Money Life with Chuck Jaffe

Journalist Kit Chellel discusses his new book, released today, "Lucky Devils: The True Story of Three Rebel Gamblers Who Beat the Odds and Changed the Game," the tale of 1970s gamblers who applied early computer technology to  gambling at a time when the smallest computers were still the size of a suitcase. They created "advantage playing," and faced issues with casinos, the mob and more, but also laid the groundwork for a lot of what is happening now and being revisited in prediction markets and more. Heather Hunt-Ruddy, divisional president at Wells Fargo Advisors, discusses the firm's recent white paper on building and maintaining generational wealth, and how to accomplish transfers without spoiling the next generations or setting the grandkids up to become spoiled and irresponsible. In the Market Call, Joe Rinaldi, president and chief financial officer at Quantum Financial Advisors talks about both individual stocks and ETFs, discusses when he leans toward using one over the other, and says he is looking for opportunities now where he is being paid to wait for the market to recover and move back toward record highs.

Abe Sheikh, chief investment officer at Cordoba Advisory Partners, says that if tensions in Iran cool and oil prices settle down — which the futures market is saying is likely by year's end — says that the current spike in inflation is temporary and the risk of runaway inflation is much lower than it was during Covid times. With that in mind, he thinks current events are more setting up investment opportunities than stopping investors and getting them to panic away from equities and heightened volatility. With consumer sentiment at record lows — but consumer confidence improving ever so slightly — in March, Vijay Marolia, chief investment officer at Regal Point Capital, discusses why feelings make headlines but fundamentals make for better investment prospects. That's why he's leaning into some of the market's most beaten down sectors; he discusses his take on the private credit market and on how to lean into it for better yields without getting tripped up by the current-event risk, as well as what he expects from the Federal Reserve as it increasingly finds itself pinched between its dual mandates. David Trainer, founder/president at New Constructs takes a victory lap on his pre-IPO take that put $BIRD in #TheDangerZone before it even launched. Plus, Chuck answers a listener's question asking for clarification on how sequence-of-inflation risk works and how it differs in certain key ways from sequence-of-return risk. He has previously said, many times, that his big fear personally is sequence-of-return risk, and has said lately that prolonged inflation should have many people worrying about how it will impact their retirement if it remains sticky for the next few years.

Jeff Krumpelman, chief investment strategist at Mariner Wealth Advisors, says that the economy is on solid grounds and that earnings expectations are up, which has prompted him to stand fast on the 7,700 target he put on the Standard & 500 entering the year, and he expects the market to bounce back hard once headlines ease up and investors get more clarity. Krumpelman says he expects the market to broaden out, but he says it will be a "RAD" year, for "risk awareness and diversification," noting that investors will want to get portfolios back to their asset allocation plans and diversify to avoid concentration risk.  With the market kicking business-development companies in the teeth, John Cole Scott , president of CEF Advisors — and chairman of the Active Investment Company Alliance — grinds through his firm's "artificial-intelligence risk scoring" data to find BDCs that have been hurt by headlines without holding tainted portfolios. The result, he says, are two funds that have seen their valuations — but not their underlying portfolios — hurt by the headlines, making them underpriced value plays now. In the Market Call, James Abate, head of fundamental strategies for Horizon Investments — portfolio manager for the Centre Funds — is also looking for areas of the market that have solid long-term prospects but that are facing current disruptions.

Mark Yusko, chief investment officer at Morgan Creek Capital Management, says global uncertainty "is at the highest level it has ever been," which is why investors have been leaning into quality and other factors they understand and are comfortable with, but he says value-oriented investors should be looking for less-traveled paths, searching for opportunities where they feel really uncomfortable "and where it's hard to pull the trigger." Yusko discusses ETFs in the Market Call, but also talks current events, noting that "Volatility is disagreement about future outcomes." With the "ETF of the Week," Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi, turns to an actively managed municipal bond fund as a tax-time diversion, but he notes that the low-cost fund with a solid tax-free yield deserves long-term consideration too. Jamie Hopkins, co-author of "Your Retirement Sketchbook: 125 Retirement Planning Lessons from Financial Experts," discusses the new book, holes many people leave in their financial planning and how to take charge of the process and fill in the gaps.

Wayne Wicker, president of Opal Capital, says investors "are bombarded every day with news items," and while those things are interesting, they're also "meaningless" for most people with a long-term horizon. He suggests "looking through the noise," and notes that in the cacophony of current events, he sees opportunities in mid-cap stocks and in some areas and individual issues where the market has overreacted in recent weeks. Personal finance journalist Brian O'Connor discusses the importance of looking more deeply into target-date funds — a default-choice investment that most investors pick without giving it much thought — noting that the way those funds work could leave investors subject to significant sequence-of-return risk, particularly if they are Baby Boomers planning to retire soon. O'Connor, who wrote about the subject in a recent New York Times piece, isn't saying investors should avoid target-date funds but instead advocates for a level of management and involvement that many users don't normally apply to these one-size-fits-all portfolios. Geoff Garbacz, principal at Quantitative Partners, discusses how record levels of short interest are changing the market broadly and the prospects for a lot of stocks, as he goes both long and short in the Market Call.

Joseph Shaposhnik, founder/chief executive officer of Rainwater Equity — manager of the Rainwater ETF, which focuses on buying into recurring revenue models at reasonable prices — says that the software industry "is embroiled into a controversy that is very difficult to dispute until we have [multiple] quarters of these businesses putting up very, very strong results." But because he expects those results from software firms, he thinks the market has beaten up software stocks as if they are all going to fail, making them bargain priced now with a potential rebound in sight. Shaposhnik talks about how recurring-revenue stories lead to more predictable results, which should give investors some comfort against uncertain times. With the average price on a new car now hovering near $50,000 at a time when Americans are being squeezed by higher prices at the gas pump, Robert Steenburgh, chief executive officer at AutoPayPlus talks about how consumers should be dealing with the challenges of financing a car, particularly at a time when the average monthly payment is now $735 — and more than $1,000 for 20 percent of new-car buyers — with teh average loan term now stretched to 84 months. Another way that consumers are finding their finances stretched is in home buying, and Ted Shanahan, chairman of Blueprint Financial Group, discusses the latest data from Northwestern Mutual's 2026 Planning & Progress study, which showed that parents now play a bigger role in helping children buy homes, and say that providing that assistance is as or more important than paying for college. Plus, Chuck answers a listener's question about closed-end fund discounts, how they put stocks on sale and why discounts are appealing even when their benefits aren't readily evident when researching a fund or holding it in a portfolio.

Neeraj Khemlani discusses his new book, "The Coffee Can Investor: A Stock-Picker's Journey to Build Generational Wealth" — out this week — which tells the story of picking a few stocks and stashing them away in the same way that some people hide valuables for decades in old coffee cans. It delves into portfolio manager Matt Ankrum, who took the practice and super-charged it by researching hundred-baggers — long-term winners that deliver above-market returns — who aims to turn his own children into centi-millionaires by the time they retire. In "The Week That Is," Vijay Marolia, chief investment officer at Regal Point Capital, discusses how he has responded to volatility in oil markets since war started in Iran by going long on oil futures using a popular ETF and shorting airline stocks. Marolia also looks into the investing opportunities in space, noting that they go far beyond the current Artemis II moon mission and the public stock launch of SpaceX, which is expected to give the company a market capitalization beyond $2 trillion when shares launch this summer. Peter Tuz, chief executive officer at Chase Investment Counsel -- co manager of the Chase Growth Fund -- talks about finding growth stocks at reasonable prices now, and why he mostly has rotated away from the Magnificent Seven stocks in favor of small companies with solid long-term potential that the market has yet to recognize.

