WEALTHTRACK

Discover the state of the municipal bond market post-2022 interest rate surge! Munis had their worst year since 1981, with a -8.5% return. Yields doubled from 1.03% to 2.63%, causing record outflows of $122 billion. Join us with muni bond expert Robert DiMella, Co-Head of MacKay Municipal Managers, as he shares insights on market recovery and tax-free opportunities. What are the opportunities and...

Part 1 of 2 Discover insights from renowned investor Steven Romick, Co-Portfolio Manager of the FPA Crescent Fund, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. Unlike most funds, FPA Crescent has not only survived but thrived for three decades, delivering almost 10% annualized returns with lower volatility than the S&P 500.  Its success lies in maintaining equity-like returns with reduced...

Selecting the best mutual funds to achieve long-term financial goals remains a challenging task for investors. Russel Kinnel, Director of Manager Research for Morningstar, has dedicated nearly three decades to this endeavor. He oversees Morningstar's North American Morningstar analyst ratings committees, responsible for vetting the prestigious Morningstar medalist ratings frequently cited in t...

Discover the future of AI investments with Michael Lippert, Head of Technology Research at Baron Capital. He believes AI is now at its transformative inflection point. Join us for an insightful discussion on his recently published report, 'Investing in AI: Opportunities and Risks,' where we explore the potential of AI as a game-changing technology.  As the Portfolio Manager of Baron Capita...

Uncover the secrets behind managing the world's largest mutual fund, the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund, in this captivating episode of WEALTHTRACK. Join Gerry O'Reilly, the fund's principal portfolio manager, as he reveals the active management required for this trillion-dollar behemoth. Learn about O'Reilly's inspiring journey from Ireland to the 1988 Seoul Olympics before delving into h...

Climate change, a topic of daily conversation, has sparked a global industry worth billions and, soon, trillions of dollars. Discover investment opportunities in this field through the expertise of Lucas White, Lead Portfolio Manager of GMO's successful Climate Change Strategy. With the impressive performance of GMO's Climate Change Fund, which beats its benchmark and boasts 12% annualized...

Small-cap stocks in general have generated subpar returns in the last five years and have underperformed large-cap stocks by a wide margin over the last nine. However, Royce believes that small caps are due for a significant and lasting rebound. He says that history is the best guide to future performance, and that small caps have outperformed large caps over the long term. Chuck Royce is a small-...

Jeremy Grantham, investment legend and long-time value investor, warns of a bubble of "epic proportions" in the bond, stock, housing, and commodities markets. Grantham, who has accurately predicted market bubbles in the past, believes that the current market is overvalued and due for a correction. He cites three factors that are contributing to the bubble: low interest rates, easy credit...

In a recent essay published in The New York Times, Richard Bookstaber, a renowned risk expert, suggests that we may be on the brink of a new era of crisis. Drawing from his extensive experience in risk management, Bookstaber has a track record of identifying and addressing risks in both private and public institutions. As the Chief Risk Officer of Fabric, a platform focused on risk management for...

Part 2 of 2 American investors have had a love-hate relationship with stocks since their early days of trading under a buttonwood tree on Wall Street in 1792. However, recent setbacks, including a challenging year for equities in 2022 and rising yields on fixed income investments, have led to a cooling of investor sentiment. We welcome back Savita Subramanian, an influential strategist serving as...

David Rosenberg, a well-known economist, believes that the United States is in a recessionary bear market. He predicts that the S&P 500 will eventually bottom at 3100, and he has positioned his personal portfolio accordingly. Rosenberg's predictions are based on his analysis of the Federal Reserve's tightening cycle, which he believes will lead to a recession. He also points to the rec...

The recent aggressive interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve caused a crisis in some super-regional banks, but the damage has been contained and has not affected the entire banking industry. However, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell believes that the economic toll of such aggressive tightening could be different this time. Savita Subramanian, Head of U.S. Equity and Quantitative Strategy at...

