The Blunt Dollar

In this episode of The Blunt Dollar, I sit down with Vincenzo Riflesso, Head of Risk at Maverick Securities, former equity derivatives trader at BNP Paribas, Intesa Sanpaolo and UniCredit, and a thought leader at the Certificate in Quantitative Finance. With 10 years on trading desks and another decade leading risk teams, Vincenzo brings a rare perspective that bridges adrenaline driven markets an...

What if you could forecast GDP from space? In this episode of The Blunt Dollar, I sit down with Jake Schneider, Founder of Atlas Analytics, to explore how satellite imagery, artificial intelligence, and economic modeling are converging to create a completely new way to measure economic activity in real time. From working directly for former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan to building propr...

In this episode of The Blunt Dollar, I sit down with Simon Evan-Cook from Downing Fund Managers for a deep and refreshingly honest conversation about what investing really looks like in practice. Simon brings a unique engineering mindset to markets, challenging the industry’s obsession with precision, models, and certainty. We unpack how real investors navigate uncertainty, learn from mistakes, an...

In this episode of The Blunt Dollar, I sit down with Sebastian Lewis from Vanguard, one of the most influential investment firms in the world. We explore Sebastian’s journey from Morgan Stanley during the dot-com era to a 15-year career at Sanford Bernstein and ultimately to Vanguard, where he helps bring investment research and market insights to financial advisors across Europe. Along the way, w...

In this episode of The Blunt Dollar, I sit down with Thomas Veillet, one of Switzerland’s most recognizable financial voices and a pioneer in making markets understandable, entertaining, and brutally honest. With more than three decades in finance and thousands of market columns under his belt, Thomas shares how he went from trading floors to building a media brand that challenges the traditional...

In this episode of The Blunt Dollar, Ignacio sits down with Gina Martin Adams, Chief Market Strategist at HB Wealth and one of the most recognizable voices in financial markets. After more than two decades on Wall Street spanning firms like Wells Fargo and Bloomberg, Gina shares how she built a disciplined, model driven approach to understanding markets and why combining macro, technicals, fundame...

In this episode of The Blunt Dollar, Ignacio sits down with Andrew Wells, Chief Investment Officer at Sanjak Alpha and a veteran fixed income investor with decades of experience navigating bond markets, hedge funds, and ETFs. Andy shares his journey from small town Texas to running trading desks and hedge funds, while breaking down how today’s bond market is fundamentally different from the last f...

In this episode of The Blunt Dollar, Ignacio sits down with Leyla Kunimoto, co founder of Accredited Investor Insights, one of the most candid and independent voices analyzing private markets today. Drawing from conversations with hundreds of LPs and exposure to more than 75 deals, Leyla shares what really happens behind the scenes in private equity, venture, and private credit.  💡 Why an LP deci...

In this episode of The Blunt Dollar, I sit down with macro thinker, engineer, and investor Diego Parrilla to unpack the hidden fragilities of today’s financial system and what they mean for investors. From his engineering roots to his career across global banks and hedge funds, Diego brings a unique lens to markets, combining physics, macro, and options theory to challenge conventional thinking. W...

In this episode of The Blunt Dollar, I sit down with Elias Korosis, Global Investment Partner at Federated Hermes Private Equity and Chair of Invest Europe. From starting his career as a scriptwriter for educational cartoons to becoming one of the leading voices in European private capital, Elias brings a rare combination of storytelling clarity and institutional insight. We dive into the realitie...

In this episode of The Blunt Dollar, I sit down with Andrew Hollingworth, founder of Holland Advisors and manager of the VT Holland Advisors Equity Fund, a boutique investment firm built around long-term ownership of exceptional businesses. Andrew is a Buffett disciple with a contrarian streak who left the traditional institutional world to build a fund that ignores benchmarks, avoids groupthink,...

In this episode of The Blunt Dollar, I sit down with Anastasia Buyalskaya, behavioral scientist and professor at HEC Paris, whose work sits right at the intersection of neuroscience, psychology, and financial decision making. With a background that spans finance, academia, and advisory work, Anastasia brings a rare perspective on how our brains actually behave under pressure and why even the smart...

