Wealthtrack

When you are hot you’re hot and this week’s WEALTHTRACK guest has been on a tear since launching his Baron Global Advantage Fund in 2012. Alex Umansky is new to WEALTHTRACK but he is a seasoned investor with an outstanding track record. Prior to joining Baron, Umansky spent 18 years at Morgan Stanley where he ran global and international funds as well as the firm’s Institutional Technology Strategy and Technology Fund. Umansky has a degree in finance, information systems and mathematics from NYU’s Stern School of Business and was a computer programmer early in his career. Very few money managers have the opportunity to create a new fund, and a tiny percentage deliver the outstanding results Umansky has.  We will discuss what he sees as his competitive advantage at Baron Global Advantage, as well as his views on the “big idea, disruptive companies” he defines as his specialty. WEALTHTRACK #1632 broadcast Feburary 07, 2020. More info: https://wealthtrack.com/top-growth-manag…ustries-globally/ --- Suppor

Are we witnessing the end of globalization, the dominant trade and economic force of the last quarter-century? That is what financial thought leader Richard Bernstein is suggesting to clients. In a recent report, aptly titled: Investing for December 31, 2029 -The End of Globalization, he makes his case. And yes, he is talking about 2029! As he notes in his report: “Market leadership always changes decade by decade, and the leadership of the past decade, which are now lauded as ‘core investments,’ seem highly unlikely to be the leadership of the next decade.” If he is correct, which he has been frequently over the years, thinking about investing for 2029 is probably a healthy exercise. Richard Bernstein is Chief Executive and Chief Investment Officer of Richard Bernstein Advisors, which he founded in 2009. It now oversees or advises over 9 billion dollars in assets, largely in multi-asset allocation strategies using ETFs for financial advisors. WEALTHTRACK #1630 broadcast on January 24, 2020 More info: https:/

As we enter a new decade what are some of the major changes we face as investors? For answers, we are asking a global investor known not only for his past performance but also for identifying big themes that can have an outsized influence on the financial markets. He is great investor Bill Wilby who has appeared with us exclusively since his retirement from professional money management over a decade ago. He was the Portfolio Manager of the award-winning Oppenheimer Global Fund a graduate of West Point, Wilby also has a Ph.D. in International Monetary Economics and has held various international finance and investment positions at top financial institutions including the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Wilby wanted to discuss a couple of themes with us. One is the privatization of the public markets, the other theme influencing Wilby’s investment strategy is what he calls the global trade reset which we will also discuss. WEALTHTRACK #1629 broadcast on January 17, 2020. --- Support this podcast: https://a

At the beginning of every new year or at tax time when I am under the IRS deadline gun, I vow this year is going to be different and I will finally get organized and make decisions over time instead of at the last minute. For the second year in a row, we have invited one of our favorite guests who is very knowledgeable and organized to join us. She is Christine Benz, Morningstar’s personal finance guru. She writes daily personal finance columns for Morningstar, does interviews and podcasts and is the author of several books including 30-Minute Money Solutions: A Step-by-Step Guide to Managing Your Finances and the Morningstar Guide To Mutual Funds: 5-Star Strategies for Success.  She has also been a WEALTHTRACK regular since the beginning. We asked her to take us through her financial to-do list for 2020. It is detailed so get out your pens, papers or smartphones and prepare to take notes when you join us. WEALTHTRACK #1628 broadcast on January 10, 2020 More info: https://wealthtrack.com/get-your-financi

Happy New Year and Happy New Decade! What will the 2020s bring? As J.P. Morgan famously said: “Stocks will fluctuate.”  In 2019 they fluctuated mostly higher and the U.S. was still the place to be. Tech giants such as FANG’s Facebook, up 56%, Google’s parent Alphabet, up 29% and Amazon.com up 23% propelled the NASDAQ 35% higher. The S&P 500 rose nearly 27% and the Dow Jones Industrials advanced over 22%, all trading in record territory. It was pretty much a year for stocks all over the world, which is, of course, bringing the doomsayers out in droves. An excellent article on the front page of The Wall Street Journal’s Year-end Review & Outlook section is a good example. It’s titled: “Japan’s Lost 30 Years Give Pause To Those Looking at The U.S.” What are the stories propelling economies and markets in 2020 and the decade going to be? It’s a podcast conversation we had with Nobel Laureate economist Robert Shiller about how important powerful narratives driving the economy are. WEALTHTRACK #1627 pu

