Money Life with Chuck Jaffe

Adam Rozencwajg, managing partner at Goehring and Rozencwajg — a fundamental research firm that focuses on making contrarian natural resource plays — says that the rally in gold is far from over, and that "until it gets to at least the long-term average [of its value relative to the market], you are in an aggressive bull market, an aggressive accumulation phase." That average would take gold to about $8,000 an ounce, meaning the asset has room to double. Rozencwajg also talks oil and why he likes it despite status as "the most hated asset class in the world." Ryan Redfern, chief investment officer at Shadowridge Asset Management, says that correlations are so high that "you stick with the big stuff, the S&P and Nasdaq," rather than diversifying into small-caps and international stocks, which have had occasional runs but which haven't gained long-term edges on the classics. He sees the market as having a "knee-jerk reaction to news" like potential rate cuts this week, but says that sets up the market for a seasonal run into the end of the year. John Dorfman, chairman of Dorfman Value Investments, brings his class price/earnings-driven style to stocks in the Market Call.

It's a wrap on FinCon '25 from Portland, but not before what Chuck describes as the "single best day of interviews [he has] done at any FinCon that Money Life has attended." Here's the lineup:    — Paul Merriman is a long-time financial advisor, author and retirement columnist — he was writing for MarketWatch before Chuck got there in 2003 and still writes for them today — who has watched the transitions that have impacted the investing world over the decades. He gives his take on everything from ETFs versus traditional funds to crypto and much more.    — Paula Pant is the host of "Afford Anything," one of the most influential podcasts in the financial world. She talks about how inflation has impacted people's mindset on what they can afford — and why it shouldn't change your thinking if you have spending in the right place — but also has a unique perspective on America's housing affordability crisis and how consumers should respond to the problem.    — Jessie Jimenez is the founder of Cashtoons.com, where she produces short animated films that cover the investment and money-management basics, but which also get into topics like managing your flexible-spending account or calculating your retirement budget to hone in on a savings target.    — Kanwal Sarai of the Simply Investing Dividends podcast discusses his obsession with dividend-paying stocks, his criteria for buying and selling them — because he is more active in selling than many long-term dividend buyers — and more.    — Joe Saul-Sehy, host of the Stacking Benjamins podcast, puts a bow on the FinCon interviews — as he has done in each of the last three years — talking about the good and bad he sees among content creators in the financial space, the worst interview he has ever done and what makes for good financial talk.

   — Ravi Wadan, the founder of DriveMatch.com, discusses pre-negotiated car leases and the benefits of leasing online.    — Nik Johnson of EverydayMoneyHeroes.com, who talks about overcoming the challenges that keep many families from building generational wealth, and how it is small daily moves or changes have impacts that can last for decades on families.    — Gwen Merz Joiner, the original "fiery millennial," who aggressively scrimped and saved in her 20s to "retire early," only to find herself miserable. The co-host of the FIRE Takes podcast, changed her lifestyle, found happiness and a job she loves, but who is now turning 35 and looking at using the financial groundwork she laid as a cornerstone to answering the question "What's next?"    — Adam Bergman, founder of IRA Financial, who discusses how investors have been using alternative assets from cryptocurrency to real estate to private equity in self-directed IRAs, but who will now find access to those asset classes in their 401(k) plans thanks to recent law changes. He discusses how retirement portfolios have changed as those assets have become more available.    — Plus, Fridays on Money Life start with "The NAVigator," and today John Cole Scott, president of CEF Advisors, sizes up[ the times when an investor might pick (or mix-and-match) owning a closed-end fund versus an ETF or a fund-of-funds that covers the same asset class.

Money Life begins the first of three days of interviews from FinCon 2025, the annual gathering of financial content creators, which this year is in Portland, Ore., and which lets Chuck showcase a wide range of subjects. Today, those subjects include:  — college savings and the changing landscape of consumers paying off college debt with Robert Farrington of TheCollegeInvestor.com.  — crushing medical debt, and an unusual way for consumers to get out from under it with Jared Walker, founder of the non-profit fintech start up Dollar For. — a conversation that Chuck thinks may be the most unusual of his long career with comedian turned financial coach Lauren Baker, who also goes by the    name "Firenze, the friendly FIndom" and whose interview will introduce you to the world of financial domination. — "How Financial Stuff Works," the long-hoped for literacy project of financial adviser Alex Whitehouse. — the changing state of financial content creators, what's dead, what's next and how artificial intelligence will impact it all with FinCon's founder, Philip Taylor of TheCreatorCPA.com. Plus, every Thursday on Money Life starts with the ETF of the Week, and Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi, makes a multi-sector bond fund from a veteran fund manager his pick this week.

 Jillian Johnsrud, the podcaster behind "Retire Often," and the author of a new book out this week that goes by the same title, says that a lot of people mess up their retirement lifestyle by not preparing for it with smaller retirements — lasting a month or more — during their prime working years. Not only do these smaller times allow people to recharge and rejuvenate, they become dry runs for the real thing, allowing pre-retirees to sample ideas and then plan how to execute the best concepts. Johnsrud — who says she has retired at least a dozen times despite only being in her early 40s — says that small retirements are achievable, even by workaholics (like this show's host) with some foresight and planning. Chuck Carlson, chief executive officer at Horizon Investment Services — longtime publisher of The DRIP Investor newsletter — returns to the show to help Chuck answer a listener's question about how to deal with an inherited portfolio of stocks all held in dividend reinvestment programs. Chip Lupo discusses the 2025 Money and Relationships Survey from WalletHub, which showed that nearly one in three people think their relationship is limiting their financial growth, with communication (or a lack thereof) being at the heart of the problem. And Chuck starts his interviews from FinCon '25 in Portland, Ore., by chatting with Doug Nordman of MilitaryFinancialIndependence.com, who says that while current events have some military members reconsidering their work choices, that action is appropriate and happens in all times, but it doesn't mean that military families will be abandoning their financial plans even if they change careers before achieving military status that could set them up for life.

Conrad Doenges, chief investment officer at Ranger Investment Management — manager of the Ranger Small Cap and Ranger Micro Cap funds — says that smaller companies have suffered as an asset class because corporate earnings have struggled to meet growth expectations. While there is an expectation that small companies will benefit from a cut in interest rates and from deregulation policies from the government, Doenges says in the Market Call that earnings expectations remain muted, so the long awaited rally in small caps could come, but be less than investors have been waiting for. Jeffrey Ptak, managing director at Morningstar Research Services, discusses his recent research into funds that have massive amounts of success to become darlings of the media and of investors, and how they tend to disappoint just after the flood of money comes in. While the results are not surprising, Ptak says it is more than just the typical "regression to the mean" that knocks these hot funds from the ranks of top performers.  Allison Hadley discusses a mid-year tariff survey from Bid-on-Equipment.com which showed that 1 in 5 Americans are stockpiling goods trying to beat price hikes, even though they mostly had to guess on which goods to purchase until tariff policies were firmed up. The survey also showed that nearly 80 percent of consumers are changing their spending habits, mostly by cutting back, which could be a bad sign for the economy moving forward.