Ryan Isherwood, chief investment officer at Significance Capital, says that the stock market's momentum has not been broken even as it backed away from recent record highs, which means that stocks have been correcting since last October. That makes it more of a time correction — which can last longer — than a short, steep price drop. That said, Isherwood noted that there are strong signs that the market could resume its long-term upward trend and bullish bias once the geo-political pullback ends as there is more clarity in the headlines. Yelena Maleyev, senior economist at KPMG Economics, discusses the March 2026 Outlook Survey from the National Association for Business Economics, released today, which showed that  the consensus forecast among economists has deteriorated sharply in the last few weeks, with two-thirds of the group expecting a reduction of GDP this year, and in many cases that economic activity slowdown will be big, but will stop short of recession conditions. Nearly 70% of the economists said the broadening of geopolitical conflicts is the "greatest downside risk to the  economy over the next 12 months;" just 8% felt that way about geopolitical worries just three months ago. Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi, turns to a diversified natural resources index fund as his "ETF of the Week," noting that a multi-sector approach involving upstream energy companies, agricultural companies and more can be a good diversifier — while providing a decent yield — in current conditions. Plus Matt Weyandt, a client portfolio manager on the listed real assets team at Nuveen, discusses how a "Halo theme" — heavy asset, low obsolescence — positions investments in real estate, infrastructure and commodities to perform well despite global headlines that are buffeting markets. Specifically, Weyandt notes that location-specific hard assets  with contractual income streams are built to deliver regardless of the broad market conditions.

David Chavern, president and chief executive officer for the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI), discusses how insurance companies — who have been investing in private credit situations long before those investments were available to the general public — are withstanding the risks that critics say could cause the next financial crisis. Chavern also discusses the changing role of insurance, and specifically annuities, in financial planning as the last generations to get pensions are reaching retirement age and the next group of savers is looking for consistent, stable income later in life. Howard Dvorkin, chairman at Debt.com, discusses "pig butchering," a sophisticated financial scheme where criminals build a relationship with victims online and then persuade them to invest in fake crypto or other fraudulent schemes. The bad guys' efforts have been bolstered by the development of artificial intelligence, making it easier to connect with targets — often the elderly or young, naive newbie investors — for them to "fatten them up" before slaughter.   Stash Graham, managing director at Graham Capital Wealth Management, talks stocks in the Market Call.  In an issue related to the private-credit concerns discusses in the Chaven interview, Graham takes a particular interest now in some of the business-development companies that have been tarnished by recent lending issues and portfolio re-valuation problems, noting that their are solid long-term business reasons to ride out the current headlines expecting a long-term payoff.

Arin Dube, an economics professor at UMass-Amherst, discusses his new book, author, "The Wage Standard: What's Wrong in the Labor Market and How to Fix It," noting that the federal minimum wage standard is so low that it's like having no standard at all, prompting many states to pass their own rules. Further, he notes that real wage growth happens mostly in times of full employment, so he is optimistic that sound policy and job demand can help fix problems in the current system. On way some employers get around minimum wage rules is in jobs that involve tipping and WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo, discusses the site's annual tipping survey, which found that 81% of people think tipping has gotten out of control. More than 2 in 5 Americans think the U.S. should ban tips altogether.  Stephen Dissette, founder of Stephen D. Dissette & Associates discusses how retirement savers can add "operational readiness" to financial plans, making more of their savings and getting more functionality out of their assets while easing shortfall worries.  Plus, Chuck goes off the news to discuss Monday's announcement from the U.S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration on how it plans to expand access to alternative investments -- including private credit, cryptocurrency and more -- in 401(k) plans. The proposed rule lowers litigation risk and clears some regulatory burdens, lowering the hurdles for putting more alternatives into retirement accounts, but Chuck says it also raises some concerns and red flags.

Jim Thorne, economist and chief market strategist at Wellington-Altus Private Wealth, says that "when the Iran situation calms down ... we're going to see massive multiple expansion and the geopolitical risk is going to drop." As that story plays out, Thorne says to buy areas that will help build the U.S., and to buy into electricity generation to help support the artificial-intelligence boom. He also said that expects the Trump Administration to try to "run the economy hot" once tensions have ended, in order to help deal with the deficit. Vijay Marolia, chief investment officer at Regal Point Capital, is also looking for a potential pick-up once the market can take its attention off of the war and the rapidly changing market sentiments in the battle between artificial intelligence and software. He says investors should back away from the headlines and keep a sharper watch on the job market, inflation and interest rates, which have the potential to take the market's focus off of the earnings numbers that drove gains in 2025. David Trainer, president at New Constructs, says that he expects a number of high-flying companies to miss their earnings projections in the next quarter, noting that Wall Street keeps "two sets of numbers, the one they show the world and the real number," and that when the street figures out the real numbers, stocks like Solventum and Advanced Micro Devices are looking at big price adjustments. Plus, Blake Gunderson of Northwestern Mutual Rockwall/East Texas discusses Northwestern Mutual's 2026 Planning & Progress study, which showed that a sizeable number of Americans — most notably younger adults — feel like they are financially behind and are investing in or considering high-risk speculative assets such as cryptocurrencies, prediction markets and sports betting as ways to play catch up.

Jessamyn Norton, senior managing director at Clearstead Trust, says we're in a "one-variable market," with the price of oil being the only thing currently moving prices, and with the commodity likely to be the determining factor daily moves until the Straits Times of Hormuz reopens. So long as the concern lifts and other variables come back into play soon, if oil concerns linger and the market stays below its 200-day moving average, she says the Standard & Poors 500 could be in for a big decline if it can't hold around the 6,000 level. Kim Flynn, president at XA Investments, a firm that specializes in alternative investments, says recent private-credit bad news events have widened discounts and raised concerns over business-development companies and interval funds, but have likely created a buy-the-dip moment in the industry.  In the Market Call, Michael O'Keefe, chief of staff at CAZ Investments, talks about his long-term thematic approach to stocks and ETFs, including how he is mixing the long-term uptrends in artificial intelligence with the more-recent downturn in software stocks. He also discusses why he currently owns none of the Magnificent Seven stocks.

Thomas Winmill, portfolio manager for the Midas Funds, says that while war typically is good for precious metals generally, the case for gold miners being able to deliver outsized returns is particularly strong now. Moreover, Winmill says the forces that contributed to gold being up more than 50 percent in the last 12 months — despite being down more than 10 percent in the last 30 days — are intact, and while war in Iran and geopolitics generally are creating a downturn, the longer-term forces will return once there is more clarity about economies around the globe. Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi, looks to a relatively young, actively managed, concentrated, equity-income fund that uses an options/derivative strategy as his ETF of the Week, noting that it's an addition to a portfolio that adds stability, but that should be used in moderation. Plus, Tom McIntyre of McIntyre, Freedman & Flynn — who was the show's first-ever Market Call guest in 2012 — returns to Money Life, bringing his news-sensitive investment style with plenty of news to talk about. McIntyre was last on the show nearly a year ago, when he was positive on energy and oil stocks; he discusses where they fit in a portfolio now, amid the turmoil in the oil business due to the war in Iran.

