trouble, including negative repurchase agreement rates between banks, which if they last long enough turn into 'an anvil  dangling over credit markets' heads' and could lead to severe consequences in a matter of months. Also on the show, Micha...

Jack Janasiewicz, portfolio strategist for Natixis Investment Managers, says that over the last three months you have seen a rolling correction in technology and growth stocks, which has also expanded into energy, and most recently into small-caps. All have had draw-downs of more than 10 percent, but he says that other sectors have held up the market and are a good sign that the market can keep pu...

Michael Falk of Focus Consulting Group -- who joins Chuck every three months to discuss the market, investing and his personal battle with Lou Gehrig's Disease -- talks about how he would set up a portfolio that his family (and yours) could live with forever, discusses why the classic 60-40 portfolio will disappoint investors and much more in an extended Big Interview. Also on the show, Alan McKni...

Craig Callahan, chief executive officer at ICON Advisers, says that the broad market is trading roughly five percent below its fair value, which is a good target for returns over the rest of the year. Callahan is excited by the earnings forecasts for 2021 and 2022, citing 'outrageous year-over-year growth rates' as a reason to believe there will be good value stocks to be had. Also on the show, Da...

Robert Michaud, chief investment officer at New Frontier Advisors, says that reports on the death of the classic 60 percent stocks/40 percent bonds portfolio are greatly exaggerated, although he notes that the types of stocks and bonds that make up each part of the allocation are changing to keep pace with lower-for-longer interest rates and the changing stock market picture. Also on the show, Dav...