David Giroux, chief investment officer at T. Rowe Price — named Morningstar's Outstanding Portfolio Manager for 2025 for his work at T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation — says his allocation fund is holding near its highest levels ever of bonds, specifically intermediate fixed-income, largely because he thinks stocks are overvalued and real growth will remain hard to find. Giroux — who has beaten the average peer in his Morningstar asset class for 17 consecutive years, the longest streak in the entire fund industry — has long disdained investing in foreign stocks and says the rally that 2025 has produced overseas is an anomaly and that no one "should ever feel a need to own an inferior index just for diversification purposes." In the wide-ranging interview, Giroux says that the Magnificent Seven stocks have actually been the Mag 6, plus Tesla, saying that the car maker has no business being in the portfolio of leading securities. David Trainer, president of New Constructs, put Klarna in The Danger Zone in April, when the buy-now, pay-later financial firm was attempting to go public but put off the process in the face of the market's drop after "Liberation Day." Now the company is back attempting an initial public offering, and that brings them back under Trainer's scrutiny again, before they ever get launched as a stock. Natalia Brown, chief consumer affairs and creditor relations officer for National Debt Relief, discusses the firm's survey showing that six in 10 American parents are going into debt for their children. She talks about what parents are foregoing for their own lives to help the kids, and what they are paying for that puts them into debt.

Jim Welsh, author of “Macro Tides” and the “Weekly Technical Review,” says he thinks the stock market "is reaching an inflection point," saying that the next time the Standard & Poor's 500 makes new records but without support from the highs in the advance-decline line, he will take it as a sign that the stock market is about to roll over.  Welsh says that several momentum indicators suggest a short-term decline could be between 3 and 7%, at which point he expects a bounce-back that lasts only until the economic concerns take hold. Welsh says a rise in layoffs would show that the market has gone from mild slowing to something more active, If job growth slows markedly "and we get to a point where the economy starts to meaningfully slow down, that is going to be the trigger for a much deeper and more prolonged decline." That drop, he says, could fulfill a 17-year cycle which would drop the S&P 500 by thousands of points.  Rob Thummel, senior portfolio manager at Tortoise Capital, says that this is "the best time I have ever seen" in a three-decade career to be investing in energy. Thummel, who manages Tortoise Energy Infrastructure, notes that the U.S. has grown into the largest energy producer and energy exporter in the world; coupled with emerging energy needs caused by the expansion of artificial intelligence, it will drive demand growth "for decades to come." Chuck Carlson, chief executive officer at Horizon Investment Services — which publishes the "Best Dividend and Income Investments" newsletter — brings the proprietary Quadrix system and its multi-factor evaluation process to the Money Life Market Call. Plus Allison Hadley discusses a PartnerCentric.com survey which showed that more than 40% of Americans say they're actively reducing social media use in 2025, with nearly 20 percent having already quit at least one app this year as they try to take more control of their personal lives.

The Powerball jackpot that went unclaimed on Wednesday night will top $1.7 billion for its next drawing this weekend, and will mark the 13th time in less than a decade that the big prize has been north of $1 billion. Chuck talks about why jackpots have grown this large, how you might use the lottery as a personal finance tool — even if, like him, you never buy a ticket  and why the odds are never in your favor. In the "ETF of the Week," Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi, looks to a technology fund that mixes the big names and the tech-adjacent" plays to create an opportunity for investors seeking a growth bost for their portfolio. Natalie Iannello discusses a survey done for FrontDoor which looked at how homeowners were keeping cool under the heat of more extreme water bills this summer. Plus Seth Cogswell, manager of the Running Oak Efficient Growth ETF, brings his disciplined approach to stocks — which focuses at least as much on reasons to sell as it does on opportunities to buy — to the Market Call

Rob Thummel, senior portfolio manager at Tortoise Capital — manager of the firm's energy infrastructure funds as well as its new AI Infrastructure ETF — says that in a three-decade career, he has never seen a better time to be looking at the energy sector, thanks to being the world's largest energy producer with opportunities to remain the global leader, but also due to the power needs created by artificial intelligence. He says "Electricity is the new oil," driving the economy forward the way oil companies used to. Thummel notes in his Market Call interview that he has now seen some Bitcoin mining companies morph into data centers, largely because the megatech companies are paying to get access to the power supply that the crypto mining companies have developed. Lester Jones, chief economist for the National Beer Wholesalers Association, discusses the latest "Beer Purchasers Index," a forward-looking measure of economic activity that he says has reached the lowest point in its 10-year-plus history, indicative of a "beer recession," with less orders, declining sales and other economic indicators showing an alarming down cycle for the industry that could be a bad sign for the broader economy. In the Big Interview, Rick Pitcairn, chief global strategist at Pitcairn — a firm that works with ultra high net worth families managing money over lifetimes — discusses the importance of not allowing today's bumps and headlines become something bigger in a portfolio. It eliminates "the execution risk of timing," and allows the market to turn a steady return in the high single digits" to become "a super wealth accumulator." As a result, he's fully diversified, and suggesting investors lean into international stocks and bonds, hard assets and more now.

 Chuck warned listeners a few weeks ago that he had been hit by a computer virus, and that they should not open a spam e-mail that was being sent from one of his accounts. But that was the beginning of his online misadventures, because he hadn't just gotten a virus, he was hacked. Thieves have stolen nearly $4,000 from an online bank account, and they did it right under his nose. He explains how it happened, how he caught it, why he thinks he will eventually get restitution from the bank and more. Stephen Kates discusses a survey on financial regrets from Bankrate.com, which showed that the most common regret for Americans now is not saving for retirement early enough, followed by racking up too much credit card debt.  Nick Pisano talks about research from Clever Real Estate showing that 60 percent of Americans believe that having a nearby short-term rental unit from a site like AirBNB lower's a home's appeal and value. The problems run from rental guests not caring about the neighborhood they're staying in to the constant in-and-out reducing the quality of life for the locals.   In the Market Call, John Cole Scott, president of CEF Advisors, discusses his "trifecta analysis" of closed-end funds and how frequently he will add or drop funds to take advantage of market conditions but also tax circumstances.

