WEALTHTRACK

We are joined by ClearBridge’s Investment Strategist Jeff Schulze. He will explain why he now believes that there is a 55% chance of a downturn, why a recession is not inevitable but what conditions could push it one way or the other. He will also discuss market implications and strategy. WEALTHTRACK #1908 published on August 20, 2022 More info: https://wealthtrack.com/a-widely-followed-investment...

A special WEALTHTRACK podcast with influential economist and Fed watcher turned professor Paul McCulley. McCulley is an adjunct professor at Georgetown Business School and a very much in-demand speaker in financial circles because of his deep understanding of Fed policy, honed at bond giant PIMCO, where for many years he was Senior Partner, author of the influential Global Central Bank Focus and m...

Global value investor Tom Russo says today’s investment environment is the most challenging of his 40-year career. He explains why his core companies are up to the challenge. WEALTHTRACK episode 1906 broadcast on August 05, 2022 More info: https://wealthtrack.com/how-a-concentrated-portfolio-of-global-brand-name-companies-is-faring-in-this-challenging-market/

Making money by losing less is how legendary small-cap value manager Charlie Dreifus has succeeded for over 50 years of investing. It's even more important now as he expects more economic and market pain ahead. WEALTHTRACK 1905 broadcast on July 29, 2022  More info: https://wealthtrack.com/making-money-by-losing-less-in-this-bear-market-with-legendary-value-manager-charlie-dreifus/

Soon-to-be retirees and retirees are the most vulnerable in this new era of higher inflation, interest rates, volatile markets, and possible recession. What kinds of adjustments should they be making in their financial plans, investments, and even lifestyles? That demographic is one of the specialties of this week’s guest, an award-winning financial planner. He is Mark Cortazzo, Senior Vice Presid...

Looking around the world, one of the most under-owned asset classes after years of underperformance is emerging markets.  And one of the least understood and appreciated at this particular time is Asia, especially China.  Once a darling of investors, it has lost favor for geopolitical, political, and business reasons. So what better time to delve into Asia than now? On this week’s progra...

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and it turns out the difference between a growth and value stock is too, with price as a key determinant.  Some of the darlings of last year and much of the prior decade have recently been rebalanced from growth to value by a major index provider. Such is the power of a bear market! This week’s WEALTHTRACK guest is a well-known value manager known for her...

Ouch! The S&P 500 ended the first half of the year with its worst performance since 1970, down more than 20%, cementing its bear market status. And the recession drumbeat is getting louder. This morning, leading Wall Street economist, Nancy Lazar told clients “a recession is coming sooner than you think” PiperlSandler’s Global Chief Economist blames “sticky inflation”, “very aggressive Fed tig...

Remember when some fans of cryptocurrencies called them non-correlated assets? They were supposed to behave differently from the stock market, not affected by traditional economic, political and fundamental forces? Cryptocurrencies were also dubbed digital gold, in the expectation they would hold their value in inflationary times.  Neither has turned out to be the case. Bitcoin, the dominant...

75 basis points: the biggest rate hike by the Federal Reserve since 1994 with additional aggressive moves expected. It looks like Fed Chair Jerome Powell is proving the naysayers wrong, who doubted he had the stuff to fight inflation. As influential Fed watcher Paul McCulley told WEALTHTRACK months ago Powell will “do whatever it takes” to fight inflation, just like Paul Volcker did in 1979/1980....

In a WEALTHTRACK exclusive legendary financial thought leader, Charles Ellis explains why after decades of searching for outstanding money managers he has become a big believer in indexing. WEALTHTRACK Episode 1850 published on June 9, 2020 More info: https://wealthtrack.com/legendary-investment-consultant-charles-ellis-makes-a-compelling-case-for-indexing/

Part 2 of 2 Candid career advice from three super successful women portfolio managers. Causeway Capital’s Sarah Ketterer, Capital Group’s Karen Choi, and Canyon Partner’s Robin Potts share their victories, setbacks, and strategies as they tear down the pink wall.   WEALTHTRACK #1849 published on June 3, 2022  

Part 1 of 2 The investment opportunities surfacing in the volatile stock, bond, and real estate markets. Causeway Capital’s Sarah Ketterer, Capital Group’s Karen Choi, and Canyon Partner’s Robin Potts share their perspectives. WEALTHTRACK #1848 published on May 27, 2022

2022 has been a rough year for investors as financial markets have declined across the board. No matter what the market performance, investors continue to favor passive index funds over actively managed ones.  Investors continue to favor ETFs, and exchange-traded funds over mutual funds. The vast majority of funds in ETFs are in passive strategies, but there’s an interesting divergence occurr...

