The InvestmentNews Podcast

Andrew Komarow, financial planner, owner of Planning Across the Spectrum and autistic himself, joins the pod to share his story and talk about the importance of financial planning for families with neurodivergent members. Kevin Keller, CEO of the CFP Board, joins to talk about the board’s plans and the proliferation of sometimes questionable designations.

To celebrate 50 episodes, Liz Ann Sonders from Schwab and Shundrawn Thomas from Northern Trust join Jeff to discuss their outlooks for the second half of the year. Equity outlooks, thoughts on inflation, crypto, sustainable investing and diversity in the industry are all addressed.

Newly minted CIO Bob Doll of Crossmark joins to discuss his move. Jeff and Bruce do an informal report card on Bob’s 2021 predictions with him. Susan Schroeder of WilmerHale, the former head of enforcement at Finra, chats about her memories of interesting enforcement actions at Finra and the Finra/SEC relationship.

A wide-ranging conversation with Michael Kitces covering niche practices, fees, brands and RIA valuations. Ben Harrison joins Jeff and Bruce to chat about the goings-on at Pershing, the INSITE conference and custody issues.

George Moriarty, our chief content officer, makes his inaugural visit to the podcast to chat about Bruce’s amazing Neal award. Mindy Diamond starts off the episode with a conversation about adviser movement, the wirehouses, compensation and why there aren’t more female RIAs.

A conversation with Bob Smietana of the Religion News Service looks at how born-again-Christian and radio host Dave Ramsey fits into finance and religion. Sonya Dreizler joins Jeff and Bruce to chat about some of the challenges women face in the financial advice industry and how industry conferences can help.

Financial planning icon Ric Edelman, who created Edelman Financial Services in 1987 and merged it with Financial Engines in 2018 to create the mammoth Edelman Financial Engines, joins the podcast to share his plans now that he’s stepped down from daily duties at his namesake firm. Bruce and Jeff ask him about his efforts to help the financial services industry understand and embrace digital innova...

Kara Murphy, formerly of United Capital and then Goldman Sachs, recently became the first chief investment officer of Kestra Holdings, which has about $33 billion in assets under management. She joined the podcast to share her plans for the new division she will lead, Kestra Investment Management, which will work the firm’s 2,400 advisers on investment selection and advice. Blair DuQuesnay of Rith...

Peggy Chait, compliance consultant, chats with Bruce and Jeff about Finra’s effort to increase the diversity of the financial services industry. They discuss the details of Form U4, disclosures, and the role of Finra versus an employer. Teri Shepard from Carson Group talks about their new research on women in the RIA space. Jeff searches for concrete answers to the question: Why aren’t there more...

R.J. Moore, newly minted CEO of Private Advisor Group, discusses with Jeff and Bruce the recent explosion of M&A activity and specifically, RIA valuations. Peter Yi of Northern Trust Asset Management joins as well to talk about Jeff’s favorite topic of the day, inflation. Is it transitory, is it going to get worse, what to do about it, and just what exactly is ‘stuck-flation’?

InvestmentNews’ fintech reporter, Nicole Casperson, has become a true expert on all things Robinhood through her reporting, and she joins Jeff and Bruce on Robinhood’s IPO day to share her findings. They discuss the companies challenges, where they go from here, and the performance of the IPO itself. Professor Luke Taylor from Wharton joins today’s pod to chat about the results of his department’s...

Burt White, CIO of LPL, joins the pod this episode to chat about LPL’s annual meeting, transitioning from the 60/40 mindset, and the role of a CIO. Zach Teutsch, an adviser whose practice specializes in progressive clients, chats with Jeff and Bruce about having a niche practice, tax planning for the left-minded, and Zach’s curious career path through Bear Stearns during the ’08 financial crisis.

See it Be it honoree Dana Wilson shares her story of founding CHIP (Changing How Individuals Prosper), an online community that helps people of color find advisers and other professionals who look like them. Jordan Waxman, an adviser to professional athletes, celebrities and advocates, joins to discuss how advisers could take advantage of the recent NCAA rule allowing greater freedom for student a...

Tom O’Shea, a director at Cerulli Associates, explains why taxes and ESG are creating a surge of interest in direct indexing, a separately managed account product that has been around for 20 years. His research firm predicts a 12.4% growth in direct indexing assets, compared with 11.3% for exchange-traded funds and 3.3% for mutual funds. InvestmentNews hosts Jeff Benjamin and Bruce Kelly discuss a...

Jim Paulsen of The Leuthold Group and Paulsen’s Perspective joins the podcast to discuss his views on S&P valuations, the possibility of inflation and a market outlook. Our own Mark Schoeff Jr. fills Jeff and Bruce in on Barbara Roper’s move to the SEC from her longtime work for the Consumer Federation of America.

Leslie Marshall of Morningstar joins Jeff and Bruce to discuss the company’s conference, which is the final large in-person conference still standing. They talk about the deliberations in going forward with it, Covid policies, what makes this year different, and Leslie’s job title. Bruce and Jeff also go through the recent American Century conspiracy theory.

Writer and researcher Jamie Hopkins, managing partner of wealth solutions at Carson Wealth, discusses at length with Jeff and Bruce the current Democratic tax plan making its way through Congress. They discuss realistic outcomes of the bill and ramifications for advisers and clients. They also discuss crypto, the new Carson headquarters building and the Bain Capital investment.

Steve Skancke from Keel Point joins Jeff and Bruce to chat alternatives. With his long history of both governmental and private-sector work, Steve helps break down why the 60/40 portfolio is now 70/30, and why alts make more sense now than ever.

Karen Barr, CEO of the Investment Adviser Association joins Bruce, flying solo today as Jeff hosts our own RIA summit, to chat all things advisory business. Nicole Casperson joins Bruce to discuss how tech is reshaping account aggregation.

Target-date funds have come under fire recently, with comments made by Peter Mallouk disparaging the products. Jason Kephart joins the pod today to discuss what’s up with TDFs. Why are they popular, are investors using them wrong, and what are collective investment trusts? Devin McGinley also joins to share the latest from the 2021 InvestmentNews compensation and staffing study.

Alexandra Mihailescu Cichon from RepRisk joins Jeff and Bruce to discuss the current state of ESG, and the future. They go over the growing pains of greenwashing, Tariq Fancy’s comments disparaging ESG, the DOL proposal and more. Scott Silver also joins to chat about the recent Worden Capital fiasco and what it means for the industry.

Bitcoin futures ETFs have hit the market recently, causing big waves. Crypto advocates have long sought cryptocurrency fund products, and those efforts have been hampered by lack of regulation. Nate Geraci, president of The ETF Store, joins Jeff and Bruce to dive into the details. Danny Sarch from Leitner Sarch Consultants chats about the dance between the wirehouses and the RIA space.

Frank Congemi of Benefactor Financial joins Bruce Kelly on today’s episode to talk about Covid’s effect on the work of financial advisers. Nearly two years into the pandemic, what has changed and will there ever be a return to normal for advisers? Lori Varnell, chief of the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Elder Financial Fraud team, chats with Bruce about elder fraud and a case that re...

Frank Congemi of Benefactor Financial joins Bruce Kelly on today’s episode to talk about Covid’s effect on the work of financial advisers. Nearly two years into the pandemic, what has changed and will there ever be a return to normal for advisers? Lori Varnell, chief of the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Elder Financial Fraud team, chats with Bruce about elder fraud and a case that re...

Bruce first talks to Mike Edmiston, the new head of the plaintiff’s bar group, PIABA, about RIAs and investor lawsuits and then to IN’s own Emile Hallez about financial advisers and the Great Resignation.