Dana Samuelson, president of American Gold Exchange — a former president of the Professional Numismatists Guild — sees "a meaningful rally in gold" coming once the Federal Reserve makes multiple rate cuts, but adds that turmoil over Fed leadership and concerns that government data could be compromised or less transparent would build "a better bed from gold to rise from." Samuelson said he expects gold to be in the $3,900 to $4,200 per ounce range within a year, and that his forecast might be conservative if there is any sort of global debt problem or currency collapse.  Kimberly Flynn, president at XA Investments, discusses the recent executive order signed by President Trump that allows a dramatic expansion of alternative assets to be part of 401(k) and other retirement plans. While headlines have made it seem like crypto bros will blow up their retirement plans with alternatives, Flynn discusses how firms running life-cycle and target-date funds may decide to make allocations to alternative asset classes, exposing everyday investors to alternatives, but in safer ways than most industry watchers are imagining. Jay Hatfield, chief executive officer for Infrastructure Capital Advisors, brings his macro-first approach to the Market Call, noting that rate cuts should be "tremendously positive for the market" and are keeping him bullish even as the market enters September, a seasonally weak time for stocks.

 Jeff Clark, head of defined contribution research  at Vanguard, says the firm's latest "How America Saves" report for 2025 shows that consumers are doing a better job of setting money aside for their future, helped by rules that have made it easier for employers to help. The average total savings rate — including both worker contributions plus employer contributions — is now up to 12 percent, a potential target for all investors to try to achieve. Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi, turns to the first active bond ETF — a 15-year-old iconic fund from PIMCO — as an ultra-safe alternative to cash with his "ETF of the Week." In the Market Call, Jed Ellerbroek, portfolio manager for Argent Capital and the Argent Large Cap ETF — which launched just as the market was bottoming out after the tariff announcements in April —  discusses looking for enduring business models. Plus, Chuck talks about the Federal Reserve and why its independence is so important to the long-term functioning of the economy and the ability to keep inflation controlled.

Chuck became a grandfather for the first time on Sunday and has been planning how he will help his grandson financially for years, but today he chats with financial adviser and author Chris Carosa, author of "From Cradle to Retirement," about "Child IRAs," and how he plans to create an income for the baby and then invest that money into a Roth IRA to provide decades of tax-free growth. Carosa also discusses the new "Trump accounts," which give newborns $1,000 and allow parents to contribute more, and discusses how he would prioritize saving for a child's future. Sudipto Banerjee, global retirement strategist at T. Rowe Price, discusses the firm's research into retirement savers which showed that younger savers tend to follow a homogeneous path as they start out, but  older investors — while generally getting more conservative as they age — take personalized, diverse paths   as they age and get into their retirement years. In the Market Call, Aniket Ullal, head of ETF research at CFRA Research, discusses exchange-traded funds and why the firm's methodology has him high on developed international funds right now.

Simeon Hyman, global investment strategist at ProShares, says that with inflation running above the Federal Reserve's targets — forcing both the Fed funds 10-year Treasury rates higher — there's room for the Fed to cut rates but not much room for the market to respond to it. As a result, he's saying the market has room to broaden out, with small caps likely to be helped out by upcoming Fed cuts, but not much upside if large-cap stocks have to keep being the engine for growth. Hyman says that recession is unlikely for several quarters, as there is room for modest earnings growth to continue. Russell Rhoads, associate clinical professor of financial management at Indiana University — cohost of the Academic Market Insights videos on YouTube —  says he expects the economy to be sluggish while rate cuts work their way into the next cycle. He says that he'd be looking to underperforming stocks and areas of the market to take the lead as the economy changes and, like Hyman, believes there is potential for small-caps to step forward, helped out by the changing rate environment. In the Market Call, Jeff Auxier, manager of the Auxier Focus Fund, discusses his long-term value approach and how he's looking for stocks that have been beaten up by bad news that have a chance to regain their good name and recapture their market value.

Crit Thomas, global market strategist at Touchstone Investments says the market can move higher — though with a path that is more bumpy — and the economy can avoid recession, but he also notes that the market is particularly hard to read because current conditions are dramatically different than many past situations. He cites a lot of reasons — from index concentration to fallout from the pandemic — for why looking back at market data seldom yields accurate forecasting right now. Thomas does expect a market slowdown, as earnings have been impressive but growth has been muted, which should make for slower markets ahead. Sarah Wolfe, senior economist and strategist for thematic and macro investing at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management — the chairperson of the Economic Policy Survey for the National Association for Business Economics — discusses the NABE survey released today, which showed a record number of economists view current economic policy as too stimulative. The economists viewed tariffs as the biggest long-term obstacle to growth  rather than a stimulator for economic activity, and they also see recession coming into focus in the long-term, noting that current conditions have backed off any downturn to where economists now don't expect to see one until late in 2026 or in 2027. Kyle Guske, investment analyst at New Constructs, puts Five9 back in the Danger Zone because the company has fallen back into the territory of a "zombie stock," effectively due to run out of money in the next two years. Guske makes a case that the stock — currently valued at roughly $28 a share — is worth maybe six bucks, though he makes it clear he could make a case for it to go to zero. Plus, Dan Skubiz, chief investment officer and senior portfolio manager at F/m Investments, talks small-cap stocks in the Money Life Market Call.

 Alan Gayle, president of Via Nova Investment Management, is concerned about economic sluggishness and "how the world is going to look and who is going to win" after tariff and rate changes fully play out. Coupled with a stock market where he sees equities as overpriced, that leaves Gayle wanting to be fully diversified, including a full allocation to domestic bonds but also international stocks, where he finds compelling values that he thinks can continue to run. Gayle says that he expects the Federal Reserve to cut rates soon, but "anything the Fed does today takes at least nine months to work," so he thinks it will take that long for the market to get some clarity; as a result, he wants to stay invested and buy any dips while waiting for opportunities to become more apparent.    Xander Gray, chief executive at XG Capital Strategies, says that current price levels are high compared to moving averages which suggests that there might be a consolidation or pullback in the offing. Gray — who was last on the show late in 2024, when he called for a market downturn and a recession — says spending and other factors have helped to hold off the recession, though the numbers are showing signs of a weakening that makes the market's current rally hard to trust.     Mitchel Penn, managing director of equity research for Oppenheimer & Co., says that business-development companies have moved past concerns about a spike in credit losses and are now "fairly valued" by the market, meaning that their biggest potential gains for the remainder of the year will come from simply capturing dividend payouts. That's not bad, especially because he expects payouts to remain in the high single-digit range, even after likely interest rate cuts that will carry into 2026.