Danielle Labotka, behavioral scientist at Morningstar, discusses her research into how retirees withdraw money from their lifetime savings accounts and found that about half rely exclusively on simple approaches, like calculating expected expenses or taking required minimum distributions. As a result, she says, retirees are short-changing themselves, leaving money in accounts and cutting back on needs and wants rather than doing the math to come up with something more tailored to their situation. Worse, she says, 98 percent of retirees say they have no intention of changing their strategy. Speaking of spending strategies, Brian Vines, an analyst at Consumer Reports and co-host of the Talking Carts podcast about shopping, discusses their comparison of the most and least expensive supermarket chains. Chuck, who considers himself a careful shopper, learns that his preferred chain finishes next-to-last in the study, so the conversation turns to how consumers can do more and better with their money if they are careful, shop around and know pricing. In the Book Interview, Brett Steenbarger, an educator and authority on trading, discusses his new book, "Positive Trading Psychology: Turning personal strengths into trading strengths." Plus, Chuck answers a listener's question on sequence-of-inflation risk, why it has just recently been coming to the fore and how it could be impacting retirees and near-retirees now.

Alex Coffey, senior trading and derivative strategist at Charles Schwab, says that since the conflict in Iran began, there has been more of a tug-of-war market and that the bears have been winning the battle, and while the decline has not been swift, the longer duration of the turmoil the more traders and investors are on edge. Coffey notes that the market's short-term trend is bearish, but the market is testing the longer-term 200-day moving average and the longer-term uptrend may be breaking.    Karl Mills, partner at Cerity Partners, says in the Big Interview that investors need to recognize that there is always drama going on around the markets, and that the concerns create worries, but "You generally do best by doing the least, if you have a well diversified portfolio and a strategy of how your assets are invested and you stick to that strategy." He discusses how investors are dealing with the war and much more, and how calm is the personal commodity that most people should be investing in right now.    Financial journalist Allan Sloan discusses how one share of stock in a Detroit bank — purchased for about 40 bucks a half century ago so that he would be allowed into the company's annual meetings — has turned into about $5,000, highlighting the power of dividend reinvestments and time. Sloan — who made several small stock purchases in his wife's name over the years in order to access meetings and information that non-shareholders would have been excluded from — talks about how reinvesting turned insignificant payments into something much more meaningful.

Sean Clark, chief investment officer at Clark Capital Management Group, says that while markets tend to whipsaw around headline events like the war in Iran, the initial market reaction — historically a decline of about 7 percent — gives way to a bounce-back that helps investors a few months after the turmoil starts.  As a result, he's suggesting that investors "be cautious with their allocations and don't make any big changes" despite their nervousness over the news cycle. David Trainer, founder and president at New Constructs, says that recent layoffs at Meta Platforms are a signal of bigger troubles brewing, and that broader tech layoffs at companies like Oracle and Amazon are a sign of rouble. While not expecting stocks like Meta to crater, Trainer makes the case that as a weaker player in the artificial-intelligence game, the company could be looking at a lot of capital expenditures that don't necessarily boost the bottom line. As a result, he pegs the stock's value at hundreds of dollars less than its current trading range. Vijay Marolia, chief investment officer at Regal Point Capital, says that Micron Technologies has the fundamentals to be a darling on Wall Street, but the market sentiment has soured on the company, dropping the stock prive hard despite recent guidance that was well beyond what analysts' have been estimating for the company. In "The Week That Is," he also discusses higher oil prices and how consumers should expect them to stay higher for about two months — noting Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's quote about 50 days of discomfort on pricing — before expecting substantive change. He also discusses the latest wave of artificial intelligence that now seems to be taking over thinking that was current as recently as a week or two ago, and how the fast developments are an issue investors need to be aware of, even if they should not be too reactive to them.

Nick Venditti, senior portfolio manager and head of the municipal fixed income team at Allspring Global Investments, says that in a world worried about the macro picture and geopolitics, municipal bonds are a safe haven that is almost completely unaffected by global strife. The sector is delivering reasonable yields and is "fundamentally very strong from a bottom-up credit perspective," Venditti says, calling it a "no-brainer, free lunch kind of trade" for investors to move from money-market funds to short-term muni bonds, where rates are better and tax benefits create a boost on return.   John Cole Scott, President of CEF Advisors — the Chairman of the Active Investment Company Institute — says that closed-end funds are being buffeted in two directions due to current headlines, with war in Iran impacting net asset values and anchored interest rates impacting levered closed-end funds, with discounts moving as a result. He put his firm's "Trifecta analysis" to work, with four funds to consider now: ticker symbols AFB, ARDC, CSQ and MEGI.    Author Lee Freeman-Shor discusses "Stock Market Maestros: The Winning Habits, Strategies and Mindsets of the World's Best Investors," discusses how he identified a group of lesser-known investment stars and what they do that makes them great, and that individuals can do to learn from and replicate those results.

Axel Merk, president and chief investment officer at Merk Investments and the Merk Funds, says that the Federal Reserve's Wednesday disclosures were not a surprise, but do suggest a bit of a ho-hum attitude that the market has over the situation in Iran. Mostly, he says, the market is pricing things as if the tensions and resulting impacts on the oil market will remain short-term disruptions. He discusses his expectations for oil, god and more in the Big Interview.    Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi, also looks at gold, with his pick for the ETF of the Week, and does it in a way that is unusual for him, because it focuses more on the fund's expenses than his typical weekly selection.     Alex Morris, chief executive officer at F/m investments, talks about the firm's filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to tokenize its Treasury fund, a first-of-its-kind move that has potential to change the way ETFs trade, making them directly accessible on the blockchain. He discusses the industry implications but also why this is the obvious next step in integrating crypto into the rest of the financial world.    Plus, Chuck filled up his gas tank yesterday, and the price was 90 cents higher than the last time he was at the pump. Rather than complain, he discussed the situation with people at nearby pumps, and he describes the politically diverse conversation and his takeaways from it.

Paul Christopher, head of global investment strategy for the Wells Fargo Investment Institute says that a short conflict in Iran remains his base case, noting that the war has been proceeding at a slightly faster pace than he might have expected. Facing a limited but intense war with economic consequences, Christopher suggested investors should rebalance a portfolio more than make moves designed to try to take advantage of short swings caused by the conflict. If the Iran War lasts more than a few months or pushes oil prices past $150 per barrel, Christopher says that could change the game and create a deeper, lingering downturn. MarketWatch columnist Brett Arends discusses the thinking behind his recent column on why he doesn't expect oil prices to top $150 per barrel. Dave Brown, chief executive officer at Hays Staffing discusses the firm's 2026 Salary & Hiring Trends Report, which talked about how disruptive artificial intelligence has become for the job market. The annual study showed that A.I. is changing not only the way employers are hiring but the way workers are applying for jobs, and why that doesn't necessarily improve conditions for either side. Plus, Chuck answers a listener's question about his side gig as a lacrosse referee, and about finding the right side job in general.  

Jeanette Garretty, chief economist at Robertson Stephens Wealth Management, says that rising oil prices and higher inflation have increased the possibility of a recession. While she says the operating outlook for investors is that the war in Iran will last a few more weeks, with oil starting to flow again quickly, which will make current events quickly forgettable as the economy returns to its pre-war growth path. But she notes that the path is uncertain, and the longer war persists and sours economic numbers, the more it draws out potential problems. "The challenge," Garretty says, "is the recovery ... if it doesn't look like what everyone expects."    Veteran technical analyst Adam Grimes,  president of MarketLife, says the market has reached "a point where I would want to be raising capital, where I would want to be defensive with long exposure. This is not a point where I want to put capital to work." Grimes says he sees the potential for a bad short-term downturn, noting that "[my] definition of bad is 50 to 60 percent." Grimes acknowledged that he sounds "like the raving crazy person at the top of the mountain," but he says that market cycles and enormous moves do repeat itself and the market is making a big decline a more-realistic possibility, which hasn't made him move out of the market but has made him more defensive.    Mark Burrage, senior vice president at PenFed Home at PenFed Credit Union, discusses the wide range of factors that are making homebuyers uncomfortable, and what families can do to overcome the issues they are facing in buying a home.

