Podcasts about CFA

Brett Watson is a CFA Charterholder and former Bitcoin skeptic who went from despising it to becoming a maxi in one week in 2022.› https://x.com/5and2fish_bwPARTNERS

The headlines say the tariff war is still raging. According to Richard Baldwin, Washington has spent the past year quietly backing away from it, one exemption and carve-out at a time. In episode 93, Robert Skidmore and I look at what that retreat means for a global trading system that increasingly seems to be organising itself around the US rather than through it. Then we sit down with Charles-Henry Monchau, Chief Investment Officer at Bank Syz, to ask how investors should think about geopolitics, industrial policy and capital flows in what he calls the era of "slowbalization." Trade policy, energy security and investment strategy are no longer separate conversations. Canada and the EU are building a deeper partnership, Germany is weighing a tougher economic-security approach to China, and an energy squeeze is heading into winter that looks a lot like 2022. Meanwhile, our guest points out that global equities were hitting record highs despite all the scary headlines. The awkward question for anyone with a portfolio, a supply chain or a heating bill is how those pieces fit together. What Went Wrong This Week The quiet tariff retreat. Baldwin argues the effective US tariff rate rose from about 2% to a peak of around 11% in October 2025, then fell to roughly 6.7% by May 2026, largely through exemptions and lower applied rates rather than public reversals. His read: the rest of the world is adapting around the US in what he calls an "N minus one" trading system. Canada and the EU move closer. A deeper strategic partnership, Mark Carney's call for a closer alliance of like-minded democracies, CETA's provisional application, and why supply chains and critical minerals are part of the story. Germany's China rethink. Bloomberg reports Berlin is preparing a tougher economic-security approach: tariffs on certain Chinese plug-in hybrids, investment screening, export controls, EU procurement preferences, local content requirements, and possibly joint-venture rules for Chinese firms in Europe. We look at "China shock 2.0," the rare earths choke point, and the price gap between a Renault EV and a BYD or Xpeng. The energy squeeze. Hormuz, Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian refining, record US diesel prices and the on-again, off-again talk of a US export ban, record-low EU gas storage for this time of year, and a fertilizer squeeze that could outlast the Hormuz closure itself (Peter Goodman flagged that one). The lesson: depending on US energy is now a risk you have to hedge. Our guest: Charles-Henry Monchau Charles-Henry Monchau is Chief Investment Officer and ExCo member at Bank Syz. Before that, he was CIO of Dubai Investments and head of asset allocation for EMEA at Deutsche Bank, with senior roles across Geneva, Zurich, Dubai, Nassau and Paris. He holds an executive MBA from IE Business School and an MSc in finance from HEC, is a CFA, CMT, CAIA and CIIA charterholder, and is a top voice on LinkedIn with more than 280,000 followers. In our conversation, we cover: What a CIO actually does (the answer involves an orchestra conductor and the auto industry). Why contrarian investing is easy to explain and very hard to do: the moment to take some profits is when everything looks perfect, and the hardest moment to buy risk is when it feels like the end of the world. From globalisation to "slowbalization": US-China geo-economics, sovereignty, why chips are now made at home rather than by the lowest-cost producer, and the three strategic priorities he sees: AI and robotics, defence, and electric power. Why global equities keep hitting all-time highs despite the headlines, from a record DAX with only two tech stocks to a rally broadening across Europe and emerging markets, and why he calls it "the most hated global equity bull market." Why geopolitics and geoeconomics are here to stay, as both an opportunity and a risk for investors. Why he sees the bond market as the ultimate judge of US policy, from Liberation Day to the "TACO" trade. Expat corner: what living abroad taught him about Switzerland, including direct democracy, a constitutional debt brake and a strong franc that pushes companies up the value chain. On a scale of zero to SpaceX, how worried should we be about a bubble? His answer: SpaceX is like an option. You can find Syz's investment insights on the Syz Group website and LinkedIn page. Plus: why 93 is a surprisingly good number for a trade podcast (neptunium, the end of the GATT Uruguay Round on 15 December 1993, chapter 93 of the Harmonized System, and CERN putting the World Wide Web software into the public domain), Gen Z's "Get Off My Lawn" segment, hobby-maxing as a recession indicator, AI-generated sloths on Vespas, and the return of the river otter to Geneva. This episode is brought to you by Active Languages, a Geneva-based language training company that has been helping professionals, expats and international families succeed in Switzerland for nearly 30 years. Trade Splaining listeners get a complimentary language level assessment and initial consultation: email [confirm address with Active Languages] and mention Trade Splaining, or learn more at activelanguages.com.

This conversation was too good to leave in the archives.In this encore of our Ask an Allocator series, Stacy sits down with Bill Harding, CIO of Jackson National, who oversees $200B in assets and $29.8B in directly managed fund-of-fund assets.Bill gives us a look inside the mind of an allocator and shares what he's actually paying attention to when evaluating fund managers, because past performance is only part of the story.In this episode, Bill and Stacy discuss:Bill's backstory, from financial analyst at a cheese manufacturer to CIO at Jackson NationalWhat fund managers need to get right when pitching a potential partnershipWhy past performance alone isn't enough to earn an allocator's attentionWhy Bill sees culture as a real source of alphaThe questions fund buyers are asking behind the scenes (and why the most important ones aren't always quantitative)If you've ever wondered what really matters on the allocator side of the table, this conversation gives you a pretty good look behind the curtain. About Bill Harding:Bill Harding, CFA, is Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer at Jackson National Asset Management (JNAM), where he leads asset allocation, portfolio construction, sub-adviser monitoring, and manager research. He joined JNAM in 2012 after serving as Head of Manager Research for Morningstar's Investment Management division, and has more than 30 years of experience across JNAM, Morningstar, and Leprino Foods. He holds a B.S. from the University of Colorado, Boulder and an MBA from Loyola University Chicago.Bill graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business. He holds an MBA from Loyola University Chicago and is a CFA charterholder. ---Running a fund is hard enough.Ops shouldn't be.Meet the team that makes it easier. | billiondollarbackstory.com/ultimus

Send us Fan MailChris Jenks, CFA, of Amplify Capital Group, provides an in-depth analysis of the burgeoning car wash M&A landscape, focusing on the powerful interplay of real estate, tax policy, and investment strategies. Discover how the reinstatement of 100% bonus depreciation and 1031 exchanges are revolutionizing car wash real estate as a tax-efficient investment vehicle. Jenks unpacks the mechanics of sale-leasebacks, their impact on consolidation, and the critical role of cap rates and brand premium in valuation. Gain unparalleled insights into the future outlook of car wash M&A, the rise of patient family office capital, and essential strategies for operators to maximize their business value in a dynamic market. This is a must-watch for anyone involved in or considering investment in the car wash sector.What You'll Learn:The significant impact of bonus depreciation and 1031 exchanges on car wash real estate investment.How sale-leaseback transactions are fueling car wash consolidation and providing off-balance-sheet leverage.The relationship between cap rates, brand quality, and car wash real estate valuation.Why increased discipline and operational excellence are shaping the current M&A environment.Forecasts for car wash M&A activity over the next 18-24 months, including new buyer demographics like family offices.The importance of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and strategic process design for maximizing business value.Ready to navigate the evolving car wash market with confidence? Tune in for expert analysis and actionable strategies.#CarWashMNA #RealEstateInvestment #BonusDepreciation #SaleLeaseback #FamilyOfficeConnect With Us:https://www.facebook.com/AmplifyCapGroup/https://x.com/i/flow/login?redirect_after_login=%2FCarWashAdvisors%2Fhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/amplifycapgroup/https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyy2-_zM-liZr95drgKDX3g

Au Cameroun, la rentrée universitaire prévue le 7 octobre prochain pourrait ne pas avoir lieu. En cause : une grève illimitée déclenchée par le Synes, le Syndicat national des enseignants du supérieur, depuis le 3 septembre 2026. Les enseignants réclament le paiement de 16 milliards de francs CFA de primes académiques, soit près de 24 millions d'euros.

Point sur la trêve internationale, et interview de notre invité : Jacques Mohma, dix saisons au Racing, de ses débuts en 1999 avec Chilavert, Martins ou encore Bertin, à son retour en CFA pour aider le RCS à retrouver le National

September has historically been a tough month for stocks. Add headlines about tariffs, interest rates, and geopolitical tensions, and it's easy to wonder whether you should be doing something differently with your portfolio. On this episode of OFF THE WALL, Dave Armstrong, CFA®, and Nate Tonsager, CIPM, CFA®, answer three Ask Monument Anything (AMA) questions about what's happening in the markets and what investors should be paying attention to. They get into the risks surrounding private credit and the AI buildout, the potential impact of tariffs and energy market uncertainty, and what historical market data tells us about September and the fourth quarter. They also discuss why having a cash buffer matters when markets get volatile. If you have money set aside for near-term needs, you may be less likely to find yourself selling investments at an inopportune time. The takeaway: Market pullbacks are part of investing, but that doesn't mean every headline requires a portfolio change. Dave and Nate explain how they evaluate current risks, what the historical data can—and can't—tell us, and why your investment strategy should account for the money you'll need before the market has time to recover.     Please see important podcast disclosure information at https://monumentwealthmanagement.com/disclosures   Episode Timeline/Key Highlights:   00:00 - Disclosures And Quick Cold Open 0:25 - Welcome And Three AMA Questions 1:51 - Geopolitics Oil AI And Markets 9:20 - Tariffs Trade Wars And Inflation 13:10 - Data First Investing Amid Headlines 14:13 - Higher For Longer Rate Reality 23:31 - Build A Plan Buy Sell Hold 25:26 - September Effect And Q4 Hope 31:26 - Send Questions Subscribe And Close 32:52 - Full Disclosures Connect with Monument Wealth Management:    Visit our website: https://monumentwealthmanagement.com/   Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/monumentwealth/#   Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/monument-wealth-management/   Connect on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MonumentWealthManagement   Connect on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/MonumentWealth#Fit   Subscribe to our Private Wealth Newsletter: https://monumentwealthmanagement.com/subscribe/   Check out our Between Sips Podcast: Where Money Meets Meaning Because money without meaning never feels like wealth. https://monumentwealthmanagement.com/between-sips-podcast/   About "Off the Wall":    Markets move fast, and headlines rarely tell the full story. Off The Wall cuts through the noise with unfiltered market and economic insight from Monument's CEO David B. Armstrong, CFA and Portfolio Manager Nate Tonsager, CFA, CIPM. Tune in for the conversations that actually explain what's moving your portfolio, without the Wall Street spin. Learn more about our hosts on our website at https://monumentwealthmanagement.com   

Private markets have historically been dominated by pensions, endowments and other large institutional investors. But as access expands, individual investors are increasingly encountering private equity, private credit and other investments outside the traditional public markets. This week, Jeremiah Bates and Alex Lundgren are joined by Christian McCormick, CFA, Head of Client Portfolio Management at Meketa Capital, for a three-hour deep dive into how private markets actually work. Christian explains the differences between public and private investments, why companies are staying private longer, and how private equity firms invest in and work with businesses. They also break down venture capital, growth equity and buyouts, along with the due diligence involved in evaluating private investments. Then, the conversation turns to the investor's side of the equation: liquidity, long holding periods, drawdown funds, evergreen and interval funds, portfolio allocation and the tradeoffs that come with investing in assets that can't simply be sold with the click of a button. Finally, Christian takes a closer look at private infrastructure, including power generation, transportation, pipelines, digital infrastructure and data centers. They discuss why infrastructure has attracted more investor attention, how these projects can generate income and returns, and where inflation protection and diversification can fit into the picture.   Listen, Watch, & Connect! https://www.therealmoneypros.com Christian McCormick & Meketa Capital https://meketacapital.com/profile-mccormick ————————————————————— Ataraxis PEO https://ataraxispeo.com Tree City Advisors of Apollon: https://www.treecityadvisors.com Apollon Wealth Management: https://apollonwealthmanagement.com/ —————————————————————

This episode tackles the common demand for lower interest rates and explains why bringing inflation down should be the priority. James Derrick, a 26-year money manager and CFA, walks listeners through how lower short-term rates can fuel spending and push prices higher. He differentiates the Fed's overnight rate from long-term rates that drive mortgages, and explains the Fed's two policy levers: rate changes and balance sheet adjustments. The discussion highlights the Fed's 2% inflation target, credibility questions, and why lower inflation, not necessarily lower rates, will provide real relief for everyday budgets.

In this episode of the Rainmaker Podcast, Gui Costin sits down with Michael O'Shea, Director and Head of Private Wealth Solutions at Origin Investments, for a wide-ranging conversation about systems, discipline, and what it actually takes to build a durable capital-raising career. Michael's path into the business started almost by accident nearly two decades ago, when curiosity about what a REIT and a Series 7 actually were pulled him into calling on advisors and raising capital for niche, tax-advantaged real estate deals. That early curiosity turned into a genuine passion for investing, which he later formalized by going back to school for an MBA in real estate finance and earning his CFA charter, a credential he says fundamentally sharpened how he talks about markets and builds trust with advisors.Michael shares the origin story behind Origin Investments itself: a Chicago-based real estate manager founded by two former Mercantile Exchange traders, Michael Episcope and David Scherer, who built significant personal wealth trading before computers pushed traders out of the pits. Rather than keep taking on trading risk, they built Origin to invest more transparently and with better alignment than what they'd experienced themselves as investors. Nineteen years later, the firm manages $5 billion in assets, supports more than 5,000 investment partners, and now partners with 165 RIAs, all distributed through a lean, fully RIA-and-family-office-focused team of five reps plus Michael and a sales enablement associate.A major thread of the conversation is Michael's belief that systems, not goals, drive consistent fundraising results. He leans on an Olympics analogy: the goal is gold, but it's the underlying training system that actually gets an athlete there. Applied to sales, that means knowing exactly who you're calling on, mastering your product, and building weekly, monthly, and quarterly cadences with real process improvement baked in. That same discipline extends to pipeline management. Michael reviews his team's pipeline every week specifically to catch staleness or inflated deal sizes, a philosophy Gui strongly echoes: the best salespeople who raise the most money are the ones who keep the tightest, most accurate pipelines, especially when no one else is watching.The two also dig into how technology has changed the day-to-day of fundraising. Michael describes Salesforce as his daily "cockpit," now supercharged by AI tools that transcribe calls and voice memos directly into call notes and tasks, removing much of the friction and dread that used to come with logging activity. Gui ties this back to his own hard rule at Dakota: if it's not in Salesforce, it didn't happen, because that documentation is exactly what a sales rep's salary is paying for.On leadership, Michael describes himself as a coach who removes roadblocks and filters out noise for his team, while holding a firm, non-negotiable line on entering call notes. His advice to young fundraisers centers on continuous self-investment, learning AI tools, coding, and new skills, so they're preparing not just to be a great analyst, but eventually a great CEO. He closes by naming his current challenge: a capital markets backdrop where the 10-year Treasury and cap rates aren't behaving as expected, making long-term, illiquid asset classes like real estate a harder sell in the near term.Disclaimer: All Origin Investments statistics referenced herein — including assets under management, investor count, RIA partner relationships, and any projections, targets, or track-record figures — are as of September 1, 2026, are derived from Origin's internal records, and are unaudited. These figures are subject to change and are not indicative of future results.

