Jul 04 2018 76 mins 14
Episode 111 has a radio show format. In this one, we cover numerous Tweets of the Week from Meb, as well as some write-in questions. Before jumping in, a few housekeeping items… Meb discusses a proxy campaign with which we need your help, an award Cambria just received, Meb’s new Office Hours, when the Trinity ETF will launch, a new webinar we’re going to put on later this summer, and more. We start with some of Meb’s Tweets of the Week. We discuss a WSJ op ed piece penned by Jamie Dimon and Warren Buffett, in which they suggest short-termism is harming the economy. Specifically, they believe public companies should reduce or eliminate the practice of estimating quarterly earnings. Next, there’s a quote from Jim O’Shaughnessy: “Money is like manure; if you pile it up it stinks to high heaven, but if you spread it around, it does a lot of good.” This is a springboard into a conversation about the role of cash in a portfolio, especially in today’s market. This segues into the next subject – how Americans are reaching retirement age in worse financial shape than the prior generation, for the first time since Harry Truman was president. This leads to a conversation about starting investing early, but also focusing on active income and delaying the retirement age. Next, there’s a tweet about early stage private investing. We use this as an opportunity to catch up on Meb’s private investments. Other topics are fund-flow differentials between ETFs and mutual funds, as well as Meb’s dissection of Wealthfront’s latest fee structure. If you’re a Wealthfront client, you’ll want to listen to this. We then get into listener Q&A. Some that you’ll hear Meb address include: Given today's valuations, I’d like Meb’s perspective on the pros and cons of allocating to the following "hedges" – cash, gold, tail risk/put strategies, and managed futures.What advice does Meb have for people trading companies in their field? For example, a realtor making a move on home builders or a programmer stock-picking an AI firm.Would Meb please share his opinion on multifactor funds and the role they should play in an investor's portfolio?A question about advisor fees and whether they’re deserved.Besides portfolio construction and behavioral coaching in times of stress what are some other advisor value-adds? Are we reaching the limit of value added services?As ETFs grow, under what circumstances could securities lending become a substantial risk to one's personal assets and possibly a systemic risk to the financial system--are processes in place now to prevent that problem before it happens? All this and plenty of other rabbit holes in Episode 111.