We have a very interesting guest who has publicly voiced a major policy difference on ESG investing. Terrence Keeley, CEO, and Chief Investment Officer of 1PointSix LLC, left BlackRock, one of the world's largest investment managers, in July 2022 to publish his book, SUSTAINABLE: Moving Beyond ESG to Impact Investing .  In his 40-year investment career, Keeley has never advised a client to inv...

Part 2 of 2 We continue our interview with Ed Yardeni, an experienced economist, strategist, and Fed watcher who has been closely following the Fed throughout his 40-year investment career.  Yardeni is the author of “Fed Watching for Fun and Profit: A Primer for Investors” and head of his own global investment strategy firm, Yardeni Research. He believes that anticipating the actions of the Federa...

Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, is considered the best financial executive in the country and recently weighed in on the banking system's recent turmoil. He believes that simply satisfying regulatory requirements is not sufficient in managing risks, which requires constant and vigilant scrutiny as the world evolves. He also points out that most of the risks in the U.S. banking...

Part 1 of 2 After a tough 2022, big tech stocks are back and leading the market rally. According to research firm Strategas, ten stocks, including Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Meta, Tesla, Amazon, Alphabet, Salesforce, AMD, and Broadcom, have accounted for 90% of the S&P 500's year-to-date gains.  This dominance of a handful of stocks has investors facing some interesting choices, including c...

Part 2 of 2 Planning for retirement and replacing a work paycheck with savings can be a daunting task, especially with the current challenges of market declines, inflation, rising interest rates, and the threat of recession. Christine Benz, Morningstar's director of personal finance, is passionate about simplifying retirement portfolio planning and has identified six retirement blind spots: re...

This week, the Federal Reserve raised its key short-term interest rate for the ninth consecutive time, bringing it to the highest level since September 2007. While Fed Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged the dilemma that the Fed officials faced, the banking system's turmoil has been a cause of concern following the recent bank failures. However, Powell assured that the banking system is sound and...

In this episode of WEALTHTRACK, leading Wall Street economist Nancy Lazar discusses the resilience of the U.S. economy, despite several canaries in the coal mine examples of financial strain. Lazar shares her insights on why the economy is holding up better than expected and what we can expect moving forward, including the impact of the Federal Reserve's efforts to slow down the recovery. Laza...

First Eagle’s small-cap portfolio manager, Bill Hench, has a long track record of beating the market and the competition by discovering hidden gems among small-cap stocks with short-term problems. WEALTHTRACK episode 1937, published on March 09, 2023

Award-winning personal finance columnist Jonathan Clements discusses the number one topic among his HumbleDollar newsletter readers and a strategy to ease the burden.   WEALTHTRACK episode 1936 published on March 03, 2023   In this second week of the winter fund-raising season for Public Television, we are revisiting a very popular interview from award-winning personal finance reporter a...

This is additional commentary from Richard Clarida that didn't make it into the episode. Legendary Fed Chairman Paul Volcker was highly critical of the Fed’s policy of targeting 2% inflation, saying he saw “no theoretical justification” for it and that if successful, it “would mean the price level doubles in little more than a generation.” In this EXTRA exclusive, Former Fed Vice Chair Richard Cla...

Investing can be simple and accessible to the average person, says financial thought leader and economist Burton Malkiel. Malkiel, author of the investment classic "A Random Walk Down Wall Street," has 50 years of research to back up his claim. In his latest edition of the book, Malkiel emphasizes that investors would be better off buying and holding a broad-based index fund rather than attempting...

Part 2 of 2 Matthew McLennan will assess the investment climate in international markets and tell us where he is finding world-class companies selling at substantial discounts to their U.S. peers. The global economic outlook for 2023 is uncertain with the World Bank cutting its growth forecast to 1.7% from 3% and stating the "global economy is perilously close to a recession". The International Mo...

Part 1 of 2 The Federal Reserve is currently facing a debate on Wall Street about how much longer it will continue to fight against inflation. The Fed's goal is to bring the inflation rate down to a long-term average of around 2%. Some investors believe that the Fed will continue to stay the course and keep fighting inflation, while others are tracking the slowdown in inflation indicators and beli...