On l'utilise sous forme de cosmétique, et surtout dans les préparations culinaires pour remplacer le beurre de cacao. La campagne de commercialisation de l'année 2026-2027 du karité vient d'être officiellement lancée chez plusieurs producteurs du continent africain. Cette année, comme c'est le cas depuis deux ans, le commerce du karité est entravé par des restrictions à l'exportation. À ce stade, l'interdiction d'exporter des amandes de karité reste totale au Nigeria, en Côte d'Ivoire et au Mali. Le Togo et le Bénin autorisent l'exportation mais avec une taxe élevée. Au Burkina Faso, le régime est encore plus strict, même si sur le papier, l'interdiction totale d'exporter a été levée au mois de mai dernier. Au Ghana, la filière reste dans l'attente de restrictions annoncées par les autorités il y a plusieurs mois. Le pays est donc pour l'instant le plus ouvert aux acheteurs internationaux. C'est d'ailleurs là que les prix sont les plus élevés. Fortes disparités des prix Localement on constate de fortes disparités : au Ghana, les amandes de karité se négocient parfois à plus de 600 francs CFA au kilo alors qu'au Nigeria, le prix était la semaine dernière d'environ 300 FCFA/kg selon le bulletin agricole N'Kalo. À l'international, les prix sont globalement hauts en raison des tensions sur le marché, mais aussi à cause de l'influence du prix du beurre de cacao qui a augmenté ces six derniers mois. Or, le karité, une fois transformé, en est un substitut très prisé par l'industrie agroalimentaire. Les perspectives restent celles d'un marché tendu. C'est d'autant plus vrai que les gros acheteurs, qui représentent 60% du marché, se font encore très discrets en ce début de campagne. Dès qu'ils seront de nouveau acheteurs, les prix risquent de s'envoler, prévient un acteur de la filière. Réorganisation des circuits commerciaux Ces freins à l'exportation en vigueur depuis deux ans ont perturbé les circuits commerciaux. Il y a de nouveaux acteurs qui émergent, la hausse des prix attirant des intermédiaires qui n'avaient jamais travaillé dans le karité. Il y a aussi de nouveaux canaux d'approvisionnement. Les interdictions officielles sont contournées, sans grande surprise. Lors de la dernière campagne, des cargaisons d'amandes de karité sont sorties des pays qui ont fermé leurs frontières, même si les volumes sont impossibles à quantifier. Les usines qui pourraient, en théorie, transformer plusieurs dizaines de milliers de tonnes d'amandes ont néanmoins des difficultés à acheter. Certaines n'ont tourné l'année dernière qu'à 20 ou 30% de leur capacité. Cette campagne ne s'annonce pas plus facile pour ces gros industriels, qu'ils soient installés au Burkina Faso ou en Côte d'Ivoire. À lire aussiKarité, quatre pays producteurs ferment leurs exportations d'amandes brutes

Find me on Substack!My guest today is Peter Lazaroff, CFA, CFP®—the Chief Investment Officer of the $10-billion-plus RIA Plancorp, chair of its investment committee, host of The Long-Term Investor, and author of Making Money Simple, and a new book The Perfect Portfolio, whose central message is that the best portfolio is not the historical winner but the one tailored to an investor's goals, capacity for risk, and ability to stay disciplined.Peter Lazaroff's first stock arrived on his twelfth birthday: a single share of Nike from his grandmother. He was disappointed until a one-dollar dividend check showed up in the mail. "I didn't even have to work for this," he recalls, and he was hooked. Today, as CIO overseeing more than $10 billion and author of The Perfect Portfolio, he argues that the best portfolio isn't the historical winner but the one built for your life.He opens his book with a steak dinner, burned on a cheap grill in the backyard of his first home, because the perfect portfolio, like the perfect meal, is personal. He tells the story of a client whose blue chip stocks and mutual funds were chosen to impress others rather than to fund his goals. A portfolio, Peter says, is "a piece of their identity," and it changes over a lifetime as your human capital, balance sheet, and heirs come into view.On market timing, he reminds us that "You do have to be right twice," and that taxes can turn a bad call into a "permanent bear market." Rather than predicting declines, plan on them. He explains exposure therapy for investors, why narratives scare us more than percentages, and why our instinct to run from the rustle in the bushes makes beating the market so hard.Peter reveals his own guardrail, "It's to not do it yourself," shares why bond indexes lend the most to the most indebted, and makes the case for goals-based benchmarks: "am I still on track?" He closes with a controversial plea to read twenty minutes a day, and with the idea at the heart of his book: the perfect portfolio is the one you can stick with.Podcast Program – Disclosure StatementBlue Infinitas Capital, LLC is a registered investment adviser and the opinions expressed by the Firm's employees and podcast guests on this show are their own and do not reflect the opinions of Blue Infinitas Capital, LLC. All statements and opinions expressed are based upon information considered reliable although it should not be relied upon as such. Any statements or opinions are subject to change without notice.Information presented is for educational purposes only and does not intend to make an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments, or investment strategies. Investments involve risk and, unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed.

Election Volatility Comes Into Focus With 36 days remaining until the midterm elections, the market is entering a period that has historically been associated with increased volatility. Midterm election years have traditionally been the most volatile portion of the four-year presidential cycle. The first year following a presidential election is often characterized by optimism surrounding a new administration, while the second year tends to bring greater uncertainty and expectations for policy changes. Historically, the period following the midterm elections has often been followed by a market rally. This year, however, the market has demonstrated considerably more resilience than historical patterns might suggest. The S&P 500 closely tracked its typical presidential-cycle pattern through the previous year before diverging over the summer. Rather than experiencing the weakness often associated with the months leading into a midterm election, the market posted a relatively strong summer. The market’s response to geopolitical developments has also been notable. Following the sell-off tied to tensions surrounding the Iran war earlier in the year, stocks rallied, demonstrating continued resilience despite a challenging backdrop. As the election approaches, some of the effects of rising political uncertainty are becoming more visible beneath the surface of the broader market. While the overall U.S. stock market has historically performed under administrations from both political parties, individual sectors can respond differently to anticipated policy changes. One area worth watching is the industrial sector. Ongoing discussions surrounding data-center development, the reindustrialization of the United States and tax incentives designed to encourage industrial investment have been important catalysts for the sector. In recent weeks, industrial stocks have declined relative to the broader S&P 500 as the perceived likelihood of a Democratic sweep of both chambers of Congress has increased. The relationship is worth monitoring because a change in political control could influence the pace of data-center development and the future of certain tax incentives supporting industrial investment. While these trends do not provide a basis for predicting the outcome of either the election or the market, they offer insight into how expectations surrounding policy can influence individual areas of the market. As the election approaches, continued monitoring of these developments can help identify areas of potential downside risk and inform portfolio decisions as conditions evolve. Reasons for Optimism Despite the concerns facing investors, several underlying economic and corporate indicators provide reasons for optimism. One of the most encouraging developments is the strength of corporate profit margins. Profit margins have reached record levels, and there is a direct relationship between corporate profitability and the valuation of the S&P 500. Strong margins suggest that corporate America remains fundamentally healthy, providing an important foundation for current market valuations. The labor market also continues to demonstrate historical strength. Employment remains an important driver of consumer spending, and continued employment growth supports household income and spending throughout the economy. Personal incomes have also turned higher, providing another positive signal for consumer activity. When employment and income remain resilient, consumers generally have greater capacity to maintain spending, which can help support broader economic growth. Beyond consumers, industrial production remains strong, while manufacturing and trade sales have continued to show encouraging results. These measures provide additional evidence that economic activity remains resilient despite the uncertainty surrounding inflation, interest rates, energy prices and the upcoming election. The current concerns facing markets should not be overlooked. However, focusing exclusively on the negative headlines can obscure some of the positive developments taking place beneath the surface of the economy and financial markets. These indicators serve as important reminders that market conditions are influenced by a wide range of factors. While uncertainty and volatility remain part of the current environment, corporate profitability, employment, personal income, industrial production, manufacturing and trade activity all provide reasons to maintain perspective. There are legitimate concerns to monitor, but there are also meaningful signs of underlying strength. Looking beyond the headlines and considering both sides of the market landscape can provide a more complete picture of the current environment. Greg Powell, CIMA® President and CEO Wealth Consultant Email Greg Powell here Bobby Norman, CFP®, AIF®, CEPA® Managing Director Wealth Consultant Email Bobby Norman here Trey Booth, CFA®, AIF® Chief Investment Officer Wealth Consultant Email Trey Booth here Ty Miller, AIF® Vice President Wealth Consultant Email Ty Miller here Fi Plan Partners is an independent investment firm in Birmingham, AL, with a team of professionals serving clients across the nation through financial planning, wealth management and business consulting. The team at Fi Plan Partners creates strategies in the best interest of their clients using fee based investing. The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. All performance referenced is historical and is no guarantee of future results. All indices are unmanaged and may not be invested into directly. Economic forecasts set forth in this presentation may not develop as predicted. No strategy can ensure success or protect against a loss. Stock investing involves risk including potential loss of principal. Securities and advisory services offered through LPL Financial, Member FINRA/SIPC and a registered investment advisor.The post Charts of Optimism first appeared on Fi Plan Partners.

Send us Fan MailIn this Season 7 episode of ETF Battles, Ron DeLegge ‪@etfguide‬ referees an audience requested battle between ALAI, AIS, THNQ, and WTAI, pitting four AI ETFs against each other in this quadruple header wave of the future battle. Program judges Tony Dong, an independent ETF analyst, and David Dierking, CFA and ETF Contributor at the Motley Fool analyze this audience requested triple header.Each ETF is judged against the other in key categories like cost, exposure strategy, performance, yield and a mystery category. Find out who wins the battle!ETF Battles is sponsored by DirexionDirexion Defined Income Boost ETFsSingle-stock income strategies built for high potential distributions, paid twice a month.

Chris Tobe, MBA, CFA, CAIA, and author of "Could Teachers' Annuities Be the Next Casualty of the LA Dodgers Insurance Unwind?" joins us to discuss the unholy NEA/Security Benefit alliance.  Video of episode Chris Tobe Could Teachers' Annuities Be the Next Casualty of the LA Dodgers Insurance Unwind? Part 1 of our recent look at the NEA/Security Benefit alliance  (pod) A Tale As Old As Time (podcast about $300,000 Kansas election donation) Pablo Torre Finds Out About the Los Angeles Dodgers (YouTube) 403bwise.org 457bwiser.org Learned by Being Burned (short pod series about K-12 403(b) issues) Meridian Wealth Management 403bwise & 457bwiser Facebook Group Nothing presented or discussed is to be construed as investment or tax advice. This can be secured from a vetted Certified Financial Planner (CFP®).

Global equity portfolio manager, Paul Moroz, speaks to a wide range of market topics, including what higher discount rates mean for equity valuations and the subtle shifts you might not see in the headlines but that absolutely matter. Stay tuned for the second half, where Paul discusses Millennium Prize math problems, humility, podcast proliferation, and entropy—for those seeking useful mental models for portfolio construction, the payoff is worthwhile. Key Highlights: Bond yields set the discount rate for every asset, and the 10-year U.S. Treasury is above 5%. A 1% rise in the discount rate implies roughly a 15% decline in equities, yet markets are near highs. NVIDIA at 13 times next year's earnings suggests multiples compressed while earnings carried prices. Positioning has moved toward rate beneficiaries and away from consumer discretionary. A portfolio should work like a rope, with many independent strands so no single one carries the load. Most of what an investor sees is noise; the work is putting energy into the part that matters.   0:00 - Introduction: Rising Bond Yields and Record Highs 1:11 - Why Equity Markets Keep Climbing the Wall of Worry 3:30 - Are Corporate Earnings Just AI? 4:45 - Bond Yields, Discount Rates and the 10-Year Treasury 7:55 - The Equity Duration Math: 1% in Rates, 15% in Stocks 9:32 - NVIDIA at 13 Times Earnings: Growing Into Valuations 11:19 - How Higher Rates Changed the Portfolio 13:38 - Building a Portfolio Like a Rope 16:06 - Humility as an Investment Process 18:45 - ChatGPT Solves a Millennium Prize Problem 23:00 - Entropy Explained: Perfume, Lawns, and Chaos 24:49 - Podcast Proliferation and the Nash Equilibrium 27:40 - Knowledge Adds, Wisdom Subtracts 29:10 - Outro and Subscribe   Host: Rob Campbell, CFA, Mawer Institutional Portfolio Manager Guest: Paul Moroz, CFA, Mawer Portfolio Manager   This episode is available for download anywhere you get your podcasts. Founded in 1974, Mawer Investment Management Ltd. (pronounced "more") is a privately owned independent investment firm managing assets for institutional and individual investors. Mawer employs over 250 people in Canada, U.S., and Singapore. Visit us at: https://www.youtube.com/@MawerInvestment https://www.mawer.com https://www.linkedin.com/company/mawer-investment-management/ https://www.instagram.com/mawerinvestmentmanagement/

En Côte d'Ivoire, se tiendra dans un mois, à partir du 25 octobre, la fête de l'Abissa. Deux semaines de festivités qui se déroulent dans la ville balnéaire de Grand-Bassam, à une trentaine de kilomètres d'Abidjan pour célébrer le nouvel an du peuple N'Zima Kôtôkô. Sur place, les habitants sont déjà à pied d'œuvre pour préparer la ville à recevoir les dizaines de milliers de festivaliers. Reportage à Grand-Bassam.  De notre correspondante en Côte d'Ivoire, Dans sa boutique située au quartier France, Jean Ndouba Kouamé vend des produits de tous les jours, divers articles qu'ils commencent à stocker en plus grand nombre, en prévision de la fête. « C'est un grand moment pour nous parce que tous les commerçants arrivent à s'en sortir. Peu importe ce que tu vends, ça va marcher. Même si tu es un mauvais dessinateur, dessine n'importe quoi sur un tableau et les gens vont aimer et acheter ! Parce que ce moment est un moment sacré pour nous, c'est notre nouvel an ! Les gens viennent de partout. Pendant cette période, si tu es un commerçant et que tu as l'habitude de vendre pour 50 000 francs CFA par mois, là en une semaine, tu vas atteindre près de 350 000 francs CFA. Tu multiplies ton chiffre d'affaires par 5 », explique-t-il. L'Abissa est une fête traditionnelle qui célèbre le nouvel an chez le peuple N'zima Kôtôkô. L'événement rassemble chaque fin octobre des dizaines de milliers de visiteurs, venus admirer les danses rituelles, de célébration et de cohésion. Elles se déroulent sur une place exiguë, près du palais royal, où les ouvriers sont à pied d'œuvre. « Il va y avoir une tribune ici qui est en train d'être installée…, raconte Binlin Ndamoulé, président de la Commission Tradition et Valorisation culturelle de l'Abissa. On sent la frénésie, parce qu'habituellement quand on vient, c'est calme. Mais vous voyez, à tous les coins de rue, des petites constructions sont en train d'être faites. C'est ça aussi, ça participe de la préparation de l'événement ». Un pagne créé spécialement pour le festival Si les tambours traditionnels rythment les danses de l'Abissa, les pagnes, eux, les habillent. Chaque année, le festival crée un modèle spécial. Sur des tons de bleu cette année, avec les attributs traditionnels – équivalent des armoiries – des 7 familles qui composent les N'zima. « Le pagne cette année est vraiment beau. On est sorti de l'ordinaire. On a changé la couleur, il est magnifique », précise Binlin Ndamoulé. Et ils se vendent plutôt bien, explique Dédé Kouamé Jean-Jacques, l'un des fournisseurs : « On peut vendre plus de 300 000 à 400 000 francs CFA par jour. Une année, j'ai même vendu plus de 1 400 000 francs CFA en une journée seulement. Ce n'est pas obligatoire [d'en porter, NDLR], mais quand on dit "l'Abissa", et que tu portes une tenue en pagne, c'est bien beau ». Vêtu du pagne officiel, maquillé de kaolin, comme il est de coutume à l'Abissa, il ne reste plus qu'à attendre le début des festivités. Elles sont prévues dans un mois. À lire aussiCôte d'Ivoire: quand les ainés N'Zima transmettent leur patrimoine culturel lors de l'Abissa

Does your retirement plan still work if one spouse dies? It's an uncomfortable question, but an important one for every married couple approaching or living in retirement. When one spouse dies, household finances don't simply get cut in half. One Social Security benefit generally disappears, pension income may change, and many household expenses remain. At the same time, the surviving spouse may eventually move from married to single tax brackets, creating what is sometimes referred to as the “widow's tax penalty.” In this episode, Tyler Emrick, CFA®, CFP®, explains what can change financially after the death of a spouse and what couples can do today to better prepare the surviving spouse. In this episode, Tyler covers: What happens to Social Security and pension income after one spouse dies. Why household expenses typically don't fall by 50%. How the “widow's tax penalty” and Medicare IRMAA can affect a surviving spouse. Why tax planning while both spouses are alive can matter later. Why both spouses should understand how their financial life works and know who to call. Have questions? Need help making sure your investments and retirement plan are on track? Click to schedule a free 20-minute call with one of True Wealth's CFP® Professionals. http://bit.ly/calltruewealth