In this episode of The Blunt Dollar, I sit down with Greg King, Senior Director and Head of Wealth Management at FactSet, to unpack how technology, AI, and data are fundamentally reshaping the wealth management industry. With nearly three decades at FactSet, Greg has witnessed the evolution from spreadsheets to smart systems firsthand. We dive into what digital transformation really looks like ins...

In this episode of The Blunt Dollar, I sit down with Javier Corominas, Chief Investment Strategist at Oxford Economics and former Head of Research at Record Currency Management. Javier brings a rare blend of real money portfolio experience and deep macro strategy, offering sharp insights into how markets truly function beneath the headlines. We explore what it means to move from managing risk dire...

In this episode of The Blunt Dollar, I sit down with William De Gale, founder and CIO of Blue Box Asset Management and former long time technology investor at BlackRock, where he ran its offshore global technology fund for two decades. William brings a refreshingly contrarian perspective to tech investing. In a world obsessed with flashy disruptors and headline grabbing growth stories, he focuses...

In this episode of The Blunt Dollar, I sit down with Jonathan Nurick, Co-Founder and CIO of DivGro, a fund built on a bold and simple mission: 30X capital over 30 years. But this is not about chasing hype or predicting the next big thing. It is about mastering behavior, understanding compounding, and learning to listen to the quiet language of dividends. Jonathan grew up in a family deeply rooted...

In this episode of The Blunt Dollar, Ignacio sits down with portfolio strategist Vikram Josyula to explore a different way of thinking about macro investing. Instead of trying to predict the business cycle, Vikram focuses on detecting regime shifts early and adapting portfolios before risks compound. Drawing from his experience across engineering, risk management, and quantitative research, he exp...

What if your bank didn’t just serve you but actually knew you? In this episode, I sit down with Driss Temsamani, Head of Digital at Citi, who’s not just leading a transformation. He’s reimagining what a financial institution can be. Driss has an incredible story. He immigrated to the US from Morocco at 17 with just $ 200 in his pocket and went on to help shape the infrastructure of global banking....

If you still think ETFs are boring, this episode will change your mind. Sefian Kasem, Global Head of ETF and Indexing Investment Specialists at HSBC Asset Management, joins the show to unpack how ETFs have evolved into the real engine room of portfolio construction. With over 100 billion in AUM and a PhD in mathematical finance, Sefian bridges the gap between macro strategy and product design. Fro...

In this episode of The Blunt Dollar, I sit down with Lucy Walker, fintech founder, former fund researcher, and boardroom powerhouse, for a deep dive into the future of fund research and distribution. Lucy shares the story behind building AM Insights, a sleek mobile-first platform born out of frustration with clunky legacy systems. We talk entrepreneurship, sales effectiveness, and the community sh...

In this episode of The Blunt Dollar, I sit down with Phil Rosen, a former Business Insider reporter turned media entrepreneur, whose journey from literary fiction to launching one of the fastest-growing finance newsletters in the game is anything but typical. Phil is the cofounder of Opening Bell Daily, a high-impact financial newsletter read by investors around the world and syndicated by Inc. Ma...

In this episode of The Blunt Dollar, I sit down for the third time with Lucy Baldwin, Global Head of Research at Citi, to unpack what it really takes to lead one of the largest and most influential research platforms in the world.  With a career spanning Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Credit Suisse, Lucy offers a candid, thoughtful look at how research, leadership, and markets are evolving in...

John Haslett is not your typical finance COO. As cofounder of Graphite Asset Advisory, John brings a rare blend of risk discipline, storytelling flair, and market intuition that sets him apart in the world of discretionary fund management. Named a Top 10 LinkedIn Voice in South African finance, John has built a firm that has never lost a single client or team member in over a decade. In this episo...

Karl Rogers has traded everything from oil calendar spreads to electricity across the US grid and now he's building one of Ireland’s most forward thinking family office investment platforms at Elkstone. In this episode of The Blunt Dollar, we dive deep into how Karl’s prop trading roots shaped his unique investment approach, why he believes most forecasts are useless, and how to build portfol...

In this episode of The Blunt Dollar, we sit down with Andrew Spence, founder and CEO of Aspen, one of the UK’s fastest-growing model portfolio service (MPS) providers. From his early career in marine engineering to a life-altering health scare that reshaped his outlook, Andrew shares the pivotal moments that led him to build Aspen with a clean slate and a mission to add real value to wealth manage...