Financial journalist Allan Sloan, a seven-time winner of business journalism's highest honor, the Loeb Award, says in his latest piece for Barron's that no investment strategy works forever, and that time is now up on the Magnificent Seven stocks. Sloan notes that during the first seven months of 2025, NVidia and Microsoft accounted for more than half of the gain of the entire Standard & Poor's return, but that Apple "was totally rotten and knocked 18 percent off the S&P's return." His point is that most of the seven stocks that have been driving the market for the last few years "are now hitting below their weight," and the top stocks are now losing ground as a group to the index/market itself. Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi, makes a high-income fund that invests in options on bitcoin -- and that yields a whopping 27 percent -- his ETF of the Week. The fund is relatively new and just topped $500 million in assets, and Rosenbluth says it can be an allocation choice for investors who might otherwise avoid cryptocurrency because they want investments that produce income. In the Market Call, Cole Smead, portfolio manager at Smead Capital Management, talks about the firm's approach to value investing and what is standing out during a period where he says market leadership is going through a rotation.

Lawrence McDonald, creator of The Bear Traps Report, says that as "tertiary assets" like meme stocks and momentum plays have started to break down in the last week, it's a sign that volatility will pick up and that the market  is "coming into a 10 to 20 percent pullback in the next month to month and a half." McDonald says that the selloff will be part of a rotation, that the market broadly can recover but with new leadership. He is worried about the potential for the Federal Reserve to start cutting rates before inflation has been killed off, which he says will force investors into "portfolios that are much more focused on hard assets." Dan Sotiroff, senior manager research analyst at Morningstar, discusses this week's news that Vanguard is opening ETF versions of three popular, actively managed stock funds, and talks about the mechanics of the new issues but also what the news means for the broader fund industry. And with Chuck about to become a first-time grandfather, he chats with Matt Gellene, head of consumer investments at Bank of America, about what families can and should do to save and invest for raising children, paying for college and more, and for helping youngsters develop healthy attitudes about money.

Bill Stone, chief investment officer at Glenview Trust, says that there are signs that the economy is slowing, but he believes rate cuts can help the economy keep earnings growth going and can forestall any recession. "Betting against things to get better over the long run is not a very smart bet," Stone says, so he's suggesting investors don't let worries get the best of them now. Stone says that "A bet on Europe is a bet against technology," so while he understands concerns that investors have with valuations — particularly with the prices of tech stocks — he is not tilting in directions that might move him away from what has been working during the current bull run. Avi Gilburt, founder of ElliottWave Trader, does think the bull market will be coming to an end — and a long, slow, difficult end at that — but he says the signs of the bear market he has been anticipating for several years now are not clear yet. "Until the market gives us the sign that a bear market has begun," Gilburt says, "upside is still very much intact,m but you need to be very cautious as you approach the market over the coming years." He discusses the signs he is looking for and just how ugly he thinks the eventual downturn will get. Corrin Maier, vice president at TruStage, discusses "payment-protection products," a form of insurance that consumers can make on big-ticket purchases that can protect them in the event of job loss or other hardship. She helps consumers determine whether these options are worth their fees.

Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at the Carson Group, says that he expects the stock market to go through "a 4% to 6% normal, mild pullback" in short order, a downturn that he says is likely to be good for the market, helping it get ready to benefit from positive economic news and an eventual cut in interest rates. Detrick says that he expects developed Europe to remain strong, and he believes investors who are heeding market worries should rebalance their portfolios to get back onto their plan, because diversification pays off when a market is touchy about headline events. David Trainer, founder and president at New Constructs, says that while warm Krispy Kreme donuts may make people happy, the company's stock — which he has warned about since it went through its IPO in June 2021 — is stale. He says that this is a meme stock with a negative economic book value and real potential to go to zero. Tom Martin, senior portfolio manager at Globalt Investments, brings his disciplined, earnings-driven approach to stocks to the Market Call.

Eric Stein, chief investment officer, Voya Investment Management, says that if the economy can muddle through until the Federal Reserve cuts rates, it will be positive for the stock market and the broader economy, allowing for 2026 to be another year that continues the winning streak for stocks. Stein says that he believes markets "get desensitized to similar news over time," and that the current markets may still be fixated on tariffs, but "general tariff noise" is now priced in and aren't enough to derail the market or create a recession. He says that economic changes, including the building deregulation story, will help small-cap stocks move from laggards to leaders. Matt Freund, co-chief investment officer at Calamos Investments, expects the Federal Reserve to make "a couple of cuts this year, followed by two or three cuts next year," and that those moves will be made while inflation stays at current levels or rises slightly. Like Stein, Freund thinks changes in economic conditions will help the market broaden out to include small-caps, and while he is worried about the market facing a rough patch in the fall, he said the market should be able to enter 2026 with room to run. Jeff Bishop, chief executive officer at RagingBull.com, says that when he examines the technical patterns he doesn't "see any reason to not want to continue to buy the market here." Bishop expects the market to suffer a 10 percent correction in the fall, but wind up higher. He thinks 2026 is shaping up as a year when the market could post low double-digit gains again. Plus, Chuck answers a listener's question about new rules that allow private equity, private credit, cryptocurrency and other alternative assets in retirement plans, and whether that access is really a good idea.

Jeff Muhlenkamp, portfolio manager for the Muhlenkamp Fund, says in today's Money Life Market Call that one of his big fears right now is in order to deal with government debt, authorities will de-value the dollar, so he has been adding gold and precious metals names to the portfolio to hedge against that potential. He is also looking at deregulation as a possible driver for future as well, and while he is a value-oriented manager, he noted that there are plenty of ideas that look promising despite a market that is at record highs. David Lau, chief executive officer at DPL Financial, discusses how lifetime income and annuitizing retirement savings has become particularly important now, given uncertainty over the future of Social Security. He notes that investors who are considering annuities may want to be making the purchase before interest rates start to fall, but he also notes that annuity products that promise downside protection against stock market risk are likely to fall into the category of "too good to be true." Plus, in the ETF of the Week, Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi, goes for an actively managed international small-cap fund with his ETF of the Week.

Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist for Janney Montgomery Scott, says that with no one talking about recession these days, he says "it is the one thing the market is at risk of having happen right now" because the market isn't pricing in any potential downturn. Recession is not his base case, but he says there is an economic soft patch to get through that will take the economy to the edge of stall speed; he does think the market will get through that to finish the year higher, with the Standard & Poor's 500 moving hitting 6,600. Luschini thinks investors will want to ride that upturn well diversified, including allocations to international stocks — and particularly developed Europe — where he thinks valuations will help to keep this year's run-up rolling along. Joseph Schuster, chief executive officer at IPOX Schuster, says that the market for initial public offerings has been hot this year — a fund based on his landmark IPO index is up more than 30 percent year-to-date — and has some more solid names that are ready for their roll-out, including financial companies Bullish and Miami International Holdings, which make their debuts this week. Plus, with the S&P 500 having closed Tuesday above 6,400 for the first time, Chuck has a recommendation for how investors should be reacting to the news, and the move they should be making here with the market at highs.