To learn more about valuable resources for entrepreneurs and business owners, please visit https://www.sbprou.com/The Price is Right… or Is It? Common Pricing Mistakes is covered in this video.***************************************In this episode of Leadership LIVE @ 8:05!, Andrew Frazier, MBA, CFA, is joined by behavioral economist and CEO of Decision Alpha Etinosa Agbonlahor to discuss common pricing mistakes that can leave small business owners overworked, underpaid, and wondering where the profit went.Together, they explore the mindset issues behind chronic underpricing, the risks of copying competitors' prices, the limitations of cost-plus pricing, and the hidden impact of discounts and "friends & family" deals. Etinosa shares practical insights based on behavioral economics to help business owners better understand customer-perceived value and build more sustainable pricing strategies.You'll learn:• Why business owners may struggle to price their value confidently.• Why relying on competitor pricing can limit growth.• How cost-plus pricing can still leave you undercharging.• How discounts can affect your profitability.• Ways to align your pricing with the real value you deliver.If you've ever wondered whether your prices are truly right—or suspect you're leaving money on the table—this conversation will help you identify common pricing mistakes and think more strategically about your pricing.Etinosa Agbonlahor is a behavioral economist and CEO of Decision Alpha, a behavioral pricing firm that helps businesses improve pricing for growth, traction, and stronger perceived value. With over a decade of global experience across the U.S., Australia, Africa, and the U.K., she has shaped pricing, engagement, and customer-behavior strategy for major financial institutions and venture-backed startups. Her work has been featured in MarketWatch, Morningstar, and other leading platforms.LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/etinosasere/Website: decisionalpha.coResources from Etinosa Agbonlahor / Decision Alpha

In the world of M&A, deals tend to get reduced to spreadsheets long before anyone asks about the story or the actual people underneath.Emily Blue built her whole career on believing maybe we've got that backwards.She started out as a nursing major (until an anatomy syllabus sent her running ), failed the CFA before she passed it, and eventually found herself sitting across the table from some very fancy investment bankers. Then one afternoon, she was standing in an airport after a pitch that had gone really well... wondering why she felt so flat.A phone call with her friend Ryan Halls changed everything. Eventually, that conversation became Hue Partners, an M&A advisory firm that works exclusively with sellers.In this episode, Emily and Stacy get into:➤ The airport phone call that turned into a firm➤ Why Hue said no to every buyer who wanted to hire them➤ What happened when a banker called Emily "soft" (and Ryan's PERFECT comeback)➤ Why younger, fast-growing firms are exploring partnerships earlier, and why waiting too long can cost you➤ The real estate analogy that makes a pretty freaking good case for having someone in YOUR corner when you sell➤ Why wealth firms are starting to look at boutique asset managers as a talent strategy➤ The "messy middle," and what happens when the story that got you HERE stops fitting where you want to go NEXTThis one is about M&A, but it's also about relationships, story, and knowing what you actually want to build. And what happens when the way it's always been done doesn't feel like the way YOU want to do it.About Emily Blue:Emily Blue, CFA, is a math nerd turned M&A disruptor and the co-founder of Hue Partners. She cut her teeth in M&A integrations, pushed back on traditional valuations, and led corporate development, and through every deal one thing stayed true: the best transactions aren't about multiples. They're about people. So she built Hue to put founders first, with no corporate fog and no empty promises, just real partnership before and after the deal.Outside of work, Emily serves as Board Chair of the Girl Scouts of Northeast Kansas and Northwest Missouri, and advocates through Big Brothers Big Sisters and Newhouse. She has traded Kilimanjaro for toddler trails for now, and lives a chaotic, joyful life with her husband Harrison, their kids, and two doodles. ---Running a fund is hard enough.Ops shouldn't be.Meet the team that makes it easier. | billiondollarbackstory.com/ultimus

La Côte d'Ivoire s'est engagée à porter à 45 % la part des énergies renouvelables dans son mix énergétique d'ici 2035. À Ferkessédougou, dans le nord du pays, la centrale Ferké Solar, développée par PFO Énergie, est l'un des symboles de cette ambition. Mise sous tension en juillet 2026, elle doit injecter chaque année près de 90 gigawattheures d'électricité dans le réseau national. Une contribution encore modeste à l'échelle du pays, mais qui traduit la volonté de diversifier les sources de production d'électricité. Au-delà des chiffres, la nouvelle centrale a déjà des impacts sur le quotidien des populations de la région. De notre envoyé spécial à Ferkessédougou, À Sokoro, un village d'environ 500 habitants à l'entrée de Ferkessedougou, le bruit du moulin de Lamoussa se fait entendre dès les premières habitations. Chaque jour, ce jeune homme y transforme céréales et autres produits pour les villageois. Mais il y a encore quelques mois, son activité était régulièrement paralysée : « Il y avait beaucoup de coupures de courant ici à Sokoro, ça grillait même les moteurs. Mon activité s'arrêtait. J'arrivais à peine à gagner 1 000 francs CFA. » Mais depuis quelques semaines, Lamoussa dit constater une amélioration. Les coupures sont moins fréquentes et son moulin tourne désormais davantage. Conséquence : ses revenus augmentent. « Grâce à la centrale, le nombre de coupures de courant a nettement diminué durant la journée. Aujourd'hui je peux gagner 8 500 francs CFA. Je n'ai même plus le temps de m'occuper de mes activités champêtres. Je suis la plupart du temps au moulin. » À quelques pas de là, même constat. Dans sa boutique, Méyérégué diversifie désormais son activité. Aux produits de première nécessité s'ajoute la vente de boissons fraîches : « J'ai deux frigos. S'il y a du monde, je fais marcher les deux. Un jour comme aujourd'hui où il n'y a pas de cérémonie, là c'est un seul frigo qui fonctionne. Ça me permet de vendre les marchandises parce que quand les gens viennent, ils veulent ce qui est glacé. » L'amélioration de la fourniture en électricité profite aussi à l'école primaire publique de Sokoro. Les cours peuvent désormais se poursuivre dans de meilleures conditions, même lorsque le ciel s'assombrit. Zié Konaté est l'un des directeurs de l'établissement : « Les après-midi lorsqu'il pleut, les enfants ne peuvent pas exploiter leurs documents parce que la lumière est faible. Il fait sombre dans les salles. Avec l'arrivée de l'électricité, on n'a plus ce problème. Quelle que soit la météo, on a l'électricité en permanence maintenant. On peut continuer à dispenser notre cours correctement au grand bonheur des apprenants. » L'école dispose également d'une salle informatique équipée d'une trentaine d'ordinateurs. Plus de 200 élèves pourront ainsi s'initier à l'outil informatique. À lire aussiÀ Ferkessédougou, la Côte d'Ivoire accélère sa transition vers le solaire

Au Cameroun, la direction générale des douanes a collecté entre avril et début septembre 2026 1,8 milliard de FCFA (environ 2,7 millions d'euros) de droits de douanes et taxes sur des téléphones, tablettes et terminaux numériques importés, grâce au nouveau mécanisme de collecte en vigueur. Avant l'entrée en vigueur de la réforme, le dédouanement des téléphones approvisionnait les caisses de l'État d'à peine 100 millions de francs par mois. Ce mécanisme fait grincer les dents chez certains importateurs alors que la douane dit poursuivre des objectifs fiscaux, sécuritaires et économiques. Avec notre correspondant à Yaoundé, Le lieu-dit avenue Kennedy à Yaoundé grouille de monde. C'est le principal point de vente des téléphones portables importés au Cameroun. Seydou, un importateur de téléphones d'occasion, dit avoir quelques soucis avec le nouveau mécanisme de déclaration et de dédouanement : « On importe les téléphones d'occasion qui sont vendus ici entre 20 000 et 25 000 francs CFA. Ils sont dédouanés à l'aéroport, mais les douaniers n'enregistrent pas leur numéro de série. Quand on les vend aux clients, ils reviennent nous dire qu'ils reçoivent tout le temps des messages qu'on va bloquer leurs téléphones. » Depuis le 1er avril dernier, les prix des téléphones ont augmenté selon ce revendeur. « Les clients ne sont pas intéressés à acheter les téléphones non dédouanés, mais ils ne peuvent pas non plus payer le prix des téléphones dédouanés. Donc cela nous cause beaucoup de préjudices », témoigne Gérard Fontem. Ce dernier vend désormais ses téléphones plus chers, pour certains les prix ont presque doublé, passant de 45 000 à 85 000 francs CFA. « Ceux qui estiment que le prix du téléphone a augmenté, ce sont ceux qui ne payaient pas » De 68 euros à 129 euros environ, pour Paul Olivier Libii, inspecteur principal des douanes et point focal de la réforme à la direction générale des douanes à Yaoundé, les importateurs sont loin d'être asphyxiés : « Ceux qui estiment que le prix du téléphone a augmenté, ce sont ceux qui ne payaient pas [leurs taxes], parce que pour ceux qui payaient sur la base de la valeur transactionnelle à 66 %, le prix du téléphone va plutôt diminuer. Mais ceux qui ne payaient pas utilisaient le droit de douane comme variable d'ajustement pour mettre à mal ceux qui payaient. Le nouveau mécanisme va venir mettre tout le monde au même niveau. » Ce nouveau mécanisme n'est pas une nouvelle taxe, mais plutôt un nouveau système de collecte qui est fondé sur la digitalisation, soutient Paul Olivier Libii : « La valeur transactionnelle a été divisée par quatre, voire par sept. Nous avons huit catégories de collecte qui vont de 5 000 à 400 000 francs  CFA. Ensuite le taux global est passé de 67 % à 33,33 %, donc ce sont des méthodes de facilité. » Environ cinq millions de téléphones échappaient encore au système, des téléphones qui seront retrouvés, promettent les services des douanes. À lire aussiCameroun: une mesure sur la collecte des droits de douanes pour les téléphones fait débat

"Your creative identity can get tangled up in gear, and sometimes the best thing for the film is carrying less."In part two, hosts Indeana Underhill and Haeleigh Royall keep the conversation going about making a feature with fewer barriers and fewer backaches.The duo gets honest about a tension a lot of filmmakers feel but rarely say out loud: the pull toward an all-natural-light approach, breaking camera packages down smaller and smaller, and why more equipment doesn't always mean better storytelling, better performances, or a better day on set. They also get real about producing as a tight team, including the messy parts: stress, being too direct, snapping, then repairing quickly because the trust is already there.Meanwhile, Indeana weighs the long-game question of the DP path versus the producer path, and how deep cinematography knowledge becomes a superpower when you're negotiating budgets, crew needs, and priorities. Then the two get practical about making their ultra-low-budget feature Before The Storm in Savannah: SCAD's production placement program, crewing with experienced students, fiscal sponsorship, donations and equity investment, and the momentum hack that worked for them, which was setting a real start date. They also explain why production legal and SAG-AFTRA paperwork matter if you want a film that can actually sell, and how Slack and form automation kept the machine moving.Whether you're planning a lean first feature, figuring out how to finance an indie, or deciding which side of the camera your career leans toward, this one's for you. Subscribe for part three, share it with a filmmaker friend, and leave a review so more actors and crew can find the show.Send us Fan MailFor our listeners, CFA's teamed up with We Make Movies to get you a discount on production management services, including access to comprehensive production insurance and workers' comp for your next shoot. Visit wemakemovies.org/insurance and use code CFA23 on your intake form for 10% off your quote.Calling all actors! Take 25% off your membership at WeAudition with code: CFA25Website: www.cinematographyforactors.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/cinematographyforactorsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cinematographyforactorsCinematography for Actors is a community aimed at bridging the gap between talent & crew through our weekly podcast & community events. Our weekly show supports the filmmaking community through transparent, honest & technically focused interviews with the goal of elevating the art of effective storytelling.

Get new episodes in your inbox - https://vc10x.beehiiv.comTom Duffy is a Director on the private markets team at TIFF Investment Management, an institutional investment firm founded over 35 years ago to serve nonprofit endowments and foundations. TIFF runs outsourced CIO and individual asset class strategies, with a 13-person private markets team and over three billion dollars in private market commitments across lower middle market private equity, micro-cap direct investments, small-cap secondaries, and an early-stage venture fund of funds program running since 1997.Tom breaks down how TIFF selects venture managers, how it underwrites a first fund with no track record, how it gets exposure to AI without chasing the theme, and what it's actually doing about the DPI drought.⭐ This episode is brought to you by Podcast10x - https://podcast10x.comKey topics we cover:- What TIFF looks for in an early-stage venture manager, and why focus beats coverage- How to underwrite an emerging manager raising Fund I with no attributable track record- Why judgment and partnership are the traits AI can't commoditize- Investing in AI and crypto through specialists rather than chasing the narrative- Why forcing exits to manufacture DPI is a worse outcome for LPsChapters:(00:00) - Preview(02:11) - The Origin Story and Mission of TIF(04:26) - Differentiating on Fees in Investment Management(05:29) - TIF's Private Market Strategies and Key Differentiators(08:06) - The Profile of a VC Manager That TIF Backs(10:40) - How TIF Evaluates and Underwrites Emerging Managers(13:21) - The Single Most Important Trait of the Best Managers: Focus(15:54) - Investing in AI and Crypto Without Chasing Themes(19:15) - Portfolio Diversification and Exposure to the AI Theme(21:07) - Managing the "DPI Crisis" and Liquidity in Private Markets(25:37) - Exploring Opportunities Beyond Popular Sectors and Geographies(27:00) - Rapid-Fire Round on TIF's Investment Thesis(27:20) - Sectors and Regions of Investment(27:38) - Allocation Between Emerging and Established Managers(28:13) - Preferred Fund Stage (Early vs. Late)(28:50) - Typical First-Time Check Size(29:17) - How Listeners Can Get in Touch(29:34) - Conclusion and Final WordsConnect with Tom Duffy:LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-duffy-cfa-cfp/TIFF - https://www.tiff.orgConnect with Prashant Choubey:LinkedIn - https://linkedin.com/in/choubeysahabSubscribe to VC10X newsletter - https://vc10x.beehiiv.comSubscribe on YouTube - https://youtube.com/@VC10XSubscribe on Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/vc10x-investing-venture-capital-asset-management-private/id1632806986Subscribe on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7F7KEhXNhTx1bKTBFgzv3k?si=WgQ4ozMiQJ-6nowj6wBgqQVC10X website - https://vc10x.comDisclaimer: Tom Duffy, CFA, CFP, is a Director, Private Markets at TIFF Investment Management. All views expressed by him on this podcast are solely his opinions and do not reflect the opinions of TIFF. You should not treat any opinions expressed by Tom as a specific endorsement to make a particular investment. References to any securities are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an investment recommendation or offer to provide investment advisory services. Any past performance discussed is not indicative of future results. Please keep in mind that investment in a fund entails a high degree of risk, including the risk of loss. Please note that TIFF does not endorse the ads featured in this podcast, and TIFF is not a sponsor of these ads.#VentureCapital #LimitedPartners #EmergingManagers #PrivateMarkets #FundOfFunds #Endowments #DPI #VentureLiquidity #AIInvesting #VC10X