Bill Davis, portfolio manager for Stance Capital and the Hennessy Sustainable ETF, says that current events have contributed to some market rotation back towards mega-cap tech names, because the market views them as comparative safe names that are not correlated to oil prices. That represents what he expects to be a short-term reversal in trends because the market had been moving broadening out, with the Magnificent 7 stocks struggling. He expects that trend to resume and continue as the headline risk subsides, when he expects the market to continue moving the market away from communications services and big tech toward more defensive and value-oriented stocks.    David Trainer, president at New Constructs, focuses The Danger Zone on "residual value guarantees" — which hide debt off-balance sheets allowing companies to spend money and to have liabilities that it mostinvestors will not know about until or unless a problem makes them surface. He says the says the phenomenon is particularly acute with artificial-intelligence companies, where a lot of money is being invested into construction that is backed by residual-value guarantees, and he singles out Oracle and Meta Platforms as two examples where the practice adds to New Constructs' unfavorable opinion of the stocks.     Vijay Marolia, chief investment officer at Regal Point Capital, says that he expects oil prices to remain elevated until there is more clarity in the Strait of Hormuz, but that prices should snap back quickly to lower levels once the supply chain is clearly restored. In waiting for that clarity, he suggests oil tankers as a play on the situation, noting that it's a picks-and-shovels play on the industry, and that the tankers are making money even as they sit filled with oil waiting for resolution. He also discusses why Microsoft's recent decline is not something long-term investors should worry about, and more in "The Week That Is."

Robert Gilhooly, senior emerging markets economist at Aberdeen Investments, discusses the adage that the first shots of war are a time to be buying investments, and he says investors might want to take more of a wait-and-see approach, at least until they get more clarity on how the war in Iran will impact oil prices. While President Trump has moved to keep the price of oil below $100 a barrel, Gilhooly makes a case that if the tensions drag out, oil could quickly rise to $175 a barrel, a level high enough that it might cause a global recession. In the end, he expects a quick return to pre-war economic activity levels, including one interest-rate cut later this year -- if hostilities subside quickly.    Guy LeBas, chief fixed income strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott says that headline risks are diverting attention from a bond market that, in the long run, should be driven by positive economic conditions and decelerating inflation. The war in Iran is creating what he thinks will be more temporary conditions that scare investors but that don't amount to much long-term change in the market's outlook. LeBas expects corporate profits this year to be roughly 12%, which is strong enough to help the corporate bond market, which he also thinks will be buoyed by the hyper-scalers needing to borrow money to put it to work to keep up in the development race.     Bernie Horn, manager of the Polaris Global Value fund, returns to the Market Call to discuss stocks and international markets in the face of current events. Like Bill Smead -- a value manager who was on the show earlier this week -- he talks about how value investing suffered while the stock market was in hot-growth mode led by the Magnificent Seven. Now, however, market valuations are high, which is setting up a rotation that he says will favor value-minded investors moving forward.

Jay Jacobs, U.S. head of equity ETFs at BlackRock, says that the artificial-intelligence revolution has delivered massive spending, but not at levels that have been spent relative to gross domestic product, during other generational shifts like the introduction of the automobile. As a result, while he understands the bubble concerns, he expects AI to continue holding its place among BlackRock's global thematic trends. Also on that list of trends is geopolitical shifts, which were well underway before current events evolved into a war in Iran; because those trends were in place before today's developments, Jacobs says he doesn't expect markets or outlooks to be dramatically impacted by headline events. Jacobs also discusses the new iShares Staked Ethereum fund, a new development in the crypto space, which the firm is launching today. Wade Pfau,  professor of retirement income, at The American College of Financial Services, discusses his revised, third edition of "Retirement Planning Guidebook: Navigating the Important Decisions for Retirement Success," which includes a new section covering sequence-of-inflation risk. Pfau says that concern -- which financial advisers mostly overlooked -- is particularly important now given growing concerns about sticky inflation, and that it may be as important for retirement savers as sequence-of-return risk, which Chuck typically says is his biggest retirement-savings worry. Plus, Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi, leans into global turmoil this week, picking a diversified international fund as his ETF of the Week.

Bill Smead, manager of the Smead Value fund, says that by nearly every indicator, the stock market is at valuation levels seldom seen in American history, with the Standard & Poor's 500 trading "at more than 220% of GDP, the most dangerous number, virtually, we have ever seen." That does not make him want to get out of the market, however, as he says in the Market Call that "the problem everybody's got is that most of the money is in the place that is likely to do the poorest over the next 10 years, because it has done the best the last 15 years, and that is our opportunity."    Ed Cofrancesco, chief executive officer at International Assets Advisory, says that investors have good reason to be skittish right now because the market has dropped off of highs, but he doesn't expect things to get really bad so that further market drops are an opportunity to dig in and make tactical purchases. In The Big Interview, Cofrancesco talks about his concerns about inflation — which he calls "an insidious tax on the working class and the poor" — noting that if it stays higher for longer it can change retirement-spending trajectories that investors need to plan for.    Jennifer White, senior director, banking and payments intelligence at JD Power,  discusses the firm's recent report showing that the financial health of American consumers has reached a 12-month low. She notes that the firm is classifying more consumers as financially unhealthy, in large part due to the stubbornly high cost of consumer goods, noting that current events which could create a spike in oil prices and which threaten more inflation weren't yet factored into the numbers, making the outlook for consumers that much more troubling.

Kevin Mahn, president and chief investment officer at Hennion & Walsh, entered 2026 expecting more volatility from the market and geo-politicla events, and while he "didn't have war in Iran on his dance card," he doesn't think it will change the outcomes all that much. He expects oil markets, for example, to stabilize once investors are certain that the Straits of Hormuz have re-opened, and he thinks there is plenty of opportunity where money has been flowing, into areas like artificial-intelligence infrastructure. All in all, he expects the stock market to celebrate a fourth birthday for the current bull market.    Veteran trader Peter Robbins discusses his book, "The Trader's Journey: Navigating the Path to Trading Success," covering how important it is for traders — even investors who want to do modest amounts of transactions with a small percentage of their holdings — to find the system that works for them and their lifestyle, and he talks about how technology has changed trading, but how the evolution in artificial intelligence hasn't made it so that individual investors can't find a working path to success.     Allison Hadley discusses a study she did for PartnerCentric.com study looking at AI shopping trends, where she found that nearly half of Americans tried AI-powered shopping last year, buying an average of more than $400 in eight transactions, and nearly two-third of shoppers expect to embrace AI when shopping this year. Despite that advancement, she notes that only 13% of Americans trust AI completely in its shopping recommendations with more than 80 % of consumers verifying its suggestions independently.

Jim Masturzo, chief investment officer at Research Affiliates, says that "Volatility is just a reaction to something new, and something that has changed," which is why investors can expect a volatile market as it works through the start of the war in Iran. That said, he is not expecting the war to change much, other than increasing volatility, provided it does not last for a long stretch of time. Masturzo does think that current events will contribute to higher inflation, but he says that — whether the Federal Reserve likes it or not — a 3% inflation rate has become the norm and is likely to remain that way, in large part because the economy has shown that it can push through that level of inflation and continue growing.    Vijay Marolia, chief investment officer at Regal Point Capital, also digs in on inflation in "The Week That Is," noting that the upcoming inflation numbers will be the financial story of the week ahead, but also potentially for many consumers' financial lifetime, noting that if higher inflation becomes the norm, it dramatically changes the math for building a retirement-savings nestegg that can overcome longevity and purchasing-power risk. Marolia also discusses the early impacts of war in Iran on the market and how he expects it to play out in oil prices, as well as his sense on what's next for the Space X merger.    David Trainer, president at New Constructs, takes a victory lap on some Danger Zone picks that have paid off, but where he believes there is significantly more trouble to come. It's a rogue's gallery of names like Affirm and Snap that all have fallen by at least 25% in 2026 and much further than that since their 52-week highs; Trainer notes that these stocks, and several others that he discusses, may look like bargains now that they have been beaten down, but warns that investors who buy now could be catching proverbial falling knives. Further, he says, there is no need to chase big losers in hopes of catching a turnaround.