Michael Kelly, portfolio manager and global head of multi-asset at PineBridge Investments, says that the evolution boom in artificial intelligence is the kind of generational market event that only happens "once every 20 or 30 years." He says it will be "very meaningful and we believe very good not only for the economy but for the markets." He is optimistic that the increased productivity created by the AI revolution can help the economy grow its way out of the fiscal concerns over deficits and other issues that overhang the market. That said, he does see mild turbulence ahead, but without a major correction or downturn as the market winds through the rest of 2025. His advice for that turbulence: "Buckle up." Paulo Costa, senior behavioral economist at Vanguard, discusses the firm's research into the emotional and time value of advice, which showed that the benefits of financial advice extend far beyond simply having expertise at the helm making investment choices. Plus, Chuck answers a listener's question about the use of one or two popular funds to be an entire portfolio — a strategy particularly popular with members of the FIRE movement (Financial Independence, Retire Early) — and he examines the pros and cons of making simplicity the cornerstone of an investment portfolio.

Amanda Agati, chief investment officer at PNC Asset Management Group, says that with the purple haze of fiscal policy uncertainty and tariffs having lifted, the "pace of natural advancement" doesn't have a lot of room left in 2025, but after a slower grind into the end of the year, she thinks that 2026 "is shaping up to be an acceleration type of a year."  She expects broader stock market participation to help with that, though she says that breadth will extend to the 493 stocks that are in the Standard & Poor's 500 but not the Magnificent Seven, rather than to small caps. Agati also said that the international rally thus far this year is likely to slow significantly.  David Trainer of New Constructs put "unattractive asset managers" in the Danger Zone this week, and singled out Virtus Investment Partners as a prime example, saying it wasn't just that the money manager has a suite of mostly unattractive funds, but that its results as a stock could get ugly too. Ted Rossman, senior industry analyst at BankRate.com discusses the site's back-to-school shopping survey, which surprisingly showed that fewer Americans are saying that school shopping is putting pressure on their finances this year. One reason why is that shoppers say they have changed some of the ways they shop in response to higher inflation.  Plus, in the intro segment, Chuck discusses his experience with a warranty program — something he normally disdains and avoids — that started out looking ugly, but wound up with a happy ending.

Craig Callahan, chief executive officer at ICON Advisers, says that his calculations on the stock market show that despite being near record-high levels, the market is "slightly underpriced relative to fair value," meaning it has room to move higher from here. Callahan says that a small-cap rally and market changes that started to surface a year ago were disrupted by the tariff tantrum but should return in the next year. Moreover, he sees continued economic growth, fueled by strong earnings and growth of the money supply rather than reduction in interest rates, which he says should be enough to support gains even while investors worry about downdrafts, corrections and recessions that he does not think are on the immediate horizon.  Dave Sekera, chief U.S. market strategist for Morningstar, brings the firm's bottoms-up fundamentals-focused, discounted-cash-flow analysis system to the Market Call. Kenneth Burdon, an attorney with Simpson Thacher and Bartlett, discusses a court case between a closed-end fund activist investor and four fund sponsors that has made it to the U.S. Supreme Court and that could change the face of activism and the ability for investors to force a fund's board to take steps to narrow discounts and improve its investment prospects. Because investors often buy closed-end funds at a discount hoping to profit when that pricing discrepancy corrects, the suit could impact the way investors view discounts and a fund's prospects for future gains.

Jurrien Timmer, director of global macro at Fidelity Investments, says that the market has been dealing with "cross-currents," where concerns about tariffs increasing inflation have been offset by declining oil prices, and where a lack of rate cuts has been countered by record corporate profits. It all combines to create a market that Timmer says can get past the concerns to deliver modest gains moving forward; he makes a case for domestic markets, noting they are not as overvalued as investors might expect after several big years and that they are not facing significant recession or downturn potential.   Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi, makes a brand new fund — part of a just-launched suite of funds that use options to generate income off of traditional sector indexes — as his ETF of the Week. Wealth manager Derek Ober of Ober Financial discusses the latest release from the Northwestern Mutual 2025 Planning and Progress Study, which showed that a growing number of Americans plan to leave an inheritance to their heirs, but fewer people expect to receive money from an inheritance. Ober says that a lack of communication between the generations is at the heart of the issue.

Darrell Cronk, chief investment officer at Wells Fargo Wealth and Investment Management, says he expects both the stock market and the economy to face a "soft patch" that will increase volatility and mute returns for the rest of the year, but he believes conditions are strong enough that there will be no recession and that those year-end doldrums will lead to improvement and gains in 2026. Cronk, who also is president of the Wells Fargo Investment Institute, notes that his firm has already set year-end price targets for next year, and is forecasting 7,000 on the Standard & Poor's 500 as the "midpoint target" in that forecast.  Jenny Harrington, chief executive officer at Gilman Hill Asset Management — the author of "Dividend Investing: Dependable Income to Navigate All Market Environments" — makes her debut on the show, bringing her take on equity-income investing to the Market Call. Plus, Chip Lupo of WalletHub, discusses the site's 2025 Household Debt Survey, which showed that 44 percent of people expect their household debt level to increase in the next 12 months, and that 55 percent of respondents think they will still have debt to pay when they die.

Nick Sargen, consultant and senior economic advisor at Fort Washington Investment Advisors, says that investors haven't really seen the economic impact of tariffs and other policies that experts were warning the public about, but they are seeing those issues now. "Fasten your seatbelts," Sargen warns, "you're just beginning to see the impacts." While not calling for a recession, Sargen says he sees headwinds for the market because "I don't understand how the market can keep setting record highs every day when now we are confronting major uncertainty."  Carley Garner, senior commodity strategist at DeCarley Trading, says she sees "a lot more downside risk than upside potential" for the market right now, noting that it will be hard for the Standard & Poor's 500 to top 6,500 in the next few months whereas a decline could drop the index "into the low 5,000s." As a result, DeGarner has made her own portfolio particularly defensive, holding "mostly Treasuries" because there is "more risk than reward to be long stocks" now. Further, Garner says it's a "sell-the-rallies market for gold and silver," largely because she expects the gold rally to end -- and for precious metals to potentially take a big fall -- when the dollar gets a little stronger. Plus, Rita Choula, senior director of caregiving for the AARP Public Policy Institute, discusses its Caregiving in the U.S. 2025 study, which showed that more than 63 million Americans are providing ongoing complex care for family members, and that they are sacrificing their financial security, health and well-being in many cases in order to do it.