Understanding the Supply Shock The Federal Reserve recently raised interest rates in line with market expectations. Because interest rates had already moved higher ahead of the decision, the increase itself was largely anticipated and had already been reflected in financial markets. The move also followed rate increases from other major central banks, including the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan. The more important question is what comes next. Historically, raising interest rates can be an effective tool for addressing inflation caused by strong demand. Higher borrowing costs make it more expensive to finance purchases, which can encourage consumers and businesses to delay spending. In turn, that reduces current demand and can help bring supply and demand back into balance. This creates a challenge when inflation is being driven by a supply shock. The current pressure in oil markets is an example. The issue is not necessarily that consumers suddenly want more gasoline. Rather, there is a constraint on the amount of oil available. Consumers still need to purchase gasoline even when prices rise, meaning higher interest rates do little to address the underlying supply shortage. That creates a difficult combination. Interest rate increases raise the cost of borrowing at the same time that the cost of essential goods and energy is increasing. If the current rate increase remains a one-time move, its impact may be relatively limited. A prolonged rate-hiking cycle, however, could create additional pressure without directly addressing the supply-side factors driving prices higher. Another development to watch is the relationship between the United States and China, particularly as the two countries navigate the global energy market. China is one of the world’s largest oil consumers and also produces significant amounts of refined petroleum products for export. Discussions between the two countries could have implications for global energy supply, tariffs and other geopolitical issues. The combination of energy prices, monetary policy and geopolitical developments makes the coming months an important period for investors to monitor. The Impact of Energy on Inflation Energy prices are one of the most visible ways consumers experience inflation. With gasoline prices around $4 per gallon in the Birmingham area and higher prices being seen across much of the country, energy costs are increasingly noticeable in household budgets. Consumers are particularly sensitive to gasoline prices because there is not always an immediate substitute. Higher prices can therefore have a direct impact on day-to-day spending and become an increasingly prominent part of the broader inflation discussion. One important measure to understand is Personal Consumption Expenditures, or PCE. PCE measures the prices paid by U.S. consumers for goods and services and is one of the inflation measures closely monitored by the Federal Reserve. Energy spending currently represents roughly 4% of total U.S. PCE. That percentage is significantly lower than it was during some previous periods, including the 1980s and early 2000s, when energy represented a much larger share of consumer expenditures. That distinction is important when considering the global impact of higher oil prices. While U.S. consumers certainly feel higher energy costs, the effect can be substantially greater in emerging economies where households devote a larger portion of their disposable income to energy. The total amount the United States spends on oil also provides useful perspective. U.S. oil consumption has generally remained around 20 million barrels per day in recent years, outside of the unusual conditions of 2020. At an average price per barrel, that translates into hundreds of billions of dollars in annual oil expenditures. When oil prices rise, the total amount spent on energy increases significantly even if consumption remains relatively steady. At approximately $80 per barrel, for example, annual expenditures are substantially higher than at lower price levels. At $100 per barrel, the increase becomes even more pronounced. That additional spending has broader economic implications because more consumer and business dollars are directed toward energy rather than other goods and services. As the year progresses, the path of oil prices will therefore remain an important factor in the inflation outlook. If energy prices remain elevated, consumers are likely to continue feeling that pressure, particularly as the economy moves toward the midterm election year. Greg Powell, CIMA® President and CEO Wealth Consultant Email Greg Powell here Bobby Norman, CFP®, AIF®, CEPA® Managing Director Wealth Consultant Email Bobby Norman here Trey Booth, CFA®, AIF® Chief Investment Officer Wealth Consultant Email Trey Booth here Ty Miller, AIF® Vice President Wealth Consultant Email Ty Miller here Fi Plan Partners is an independent investment firm in Birmingham, AL, with a team of professionals serving clients across the nation through financial planning, wealth management and business consulting. The team at Fi Plan Partners creates strategies in the best interest of their clients using fee based investing. The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. All performance referenced is historical and is no guarantee of future results. All indices are unmanaged and may not be invested into directly. Economic forecasts set forth in this presentation may not develop as predicted. No strategy can ensure success or protect against a loss. Stock investing involves risk including potential loss of principal. Securities and advisory services offered through LPL Financial, Member FINRA/SIPC and a registered investment advisor.The post Shocks and Demand first appeared on Fi Plan Partners.

Stijn Schmitz welcomes back Strategic Investor and Co-Founder of Bastion Asset Management, Michael Gentile to the show. Michael maintains a strongly bullish long-term outlook on gold, viewing the recent price consolidation from its highs as a normal pullback within a broader bull market. He emphasizes that his conviction is backed by significant personal capital deployment, having made his largest-ever quarterly allocation to junior mining companies during the recent downturn. He argues that the fundamental drivers for gold remain firmly intact, pointing to unsustainable global debt levels and a revolt in the bond markets as investors increasingly seek hard assets over devaluing paper currencies. He anticipates that central banks will eventually be forced to intervene to suppress bond yields, an action he believes will serve as turbo fuel for gold prices. Gentile sees a historic opportunity in junior mining equities, which he believes are dramatically undervalued relative to the gold price. He explains that while all-in mining margins have expanded massively, the market is still pricing many in-ground ounces at the same low levels seen when margins were a fraction of what they are today. Recent high-profile acquisitions at valuations of five to six hundred dollars per ounce validate his thesis that a significant re-rating is possible for quality assets currently trading at a steep discount. His investment strategy focuses on identifying assets with the scale, grade, and infrastructure to become actual mines, thinking like a major mining company would. He prioritizes projects that are already economic at lower gold prices and possess substantial exploration upside. For portfolio management, he limits initial positions to one percent of his net worth, aiming for a significant ownership stake, and only allocates follow-on capital to companies that continue to execute and advance toward becoming a mine. He also highlights his efforts to create synergies by marketing his portfolio companies collectively to investors. Timestamps: 00:00:00 – Introduction 00:00:46 – Gold Price Consolidation 00:03:20 – Recent Mining Investments 00:06:43 – Bond Markets Driving Gold 00:11:25 – Central Bank Gold Buying 00:14:30 – Money Supply Acceleration 00:18:15 – Global Debt Problems 00:20:40 – Gold Miners Leverage Opportunity 00:26:24 – Company Selection Criteria 00:30:16 – Portfolio Management Strategy 00:36:00 – Metal Prices & Margins 00:39:24 – Commodities and Derisking 00:42:24 – Reallocating Capital 00:48:35 – European Roadshow Details Guest Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-gentile-01028552 Website: https://www.bastion-am.com/ Mining & Metals European Roadshow: https://saturdaymorningmining.subscribepage.io/ Michael Gentile, CFA is Founding Partner & Senior Portfolio Manager at Bastion Asset Management. Before founding BAM, Michael was Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager at Formula Growth Ltd for over 17 years. Michael co-managed the FG Alpha Fund (US SMid equity market neutral) between 2012 and 2018, co-managed the FG Focus Fund (US SMid long short strategy) between 2014 and 2018. Since leaving FG in 2018, Michael has been very successful investing in the gold sector also acting as Strategic Advisor and Director for several companies in the natural resource sector. Michael graduated with Great Distinction from the John Molson School of Business (Concordia University) with a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance) and received the Calvin Potter Fellowship from Concordia's Kenneth Woods Portfolio Management Program. He also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation (CFA)

This episode of Fill the Gap features Ryan Detrick, CMT, chief market strategist at Carson Group, who shares how early losses, career setbacks, the CMT designation, and social media shaped his data-driven approach to investing. His framework centers on market breadth and credit spreads, which he sees as reliable indicators of whether market conditions are healthy despite alarming headlines or short-term volatility.Detrick remains bullish because he believes the U.S. is in a long-term secular bull market supported by resilient consumers, expanding earnings, strong profit margins, and improving economic indicators. He argues that gradually rising interest rates can coexist with equity gains when they reflect economic strength, while recommending diversification through international equities, gold, managed futures, Bitcoin, floating-rate assets, and shorter-duration bonds.Overall, he emphasizes humility, consistency, trend-following, and evidence-based decision-making, while highlighting the CMT community's value in helping investors manage risk and identify opportunities.Fill the Gap, hosted by David Lundgren, CMT, CFA and Tyler Wood, CMT brings veteran market analysts and money managers onto a monthly podcast. For complete show notes of every episode, visit: https://cmtassociation.org/development/podcasts/ Give us a shout:@dlundgren3333 or https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-lundgren-cmt-cfa-63b73b/@_TBone_Pickens or https://www.linkedin.com/in/tyler-wood-cmt-b8b0902/@CMTAssociation orhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/cmtassociationCMT Association is the global credentialing authority committed to advancing the discipline of technical analysis in the financial services industry. We serve members in over 137 countries. Our mission is to elevate investors mastery and skill in mitigating market risk and maximizing return in capital markets through a rigorous credentialing process, professional ethics, and continuous education. CMT Association formed in the late 1960s with headquarters in lower Manhattan, NY and Mumbai, India.Learn more at: www.cmtassociation.org

What if the biggest thing holding you back from building wealth isn't your income, but your money mindset? In this powerful conversation on Leverage with Rebecca Zung, Rebecca sits down with Ryan Sterling, founder and CEO of NerdWallet Wealth Partners and a CFA with more than 20 years of wealth management experience, to break down the beliefs and financial habits that can keep people stuck. #MoneyMindset #BuildWealth #WealthBuilding #FinancialFreedom #AbundanceMindset #ScarcityMindset #Investing #PersonalFinance #FinancialIndependence #Entrepreneurship #Money #Wealth #RebeccaZung #RyanSterling #Leverage

You've spent decades preparing for retirement. But what happens once you're actually retired?   The first year of retirement is a major transition. Your paycheck disappears, healthcare works differently, your income may come from several different places, and your daily routine can change almost overnight.   In this episode, Tyler Emrick, CFA®, CFP®, walks through some of the most important financial and lifestyle decisions new retirees face during their first year of retirement.   In this episode, Tyler covers: How to navigate healthcare once employer coverage ends. Different ways to create and manage cash flow without a regular paycheck. How to decide where your retirement spending should come from. Tax-planning opportunities that can emerge after your W-2 income disappears. Why retirement planning shouldn't stop with the financial numbers. How work, purpose, social interaction, and routine can change after retirement. Why your first year of retirement doesn't have to look exactly like you planned. Have questions? Need help making sure your investments and retirement plan are on track? Click to schedule a free 20-minute call with one of True Wealth's CFP® Professionals.   Our website:  https://www.truewealthdesign.com/ Phone: 855.TWD.PLAN Contact our team: https://www.truewealthdesign.com/contact-a-financial-advisor/ Schedule your no-cost discovery call: http://bit.ly/calltruewealth   Check out our other no-cost financial resources here: https://www.truewealthdesign.com/financial-resources/   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TrueWealthDesign/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/true-wealth-design/ X: https://x.com/truewealthdesgn   Watch the show now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjENBHOti-IEJFqeydZm_Fg?sub_confirmation=1

"I just felt like I had to choose one. But by choosing one, I knew I was betraying my cultural identity, and I was betraying myself." — Urmi HossainThere's a version of belonging that means folding yourself in half to fit somewhere — keeping one culture on for school and another for home, and never letting the two sit in the same room. For a long time, that's the only version Urmi Hossain knew.Urmi is a wealth management professional based in Montreal, born in Italy to Bangladeshi parents. In this real life story, she shares what it was like walking into a male-dominated finance career without realizing it, why she left a demanding job to ask who she was outside of her title, and how writing her book finally let her stop choosing between two cultures and start embracing both.If you've ever felt like you had to leave part of yourself at the door to belong — this authentic storytelling conversation about women's identity and life transitions is for you. New episodes every Thursday on all major podcast platforms.Connect with Heather: WebsiteFacebookInstagramLinkedInYouTubeTimestamp00:00 Introduction — Heather welcomes Urmi Hossain02:40 Wearing many hats — chasing impact, not titles08:20 Leaving a demanding job to find herself outside of work09:34 Walking into a male-dominated finance world without realizing it15:45 Writing Discovering Your Identity and embracing both cultures19:13 Starting a podcast about immigration and belonging30:23 Where to connect with Urmi Hossain About Urmi HossainUrmi Hossain is a self-published author, speaker, podcast host, and finance professional based in Canada, holding both her CFA and CAIA designations. Her book, Discovering Your Identity: A Rebirth from Interracial Struggle, reflects her journey as a third-culture woman navigating belonging, culture, and self-worth. She hosts Stories Beyond Borders, a podcast amplifying diverse voices on identity, migration, language, and what home really means, and serves as Co-Chair of Women in Leadership's Montreal Chapter. When she's not in the boardroom, you'll find her boxing, running, or with her nose in a good thriller.InstagramInstagram (Personal)YoutubePodcastBook: Discovering Your Identity: A Rebirth from Interracial StruggleSupport the show

Private equity is opening up to individual investors, and the line between public and private markets is blurring. In this episode, private investments portfolio manager Peter Lieu and institutional portfolio manager Kevin Minas break down secondaries and continuation vehicles, the difference between IRR and distributions, and how Mawer built institutional-quality private equity access through fund commitments, co-investments, and vintage-year diversification, including a new mutual fund trust for registered accounts like RRSPs and TFSAs. 0:00 - Introduction: Private Equity Beyond Endowments and Pensions 1:30 - A Brief History of Private Equity Allocations: Yale to the Maple 8 2:58 - Public-Private Convergence: Why Companies Stay Private Longer 6:17 - Secondaries and Continuation Vehicles Explained 9:40 - IRR vs. Distributions: The Delayed-Exit Debate 13:45 - Bringing Private Equity to Retail: Institutional-Quality Access 15:14 - Co-Investments and 50 Years of Business-Model Analysis 18:25 - Why a Mutual Fund Trust for RRSPs and TFSAs 20:22 - Liquidity and Redemption Windows in a Semi-Liquid Structure 22:21 - Private Equity Returns in a Higher-Rate World 26:06 - What's Next: Sports, Live Entertainment, and Democratization 32:13 - Outro & Subscribe   -The line between public and private markets is blurring. Companies are staying private longer, more financing is available without an IPO, and public companies are increasingly being taken private, so accessing value early in a company's life increasingly depends on having private equity exposure.   -Continuation vehicles are the modern version of the secondary buyout, not a new idea. They let a manager hold a strong business for longer, and roughly 90% of LPs who can roll into the new vehicle choose to take liquidity instead, which creates both a conundrum for investors and an opportunity for disciplined buyers.   -Distributions matter as much as IRR. IRR assumes capital is reinvested at the same rate and can look healthy even when little cash has been returned, so the team evaluates managers on money multiples and cash back, not IRR alone.   -Mawer built its access the way large institutions do. The program pairs fund commitments for diversification across companies, geographies, sectors, and vintage years with no-fee, no-carry co-investments, where the firm applies 50 years of business-model analysis to a single company decision.   -Registered accounts and private equity are naturally aligned. A new mutual fund trust extends the strategy to RRSPs, LIRAs, and TFSAs, where long time horizons and capital that is already locked up match the illiquidity of the asset class.   -Recent returns have been weaker as higher rates pressured valuations and exits slowed while public markets outperformed, but the long-term value drivers remain in place, and a staggered deployment that began in 2022 positioned the strategy for a constructive backdrop.   Companies and Assets Mentioned: SpaceX, Amazon, Alpine F1 team, University of Utah Athletics, RedBird Capital, Otro.   Host: Rob Campbell, CFA, Mawer Institutional Portfolio Manager Guest: Kevin Minas, CFA, MBA, CAIA, Mawer Institutional Portfolio Manager Guest: Peter Lieu, CFA, Mawer Portfolio Manager, Private Investments   This episode is available for download anywhere you get your podcasts. Founded in 1974, Mawer Investment Management Ltd. (pronounced "more") is a privately owned independent investment firm managing assets for institutional and individual investors. Mawer employs over 250 people in Canada, U.S., and Singapore. Visit us at: https://www.youtube.com/@MawerInvestment https://www.mawer.com https://www.linkedin.com/company/mawer-investment-management/ https://www.instagram.com/mawerinvestmentmanagement/

Season 7 of Wealth Planning for the Modern Physician begins with host David Mandell joined by Bill Martin, CFA, Chief Wealth Officer at Earned Wealth and founder of the Earned Institute. Bill shares the career experiences that led him to Earned and explains why he was drawn to building an integrated wealth-management platform specifically for doctors. He and David also discuss the Earned Institute and its education-first mission of bringing together expertise across tax, investing, insurance, asset protection, retirement planning and other areas of a physician's financial life. The conversation then turns to Earned's new white paper, After-Tax Alpha: Quantifying the Value of Integrated Wealth and Tax Management for Doctors. Bill explains why taxes should be viewed as a year-round planning opportunity rather than simply an annual reporting exercise. He and David walk through six key drivers of after-tax wealth: year-round tax-loss harvesting and gain deferral; placing investments in the most appropriate account types; planning ahead of practice sales and other liquidity events; coordinating financial decisions before they are made; allowing tax savings to compound over time; and structuring 1099 and practice income more intentionally. Throughout the discussion, Bill and David emphasize that many doctors do not necessarily have an investment problem as much as a coordination problem. Tax, investment, retirement, insurance, estate and business decisions can each affect the others, and valuable opportunities may be lost when those decisions are made in isolation or too late in the year. The episode offers practical examples of how proactive planning can create meaningful long-term benefits for employed physicians, practice owners and doctors with side income or other entrepreneurial interests. Key Takeaways Tax planning can be most effective when it is treated as a year-round discipline and coordinated with investing, retirement planning and other major financial decisions. For doctors with multiple accounts, advisors or financial professionals, coordination across the entire financial picture can be just as important as the individual strategies being used. Planning well in advance of major events, including a practice sale, investment gain or new source of 1099 income, can create opportunities that may no longer be available once the transaction or tax year is nearly complete. Key Insights Year-round tax-loss harvesting can capture opportunities that a traditional year-end review may miss, particularly during periods of sharp market volatility. A tax-loss "bank" may help offset future capital gains inside or outside an investment portfolio, making tax-loss harvesting relevant beyond the year in which the loss is realized. Asset location matters. Taxable, tax-deferred and tax-free accounts are treated differently, so the placement of investments across those accounts can affect long-term after-tax results. Managing several investment accounts or advisors without a coordinated strategy can lead to duplicated exposures, inefficient asset placement and an overall portfolio that is out of balance. Practice sales and other liquidity events should be planned for well before closing. Tax-loss harvesting, charitable strategies, estate planning and other tools may become more valuable when there is sufficient time to implement them. Financial decisions often cross disciplines. Investment, tax, retirement, insurance, estate and gifting strategies can work against one another when the professionals involved are not coordinating before decisions are made. The long-term impact of tax-efficient planning comes not only from the tax savings themselves, but also from allowing those retained dollars to remain invested and compound over time. Physicians with 1099 income or practice ownership may have access to additional planning opportunities, including retirement-plan design, business deductions and entity-structure considerations. Cash balance and other retirement-plan strategies can be especially significant for physicians with the right income, cash-flow and age profile, but they require advance planning and proper structure. The central theme of the episode is proactive coordination: tax strategy becomes more powerful when it is integrated into the doctor's broader financial plan instead of being addressed as a separate, once-a-year exercise. Resources: Extra Disclosures (Related to this specific topic) | Please View Now After-Tax Alpha: Quantifying the Value of Integrated Wealth and Tax Management for Doctors | Get Your Free Report Earned Institute | View Now Free CPA Consultation | Schedule Today Free Copy of Wealth Strategies for Today's Physician | Get Your Free Copy For more information, offers and more, please visit earned.com/wpmp.