Jim Welsh, the strategist behind the Macro Tides and Weekly Technical Review newsletters, says that the market's underlying strength won't stop a short, fast decline of as much as 7%, but it will provide strong resistance to a full-blown correction or bear market. Welsh notes that people fear that the economy will be severely disrupted because they remember oil shocks creating recessions in the 1970s, but oil prices have much less ability "to tip the economy into recession now," so he thinks the impact of current events will be less than most investors fear. Welsh has been forecasting a secular bear market — a long reversal of fortune for the stock market — for a few years now, and he still sees one coming, but he doesn't think that starts until "the next recession" creates a situation that stalls growth and disrupts the market. Amid all of those market worries and concerns, Ryan MacDonald, portfolio manager for the Bluerock Private Real Estate Fund, says that private real estate is "uniquely boring, in a good way." MacDonald, who also serves as chief investment officer at Bluerock, says that three painful years of interest rate changes have driven values down to where they are attractive. "Entry point is the single biggest driver of future value for private real estate returns" and, on an inflation-adjusted basis, the market is now approaching valuation levels "not seen since the depths of the 2008 financial crisis." Jaime Seale discusses the 2026 home renovation trends survey from Clever Real Estate, which showed that half of all homeowners say their home is facing necessary repairs or renovations that they can't afford given current economic and personal conditions. Nearly six in 10 homeowners have nothing saved for emergency repairs , which is particularly alarming because 85 percent of homeowners spent money last year on an unplanned repair.

Sal Gilbertie, chief executive officer at Teucrium Trading — which runs commodity-oriented ETFs — says that war in the Middle East will have mostly short- and medium-term impacts on markets, commodities and inflation, noting that "If you're not already long energy, you're taking a pretty big risk by buying it now." He says he will be watching fertilizer prices — because Iran is a large producer of urea, a key ingredient in fertilizers — expecting to see some inflationary pressures, but he thinks that, too, will pass quickly. Teucrium also runs crypto funds and Gilbertie also gives his take on how leading currencies will get through the current "crypto winter." With current events in the Middle East impacting his thinking, Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi, turns to a large-cap, low-volatility index fund for the "ETF of the Week," noting that the fund may not be the highest of flyers but it has a history of softening the blow of market downturns and troubles. Rod Yancy, founder of the Oath Money and Meaning Institute, discusses research which found that healthcare costs — premium, prescriptions, long-term care and more — are the top financial worry of American retirees entering 2026, but which also showed that a solid majority of retirees have a positive outlook this year despite current economic and geopolitical concerns. Plus, Chuck answers a listener's question about using artificial intelligence to improve personal portfolio results.

Louie Navellier, president of Navellier & Associates, says that while it is early to make any definitive statement on outcomes of military actions in the Middle East, he believes the energy industry narrowly and the domestic stock markets broadly are winning as a result of these actions. He makes the case that the dollar historically strengthens in times of conflicts, and that domestic markets enter these times much stronger than foreign markets; he's expecting the stock market to produce "a great year," though he is emphasizing gold stocks to get through and past the current headline events. Author Kim Lankford, author of "Medicare 101: A Crash Course in Federal Health Insurance," discusses the relationship consumers should have with the Medicare system, its future when it comes to financing and how to navigate the morass of rules and regulations to avoid a lifetime of higher premiums and health-care costs. Chuck and his wife Gail are nearing the age when they must make Medicare decisions and enroll in the program, so they are the real-life examples of the considerations consumers have to make. Plus, Allison Hadley, discusses a survey she did on worker happiness for Howdy.com, which found that more than half of American employees consider work to be "just a paycheck." Happiness at work involves many factors, Hadley said, noting that 93% of happy workers have clear ways to succeed on the job, compared to just 52% of unhappy workers, who feel they don't have much opportunity to advance personally or professionally.

Matt Hougan, chief investment officer at Bitwise Asset Management, says that the last six months of falling prices for Bitcoin and Ethereum represent a "normal crypto winter," the kind of downturn you see every few years, which typically lasts no longer than 11 months. He thinks the market is nearing the bottom of the cycle now, though he warns there could be more damage before any turnaround, especially with a market facing a lot of idiosyncratic events; still, he believes both crypto and global equity markets are poised for better days ahead. Hougan notes that cryptocurrency started as a "100% speculation" is evolving to where it truly becomes "as normal as gold," making it so solid that it's not really speculation at all; he says Bitcoin is roughly half way into that transition now. Long-term technical trader Mick Heyman, founder of Heyman Investment Counseling and author of "Mellow Your Money," sees the potential for the market to suffer a "shock event" — a one- or two-day decline of 10 to 15% — and a lot of volatility for the rest of this year, but he generally expects the market to push through that decline, which could get the Standard & Poor's 500 down to the 6,000 level, and then climb back higher. Heyman is not suggesting that investors trade out of the market to wait out the downturn; instead, he suggests diversifying and rebalancing, noting that "This is not a time to bet on energy or defense ...  This is not a time to bet for or against the Mag 7. ... This is a time to be sure you can handle that 10 or 15% drop." Plus, leading personal finance journalist Andrea Coombes discusses the end of the popular Direct File program from the IRS and how that is leaving consumers scrambling for free tax-filing help this year and where they can turn for help and red flags to watch for in the process.

Economist Howard Yaruss, the author of "Understandable Economics" and a professor at New York University, says that the market and the economy are strong on average, but that "chaos" — including the international tensions that escalated in Iran over the weekend, but also tariff and trade policies and more — should have investors leaning into gold. Yaruss notes that the market has seen so much speculative activity — including trillions for dollars invested into artificial intelligence infrastructure — so that when people see smaller-than-expected payback, the market and economy could go through the kind of demoralizing event that, historically, creates a recession.    Yaruss isn't the only one focused on chaos, as Vijay Marolia, chief investment officer at Regal Point Capital, talks in "The Week That Is' about "disruption" being the keyword for the week and beyond. He says that tensions in the Middle East have the potential to disrupt the oil market, noting how artificial intelligence has disrupted software stocks and, more broadly, technology companies and the market itself, but he also says that investors need to avoid disrupting their own portfolios by over-reacting to the headlines and the rapid-fire emotional swings.    Building on that theme of changes impacting the market's leading sector — and continuing a theme from recent Danger Zone segments, Kyle Guske, investment analyst at New Constructs, says that technology stocks outside of the Mag 5 are headed for trouble. And, yes, he calls it the "Mag 5" because he doesn't think two companies come close to still qualifying as "magnificent."    Plus, Herb Greenberg, editor of Herb Greenberg's Red Flag Alerts, discusses his recent coverage of Blue Owl's private credit meltdown and how the company's answers to questions on private credit may be a sign of more trouble ahead, not just for the BDC company – which has been hammered since it stopped redemptions in a non-traded BDC due to problems with some of its software lending – but for private credit markets generally. 