Thomas Winmill, manager of the Midas Discovery Fund and the Bexsil Investment Trust, says that while the rally in gold is long in the tooth — at record highs having lasted twice as long as the standard rally — but he makes the case that it still has plenty of room to run, boosted by purchases made by central banks around the world. Winmill says that a rising dollar might end the rally, but that's not in his forecast; he sees rates staying low or stable, providing enough fuel that the price of gold-mining stocks "could be a triple from here." David Trainer, founder and president at New Constructs, puts Peloton Interactive back into The Danger Zone, noting that the company — which is reporting earnings this week — has turned into a meme stock that has doubled its price from recent lows, but which hasn't improved a negative economic book value, meaning the current rally could be the proverbial dead-cat bounce. Lester Jones, chief economist for the National Beer Wholesalers Association discusses the latest Beer Purchasers Index, which showed a big decline from a year ago — meaning there could be an economic slowdown ahead — but a big improvement from the numbers released a month ago, which would signal that buyers are in a "holding pattern" waiting on tariff and other news before making purchase decisions. Plus, Chuck goes off the news on how a "boring" July that saw the market reach 10 record highs may have been setting up a rough August, and how the numbers could be tougher to get a read on depending on government changes in the future.

Scott Ladner, chief investment officer at Horizon Investments, says he's "not super comfortable right now because everyone else is."While he doesn't see anything specific that could derail the markets, he notes that times when investors throw caution to the wind typically end badly, and that August historically has been a month for market surprises. Ladner says that earnings have been good enough to drive success this year, and that should continue, though it may reflect sluggish economic conditions and slow down a bit before the year ends. John Cole Scott, president of CEF Advisors — the chairman of the Active Investment Company Alliance — digs into his firm's data to look at whether the double-digit yields that are easily found in many closed-end fund asset categories are real and worth pursuing or if they are dangerous and headed for a fall. Plus David Miller, co-founder of the Catalyst Mutual Funds, brings his mix of wide-moat and fundamental research with insider-buying and other factors to the Market Call.

Paul Gruenwald, chief economist at S&P Global Ratings, says he expects a jump in consumer prices to 3.5 percent by the end of the year, and — while he thinks the move will be temporary or a one-time response to resolution of tariff uncertainty — he expects that to make the Federal Reserve more cautious about cutting rates. That's especially true because he expects economic growth to slow from about 3% early in the year to just above 1% by year's end. Despite that damper on growth, he says the economy will avoid a recession, muddling through a period of doldrums. Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi, makes the ETF variation of one of the greatest mutual funds of all time his pick for the ETF of the Week, and Chuck tackles Wednesday's news from the Federal Reserve, noting that if rate cuts happen this year — he's been skeptical for months — they will still disappoint investors and economists who now seem certain that the Fed will move at its next meeting in September.

Frank Holmes, chief investment officer at U.S. Global Investors — also the executive chairman at Hive Blockchain — says that investors should adjust to market conditions that are “sunny but … windy,” with more volatility and changing conditions but generally pleasant and not hard to navigate through “because we're in a secular bull market.” Holmes discusses the recent strength in the gold market — where he advocates for a mix between holding the metal and owning miners — and in crypto markets, where he says adoption is key to continued growth and value creation. Deb Boyden, head of U.S. defined contribution at Schroders discusses the firm's annual Retirement Survey, which showed that Americans who are retired are facing a reality that is significantly different than what they expected during their earning and accumulating years, which is adding surprising amounts of financial stress to their golden years. Plus Chuck answers a question from a listener who, like Chuck's wife Gail, has a portfolio that is too heavy on equities, where he needs to figure out how to best make changes to better reflect age and risk tolerance.

Matt Harris, chief investment officer at The Hausberg Group, says that he expects a correction in the not-too-distant future, but he says that it is more likely to be about time — where the market trades sideways and lets the fundamentals catch up to recent price activity  than it is about stock prices. In fact, Harris is not exceptionally worried about the current rally ending, because while the market is up about 30 percent since its April lows, it is only up about 15 percent in the last year. That's good, Harris says, "but not too far too fast," especially because current performance is within the ranges of historical norms. Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at BankRate.com, says he still expects the Federal Reserve to make two rate cuts before year's end, but he's not expecting any moves when the central bank meets this week, and he says that rate cuts have already been mostly priced into the market , meaning that when reductions finally happen they will not have the full, classic impact that the market expects from cuts. Plus Drew Miyawaki, director of managed investment solutions for Westwood Holdings Group, talks about allocating assets now amid global uncertainty and ways to play foreign markets by focusing at least as much on a country's government structure and geopolitics as on its markets.

Lyle Fitterer, senior portfolio manager for the Baird Funds — manager of the Baird Municipal Bond and Baird Strategic Muni Bond funds — says that absolute yields on fixed income looks pretty attractive, but that muni bonds have lagging some other bond types through the beginning of the year, but are poised now for better results in the second half of the year. Selma Hepp, chief economist at Cotality — chairperson of the Business Conditions Survey for the National Association for Business Economics — says that the July survey released today shows that corporate economists have reduced the odds that there's a recession moving forward, but noted that their employers are taking a more cautious approach as they deal with elevated costs in light of tariff changes and other policies. Kyle Guske, analyst at New Constructs, revisits SunRun as a pick in the Danger Zone, noting that the stock bas been cut dramatically after a huge decline in value, but recently has had a bounce from new lows that is setting up buyers for the next big decline. Plus, in the Market Call, Patrick Healey, founder/president of Caliber Financial Partners, talks about stocks and finding a dynamic balance in current conditions.

Brett Ewing, chief market strategist at First Franklin Financial Services, says he's expecting "green lights from here" for the market with a lot of policy moves by the Trump Administration getting to where they are sorted out and where they will impact the market later in the year, including de-regulation efforts which he believes will be an active investment play. Ewing noted that the stock market has already hit 12 all-time highs this year "and I think we are going to hit a lot more before the end of the year," noting that he started 2025 with his price target for the Standard & Poor's 500 at 6,900, a level he still thinks will hold through some volatility and a possible correction before we reach the new year. Jason Akus, head of healthcare investing for Aberdeen Investments, says that current conditions for health care and biotech investing are making for "one of the most challenging, difficult and dislocated environments I've seen," but he sees "green shoots" for growth that could change the sectors' fortunes. Plus, personal finance journalist Brian O'Connor goes "Off the News" to discuss his recent New York Times story on how Americans spend their lives saving for retirement but have no plan for cashing out and managing their assets without running out of money.