AIUC first got our attention with the NFDG backing, and have just announced a $40M series A today, with the most impressive industry advisor list we may have ever seen for an early startup behind AIUC-1, their agent standard backed by real insurance:From being Anthropic's first product hire to building the standards, testing, and insurance infrastructure meant to make frontier AI deployable, Rune Kvist is betting that the biggest constraint on AI adoption won't be capability it will be trust. In this episode, the AIUC cofounder joins swyx and Vibhu to announce a new $40M round and explain why companies like Cursor, Harvey, Lovable, and ElevenLabs are increasingly confronting a problem that gets harder as AI gets better: who is responsible when autonomous systems fail?We go deep on AIUC-1, the emerging standard for agent security, safety, and reliability; how AI agents are stress-tested for jailbreaks, hallucinations, and data leaks; and why Rune thinks standards and insurance could become critical infrastructure for AI. We also discuss the growing trust gap between governments and frontier labs, AI-enabled cyber and biological risks, why every model can ultimately be jailbroken, what happens when a $20 coding agent causes $200M of damage, whether AI engineers should be certified, and why even after AGI there may be one job the labs can never do themselves: be their own watchdog.We discuss:* Why risk, liability, and trust may become the binding constraint on AI adoption* Rune's path from reading the Scaling Laws paper to joining Anthropic in its earliest days* What Anthropic understood about scaling, compute, and the future years before it became obvious* Why Waymo illustrates the gap between AI capability and real-world deployment* AIUC's $40M round and work with Cursor, Harvey, Lovable, ElevenLabs, and other frontier AI companies* AIUC-1: a standard for AI agent security, safety, and reliability* How agents are tested for jailbreaks, hallucinations, and data leakage* Why most AI companies optimize the happy path without seriously stress-testing adversarial cases* Why AI standards may need to update every quarter instead of every decade* The emerging trust gap between frontier AI labs and governments* Cybersecurity, child safety, biological weapons, and the expanding frontier-model risk surface* Why standards and insurance may need to evolve together* How Lloyd's of London can insure AI systems and bring trust to enterprise deployment* What happens if a $20 Cursor subscription contributes to a $200M plane crash* The Air Canada chatbot case and how AI failures are beginning to clarify legal liability* Why copyright may be one of the hardest AI risks to insure* Evals, mechanistic interpretability, monitoring, and models becoming aware they're being tested* The impossible CISO mandate: adopt AI fast, but don't let anything go wrong* Why robotics will make AI liability dramatically more consequential* Whether AI engineers should have Level 1, 2, and 3 certifications* AIUC's roadmap across agents, frontier models, robotics, and universal red teaming* Why AGI could become a question of national sovereignty* Why the labs can never fully serve as their own watchdogs* The Big Short problem: how do you stop competing watchdogs from racing standards to the bottom?Rune Kvist* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/runekvist/* X: https://x.com/RuneKvistAIUC* https://aiuc.comTimestamps00:00:00 AIUC's $40M Round and the Risk Bottleneck for AI00:01:07 From Scaling Laws to Early Anthropic00:07:58 Why Trust, Not Capability, Could Limit AI Adoption00:12:19 Founding AIUC and Building AIUC-100:18:52 How AI Agents Are Audited and Stress-Tested00:25:26 Frontier Models, Government, and the AI Trust Gap00:33:32 Cyber, Child Safety, and AI-Enabled Biological Risk00:38:14 Why Standards and Insurance Belong Together00:41:45 What Does an AI Insurance Policy Actually Cover?00:50:44 The $20 Cursor Subscription and the $200M Plane Crash00:53:53 AI Liability, Monitoring, and Earning Enterprise Trust00:56:21 From AI Agents to Models to Robotics00:58:29 Copyright, Adverse Selection, and AI Insurance01:03:28 Evals, Mechanistic Interpretability, and Eval Awareness01:08:36 The Impossible Enterprise AI Mandate01:11:52 Prediction Markets vs. AI Audits01:14:43 Should AI Engineers Be Certified?01:19:10 AIUC's Roadmap, AGI, and Who Watches the Watchdogs?TranscriptIntroduction: AIUC, the $40M Series A, and Risk as the Adoption BottleneckSwyx [00:00:00]: Okay, we're in the studio with Rune from AIUC, the Artificial Intelligence Underwriting Company, with our trusty co-host, Vibhu. Welcome.Rune Kvist [00:00:10]: Thank you. Thanks for having me. Thank you.Swyx [00:00:11]: What are you announcing today?Rune Kvist [00:00:12]: We have raised $40 million, led by Ribbit Capital and First Harmonic.Swyx [00:00:17]: You first came to my attention when Nat and Daniel invested in you guys. Is the story, like, pretty much the same? Like, what are you today versus what you thought you were back then?Rune Kvist [00:00:26]: When we raised our seed round, we had a hypothesis that at some point risk was going to hold down adoption. At that point in time, that felt kind of hypothetical, and I think that is now over. Clearly, the moment is now with Mythos and Fable. It's pretty obvious that literally the binding constraint on adoption is risk. And so for us, it feels like this is a natural continuation of the same hypothesis, but where previously it was speculation, now it feels like fact.Swyx [00:00:54]: And let's get a list of the customers that you're highlighting as part of your Series A.Rune Kvist [00:00:58]: Totally. Yeah. So we are now working with folks like Cursor, Harvey, Lovable, ElevenLabs.Swyx [00:01:05]: Yeah. Amazing. Congrats.Rune Kvist [00:01:06]: Thank you.Swyx [00:01:07]: So you were famously one of the first hires involved in GTM and product. I'm just kind of curious: what was your path into AI? Just recap.Rune's Path Into AI: Scaling Laws, Capital, and AnthropicRune Kvist [00:01:18]: Yeah.Rune Kvist [00:01:19]: Late 2021, I sold a company, my first company, an edtech company. I had a bit of time to think about what was next. I came across the Scaling Laws paper, and that just struck me like lightning. I was just like, “This is a big idea.” In short, the Scaling Laws paper just says the bigger the model, the smarter the model.Swyx [00:01:38]: So this is the Kaplan one, not the Chinchilla one?Rune Kvist [00:01:40]: Exactly, the Kaplan one.Swyx [00:01:42]: Yeah.Rune Kvist [00:01:42]: And the important thing that clicked for me there was, oh, now capital will understand this. If you put in more money, you get more money out, and so that will kick off a hype cycle. And so you get a sense of predictable returns, which is, in fact, what's played out. And so I just packed my bags. I'd never been to San Francisco. I'd never been there. I just packed my bags, flew out here to find the people who had written it. And at the time, they had just started a small lab called Anthropic. There were around 40 people at the time or so. Drank a bunch of coffee until I eventually got introduced to Dario. And at the time, they were wrestling with some of these questions of, like, should we deploy our models? Should we make revenue? How should we engage with the rest of the world? They'd just broken off from OpenAI, and it's been publicly reported that they were kind of concerned with how they were dealing with deployment. So they were wrestling with some of those questions. At this point, this is early fog of war, like early 2022. The hottest product at the time was, like, Jasper. Like, there's nothing out there. So where value was going to accrue, and what the different parts of the stack were going to be, were all open questions.Swyx [00:02:48]: I want to highlight to people, you ask these questions because you have a PPE background.Rune Kvist [00:02:52]: Yes.Swyx [00:02:52]: I actually was in Singapore in one of the sort of feeder programs for prepping people for PPE. So I had a tutor. We learned, you know, philosophy and politics and economics. But, like, I think your kind of background matters. Machine learning people who read the neural, Scaling Laws paper would not necessarily draw the same conclusions that you did. Whereas any capitalist would read that and go, “Holy s**t.”Rune Kvist [00:03:19]: Correct.Swyx [00:03:20]: Right?Rune Kvist [00:03:21]: Yes.Swyx [00:03:21]: Who tipped you onto that paper? Because it's not a paper that you normally read, right, like, in your circles?Rune Kvist [00:03:26]: Yeah. I think I'd actually, ever since AlphaGo, had some appreciation that AI was a big deal.Swyx [00:03:36]: Yeah.Rune Kvist [00:03:36]: But it kind of felt like it raised all these kind of interesting philosophical questions, but it was kind of not clear from afar where exactly that would go. But it was obvious enough that it was like, this is going to be a big thing if we find the kind of right mechanism to kind of get the techno-capital machine to work on this. But it was just not clear. And so I think there was some way in which, like, that became obvious, and also it wasn't as obvious at the time than it is now, right? Like, it was just like, wow, this is so interesting. But it still felt, coming from kind of a philosophy and economics background, it felt like if this turns out to be true, you're going to be wrestling with all of the big questions in society. Everything you've learned about politics gets thrown out of the window. Everything you've learned about economics at least gets challenged. And so what felt interesting was to be at that frontier that has ramifications across everything. So that's why I sought it out.Swyx [00:04:32]: I mean, clearly really good insight. For people who don't know, the PPE program is, like, where prime ministers are born. So then you end up meeting Dario.Rune Kvist [00:04:41]: Yep. First Dario, yeah.Swyx [00:04:43]: Yeah. Well, I mean, like, so did you get extra insights from talking with them that you didn't get from your original hypothesis?Anthropic's Early Conviction and the Scaling Laws Crystal BallRune Kvist [00:04:50]: If you read the Scaling Laws paper, you get this, like, very vague sketch of like, wow, this seems kind of important. There are some lines on a chart. This seems kind of important. And what I think the team at Anthropic had thought more about than anyone was like, what are the implications of this if you really play this out? And back then they had, kind of vision documents for what the world would look like in 2026, and they were kind of in vivid detail playing out how much compute is going to be needed, what the CapEx was going to look like, what some of the societal concerns were going to be, but also what is the amount of economic value coming out here? And so it kind of felt like they held a crystal ball that in hindsight turned out to just be dramatically correct. And they weren't holding it like they were obviously correct. They were just like, “Take this hypothesis really seriously.”Swyx [00:05:38]: Think it through, yeah.Rune Kvist [00:05:38]: And think it through in the same way as the kind of situational awareness that isSwyx [00:05:43]: Across the street.Rune Kvist [00:05:44]: Across the street.Swyx [00:05:44]: Your office, yeah. Oh my God, we're all living across the street in the same one square mile.Rune Kvist [00:05:50]: Correct. And that's now a couple of years old, but also people keep referencing it these particular weeks with Fable and Mythos, and it's like, wow, if you take this one idea seriously- For the Scaling Laws, a lot of things fall into place.Vibhu [00:06:03]: And keep in mind, at this point, this is the same team that did GPT-1, GPT-2, and GPT-3.Rune Kvist [00:06:08]: Correct.Vibhu [00:06:08]: Which is also, like, it's not just some experimentation. Like, this is a real model that we just scaled up.Rune Kvist [00:06:14]: And they had deep conviction in this idea: if you take a big blob of compute and data, it just wants to learn, and out of that will come smarter and smarter models. And all the particulars were not clear.Vibhu [00:06:26]: Yeah.Rune Kvist [00:06:27]: And all the implications were not clear. But their deep conviction in this, like, core thesis, and that was kind of dizzying. It was both phenomenally interesting and exciting, and also very quickly you get to, like, the world we know today will no longer be if this hypothesis holds. So it also just felt, like, important in some kind of grand sense.Vibhu [00:06:48]: What kind of shaped you there? So that was early 2022. Not only had GPT-1, GPT-2, and GPT-3 come out, but, you know, the amazing founders of Anthropic that have never split up, the only ones, they actually had the conviction to leave OpenAI, start their lab. You said there were about 40 people there. What was the time like there?Inside Early Anthropic: Mission, Deployment, and RiskRune Kvist [00:07:06]: It was kind of remarkably like what it looks like on the outside today. Extremely cohesive, extremely mission-oriented, and living in this tension between their two ideas, which is AI could both go really well and really bad, and we want to be part of building it. That creates astounding amounts of tension. And they were wrestling with this incentive challenge where they know they're in a race that they're in where you might get forced to cut corners, but it also felt very important to them to be at the forefront of technology. And all of those ideas were just present at that time. It kind of feels like that line has been just very clear, and I think kind of love them or hate them, they have really stuck to their guns. There's a core set of beliefs that they hold more deeply than most companies hold any beliefs.Vibhu [00:07:58]: Yeah. Fast-forward to today.Rune Kvist [00:08:00]: Yeah.Vibhu [00:08:00]: What does that lead us to AI underwriting company? What are you up to? What motivated you to start this?From Waymo to AIUC: Confidence Infrastructure for AIRune Kvist [00:08:05]: Yeah. AIUC builds confidence infrastructure for frontier AI through standards and insurance. The link from Anthropic to building confidence infrastructure, looking out the windows at Anthropic offices and seeing Waymos driving by. Already back then, early 2022, Waymos were in some ways like AGI for cars. Like, they were superhuman drivers, but you couldn't take one to the airport. And now, four and a bit years later, you still can't take your Waymo to the airport, despite now everyone having kind of looked at the evidence and being like, “They're better drivers than humans.” So in that particular instance, what's clear is that the binding constraint on AI being useful is not capability, but is that liability or risk or trust. That problem is, general. The reason why right nowRune Kvist [00:08:52]: Fable is not open for access is not because it's not a good model, it's because it's a very good model. It's just hard to make promises about what it will or will not do. And this problem gets worse as AI gets better. Basically, more intelligent AI can be more autonomous. That's more valuable, but also the risk surface grows. And so - what Waymo illustrates is that unless you build the confidence infrastructure to make promises about AI, or at least bring light to the risks, you grind adoption to a halt. Governments, banks, hospitals, militaries need to have some sense of what AI will and will not do to be able to operate for them to incorporate it. And that's the problem that we're trying to solve. Now, why standards and insurance? If you trace this problem back through history, every technology wave has had some version of this problem. So if you go back to, like, year 1900, electricity comesVibhu [00:09:47]: Ben Franklin.Rune Kvist [00:09:48]: Cars burn down, sorry, houses burn down, lots of people die. 1930s, cars are a big deal, kill lots of people. 1950s, private nuclear energy is a big deal, poses big risks. In each of those instances, the market runs ahead of regulation to create confidence infrastructure because that's required to make go/go decisions. That is required for adoption, and the market fundamentally wants adoption. And in all of those instances, common blueprint emerges between standards and insurance. The reason these two components is standards kind of provide the rules of the road, and they also specify, like, what are the tests that need to be run so we can get a sense of how high the risk is. So take in the case of cars, that's like a car crash. Great, everyone, they inform your insurance pricing today, they inform your purchasing decisions, et cetera. That's basically the risk framework. The insurers are important because they pick up the bill. So they are the private institution that is most on the side of. That is best incentivized to quantify the risks truthfully and then figure out all the ways to reduce the risk ‘cause that increases their profit. So they're basically, they help shape the incentives. And these two work really well in unison. Now, how does that show up as a company? Well, one of the things that was obvious even - or starting to become obvious even a couple years ago was that frontier companies, some of our customers today, like Cursor, Sierra, ElevenLabs, Harvey, were going to have a very easy time selling a pilot to a bank. The, like, the demo just sells itself. It's magic. But bringing that through, if you want to do a wall-to-wall rollout at a bank or a hospital, you have to go through the risk process. These banks have no idea even which questions to ask, let alone which answers are sufficient, let alone, like, how do they go and test whether these agents actually work the way they're supposed to. And so they had this problem of, like, what can we say to earn the trust? And we think there's, like, a golden sentence that goes something like, “Hey, I hear you're really worried about hallucinations or jailbreaks or whatever it may be. We've had an independent third party test us against the gold standard. We passed with flying colors. And as a vote of confidence, the world's most conservative insurers have looked at the data.” And they're willing to take some of the risk onto their balance sheet.Swyx [00:12:06]: Yeah.Rune Kvist [00:12:07]: So if something does go wrongSwyx [00:12:07]: There's money behind it, yeah.Rune Kvist [00:12:09]: Exactly. So that's kind of like the link between all this. We can get into some of the hard parts related to the technical testing, which is, I think, the crux of the matter, but I'll pause there.Swyx [00:12:19]: How did you and Rajiv come together? This-- there's always, like, you come across very confident and, you know, and we're announcing your Series A and all these things, but I want to see, like, the early initial stages of, like, idea formation.Cofounding AIUC with Rajiv DattaniRune Kvist [00:12:31]: Yeah. Rajiv is actually my soon-to-be brother-in-law.Swyx [00:12:35]: Oh.Rune Kvist [00:12:36]: So I'm actually, in a week and a half getting married to Rajiv's sister.Swyx [00:12:42]: Okay, now you're tight.Rune Kvist [00:12:44]: Exactly.Swyx [00:12:44]: Now you know.Rune Kvist [00:12:45]: So - Rajiv and I have known each other for a decade. Funny story, I met both Rajiv and his sister, Hena, at the same time when Hena and I were interns at McKinsey in London, and Rajiv was assigned as my mentor. And so met them at the same time. For the longest time, it was not obvious that we were necessarily going to work together. I was in startups. He was, an insurance partner at McKinsey. Three or four years ago, I think Hena convinced him that AI was going to be a really big thing. And so he quit his job, cushy partner job at McKinsey in London, packed his bags, flew to San Francisco, and ended up joining METR. You guys are probably online enoughSwyx [00:13:24]: CEO.Rune Kvist [00:13:24]: Exactly.Swyx [00:13:24]: We've, we've, we've heard of METR.Rune Kvist [00:13:25]: You see the plot-- the chart of the horizons of the tasks that agents can take on is doubling extremely fast. So he was COO at METR, led their partnerships with Anthropic and OpenAI to test their models before release, but also working closely with the US and UK government, to figure out, like, how do you know whether a model can be released? And in some ways, that was, like, the perfect background. He's spent a lot of time in insurance, knows that world, spent a lot of time with frontier testing of models. And so when I was bumbling around this idea space, starting with some of the ideas we talked about related to Waymo, as soon as we got into the content, we were both like, “Oh, this would be an amazing business to build together.” This is wrestling with the problem that we both think is the most important in the world from a market angle, which is kind of our intuitions is that the market can do a lot, and the faster AI moves, the harder it is for government to solve some of these problems. And then it took a little bit of time to work through what is it like to work with family.Swyx [00:14:27]: Sure.Rune Kvist [00:14:27]: And,Swyx [00:14:30]: Because you were already dating at the timeRune Kvist [00:14:31]: Yeah. Yeah, exactly.Swyx [00:14:33]: Yeah.Rune Kvist [00:14:34]: Already back then, itSwyx [00:14:35]: Yeah.Rune Kvist [00:14:35]: We felt like we were a family.Swyx [00:14:36]: Nice.Rune Kvist [00:14:36]: And so starting a business together felt like kind of a big step. And, here we are with just immense amounts of trust.Vibhu [00:14:43]: Yeah. So now you're a company of how big? How big are you guys now?AIUC-1 Certification: Agent Security, Safety, and ReliabilityRune Kvist [00:14:46]: There are just 20 of us now.Vibhu [00:14:47]: 20 of you guys now, have Series A, and you have your first certification out, the AIUC-1. Let's bring up the certification. So this is the agent certification, right? What goes into the process? I have, like, two questions here. One is, walk us through the certification, and two is, what is the process for a company to get certified, you know?Rune Kvist [00:15:08]: Great. As it says right on the top, AIUC-1 is a standard for agent security, safety, and reliability. The fundamental design principle is take all of the concerns that slow down adoption, so all the questions, all the fears that keep, security leaders in the Fortune 1000 up at night, and put them into one comprehensive framework. That's what you'll see there. You can see the six categories. Two, you want to ground all of this in technical testing. So one of the concerns with security standards that often feel kind of like theater paperwork is that they're not actually ground out in, does any of this work? Does any of this matter? And so we had a conviction from early on that was going to be the kind of crux, was to pass this, you must get tested every quarter, basically run thousands of simulations to see, well, so can it actually be jailbroken? How hard is it to jailbreak? How often does it hallucinate? How often does it leak data? Et cetera. And then the last, core idea here, if you scroll up to the top here, is to refresh it quarterly.Rune Kvist [00:16:08]: So the core trait of AI is that it moves extremely fast. Whatever concerns we're discussing today were not the same ones three months ago, and this will keep changing. Typically, standards update on a, like, a decade cycle is obviously not going to work. But the question is kind of how do you update it? And the core thing here was to basically get the risk leaders of the Fortune 1000 around the table. So if you go over to the left hereVibhu [00:16:32]: YeahRune Kvist [00:16:32]: You'll see the AIUC-1 consortium. The consortium is a group of risk leaders who run real banks, real hospitals, real critical infrastructure, who are facing these challenges every day. And we meet with these folks twice a quarter and hear what's top of mind, what is keeping them up at night. There's tremendous amount of desire for that conversation. And then we operationalize that into a specific standard that gets into. And actually, we can go into and look at whatVibhu [00:16:55]: YeahRune Kvist [00:16:55]: What even is the standard. So if we go back to introduction, out there to the left, scroll up a little bit to the wheel, click into reliability. So if you take something like hallucinations sits in reliability. There is a number of requirements here. If you go into the top one, prevent hallucinated outputs, hallucinate outputs, this is one particular requirement. This is a technical control. Basically, we want some kind of ground in this filter. The first thing you see here is what's called a crosswalk. So everyone and their grandmother has put out a framework, very high-level framework for what are the AI risks.Swyx [00:17:27]: This is basically your competition,Rune Kvist [00:17:28]: In some ways our competitionSwyx [00:17:29]: Not seriously, yeah.Rune Kvist [00:17:30]: We're, in fact, friends with them. We'll come back to why.Swyx [00:17:31]: Yeah.Rune Kvist [00:17:32]: But mapping everything together so you have one superset. The claim you're trying to support here is, if you follow this framework, then you can also see how you follow the other frameworks. But the meat of it comes down here in control activities and evidence. So control activities is like, great, you have this high-level requirement. How do you turn that down to something operational? Here's what you must do, and then what is the evidence that we're looking for?Rune Kvist [00:17:57]: And the reason we go this deep is that there's actually not that much confusion about what are the big concerns in AI. Everyone agrees to these. The question, like, what are you actually supposed to do? And so. What we found a lot of demand for is getting down to the specific evidence, that people need to look for. Whether you are Cursor building something or, even JPMorgan building something, but also if you're just a risk leader at JPMorgan, like what exactly should you ask for? What can you ask for without sounding stupid? Like if you ask for some-- you won't believe the amount of time a risk leader has asked for the IP rights to the underlying model to Cursor or something, and you're just like “Sorry, what?” Like,Swyx [00:18:39]: You slip it in there and you seeRune Kvist [00:18:40]: SlipSwyx [00:18:40]: See if you notice.Rune Kvist [00:18:41]: See if they. Exactly.Swyx [00:18:42]: Yeah.Rune Kvist [00:18:42]: Put that in the questionnaire. All right, so that's kind of what our standard is, and we update this every quarter with these folks, to keep up with the latest concerns.Swyx [00:18:51]: Can I double-click on this one?Controls, Evidence, and Third-Party TestingRune Kvist [00:18:52]: Yeah.Swyx [00:18:52]: So first of all, the website's beautiful. Like, it's so confidence-inducing which is the whole point where, like, okay, I know exactly what I'm signing up for when I talk with you. Like, I don't even have to talk to you. I can just see your whole, certification, which is great. But, like, okay, so from here, like D001.1 configure a groundedness filter, how does that get applied? Like, you have a person thatRune Kvist [00:19:16]: Yeah,Swyx [00:19:16]: Goes through it?Rune Kvist [00:19:17]: If you, go backVibhu [00:19:19]: I did see somewhere there's like, you know, fifty-one requirements, a hundred thirty controls. There's like a wholeSwyx [00:19:25]: Right. I just want to. Like, to me, this doesn't translateVibhu [00:19:27]: Yeah.Swyx [00:19:27]: Into a test or an eval.Rune Kvist [00:19:28]: Yes. So if you go into, on the left-hand side. So actually, if - before we go in there are three types of requirements. The first is technical controls, like you must implement some guardrails.Rune Kvist [00:19:42]: Two, there are test controls. So you must have an independent third party go and run some tests against you. I'll show you one of those in a second. And then three, there are policy controls. For example, you must have a person whose name is on the line when you guys f**k up, and you must have a plan for how you tell your customers and how you engage with them. They're kind of more traditional, standard type stuff. So in this particular instance, we just check whether they in fact have a ground in filter. So we will partner with an auditor. So we partner with auditors like KPMG or like Schellman who go in and do the thing auditors do, which is to check the evidence. In this case, that might be a screenshot, it might be part of the code that they need to review to see that it actually. Just that it exists.Swyx [00:20:21]: Oh, okay.Rune Kvist [00:20:22]: And then the second thingSwyx [00:20:22]: So you're not testing the effectiveness of it.Rune Kvist [00:20:24]: That's the second thing. So if you go downSwyx [00:20:25]: Yeah.Rune Kvist [00:20:25]: To the third-party testing for hallucinations out on the left, that's basically the next requirement. This is where we test how well does it actually work.Swyx [00:20:32]: Okay, and is it you testing or the auditor?Rune Kvist [00:20:34]: We test them.Rune Kvist [00:20:35]: We test them.Swyx [00:20:36]: That's a lot of work.Vibhu [00:20:37]: How long does testing take? So if I want to get certified, justCertification Timelines, Remediation, and Quarterly UpdatesRune Kvist [00:20:40]: Yeah.Vibhu [00:20:40]: How long does the end roughly take?Rune Kvist [00:20:42]: Yeah, the end, almost always is dependent on, like, our customers needVibhu [00:20:47]: Yeah.Rune Kvist [00:20:47]: To look something for us. It takes somewhere between, like, 3 to 10 weeksSwyx [00:20:52]: Yeah.Rune Kvist [00:20:52]: Depending on how up to snuff they already are. So some people show up to us with, like, extremely rigorous security programs. When we test them, it works extremely well. We can get that done very quick. Some people come to us, and they're not that far along. We give them kind of the spec that they need to build towards, and then their security teams and engineers get to work and build to meet the standard. The testing itself typically takes a couple of weeks, including the time for them to remediate. Often, we'll find something that we cannot pass, where this is actually just not up to the standard. - you won't pass the standard. And then they will need to go and implement additional safeguards or additional remediation that makes them more robust so that they can actually kind of hand on heart look at their customers in the eyes and say, like, “Hey, we've done truly our very best.”Vibhu [00:21:35]: And they're certified for a year and have quarterly updates?Rune Kvist [00:21:38]: Correct, yeah.Vibhu [00:21:39]: And, yeah, it's pretty interesting. I think, you know, what's changed since. So this is certifying agents in production, right? Your customers, like you've had Lovable, ElevenLabs, Intercom, and they've all gone through this certification.Rune Kvist [00:21:50]: Yes.Vibhu [00:21:51]: What has changed? So I see you post, like, you know, Q2 added MCP agent,How Agent Risks Are Changing: Coding, MCP, and Agent-to-Agent InteractionsRune Kvist [00:21:56]: Yeah.Vibhu [00:21:56]: agent communication. Any other things that you want to kind of highlight since the first iteration? What comes in quarterly?Rune Kvist [00:22:03]: Yeah. So some of the changes have just been agents are not just one thing. So, like, if you take agents like Cursor and compare them to Sierra, they're really quite different. And compare them to Harvey again, compare them to you out of againSwyx [00:22:16]: ElevenLabs, yeah.Rune Kvist [00:22:17]: ElevenLabs, they're all quite different. And so we wanted to design a standard that works for all of the types of agents. And we started with one that was, like, pretty text-based, like, honestly, pretty customer support-focused. That's where there's a lot of existing demand. And then over time, we've picked, some of the frontier companies in each of these other domains that we could work with and build out the standard, so, such that we know that the same standard works for code, it works for customer support, works for automation, et cetera. So that's been one big thing. Yeah, then some of the things that have been top of mind recently, Mythos is bringing up a lot of concerns for security leaders. We're starting to get more and more questions around agent interactions. It's very nascent, at the moment, but it's starting to emerge. There've been a lot of, questions related to OpenClaw and MCP. Again, like agents starting to interact with each other, is really top of mind. Then as coding agents have