If you were to ask investors to name the biggest headwinds facing the markets,   higher inflation and interest rates and their potentially negative impact on corporate earnings would top the list. Just about everyone on Wall Street agrees we are in a new era of higher levels of both. But this week’s guest believes there is another area that poses even greater challenges to the global eco...

Are you feeling at all overwhelmed by the pace and degree of change we are experiencing in the world, the economy, the markets, life in general? A series of head-spinning turns in events ranging from rising inflation and interest rates, Russia’s relentless and brutal assault on Ukraine, and a surprise leak of a draft of a  momentous Supreme Court opinion are perfectly encapsulated by the dram...

What do you do when your flagship fund goes from the top of its class to close to the bottom in a matter of weeks? From market trouncing to market lagging? That is the challenge facing this week’s guest.  Alex Umansky, Portfolio Manager of the Baron Global Advantage Fund which he launched at the firm of legendary growth manager Ron Baron in 2012. Umansky oversees about $2.4 billion dollars in...

We are in a new era of higher inflation and the pressure is on the Fed! Inflation is running at 40-year highs and it’s coming from every angle: food, energy, services, goods, rents, and wages which are all increasing.   Is the Fed up to the challenge? Can it rein in inflation without causing a recession? What can we expect as borrowers and investors? We have lots of questions to ask this week...

The new era of higher inflation and interest rates is already proving to be a challenging one for investors. The first quarter of 2022 was the worst one in two years for the stock market. Inflation reached 40 year highs, and in response, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the first time since 2018 and is signaling an aggressive policy of multiple rate hikes in the months ahead. Then the...

As bonds suffer the worst quarter in more than four decades we are exploring one of the fastest-growing segments in the fixed income markets where demand is still accelerating. It's in ESG, environmental, social, and governance standards being applied to corporate and government bond issuers and specific issues themselves.  In part 2 of our interview with industry pioneer Steve Liberatore, we...

Part 1 of 2 The direction of inflation and interest rates are key to the performance of bond prices and they are in the midst of a massive change. The shift in direction has been most dramatic for inflation. After a decade of staying mostly below the Federal Reserve’s long-term 2% target, the Consumer Price Index recently soared nearly 8% year over year. Meanwhile, until very recently interest rat...

The first interest rate increase by the Federal Reserve since 2018 happened this week, with the central bank planning six more of 25 basis points or one-quarter of a percent each this year. The lending market is already ahead of the Fed. The average fixed rate 30 year mortgage topped 4% for the first time since 2019 in the latest reporting week. It's happening in a hot housing market. The median l...

Russia’s brutal, unprovoked assault on Ukraine is dominating the news headlines, but so far its market impact has been short-lived. ClearBridge Investment strategist Jeff Schulze says what really matters to the markets in the direction of the economy and Federal Reserve policy. According to his proprietary Recession Risk Dashboard, the vast majority of his twelve key indicators remain positive. &n...

Since the future is essentially unknowable, this week’s podcast guest focuses on what is knowable and controllable, mainly our own reactions. He is veteran personal finance journalist Jonathan Clements, a former colleague of mine at The Wall Street Journal who was its personal finance columnist for nearly 20 years. The author of several books including From Here to Financial Happiness and How to T...

Target-date funds have $3 trillion dollars in assets. Millions of Americans are enrolled in them, mostly through company 401(k) plans. They have a track record, multiple products, plenty of competition and fees are declining as a result.  In an article titled “In Praise of Target-Date Funds,” one of our favorite WEALTHTRACK guests, Morningstar’s Director of Personal Finance, Christine Benz de...