Since launching WEALTHTRACK in 2005 we have asked economic legend Ed Hyman to share his new year forecast with us, which he has done pretty much exclusively since the beginning. We also invite a leading portfolio manager to join him. For the fourth year in a row, First Eagle’s Matthew McLennan is doing the honors. This week we are presenting the second of our two-part series focused on the global economic and investment outlook. In case you missed it, we tackled the 2020 prospects for the U.S. economy and markets last week which you can see on WEALTHTRACK.com or our YouTube channel.  In part one of our 2020 Outlook edition, Hyman predicted, as he did accurately for 2019, that the longest economic recovery on record in the U.S. would continue. He sees no signs of recession and believes that growth will actually pick up! He also forecasts that Wall Street will continue to climb a wall of worry, which he will describe in detail. Matt McLennan is not as optimistic. One of his main concerns is the record leve

Every year at this time we are delighted to welcome Wall Street’s long-reigning number one economist, Ed Hyman to share his outlook with us.  And we always pair him with a leading portfolio manager with a global investment view. For the fourth year in a row, our choice is First Eagle’s, Matthew McLennan. In the first of this two-part series on the Outlook for 2020, our focus is on the U.S. Last year Hyman correctly forecast the now record-breaking economic recovery would continue and that a recession was several years away. We’ll find out what his view is now and get McLennan’s assessment of the U.S. markets. Ed Hyman is a Wall Street legend. Vice-Chairman of Evercore, a leading independent investment banking and advisory firm, Hyman is the Founder and Chairman of its Evercore ISI division and leads its economic research team. He has been voted Wall Street’s Number One Economist for an unprecedented 39 years in Institutional Investor’s annual survey. No one else comes even close to that record. Matthew M

There is a retirement crisis in this country. It is becoming more apparent as 10,000 baby boomers turn 65 every day. A recent Wells Fargo survey found that more than eight in ten current retirees fund their retirement primarily with Social Security, or a pension; just 5% do so from personal savings such as an IRA or 401(k). Seven in ten retirees say they would have “no idea what they would do” without Social Security. Contrast them with younger generations who expect savings to be the top source of their funding; 45% of millennials say they must rely on IRAs or 401(k)s and only 25% expect to rely on Social Security or a pension. No matter what income group you look at savings makes a huge difference. The top 10% of savers in all income groups, from the highest to the lowest consistently held 10-20 times the retirement wealth of the bottom 10% of savers. What has caused the retirement crisis and are there policy and personal solutions to fix it? Two retirement experts will join us with some answers. Teresa Ghi

Last week’s podcast with influential and outspoken economist David Rosenberg generated a tremendous amount of traffic and comment. We are running part 2 this weekend. Rosenberg had been predicting the end of both the record-breaking U.S. recovery and bull market this year. Needless-to-say it hasn’t happened, and he is the first to admit he missed this year’s impressive run in large-cap stocks as a result. However, his recommendation to own long-term Treasury bonds has paid off. Year-to-date the 30-year has delivered about a 20% return. Rosenberg who is known for seeing emerging economic patterns before most others do, sometimes a couple of years early, is sticking to his guns in forecasting that a U.S. recession is imminent and is very concerned about the damage the record-breaking load of U.S. and global debt, what he  calls “the mother of all credit bubbles on steroids” will have when it occurs.   What was intended as one session with us turned into two because he had so much evidence t

Influential economist David Rosenberg lays out a persuasive case for the end of the record-breaking economic recovery in part one of a two-part WEALTHTRACK conversation. WEALTHTRACK # 1662 published on November 27, 2019. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/wealthtrack/support