John Silvia, chief executive officer, at Dynamic Economic Strategy, says that anticipated price hikes caused by tariffs haven't happened because the business community didn't want to increase prices until it had some certainty on the taxation levels. Now that the market is approaching clarity, he expects a raft of price increases, and for the economic impacts of the tariffs to hit home, making the economy more sluggish, but not pushing it over the edge into recession. Natalie Trevithick, head of investment grade corporate bonds at Payden & Rygel, discusses the hot areas of corporate and high-yield bonds and whether their stellar performance can continue when the Federal Reserve starts cutting rates, which she is expecting to start soon. Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi, makes a multi-factor index fund his #ETFoftheWeek, and Hari Srinivasan, chief executive officer at iCover Insure, discusses why nearly half of Americans don't have life insurance.

Matt Miskin, co-chief investment strategist at Manulife John Hancock Investments, knows that it's hard to get investors focused on fixed income when the stock market is flirting with record highs, but he says that equities are poised to experience slower gains moving forward at a point where bonds are delivering solid, steady income. He's not backing away from stocks, but with the forward price/earnings ratio for stocks near its own record highs, he is taking a more defensive posture because the math suggests that "bonds can compete with stocks" moving forward. Rob Williams discusses the 9th annual Modern Wealth Survey from Charles Schwab, which showed that Americans believe it takes roughly $840,000 in net worth to be "financially comfortable," up from about $780,000 a year ago. Plus, in the Market Call, James Abate, head of fundamental strategies at Horizon Investments — portfolio manager for the Centre Funds — talks infrastructure investing and more.

Veteran Wall Street observer Bob Doll, chief investment officer at Crossmark Global Investments, returns to the show to review how his annual predictions for the year ahead are turning out midway into 2025, and despite the headlines and the volatility and uncertainty surrounding the market, Doll appears to be on pace for his best year ever, with at least nine of his forecasts looking like they might finish the year in the money. Doll says the stock market may not have much more upside left this year, particularly if the Federal Reserve doesn't lower rates and inflation stays higher for longer, but even if those things mute the market, he doesn't think they will send it falling significantly from here. Jim Lee, founder of StratFi, says that benign long-term trends for stocks have made him somewhat bullish, leading him to expect gains for the market in the 5 to 10% range for the rest of the year. He says the lower-growth economy remains expansionary, almost a Goldilocks situation for the economics, though he notes that politics continue to take the clarity out of these conditions and will keep making investors nervous. Nick Maggiulli, chief operating officer of Ritholtz Wealth Management and blogger at Of Dollars and Data brings his numbers-driven approach to retirement planning in his new book, "The Wealth Ladder: Proven Strategies for Every Step of Your Financial Life." He discusses the book — and how consumers can determine how much they can comfortably spend each day and more — in the Book Interview. 

Joe Kalish, chief macro strategist at Ned Davis Research, says that the uncertainty over tariffs, geo-politics, inflation and more has "kind of melted away," allowing themarkets to perform well and recapture record highs.Kalish says that while he likes the looks of global markets and wants a more balanced approach with increased exposure to Europe, Japan and other economies, he hasn't given up on the case of American exceptionalism in the market, especially with the way domestic companies have driven the artificial-intelligence boom that has been driving domestic markets higher. Author Paul Vigna returns to Money Life to discuss his new book —  The Almightier: How Money Became God, Greed Became Virtue, and Debt Became Sin — which is out this week and which examines how billionaires became false idols as savers and investors in the U.S. were forced to take more control of their financial futures. David Trainer of New Constructs turns to a fund that gets a five-star rating from Morningstar for this week's installment of The Danger Zone, saying that the Donoghue Forlines Momentum fund has investors paying too much for a portfolio that tilts towards unattractive and dangerous stocks. In the Market Call, Kathy Boyle of Chapin Hill Advisors discusses a core-and-satellite investment strategy built around the use of exchange-traded funds.

Jeff Krumpelman, chief investment strategist at Mariner Wealth Advisors, likens current markets to "clear-air turbulence," when a plane flying through blue skies winds up being buffeted by high winds and conditions that are hard to see. Weathering that wild ride, travelers can reach their destination, and Krumpelman thinks the Standard & Poor's 500 is headed to 6,600 — the same level he was forecasting at the start of the year — with 7,000 a possible high-water mark. Krumpelman says that trusting the data showing a strong economy should make investors confident that the market will overcome headline noise and turn any downturns into buying opportunities. In The NAVigator segment, Rob Shaker — portfolio manager of Shaker Financial Services — discusses "discount-capture investing," and how the market's wild moves around tariff announcements this year made the strategy particularly sensitive to the emotional changes of investors. Shaker says that discount fallout from tariff news was particularly big and fast, but conditions normalized quickly, rewarding patience and risk-taking. Plus, in the Market Call, Eric Marshall, president and portfolio manager at Hodges Capital Management, talks about bottoms-up investing and finding management with solid long-term stories that can weather current headline risk.

Doug Roberts, chief investment strategist at the Channel Capital Research Institute — author of Follow the Fed to Investment Success — says he does not believe that President Trump will fire Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell, and that he also thinks Powell will continue to ignore the president's pressure to cut rates. Given recent numbers, Roberts thinks Powell and the Fed can wait longer before making any rate cuts, potentially holding off through both the July and September meetings before making a move. Meanwhile, he says that large-cap stocks will continue to be the play, with small-caps needing a rate cut to get out of the doldrums. In the Market Call, Bill Davis of Stance Capital and the Hennessy Sustainable ETF, talks about how current economic uncertainty is hurting the market, even as it has returned to record-high levels. Plus Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi, picks a new, actively managed "dynamic value" fund as his "ETF of the Week."

Nanette Abuhoff Jacobson, global investments strategist for the Hartford Funds, says that uncertainty, by itself, hasn't derailed global markets and slowed growth, but that it could be starting to happen now with signs that there has been a lag time impacting tariff impacts and that core prices are starting to rise. Jacobson says that U.S. investors have become "complacent and they're pricing in a bit of a Goldilocks scenario;" she is still positive on equities, but she is underweight U.S. stocks and overweight emerging markets, Europe and Japan.Michael Gayed, portfolio manager of the new Free Markets ETF — as well as the ATAC Funds — discusses how deregulation policies will benefit certain industries and businesses and how reduced compliance and other regulatory costs will result in bigger profits and more capital expenditures, and will particularly benefit small-cap stocks. Plus, Jesse Abercrombie discusses Edward Jones' "Pulse of North America" survey — conducted at the height of April's post-tariff announcement market volatility — which showed that nearly three-quarters of Americans are optimistic about their ability to live a "financially fulfilled life" despite current, ongoing volatility concerns.