Today's show is all about digging into value, which often can be found in the scariest portions of the stock market. Of late, nothing has been scarier than the wash-out in software stocks, but in the Market Call, Adam Peck, co-founder of Riverwater Partners, says that the "massacre in the software space" has made it that the software sector is now a value priced sector for the first time in two decades. With a lot of software stocks with double-digit free cash flow yields, Peck says, making software "one of the most interesting areas of the market." The software companies troubles have spilled over into the realm of business-development companies, many of which have made loans to software companies that, in theory, could be troubled if artificial intelligence replaces the need for software as a service. Behind the theory that software companies will struggle to pay debts as artificial intelligence renders their products less useful and attractive, there are been some scary, well-publicized issues with a few BDCs. John Cole Scott, president of CEF Advisors, digs into the math that is impacting the lenders and BDCs in general. Scott, who also serves as chairman of the Active Investment Company Alliance, shows how the headlines could be creating values that make the industry more attractive, not less, for investors who understand and measure the risk.  Plus, Columbia University finance professor Ehsan Ehsani discusses his new book, "Finding Value in Numbers: The Essential Investing Toolkit to Win on Wall Street," which helps investors follow value-oriented strategies in all market conditions.

Ed O'Gorman, chief executive and chief investment officer at River Wealth Advisors, says that despite headline risks, investors need to "participate, without being overexposed" to market forces, balancing risks and approaches. He notes that recent action indicates that the market is broadening out, highlighting that an equal-weighted approach recently has delivered better results and lower returns, a sign that it's a good time to diversify and rebalance portfolios into the face of the news cycle. Bob Powell, retirement columnist at TheStreet.com and the co-founder of FinStream TV, dives into new research showing that household spending tends to decline modestly over the course of retirement, typically by small annual amounts that turn into big money over the decades of retirement. He has created a "Retirement Reality Check" that lets investors see for themselves how spending reductions -- the standard pattern, even if not conventional wisdom -- change the trajectories of retirement savings and spending. With the "ETF of the Week,"Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi, focuses on a large-cap value fund that in its three-plus year history has accumulated what may be the most accolades and honors of any fund, getting perfect marks from both Morningstar and Lipper, with a structure and management discipline that should lead to continued future success. Plus, Emily Fanous discusses survey work she did for Credible.com study which found that 77% of Americans engaged last year in risky financial activities.

John Kosar, chief market strategist at Asbury Research, says money managers are moving from the market's racehorses to its sure-footed burros, saying it's a sign of "the very late stages of an up move or the beginning stages of the market starting to roll over." Kosar says the market has some room to correct and stay in bull market territory, but he thinks investors want to be cautious here until the rotation is complete. "I'm not saying doom and gloom and we';re done for the year," Kosar says, "but if you want to put on more risk ... this is a lousy place to do it." He's expecting a 5 to 7 percent move down, at which point the market will be much more attractive. In the Market Call, deep-value investor Michael Campagna, co-founder and senior investment analyst at Moerus Capital Management, discusses how the high levels of domestic stocks have him more interested in international investments, but he is finding plenty of opportunities around the globe,including, surprisingly, some that are derivative plays from the artificial-intelligence boom. Plus, Chuck discusses the parts of Tuesday's State of the Union address that had him scratching his head about math and political processes, and digs into statements that were made about inflation, tariffs, Social Security, the level of promised foreign investments into the United States, the scope of fraud in government programs and more.

Economist Steven Durlauf, a professor at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, weighs in on the fallout from Friday's Supreme Court decision that the Trump Administration had exceeded its authority in declaring tariffs as being necessary under emergency conditions. While the move put an end to the previously announced tariffs, Durlauf discusses the uncertain benefits of the changes, noting that there are some monies that could flow back to consumers or prices that could decrease, but that most of the impacts will be more on the policy and economy fronts than to the pocketbooks of consumers and the coffers of businesses.  David Trainer, founder and president at New Constructs, says that technology investors could be headed for trouble as he expects the sector to roll over "and take several steps back," bogged down with more balance sheets showing an overload of debt.  He notes that tech stocks have benefitted from momentum investing and buy-the-dips thinking, but if earnings slow down — as he expects — and off-balance sheet debts hit home, the sector will lag other parts of the market. Vijay Marolia, chief investment officer at Regal Point Capital says that he expects GDP numbers to come roaring back from last week's disappointment, noting that the 4%-plus growth he sees for much of the rest of the year is more than just recovering the gross domestic product lost late last year to the government shutdown. He does not expect that growth to be derailed by continuing trade-policy and tariff uncertainty, which reached new heights last week after the Supreme Court decision. Also in "The Week That Is," Vijay discusses his experience playing around on prediction markets and how that has led him to see that those platforms — which most see as a different form of gambling — will have real impacts on investment theory and strategy in the very near future.

Jose Torres, senior economist at Interactive Brokers, says the economy is strong and "not looking at a recession here," but  that hot economy benefits cyclical stocks rather than the Magnificent Seven stocks, and that limits just how much the market can gain ground. With technology "set for a down year," the other areas of the market can't generate enough gains — even in a robust economy — to make 2026 positive. He also notes the market has been running in a "three year on, one year off" cycle, and he thinks that will impact tech companies this year." Torres still expects rate cuts and thinks any downturn will be relatively short lived and not too deep, but enough for where investors should adjust their expectations. John Cole Scott, president of CEF Advisors, sizes up the prospects for the first new IPO the closed-end fund industry has seen in several years, and from a surprising source. Robinhood markets, the investment platform, will launch next week Robinhood Ventures Fund I, a concentrated portfolio of private companies. Scott, who also serves as chairman of the Active Investment Company Alliance, discusses the role private equities can play in a portfolio, as well as the challenges investors face in sizing up a fund with a net asset value entirely based on the "value" of illiquid shares that don't trade in public markets. Billy Hensley, president of the National Endowment for Financial Education discusses the group's recent poll on how American adults view their financial well-being, which found that seven of eight respondents were feeling some form of financial stress as they entered the year, with more than three-quarters of all respondents having suffered a financial setback in 2025.

Greg Daco, chief economist at EY, says the economy has been dealing with historic and conflicting economic shocks, but if it can continue the current capital investment cycle and see the productivity gains promised by artificial intelligence, it should be able to remain resilient in pushing past wobbles and weakness. Daco, who currently serves as the president of the National Association for Business Economics, discusses his concerns that growing polarization between different consumers and businesses are increasing the fragility of what he calls "the A pillars of economic growth" — affluent consumers, A.I. investment and asset-price appreciation economic growth — and how that creates "pockets of risk" that could change the cycle.  Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi, leans into signs that the stock market has been broadening to make an equal-weight fund his ETF of the Week, noting that the balanced construction creates a very different take on the market than the traditional index fund covering the same ground. Mike Bailey, director of research at FBB Capital Partners, brings his "beat and replace" methodology back to the Market Call, discussing how secular change in industries and economies creates the upgrading opportunities he looks for.

Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist for the Carson Group, says that February and March could be "banana peel months" for the stock market to slip on, but he's not expecting a significant downturn and he says the underpinnings for the stock market will keep the bull market running through at least the end of the year. Detrick noted that the market has sent some mixed messages — with about 20% of stocks making 52-week highs while 6% made 52-week lows just last week — but he says that a strong economy with a dovish Federal Reserve can overcome geopolitical concerns, creating an environment where investors should be "overweight equities, but diversified around the globe." Dan Doonan, executive director for the National Institute on Retirement Savings, discusses their latest report, "Retirement in America: An Analysis of Retirement Preparedness Among Working-Age Americans," which has made headlines for suggesting that the average working American has less than $1,000 saved for retirement. Doonan is quick to back away from that number — because it includes the many Americans who have nothing saved and who aren't working to change that — but notes that while retirement balances are much higher for people who put in the effort, there remains a savings crisis in America.  Gil Baumgarten, founder and chief executive officer at Segment Wealth Management, brings his dividend-and-income focused approach to stock picking back to the Money Life Market Call.