Do corporations need a new purpose? Does the free enterprise capitalist system need a major overhaul or a tune-up? We have two guests with strong views on the topic. Ken Langone is Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Invented Associates. He is Co-Founder of the Home Depot where he was Lead Director and a member of the executive committee of its board from its founding in 1978 until 2008. He is a noted philanthropist and the author of I Love Capitalism!: An American Story. He is joined By David Gardner, the Co-Founder, and Co-Chairman of The Motley Fool, a global online investing service launched with his brother Tom in 1993. Motley Fool’s purpose is to make the world smarter, happier and richer by helping individuals become better investors. WEALTHTRACK #1621 broadcast on November 22, 2019. More Info: https://wealthtrack.com/is-corporate-americas-focus-on-profits-the-problem-with-capitalism-two-entrepreneurs-respond/ --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/wealthtrack/support

As the Dow and S&P 500 hit new records this week, there is much to contemplate and for the markets to digest in the final weeks of 2019. Time to consult Jason Trennert of Strategas Research Partners, a financial thought leader who has the scope to put it all together and tell us what it means. WEALTHTRACK #1620 broadcast on November 15, 2019. More info: https://wealthtrack.com/recession-bear-market-risks-with-financial-thought-leader-jason-trennert/ --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/wealthtrack/support

We are always on the lookout for the exceptional on WEALTHTRACK.  It’s not easy to find among actively managed mutual fund managers. Only 23% of actively managed funds in all major categories, including stocks, bonds, and real estate outperformed their passive index fund rivals over the last ten years. And only about 8% of U.S. large-cap funds outperformed passive, the smallest margin among all active fund categories winners.  No wonder that active U.S. stock funds are experiencing substantial outflows and passive stock funds are gaining assets. In a historic shift, passive assets in U.S. equity funds recently surpassed those in actively managed ones for the first time ever. This week’s guests are bucking all of those trends. They are active managers in primarily large-cap U.S. stocks. They have been beating the market and peers by substantial margins over the last decade and they are attracting more assets. Joining us for a rare interview is Chuck Akre and John Neff of Akre Capital Management WEALT

Socially responsible investing has taken off and interest in it is accelerating.  As we’ve reported before on WEALTHTRACK, U.S assets invested in companies screened for ESG, or their environmental, social and governance policies grew 38% from 2016-2018 by more than $3 trillion to $12 trillion dollars.  According to U.S. SIF, or the Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment, which tracks these funds, that $12 trillion represents 26% or one in four dollars of the $46.6 trillion of U.S. assets under professional management. This week’s guest is a leader in the relatively recent field of fixed income ESG investing, as well as the new area of impact investing in public fixed income markets, where bond proceeds are directed to a specific project or goal and the results are measurable. He is Stephen Liberatore, lead portfolio manager at TIAA Investments for responsible investment fixed income mandates that incorporate ESG criteria. Liberatore will discuss what he looks for as a socially responsible

If you were to follow legendary investor Sir John Templeton’s advice to buy where there is maximum pessimism it might lead you to energy stocks. The energy sector has lagged the S&P 500 since 2016 and has been one of the worst if not the worst-performing industry sectors over the last year. The fossil fuel industry has been hit with an almost perfect storm of headwinds and instability among major petroleum producers outside of the U.S. The ongoing trade wars between the U.S. and China have also started to take their toll on global economic growth, increasing the downward pressure on demand for fuel. What’s the outlook for traditional energy producers? Are they still viable investments or are they on their way to being phased out? Joining us to discuss the role fossil fuels continue to play in energy production and the state of the oil and gas industry, in particular, is Tom Petrie, a financial thought leader in the sector and chairman of Petrie Partners a leading investment banking and consulting boutique