Mark Newton, global head of technical strategy at Fundstrat Global Advisors, says he is optimistic for the rest of 2025, though he expects choppiness as the Standard & Poor's 500 moves toward a year-end target of 6,650. Newton says the economy has been resilient through the headline risks and that the market is in a "Goldilocks state because the Fed is certainly going to cut three times between now and next summer, earnings are coming in good and yet there's still a wall of worry," making for "a very favorable path for investing in the second half of this year." Economist and New York University professor Howard Yaruss says that the economy is entering "literally uncharted territory" when it comes to tariffs, with free international trade being upended by current government policies. Yaruss is worried that the economic impacts of tariffs haven't truly hit yet, but he says the lag is about to end and that means the numbers will start to get ugly and could push the U.S. economy into recession and/or stagflation. In the Market Call, Hank Smith, head of investment strategy at The Haverford Trust Co., talks about investing in companies with growing dividends, noting that the growth of the payout is more important to him than a simple high yield number.

Brad Case, chief economist at Middleburg Communities, says that while Americans have been complaining about the housing market and available home stock, the market is not far off from historic norms. That said, he also discussed some recent research he did showing that Americans would be better off renting a home — and investing the savings they get on various aspects of ownership — than they are by tying up the biggest chunk of their monies in a home, which he considers to be an asset that puts up comparatively small gains over long periods of time. David Trainer, president of New Constructs, comes through with an attractive stock selection, picking Halliburton as a company that is likely to benefit from beating earnings soon. The pick follows up on the Danger Zone segment from last week, when Trainer singled out Caesars Entertainment as a stock likely to miss projected earnings and to be punished by the market as a result. Charles Rotblut, vice president for the American Association of Individual Investors, says investors have moved from being highly pessimistic when tariffs were first announced and the market was tanking in April into more of an equilibrium. With the market reaching near record levels, Rotblut says it is a good sign that optimism hasn't completely surged; that said, he noted that investor sentiment is rising, and discussed how AAII is now using sentiment as more of determinant on trading when it moves in ways that might signal a potential market reversal. 

Vincent Randazzo, founder and chief market strategist at ViewRight Advisors, says that while the stock market appears overbought in the short-term — and may need some time to get through it — the longer-term indicators are bullish, and suggest that the rally that has been in place for three years now can continue. Randazzo says that indicators are showing that the market appears to be broadening out, and that improving market participation and improving investor confidence should help power the market through headline risks. In The NAVigator, John Cole Scott, president of CEF Advisors — chairman of the Active Investment Company Alliance — says he expects three first-half laggards in municipal bonds, senior loans and master limited partnerships to become leaders for the rest of 2025, and suggests attractive options for riding those trends. In the Market Call, Garvin Jabusch, co-founder and chief investment officer at Green Alpha Advisors discusses his efforts to find companies that are truly innovative and driving long-term change rather than riding the coattails of a hot industry or sector.

It's a wide-ranging show today, with Ben Cook, portfolio manager for the Hennessy Energy Transition and Hennessy Mid-Stream funds, giving his latest take on the energy sector, noting that the industry is well-positioned to at least not be hurt while tariff policies play out, even as the U.S. has become the world's largest oil-producing nation and the OPEC nations are looking to improve their fortunes. Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi, revisits the CoinShares Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF — which he featured as ETF of the Week at the beginning of March and which gained 78 percent during the second quarter of 2025 — noting that miners and spot crypto funds serve different purposes in a portfolio, but that both are poised for more growth now. Melissa Stephenson discusses her research for Sudokubliss.com that looked at the theme parks that provide good value for your money while keeping lines short enough that complaints are few, and Chuck does a deep dive on the so-called "Trump accounts" that were created within the budget bill that was signed into law last week. These accounts give $1,000 to every baby born in the country to U.S. citizens between 2025 through 2028 — including the grandchild Chuck's daughter is expecting in August — and he talks about the benefits of the program (beyond the cash infusion) and compares it to other savings vehicles.

Brendan Ahern, chief investment officer at KraneShares and the author of the China Last Night blog, says that the government of China is "doing the things that Trump wants them to be doing" for domestic policy purposes, which is why he sees the signs of a U.S.-China trade deal in the works. He says in The Big Interview that neither side can win in a trade war, but that both sides can move forward sharply and strongly with agreement, even if tariff levels remain high and in place indefinitely. Ahern says that "the worst is behind us" on dollar weakness, noting that he doesn't expect the Federal Reserve to cut rates until later in the year, allowing the dollar to stabilize in the interim while tariff policies are being finalized. Bob Powell, retirement columnist at TheStreet.com discusses government projections showing that standard monthly premiums for Medicare Part B will rise by more than 11 percent in 2026, and will likely be subjected to higher-than-expected increases potentially for the next decade. Plus, Allison Hadley, an analyst at Digital Third Coast, discusses research on  how Americans are using Google in AI mode and how it is changing their search results, how they shop, find advice, access news and more.

Rob Williams, chief investment strategist at Sage Advisory Services, says the economy and market have moved off of potential worst-case scenarios into "this manageable camp," where it must get through potholes and uncertainty as the economy "flirts with stall speed" in growth. Still, Williams sees some powerful tailwinds that could drive the market higher in the second half of the year, but the concerns make it that investors should remember that "yield is your friend." "Be fully invested in equities," Williams says, "but don't be stealing from fixed income yet to overload on the equity side. You will want that yield if things get bumpy." Bob Rosen, author of "Detach: Ditch Your Baggage to Live a More Fulfilling Life" discusses how to break away from uncertainty — which he says is a constant in life, and not just present in times like today — to be happy and productive even when conditions make that hard. Plus Chip Lupo discusses a WalletHub survey showing that the tariff uncertainty has made consumers — anticipating price hikes — more interested in earning credit card rewards, and which bonuses consumers find particularly attractive now.

Nick Maggiulli, chief operating officer at Ritholtz Wealth Management — the author of the "Of Dollars and Data" blog — says that while recoveries can happen faster now than in the past due to advances in technology and information, investors who always expect the market to bounce back quickly from any setback have learned the wrong lesson. While he is not calling for a protracted downturn, he is suggesting investors want to protect themselves; to that end, he discusses how proper diversification practically forces individuals to buy and hold something that will lose money, even when everything else is doing well. That makes it hard to do, even if it's the best path. Maggiulli also discusses achieving financial independence — and the mindset to enjoy it — and more. David Trainer, founder and president at New Constructs, resurrects some of the firm's research looking at which stocks are most in jeopardy of an earnings miss when second-quarter numbers are released in the coming weeks, and singles out one well-known gaming stock that he says is due for a miss and a big fall. And in the Market Call, Christopher Zook, president of CAZ Investments, mixes growth-at-a-reasonable price investing with his long-term thematic approach to the markets.