David Trainer, founder and president at New Constructs, says the intensity of competition in the artificial-intelligence business is setting up a path for big winners and losers, and he says that it's nearly time "to see a lot of the companies in the AI race fall out." Trainer cits cash flows turning negative, and says that accounting tricks have hidden much of the problem by allowing companies to keep some debts off of balance sheets. When focusing on what he calls the real debt level of the companies, Trainer says "the cash flow for these companies is highly negative and it cannot be sustained." Further, Trainer notes that with so much money committed to the development of A.I., there is no guarantee that the companies that get in trouble will find a market waiting to take them over once the financial troubles hit. In "The Week That Is," Vijay Marolia, chief investment officer at Regal Point Capital, discusses how last week's software sell-off isn't changing his take on how "Software will eat the world," but it is a symptom of how the speed of development is amping up investor concerns about the A.I. revolution. He also discusses how and why the "Sell America" sentiment has been building, and why the Dow Jones Industrial Average — and not the Nasdaq Composite or the Standard & Poor's 500 — is leading the way for market gains early this year. David Bach, author, "The Automatic Millionaire: A Powerful One-Step Plan to Live and Finish Rich," celebrates the revised, 20th anniversary edition of the book and the countless people it has helped by getting them started small towards long-term lifelong savings and living goals. Bach — who last appeared on Money Life a decade ago with the 10th-anniversary edition of the book — discusses how time and technology have changed, but how they also have helped savers reach their goals more easily.

Ted Oakley, founder and managing partner at Oxbow Advisors, says that he expects the market to be setting new highs but to challenge some serious lows, hurt by high valuations, current economic conditions and the election cycle. "This will not be a real strong year for the market, and if you make money, you will have to know where to invest and when to invest," Oakley says. He notes that he is more invested internationally in the last 18 months than he has been in years, due largely to lower valuations abroad, and he is also keeping some powder dry expecting better opportunities when the market gets shaken through patches of volatility. Chris Oberbeck, chairman and chief executive officer at Saratoga Investment Corp., says that  increases in default rates are more of a return to normal than a sign of trouble for business-development companies or the economy. Between a bankruptcy and fraud case like First Brands and softness in the software business, Oberbeck thinks that recent activity is more a hangover coming from a time of particularly low defaults, rather than a sign of something bad building up. In the Market Call, Simon Lack, managing partner of SL Advisors — which oversees the American Energy Independence Index — talks about energy and energy infrastructure stocks, as well as how current events in Venezuela are likely to affect oil stocks and energy markets.

Jonathan Treussard, founder of Treussard Capital Management, says that many investors have staked their financial lives on the stock market continuing the kind of gains it has posted since the Great Financial Crisis nearly 20 years ago. He worries that that investors haven't saved for retirement or college tuition in a world where the market doesn't deliver something close to expectations; with that in mind — and in a world where valuations are stretched and concerns are abundant — he says investors need to prepare for uncertainty, and to decide how they would feel if the market tanks and what they could do to get more comfortable with the market's potential to peak and take a protracted turn for the worse. Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi, revisits a fund with an options overlay strategy — one he picked as ETF of the Week in 2024 when it was new — and discusses the success investors have found with it. Plus, Andrew Graham, founder and portfolio manager at Jackson Square Capital, returns to the Market Call to talk stocks.

Amanda Agati, chief investment officer at PNC Asset Management Group, says that earnings growth will be the "defining driver" of market performance in 2026, and would be the factor to watch if you could only see one. PNC is forecasting earnings growth of nearly 15% this year, "which is darned good enough to keep the market rally engaged, even with valuations being a headwind." Agati notes that while there is a "purple haze of policy uncertainty" surrounding the market, she does not expect those concerns to derail the market, noting that accelerating earnings and economic growth should power through the headlines. In the Market Call, Raymond Bridges, portfolio manager at the Bridges Capital Tactical ETF, brings his "aggressively cautious" approach to stocks, talking about where to be opportunistic now. Emily Fanous discusses the IPX1031 annual Travel Outlook survey, which showed that 94% of Americans plan to travel this year — with more than 40% planning to travel more than they did a year ago — but a large chunk of them will have their memories of those trips stirred by lingering credit card or buy-now, pay-later bills. 

Jack Ablin, founding partner and chief investment strategist at Cresset Capital, is expecting double-digit earnings for stocks generally — but only single-digit growth for the Mag 7 — and he says the broader market with moderate growth and strong economic stimulus should roll on. Ablin entered the year expecting " double-barrel stimulus" from tax refunds created by tax cuts and interest rate cuts, but now that the next Federal Reserve chairman has been selected and that he is more hawkish than expected, he sees fewer rate cuts and a market that is steady but not spectacular. One are that has been spectacular, gold, has Ablin on edge, as he says the precious metal "is telling us that, by the end of 2027, inflation will be 10 percent." He thinks that's too high, which is why he expects gold to correct. Also expecting a correction is Michael Kahn, senior market analyst at Lowry Research Corp., who says the firm's proprietary Lowry Market Health Score is in "moderately strong territory" leaving "more to go in this bull market," and yet he makes it clear that after a few more weeks or months of the positive he "could see a pretty sizeable correction." Sean Mullaney discusses his new book, "Tax Planning To and Through Early Retirement," which helps workers decide when and how they can afford to pull the plug on their working career without waiting to full retirement age to do it. 

Terri Spath, founder and chief investment officer, at Zuma Wealth says it is understandable that investors are nervous with a lot of geopolitical worries and headlines on top of a market winning streak that can't go on forever, but she says that a strong earnings outlook, a healthy economy and the market's hot start to 2026 have her constructive and positive on the year ahead, expecting more good news without the negatives of recession or a bear market. She is urging clients to go back to basics to calm their nerves, noting that the market is going through a sharp rotation away from a few leaders to a broader outlook where investors will benefit from diversification and patience. With Valentine's Day ahead this week, David Trainer, president at New Constructs, eschews the usual worrisome pick for The Danger Zone, and instead goes for something much sweeter, a home-building company that he says is particularly attractive now. With jobs and inflation data on tap for this week — and the stock market coming off a big downturn in software stocks — Vijay Marolia discusses investors' nerves and how some might be letting headlines get in the way of good long-term buying opportunities in software, and whether they will be distracted by the jobs and inflation numbers released this week. Plus, he delves into "bets" versus "predictions" and more in "The Week That Is." Plus, Chuck digs in deeper to his Super Bowl jinx -- the trend he has identified in companies that buy Super Bowl ads within seven years of their initial public offering -- to discuss which companies from Sunday's big game might be losers in the market moving forward.

Steven Dover, chief investment officer at Franklin Templeton, says that while the economy generally looks positive, he sees it in a "rough spot, especially with those Mag 7 or A.I.-related stocks," which he said have gotten "way ahead of themselves." Dover, who also serves as head of the Franklin Templeton Investment Institute, says he doesn't see an old-fashioned recession happening, but thinks there may be rolling recessions impacting specific industries and sectors. That could lead to a situation "where the average looks great but for a whole lot of people it isn't good," the K-shaped downturn that impacts people who are lacking assets the most. Kyle Brown, chief executive officer at Trinity Capital, gives his outlook for the private credit and lending space, and notes that there could be some challenges for business development companies and private lenders late in the current economic cycle because returns from private credit generally have been declining. That has meant single-digit leveraged returns, Brown says, so "Investors are not happy." That, in turn, has led to redemptions in private funds and falling stock prices. Still, Brown says, that creates opportunities, which he sees being particularly abundant in the technology sector and amid continued capital expenditure spending. Charles Rotblut, editor at AAII Journal, discusses the latest Sentiment Survey from the American Association of Individual Investors, which shows that on a short-term basis, the recent market moves against stocks and precious metals have reduced bullishness. Neutral sentiment is on the rise, and while the market still has a bullish bias, Rotblut says the change will be worth watching as the market digests current headlines.