The economy and markets are facing multiple headwinds. But the cumulative real growth of the economy, that’s excluding inflation, is far below other post World War II recoveries. That growth is now being challenged on several fronts - enough to derail the U.S. economy and the record-breaking bull market in large-cap stocks? In a slow-growth world, growth commands a premium. Large-cap growth stocks, particularly the largest U.S. ones known as mega-caps have dominated market performance, revenues, and earnings over the last decade with a few short-lived challenges from value stocks. Will they continue to do so? This week’s guest is a newcomer to WEALTHTRACK, but not to the investment business. She is Margaret Vitrano, Co-Portfolio Manager of the high performing ClearBridge Large Cap Growth Fund Vitrano and her Co-Portfolio Manager Peter Bourbeau also oversee ClearBridge’s All Cap Growth Strategies along with Large Cap Growth which adds up to nearly $50 billion under management. Of particular interest is the tea

Medicare is a benefit that can’t start soon enough for many older adults. Health care costs are skyrocketing and they hit seniors particularly hard because many are on a fixed income and they utilize health care more. But Medicare is not a slam dunk, anything but.  It is a very complex, confusing multipart program that requires work to understand. And its benefits can vary widely depending upon how and when you apply, where you live, and what plans you enroll in.  And as your health changes, it can either help you or hurt you. You need to know how to make it work for you. A shocking statistic from Medicare guru Katy Votava is that “nearly 95% of people pay too much for their Medicare coverage… because they do not completely understand the full costs they will pay in addition to the premiums.”  With Medicare, the devil is in the details which is why we have asked benefits guru Votava to return to WEALTHTRACK and bring us up to speed. WEALTHTRACK # 1614 broadcast on October 04, 20219. More Info:

Two investment tenets have been upended in recent years: one that value stocks, considered cheap by traditional metrics outperform growth stocks, the other that small companies outperform large ones. Over the last decade, the opposite has been true. Growth stocks have dramatically outdistanced value stocks and large caps have significantly outperformed small company ones. If you happen to be a value-oriented, small-cap investor it’s been a tough combination which is why contrarian minded observers think now might be a good time to revisit the space. Chuck Royce, Founder, Chairman and Portfolio Manager of Royce & Associates joins us to discuss how some of his funds have outperformed benchmarks for multiple periods, with below-average market volatility. WEALTHTRACK #1613 broadcast on September 27, 2019. LEARN MORE: https://wealthtrack.com/recession-threat-small-cap-companies-tell-chuck-royce-recession-not-a-concern/ --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/wealthtrack/support

Financial risks are adding up.  Trade battles with China, the surprising vulnerability of Middle East oil supplies, the duration of Hong Kong protests, the drawn-out Brexit dilemma are all drags on business confidence and economic growth. In recognition, the Federal Reserve just cut interest rates for the second time this summer and remains on alert. Another largely unrecognized concern? In August, for the first time in history, assets in passive equity funds based in the U.S. surpassed holdings in actively managed funds. The most popular passive funds are overwhelmingly dominated by a small group of mega-cap stocks, especially the tech giants such as Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Alphabet (Google), and Facebook. The fate of many investors’ portfolios hinges on the performance of this small group of mega stocks that have already had a record-setting run. Global value investor Chuck de Lardemelle explains how he is de-risking his portfolios including the essential role gold is playing in the process. Learn Mo

One dominant market observation of the last decade has been that we have been experiencing the least believed bull market in history. As of August of 2018 the market’s advance, in large-cap stocks at least, had indeed become the longest bull market in history. But the experience of investors has been anything but a straight shot. If you look at indexes outside the largest U.S. company stocks it has been a much more perilous ride with several major corrections along the way. The Russell 2000, which is used as a proxy for small company stocks is a case in point. It has experienced three major reversals in the last decade. This week’s guest operates in the sweet spot of the current market, large-company stocks, but he is advising caution to his clients. He is a widely followed market strategist and successful investor, Robert Doll, senior portfolio manager and chief equity strategist at Nuveen.  Doll is famous for his frequently accurate list of 10 annual predictions forecasting the market, economic, intere