really taken off, that's also where banks and hospitals, et cetera, are getting more and more precise on what it is they need. So really dialing in as that start to be, like, where most of the tokens flow through in the world, getting much sharper on that.Vibhu [00:23:26]: Can you share for people that are listening that don't really think about this? Like you mentioned, there's the obvious stuff, you know, hallucination, citations. What are best practices that people should do when building agents? Like, if they come to you pretty ready with certification like, you know, they'll probably pass certification. What are the things people don't think about that they should have?Best Practices for Agent Builders: Stress Tests and GuardrailsRune Kvist [00:23:46]: The most important thing is that a lot of companies have not done a serious stress test. They spend most of the time, perhaps rightly so, optimizing for how does it work in the good case, the average case, how high-quality is the output for the customer. And a lot of these companies are pretty new, so they haven't spent a lot of time stress testing the what is there as an adversary on the other side? What are some of the complicated corner cases that you've not really considered? So I think that's, like, a frame of mind. And you'll also see this in startups. It often takes a while until they hire their first security person. They- And that's a whole different kind of risk surface than just building a good product. So a lot of that applies. Most companies actually also have the right kind of architecture. Most of them will have some kind of guardrails in place, either some that come out of the box from their model provider or they'll have built their own filters that sit in between. They just don't work very well. The difference between putting a classifier in place that, like, maybe goes and checks whether you're giving medical advice when you shouldn't and says, “Hey, if this looks like medical advice, filter it out.” Lots of companies have that in place. The question is whether it works. And it's actually pretty fiddly to sit down and think about all the ways in which you could ask for medical advice, read the academic literature on what are the kinds ofRune Kvist [00:25:03]: Framings or tricks you might play to get an AI to give you medical advice when you really shouldn't. And so there's, like, an area of expertise that's just missing. So what we find is that most people have the right building blocks in place. They don'- It doesn'- It's not rocket science, but the finicky thing is, like, getting into the corners and testing whether it works such that you can look your customers in the eye, or maybe a bank or maybe a hospital and be like, “This is going to work for you.”Vibhu [00:25:26]: I see. So we talked a lot about the agent-level certification. Where do you guys go from here? So announcing series A camera, we talked about this a bit. There's the whole security risk of Fable, government stepping in. You guys are kind of announcing that you're also going into model certification?Toward Model Certification: The Government–Lab Trust GapRune Kvist [00:25:46]: When we do a bit of cutting afterwards,Vibhu [00:25:48]: YeahRune Kvist [00:25:48]: We will not yet be announcing this,Vibhu [00:25:49]: NiceRune Kvist [00:25:50]: The question that is top of everyone's minds now is at the model level. And Mythos, then Fable, has really brought this to the fore that in addition to the commercial risk and the kind of economic security risks that are happening at the agent layer, the models are going to present risk in the national security category. The shape of the problem is very similar. You have some people that are on the hook if something goes wrong. In the case of agents, it's often security leaders in the enterprise. In this case, it's the government. They don'- haven't necessarily spent their entire lives thinking about what are the new risks that come here, what is the kind of data you might be looking for, how might you test that? But they do have to make sure that their concerns are addressed. You have some frontier AI companies that are deeply technical. They know a lot about the risks, but they fundamentally have an incentive to not always be truthful. So you have a trust gap between the government and the labs. And in every other industry, you end up with some kind of body sitting between, a neutral third party sitting between those people. There's no other industry where you allow people to audit themselves. So there is going to be a need for a third party that can take the rigor of the labs to run frontier technical evals, but can also speak legible trust in the way that the government trusts PwC to go and run financial audits. And they know that they output audit reports in a way that's consistent, that's easy to read, that's factual, that's, trustworthy. Those two things need to be brought together. And what we've learned from our work with agents is that if you want those-- that communication between those two parties to be smooth, there has to be one common standard that is public, that people can go and inspect. What are the risks that matter? Within each of these risks, what are the kinds of threat models that you're really looking for? You need to specify for each of those risks, what are the guardrails that need to be in place, and what are the tests they need to run to see whether those guardrails are effective? And then you need to go and run audits that are - technical audits that are consistent. So if you're trying to bring trust, it's extremely important that you methodically work your way through the risks. You can't send one researcher in and say, like, “Come back with whatever you find.” You need to be able to explain exactly what you did, exactly what you tried, exactly what you did not try, and therefore the kinds of promises you can and cannot make at the end of it. I think ofNeutral Third Parties, CAISI, and Model Risk AuditsRune Kvist [00:28:13]: Fable as a direct symptom of this problem that the government was told that there's a risk. The government may struggle to assess just how big that risk is. They call Anthropic, and Anthropic is trying to tell them, “Hey, actually, every model can be jailbroken.”Swyx [00:28:28]: That's not what you want to hear, right?Rune Kvist [00:28:32]: As the government, that might be hard to trust.Rune Kvist [00:28:36]: And we think that a broker is the most natural solution. In other markets, you see something like, in financial markets, you see Moody's. Moody's goes in, and they look at a bond, and they output a rating. They say like, “Here's the evidence we found. Here's the rating.” We don't decide whether anyone should buy this bond or not buy this bond. Well, that depends on their risk appetite. But we do provide this common information layer that everyone can rely on. In the case of Moody's, the government, points to them and say, “Hey, pension funds, you should probably really take care. You shouldn't risk your pensioners' money, so you can only invest in triple-A rated bonds.” That means that now the government doesn't have to staff thousands of financial technical experts to rerun forecasts every week to see whether things are correctly rated. They get to point to some neutral third party. So my hypothesis is, my hunch is that you will see a third party that sits between the government and the labs, and it could either be the government builds it themselves. So something like CAISI was set up to do exactly this. And the questionSwyx [00:29:44]: Sorry, I'm not familiar with CAISI.Rune Kvist [00:29:45]: CAISI is the Center for AI Standards and Innovation.Swyx [00:29:49]: Okay.Rune Kvist [00:29:50]: I won't get into the details, but it's a body of NIST that typically sets standards. So it's basically a government body that has AI experts. Yeah, exactly. Exactly.Swyx [00:29:59]: Very key. Very key.Rune Kvist [00:30:00]: Very key.Vibhu [00:30:00]: I think, you know, it's one of those things where when you just sit back and listen-- look at it, like, is there enough technical expertise in the government to measure, test these things right now? Probably not, right? And Fable is a result of, okay, we've had to scale back and pause things,Rune Kvist [00:30:17]: Yeah. And they have excellent people, but they have an extraordinarily small budget compared to the scale of the challenge that's ahead of us. And I think they have a role to play. The question is kind of like, who does what? We have now outlined the jobs to be done, and they're quite extensive. Every model release, there is an astounding-- Given that they take in any input, their risk surface is astounding. And so the question is really: what can only the government do, and what can the market provide here that can keep up with the pace as AI risk changes? Our perspective is that also at the model layer, the risks that people care about today are not the same ones they cared about three months ago. So the pace of legislation is too slow to deal with pinpointing the risks here. And so we think there's a lot that the market can do to surface timely information. Ultimately, there is a bunch of policy decisions here. Is the national security risks of a model too high?Swyx [00:31:12]: Yeah.Rune Kvist [00:31:12]: That's a political answer. But what we want to make sure is that the process that produces this risk information is compatible with very fast innovation. So you don't want to. This is not a question of like, can you slow the things down? Can you keep, the models locked up until-- for months on end until everyone can make a guarantee? But it is this, can you, in the time it. Given that the US is competing with China on releasing models, can you insert risk information that allows the government to, like, make rapid decisions on some of these questions? Balancing that trade-off between failing to adopt AI is going to put us at risk, but also reckless adoption is going to put us at risk. And that's a very kind of fine balance that they're going to need, like, a lot of high-quality intelligence to make.Chinese Models, Data Flows, and National Security ConcernsSwyx [00:31:55]: Just a side mention, because you mentioned Chinese models, any specific concerns that you're hearing from your CISOs about that? ‘cause I guess it's free, but.Rune Kvist [00:32:05]: CISOs have a bunch of concerns around data flows in general that they're really concerned about. So there's a lot of questions like, if these models are Chinese, where does that, where does that data go? I think a lot of this can be addressed, but they come up often.Swyx [00:32:18]: I mean, they understand they're running on American GPUs.Rune Kvist [00:32:21]: Some of them, some of them understand that they're running on American GPUs.Swyx [00:32:23]: They're not, like, phoning home every time you, like, call home.Rune Kvist [00:32:26]: No. A year ago, there was not a lot of understanding of this. I actually think, you're seeing the security leaders becoming kind of AI literate at a blistering pace, and you're actually also seeing my Twitter timeline that's very pilled and my LinkedIn feed that used to not at all be pilled kind of converge. They're both talking about Fable.Swyx [00:32:45]: Right. Yeah, that's true.Rune Kvist [00:32:46]: They are both talking about whether you can prevent models from being jailbroken these days.Swyx [00:32:51]: Yeah.Rune Kvist [00:32:52]: Like national security national security risks are now the conversation that is actually emerging. Other than that, I think you mostly see a kind of general picture: there are no concerns with any particular model or any particular model output, but there is a general nervousness of having critical infrastructure run on models that are not produced in America by Americans where the American government has control.Swyx [00:33:14]: But it doesn't necessarily show up in your framework that directly, or it might, I don't know.Rune Kvist [00:33:18]: There's a bit of stuff in there actually on the, like, the provenance of the models and disclosing that. But I think there's a bunch of use cases where running a Chinese open-source model is just the best solution.Swyx [00:33:27]: Yeah.Rune Kvist [00:33:27]: And a concern is slightly more macro here, which is not best addressed at any particular certification level.Vibhu [00:33:32]: Is there anything interesting that you see at the. You know, if you're trying to fill that middle gap, that mediation gap, any interesting stuff that you guys forecast would be required other than, you know, what the average person might expect?Cyber, Child Safety, Bio Risk, and Expert CoordinationRune Kvist [00:33:47]: There's a bunch of interesting questions about what are the risks that matter here. So right now, the risk of the day is cyber, because it's very real, very tangible. And some of the risks that are also emerging as pretty real and pretty tangible are things like child safety is becoming both extremely important, but also politically important. And then there are some of the risks that are coming down the pipeline that today feel kind of speculative, but people who spend a lot of time with the models see them coming down is things like, risks that relate to biology.Rune Kvist [00:34:18]: And specifically whether models will help adversaries produce biological weapons and making that extremely cheap, extremely accessible, producing-- making the chance of another COVID or worse pandemic. COVID was not engineered to be bad, as if you were trying to do that. So I think those are some of the risks that are coming down the pipeline. I think one other thing to just note is that agents are kind of deliberately narrow. So, like, when a frontier agent company puts a chatbot that interacts with customers, they've really tried to narrow the topics it's interested in talking about. Such that if you ask it, like, “What do you think of the president?” it will just decline, which means that the kind of risk area is somewhat smaller. For models, it is infinite. And so there's not a single expert out there who can competently evaluate the risks of cyberattacks and fifteen-year-olds having month-long conversations with a chatbot and seeing whether it will in fact recommend suicide or something horrendous like that, and can evaluate the risks that terrorists can use AI to produce bioweapons. The risk surface is just too big. And so the central challenge actually becomes how do you get those subject matter experts to work within a one coherent framework that outputs one coherent report and rating that the world can go and inspect? ‘Cause that global perspective is central, but there's not a single organization today that could produce that.Swyx [00:35:47]: And you would be the presumptive one when you put out your model standards.Rune Kvist [00:35:51]: We think there can be one company that can, with a consortium of experts, build one coherent standard. I think we've shown that across all of the enterprise risks today. We think it could be one company that could, with a consortium, specify the audit rules, basically like the inputs and outputs that all these technical experts need. What access do they need? How should they treat infosec- info security? They can look at whether the eval- evals are well-produced without necessarily being able to say, “Hey, is this a threat or not a threat?” But overall, evaluating whether the evals are good, well-constructed, that set of audit rules that basically becomes the interface for all these experts, we think one clearinghouse could put together. To be clear. When I say one company, I think of it as one company coordinating lots of this in the same way that when we saw our consortium, it's not like we say we have all the answers on agent security. What we say is we are taking on the role of eliciting all of the concerns and being the secretary that puts it together and runs a tight house such that the standard updates lockstep every quarter, and that the audit reports that come out, in this case, 100-page audit reports, uniform and crisp and clear all to the level of detail that is required for executives that need to make a clear go/go decision. So that's kind of the role that we think we might play.OWASP, Frameworks, and the Operational Audit LayerSwyx [00:37:11]: I think in many ways you're performing the role that OWASP used to do there, and you said, like, you know, competition and partners.Rune Kvist [00:37:18]: Yeah.Swyx [00:37:19]: Can you go more into, like, how they partner?Rune Kvist [00:37:20]: Yeah. So first of all, OWASP is basically an open source community of security practitioners that are coming together to build frameworks for addressing the latest security concerns. We think they are phenomenal at creating frameworks. We'- In fact, we'- First of all, we're partners with them, so we have a joint article. Two, we've learned a lot from them. We think they're a tremendous source of intelligence. What OWASP does not do is building the machine that runs third-party audits such that a company like Cursor or a company like JPMorgan could get a third party to go and review them against this and say, “Hey, you've passed the standard, and here is the report that you can use to build trust and preempt your partners' or customers' questions.” So they fundamentally try to do something different. You - They are part of the information gathering and intelligence gathering and creating clarity, but the operational layer of turning this into promises is not the business they try to be in.Swyx [00:38:14]: The standard is emerging and is doing very well. Was it necessary to then also do underwriting? Obviously it's in the name, so please remember you thought about it first. I feel like if you just have enough consensus, you don't actually need the money angle, but it does help.Vibhu [00:38:30]: I did want to also note, you guys are a profit company too, right? It's not profit where there's a whole business side to it as well?Why For-Profit Standards and Insurers MatterRune Kvist [00:38:39]: Yeah. Yeah, so I'm just getting crazySwyx [00:38:41]: I think about the money part.Rune Kvist [00:38:42]: Yeah. Yeah, let's get into the money part. Let's start from actually your question, profit versus profit. In the security space today, cybersecurity, most of the standards are produced by nonprofits. I think that's an issue.Rune Kvist [00:39:00]: The question you have to ask yourself is, how do you create good incentives for these standards to be good and keep up?Rune Kvist [00:39:09]: Nonprofits tend to not have these adverse profit incentives where they, hollow out their standard and create a race to the bottom, but they're also not at all responsive by default to the communities that they serve. There's no process-- They don't have customers that they serve where they go and ask, “What do you want? What do you want? What do you want?” And when you look at the overall satisfaction with the security standards today, people tend to just not like them very much. You do see in other domains, that profit standards can serve the world quite well. So there are examples, like we talked about Moody's before. It's not without flaws, but, it is absolutely critical societal infrastructure that gets run at an astounding scale today. Your credit score, it's FICO. It's also a profit business. And when you go back even further in history, some of the crash testing standards came out of insurance companies.Rune Kvist [00:40:06]: The insurance companies together founded the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety because they were very interested in, like, how can we use standards to drive down mortality and save money? Go back, prior-- Our name actually pays homage to the Underwriters Laboratories, UL, which, was started right around when electricity came out. Houses started burning down. Insurers, again, were paying the bill, and they were maybe also good people, but their profit incentive was, let's prevent houses from burning down. Let's test all the electrical products, the light bulbs. All the light bulbs in here are probably tested, the toasters, et cetera. And they set up, an entity to create those standards. Today, UL has a profit entity and a profit entity. What they've recognized, they spun - They started profit. They spun out a profit because what they recognized was like, hey, actually to serve customers well, you need a profit entity. The lesson here is one of the ways that the market can align incentives so you're both responsive to customersRune Kvist [00:41:07]: And not hollowing out your standard over time is to align it with insurers because they fundamentally have good incentives. And so if you're a profit standard that works closely with insurers, you get the feedback loop in such that you're really tuned into your customers, but also have their interest at heart. So that's the model that we - the kind of inspirational model that we've learned a lot from, and that's also where the name comes from. In some ways, the term underwriting can both be associated with insurance, but it's also a broad term for, like, making decisions.Rune Kvist [00:41:40]: If you underwrite a decision, you're fundamentally kind of taking ownership for the consequences of it.AI Insurance Contracts, Lloyd's of London, and ElevenLabsSwyx [00:41:45]: Yeah, I mean, what does an insurance contract look like for AI?Rune Kvist [00:41:49]: Yeah. Most of the demand comes today for insurance contracts is, sitting between people who've built AI and people who are buying AI.Swyx [00:41:56]: Yes.Rune Kvist [00:41:57]: And what you want—the reason why people want insurers involved, both for the traditional reasons, hey, if something goes wrong, we want to be compensated, but it's in particular because insurers can bring trust to the equation. Because insurers will pay for the damages, if they're willing to write an insurance policy, that is them saying, “Hey, we think there is risk here, but that is manageable.” And that is kind of a. Their incentive aligns with the enterprises adopting it, so that's a really a good signal to the market. In the same way, actually, one of the things that Waymo tried to get their first permit to even operate in San Francisco was to get a lot of insurers to stack up a huge insurance policy. In the case if something went wrong, not because Google can't pay, but because it was very valuable to have a third party go and look at that dataRune Kvist [00:42:47]: That are trusted by governments, trusted by enterprises as conservative people and say, “Hey, we've looked at it. We're actually willing to take some of this on our balance sheet.” So that's, that's kind of the reason why people are interested in it. What it looks like is, in some ways like every other insurance contract. You specify what are the perils you want to cover, how much do you want to cover them, like up to what limits, and what does it cost to cover that. And in the case of, if we take a really concrete example, ElevenLabs, bought a first of its kind AI agent insurance policy. They work with some of the biggest, enterprises that work with governments. They're really interested in going above and beyond and making promises to their customers. So they wrote a policy that covers just some of the core concerns that their customers have been asking about. And, the crucial thing was really to get Lloyd's of London, the world's oldest insurer, one of our partners, to look at this data and be that third party alongside us to say, “Hey, we think there's something here that's worth underwriting.” and that's actually what it looks like. And so they will show that contract to their customers, and they can see how much they're covered for. They can see what exactly it covers, and that will also probably change next year. They will want to write an insurance policy that might cover more.Swyx [00:44:04]: When you say Lloyd's, is it reinsurance, or are they sharing somehow at the same level orRune Kvist [00:44:11]: Yeah. So typically, the way, new companies get into insurance is that they partner with insurers such that the insurers take the majority or all of the financial risks. Fundamentally, if insurance is useful, because it brings trust, you have to be able to pay the bill. Lloyd's of London is 400 years old. They've never not paid a claim. They're extremely trusted. What Lloyd's of London struggle to do on their own is to figure out which of the risks are real, what should we be looking for, what are the kinds of technical controls, and running the tests. So they use AIUC-1 as kind of the underwriting framework, and we produce a bunch of eval results that then directly feed in to inform the pricing. So this means that ElevenLabs customers know that payment will be there. They don't have to look to our series A and see, like, do we think they have enough cash on the balance sheet? They will look at Lloyd's.Swyx [00:45:05]: Yeah.Rune Kvist [00:45:05]: Yeah.Swyx [00:45:05]: And Lloyd's, like, famously very creative. I think I remember some headline like, they insured Jennifer Lopez's, butt or something.Rune Kvist [00:45:13]: Correct.Swyx [00:45:13]: Right?Rune Kvist [00:45:13]: And I think, was it, David Beckham's right foot?Swyx [00:45:16]: So, yeah. Right?Rune Kvist [00:45:17]: And stuff like this.Swyx [00:45:18]: So, like, clearly not a large data set.Rune Kvist [00:45:22]: Exactly. It's actually a remarkable institution that's both kind of has some of the truly school virtues of having been around for a long time. They, like, really. They really operate like a trusted entity, and they have appetite to figure out the future. And I think there's a lot of recognition that both there is, like, tremendous amount of risk in AI that is poorly understood today, so getting into this business carries real risks. But also this is where lots of the risk exposure will happen in the future. This is the one market where risk is truly growing. This is the one market that will also take out some of the existing markets. Take, like, auto insurance. When there are no human drivers, how's that market going to look? Well, it's clearly going to change. How are you going to assessSwyx [00:46:08]: You want to insure Waymo?Rune Kvist [00:46:10]: I. All I'll say is the principles for how you insure Waymo are very similar to how you insure other kinds of AI.Swyx [00:46:15]: Right.Rune Kvist [00:46:15]: So again, crash testing, that's what we do for customer share at Lovable. That will also need to happen for Waymo, which is not how you do it for human drivers. So there's this growing awareness that the world is changing very fast, and the only way to learn how to underwrite AI is to write some policies. You may incur some losses and think of that as R&D expense, really. But the question for them is, like, who are the trustedtechnical partners they can get into this business with that can help them navigate and make sure they don't make, kind of foolish mistakes? But also who is willing to hear the wisdom that they have? They've done this before. They've seen it was. They were there when cyber came out. So there are lots of ways in which AI feels completely new, but there's also lots of ways in which risks look the same. And so there's actually a tremendous amount of wisdom sitting in some folks that may have gray hair, but really have, like, a keen sense of, how to quantify risk.Swyx [00:47:08]: Yeah. And the number is. So it's basically like I want fifty million dollars worth of coverage against these perils, and Lloyd's will give you a quote on it, and then you have, like, a small markup or something, and then you turn it around and do that? Is that as simple as it is?Risk Capital, Premiums, and Working with InsurersRune Kvist [00:47:23]: You basically share some of that premium.Swyx [00:47:25]: Yeah.Rune Kvist [00:47:25]: X percent goes to the people who do the pricing of it.Swyx [00:47:28]: You're. It's kind of like a. It's kind of like a merchant bank for insurance type of thing.Rune Kvist [00:47:33]: Exactly. You basically split the fee, and you can think of the insurance supply chain as, like, there's bringing the capital, there is doing the pricing, and there is doing the distribution. And typically, you will pay out some X percent of premium here, Y percent of premium here, and the rest of it will go here.Swyx [00:47:46]: Does all the insurance world work like this, or is there some point at which, like. So if right now you have equity capitalRune Kvist [00:47:51]: Yeah.Swyx [00:47:52]: At some point, maybe you start raising, debt or whatever, and then you have enough of a bank account and enough history, let's say you've been in operation for ten yearsRune Kvist [00:48:00]: Correct.Swyx [00:48:00]: That you don't need Lloyd's anymore?Rune Kvist [00:48:02]: That's totally an option. And I could see some worlds where that makes sense, specifically if there are risks that we feel high confidence that we'd want to insure where the incumbent insurers are too slow to find appetiteSwyx [00:48:13]: Okay.Rune Kvist [00:48:13]: Or simply struggle to evaluate it such that they don't want to do it. But by and large, in general, you do not want to compete with insurers on, bringing risk capital to the game for two reasons. One is that's fundamentally a cost of capital game. They have extremely low cost of capital. Startups have high cost of capital, by and large. And two, you want to hedge your bets, and it's very helpful then to also have a portfolio of home insurance, of car insurance. And we're not about to become a car insurer nor a home insurer.Rune Kvist [00:48:43]: So they have some natural advantages, which makes it much more likely that we'll partner.Swyx [00:48:48]: Yeah.Rune Kvist [00:48:48]: And they bring that, the capital at scale, and we bring the technical expertise.Swyx [00:48:51]: You're, you're going to work with them for a long time.Vibhu [00:48:52]: How are the discussions with the insurers as well? So basically, they're going off of your certification, right? They're trusting the diligence on you that your certification is valid, you tested the right things, and they're backing the money that, you know, you have the right testing in place. So any interesting takeaways from working with insurers?Rune Kvist [00:49:12]: I think the maybe the first thing is they feed into the standard as well. So if there are things that they feel like they need that they're not seeing, we are also taking that as input into the standard, because fundamentally we think a good standard is one that creates a really healthy promise ecosystem, and we think insurers are a critical part of that. And again, they are the most well-incentivized to. They see all the lost data across every. Any particular CISO knows their particular concerns. Insurers see the concerns across the entire portfolio and often have direct access to, like, what exactly happened, who was at fault, et cetera, as they do part of their forensics. So they're actually, like, a great source of intelligence on this. One of the big takeaways from cyber insurance, which is a market that didn't work that well, was that the insurance and the technical expertise was not married up. What our conviction is that standards have to precede insurance. Fundamentally, what everyone first and foremost want, whether you're a CISO at JPMorgan or a CISO at Cursor or an underwriter at Lloyd's of London syndicate, is you want to not have an incidentRune Kvist [00:50:19]: In the first place. You want to know that the risk is well-managed, and only then does insurance start to make sense. So we'll see the standard ecosystem basically run ahead of the insurance. And the reason why we. You asked us kind of why I also do insurance, this is kind of proving what we think a whole promise confidence infrastructure ecosystem needs to look like, and we think it's very compelling to bring that to life, even if we think the standard is kind of the core linchpin that unlocks the rest.Claims, Liability, Air Canada, and Duty of CareSwyx [00:50:44]: There's been no claims yet, right?Rune Kvist [00:50:45]: Nope.Swyx [00:50:46]: This is one of those things where, you know, if people haven't really worked through what it means to cover things.Rune Kvist [00:50:52]: Yeah.Swyx [00:50:52]: So for example, I pay Cursor $20 a month.Rune Kvist [00:50:55]: Yep.Swyx [00:50:56]: And I write a vibe code something that makes, a plane crash, causing $200 million worth of damage.Rune Kvist [00:51:02]: Yes.Swyx [00:51:02]:

Allocators are drowning in manager emails.Kristof Gleich would know.Today, he's President and CIO of $50B Harbor Capital. Before that, he spent eight years leading manager selection at JPMorgan, fielding pitches from managers trying to break through.So, he's a good person to listen to when it comes to figuring out how to stand out and win over allocators. In this Encore episode of Kristof and Stacy discuss: Kristof's path from physics to finance, how he went from studying physics to landing his first finance job at Goldman Sachs right after 9/11What actually makes a fund manager stand out (hint: it's not tweaking a model or slapping “contrarian” on your deck)Why it pays to celebrate even the smallest wins as you grow your fund Harbor Capital's approach to backing emerging managers early (and why he believes more allocators should follow suit) About Kristof Gleich:Kristof Gleich joined Harbor in 2018 and was appointed CIO of Harbor Capital Advisors in 2020, with oversight of the firm's investment, distribution, marketing, and executive functions. Before Harbor, he was a managing director and global head of manager selection at JPMorgan Chase. He holds a B.S. in Physics from the University of Bristol and is a CFA charterholder. ---Running a fund is hard enough.Ops shouldn't be.Meet the team that makes it easier. | billiondollarbackstory.com/ultimus

Send us Fan MailChris Jenks, CFA, unpacks crucial insights for car wash owners and operators looking to maximize profitability and valuation. He highlights the critical role of labor efficiency, introducing metrics like Employees Per Labor Hour (EPLH) and Cars Per Labor Hour (CPLH) to optimize staffing, enhance throughput, and prevent margin leakage. The conversation explores how often-overlooked trade area factors, from commuter patterns to competitive density, profoundly impact a car wash's market multiple. Jenks then reveals the four distinguishing habits of top-quartile operators, providing actionable strategies for building a highly valuable and sustainable car wash business.What You'll Learn:How to effectively staff your car wash by understanding and balancing Employees Per Labor Hour (EPLH) and Cars Per Labor Hour (CPLH).The significance of matching labor to demand bell curves to improve productivity and avoid margin leakage.Why trade area dynamics, including demographics, site location, and regional trends, are essential drivers of car wash valuation.Insights into competitive landscapes and white space opportunities in different U.S. regions (Southeast, Texas, Mountain Southwest, Northeast/Mid-Atlantic).The four key habits of top-performing car wash operators: relentless KPI tracking, a robust membership culture, commitment to maintenance, and professional financial reporting.How building a business with these best practices creates 'optionality' and commands a premium in the market.Transform your car wash operations and boost your business's appeal to potential buyers by implementing these expert-backed strategies.#CarWashBusiness #LaborEfficiency #BusinessValuation #CarWashKPIs #OperationalExcellenceConnect With Us:https://www.facebook.com/AmplifyCapGroup/https://x.com/i/flow/login?redirect_after_login=%2FCarWashAdvisors%2Fhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/amplifycapgroup/https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyy2-_zM-liZr95drgKDX3g