Barry Ritholtz, chairman and chief investment officer at Ritholtz Wealth Management, says that while the stock market has blown past multiple red flags and warning signs, investors should not be acting as if indicators like an inverted yield curve, events like war or tariffs, or a simple market winning streak are leading to some sort of fast market shift. Rather than getting caught up in the next news story, Ritholtz says to focus on diversification and common-sense long-term investing strategies, and he notes that for all of the reasons investors are nervous, he would focus on earnings, noting that if he had only one variable to look at to forecast the market's potential, it would be earnings. So long as that trend continues — and he expects it to — the market should keep gaining ground. Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi, looks to emerging markets with his ETF of the Week, picking a classic, low-cost, long-term fund that he says can be a core holding for investors looking to increase foreign exposure. Plus, Chuck discusses comments by Elon Musk suggesting that Americans really don't need to save for retirement any more. As ridiculous as that might sound, the principal Musk is relying on is called "universal high income," and it suggests that retirement savings won't be necessary because the abundance created by productivity gains created by artificial intelligence will make it so that all future material needs are easily met. While that outcome is possible, Chuck explains why you might still want to fund your Roth IRA for a while.

Jeff Weniger, head of equity strategy at WisdomTree Asset Management, worries that there may be "an upside CPI surprise" coming in the second half of the year, but he also says there is "the risk of upside economic surprises" now, evidenced in the market action, where he sees basic materials, energy and "things that come out of the ground" like commodities and oil leading the way. Those are assets that normally lead late in the economic cycle, and he expects them to stay strong through 2026. Weniger also discusses why President Trump's recent nomination of Kevin Warsh as the next Federal Reserve chairman has Wall Street scrambling with changing expectations and outlooks. Chuck goes off the news with Bob Powell, retirement columnist at TheStreet.com, to discuss his recent piece on why "focusing on the break-even point" leads many Americans to make the wrong Social Security decision. Powell notes that break-even analysis is mostly used to formulate a bet on longevity, rather than focusing on the income and inflation-protection elements that Social Security is built to provide.  In the Book Interview, Becky Robison, author of "My Parents Are Dead: What Now? A Panic-Free Guide to the Practicalities of Death," discusses the challenges facing most people as they face, unprepared, the mortality of their parents. Robison discusses her own experience after the death of her parents which, she notes, was way different than what she was prepared for by years of watching tv and movies that had her expecting a neat, tidy and orderly process.  

Emily Roland, co-chief investment officer at Manulife John Hancock Investments, says that she may be forced to believe her eyes and is whispering to investors "This time is different," which are famously described as the most dangerous words in investing. With leading economic indicators negative for 38 months, the long time when the yield curve was inverted, three months of negative job growth and more; all of those are supposed indicators of trouble and recession, but the difference has been that the market has overcome those concerns. Roland is encouraging investors to resist the urge to trade on political headlines, or to get caught up in "fear of missing out" and jumping into parts of the market that are moving more on sentiment than fundamentals. She says it is a back-to-basics market, where investors might want to look more toward bonds as a backstop to high valuations and headline-induced nervousness. Brad Lamensdorf, portfolio manager of the Ranger Equity Bear ETF, says investors should be more nervous than they seem right now, because classic signs of trouble are building. Those factors include low money-market balances but high balances on margin accounts, suggesting that investors "are extremely aggressive and very, very off-balance here." Lamensdorf says that the market's current dividend yields and high prices make it the market "very, very expensive," at levels where some investors may feel they're not being rewarded for taking risk, a condition that is usually happening at times when bull markets are ending. In the Market Call, Brian Huckstep, chief investment officer at Advyzon Investment Management, discusses ETFs and mutual funds, which structure he prefers and which parts of the market stand out to him now.

Mo Haghbin, managing director for strategic ETFs at ProShares says it's not unusual to have a strong equity market when there's accommodative central bank policy, and he's expecting that to continue even with the Fed under direction of new chairman nominee Kevin Warsh. Haghbin says "It's a little bit of a Goldilocks situation right now," with the next year being an environment that seems "just right," and therefore is not particularly vulnerable to a bear market or recession. In "The Week That Is," Vijay Marolia, chief investment officer at Regal Point Capital, discusses spiking volatility that saw precious metals reach new highs before backing away from them, looks at mixed earnings results for four Big Tech names, and discusses the merger that Elon Musk is proposing for himself — combining SpaceX with xAI — and why the seemingly strange deal isn't actually weird. David Trainer, president at New Constructs, looks at a boutique mutual fund that on the surface looks decent but which he says holds too many dangerous stocks, which he thinks will turn three years of super-hot performance back into a long-term record of feast-or-famine results. Plus, Chuck looks at the recently announced retirement of Will Danoff, manager of Fidelity's Contrafund since 1990, and how investors should evaluate their next response, a next move Chuck himself is considering as a shareholder in Danoff's hugely successful fund.

Rob Williams, chief investment strategist at Sage Advisory Services, says that 2025 was a great year for the market, but that has the market priced to where investors should expect to capture earnings growth and interest income. "If earnings come in 10 to 15 percent and you get that but nothing else, that's still pretty good," Williams says. "If you get 4.5 to 5 percent on bonds — without much help from the Fed — that's not so bad either." It's about preparing for "less," rather than preparing for some sort of market nightmare, Williams says. In The NAVigator segment, Nick Robinson, deputy head of global emerging market equities at Aberdeen Investments, discusses how the artificial intelligence wave that has pushed domestic stock markets to record highs is readily apparent around the world — including in countries that are not necessarily synonymous with technology — and that the capital expenditure wave should continue to power emerging markets, especially if foreign companies can monetize the potential gains created by AI. He also discusses how markets are weathering geopolitical events and why they can continue to overcome worrisome headlines. In the Market Call, Brian Mulberry, portfolio manager at Zacks Investment Management — manager of the Zacks Earnings Consistent Portfolio, among other ETfs — talks about the shifts he is seeing now in the markets, but how a focus on persistent earnings can smooth out the ride of a nervous, high-growth market.

Chun Wang, senior analyst and portfolio manager at the Leuthold Group, says that the economy should perform well in 2026, with the mid-term election feeling more like a presidential election because fiscal and monetary policy should be aligned to prove something to voters, rather than the typical mid-term doldrums. Still, Wang believes that the wealth effect that has kept the economy out of a recession would be threatened by a market downturn, which means that a bear market would likely cause a recession. Wang says the near-term biggest macro risk is outside the U.S., most notably rising bond yields in Japan that, if they keep rising, "would cause a major disruption in this global risk rally."  Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi, looks to small-caps this week, picking a Fidelity fund that takes a strategic, computer-driven, broadly diversified approach to the sector, providing moderately active management rather than the "significantly aggressive active management" that comes with a bottoms-up gunslinger picking stocks. In the Market Call, Jonathan Smucker, portfolio manager at Marietta Investment Partners, discusses his approach to stock picking, melding top-down macro analysis with thematic investing before finishing with a bottoms-up analysis to confirm his direction.