Send us Fan MailIn this Season 7 episode of ETF Battles, Ron DeLegge ‪@etfguide‬ referees an audience requested battle between GPIQ, QQQI, and TDAQ, pitting three covered call ETFs against each other in this triple header battle. Program judges Tony Dong, an independent ETF analyst, and David Dierking, CFA and ETF Contributor at the Motley Fool analyze this audience requested triple header.Each ETF is judged against the other in key categories like cost, exposure strategy, performance, yield and a mystery category. Find out who wins the battle!ETF Battles is sponsored by DirexionDirexion Defined Income Boost ETFsSingle-stock income strategies built for high potential distributions, paid twice a month.

Eddie Perkin, CFA, former chief investment officer at Eaton Vance and Goldman Sachs Asset Management, joins host Mike Wallberg, CFA, to explore how investors can counter the biases that undermine sound decisions. Drawing on his book, Running Against the Herd, Perkin explains how zero-based portfolio reviews can loosen investors' attachment to holdings, why a sound process matters more than any single outcome, and how blind votes and junior-first feedback can prevent groupthink. He also shares lessons on productive conflict, long-term compounding, and building teams that challenge assumptions. Listen to discover practical ways to make better investment decisions — individually and collectively.

"You can spend years chasing the moment you make the feature, and still feel strangely untethered when it's over."In this fresh episode, hosts Indeana Underhill and Haeleigh Royall sit down in the studio fresh off wrapping a 21-day SAG ultra-low-budget feature they produced together.The duo gets candid about the moment career motivation quietly shifts, when the hustle stops feeling heroic and starts feeling expensive. Haeleigh opens up about an identity meltdown that turned out to be a genuine turning point, including the realization that some goals are powered by a need to be seen rather than authentic desire.Meanwhile, Indeana breaks down the reality of wearing both the DP and producer hats on the same project, why below-the-line roles often get less grace, and how that shapes which projects are actually worth taking.Whether you're building toward your first feature, growing an independent film career, or rethinking your workflow after burnout, this one's for you. Subscribe, share it with a filmmaker friend, and leave a review so more actors and crew can find the show.Send us Fan MailFor our listeners, CFA's teamed up with We Make Movies to get you a discount on production management services, including access to comprehensive production insurance and workers' comp for your next shoot. Visit wemakemovies.org/insurance and use code CFA23 on your intake form for 10% off your quote.Calling all actors! Take 25% off your membership at WeAudition with code: CFA25Website: www.cinematographyforactors.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/cinematographyforactorsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cinematographyforactorsCinematography for Actors is a community aimed at bridging the gap between talent & crew through our weekly podcast & community events. Our weekly show supports the filmmaking community through transparent, honest & technically focused interviews with the goal of elevating the art of effective storytelling.

What happens when governments can't fund infrastructure anymore? A $1.6 trillion private asset class that doesn't recognize itself in the mirror. In the 2020s, infrastructure has entered a battlefield where geopolitics, government agendas, and investor returns collide. We trace infrastructure's evolution from nation-building mechanism to one of the most integrated asset classes in modern investing. In this episode, we explore a central tension: is infrastructure still a stable, boring, income-generating asset, or has it become a bigger bet on which governments can actually execute their vision? Joined by Peter Blue of Franklin Templeton and Gautam Bhandari of I Squared, we dive into one of the oldest asset classes in human history.Guests:Peter Blue, CFA, CAIA, FRM, Head of Private Market Solutions, Franklin TempletonGautam Bhandari, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, I Squared Capital⁠Episode Sources⁠(00:00) Infrastructure as an invisible but essential backbone of daily life and economic activity.(01:24)Introduction to infrastructure as a paradox: ancient in practice, modern as an institutional asset class.(03:43) The projected $100 trillion global infrastructure investment need through 2040 and the funding gap.(06:06) Infrastructure allocations remain modest despite structural tailwinds and capital demand.(10:32) Infrastructure as both inanimate and “alive” through its system-wide economic impact.(12:04) Roman publicani as early private infrastructure investors and the blending of public and private capital.(16:24) Infrastructure historically used as a tool of statecraft, control, and regime stability.(20:35) The Gilded Age, robber barons, and the rise of private capital in U.S. infrastructure development.(24:50) Australia's superannuation system and privatization wave as the birthplace of institutional infrastructure investing.(27:52) Macquarie's listed infrastructure vehicles and the financialization of the asset class.(29:43) The contrast between Australia's GP-led model and Canada's direct “Canadian model.”(35:49) Post-GFC surge in infrastructure AUM and its appeal as a stable, inflation-linked asset class.(41:59) “Suffering from success”: record fundraising, rising valuations, and expanding risk profiles in the 2020s.(42:20) Redefining infrastructure through resiliency rather than rigid asset definitions.(46:17) Expansion into digital infrastructure, renewables, and social infrastructure beyond traditional core assets.(50:52) Data centers as the new “highways” of productivity and the complexities of underwriting digital infrastructure.(55:32) Energy transition investing and the scale of renewable and grid infrastructure needs.(57:43) Talent evolution and systems thinking as infrastructure becomes increasingly cross-disciplinary.(01:01:18) The re-politicization of infrastructure and its return as a strategic instrument of global power.(01:05:58) China's Belt and Road Initiative and infrastructure as influence diplomacy.(01:10:46) Local alignment, commercial contracts, and operating “below the radar” in politically sensitive environments

To learn more about valuable resources for entrepreneurs and business owners, please visit https://www.sbprou.com/What It Really Takes to Be a Franchisor is covered in this video.***************************************In this episode of Leadership LIVE @ 8:05!, Andrew Frazier, MBA, CFA, is joined by former professional NASCAR driver and franchisor Brad Coleman to pull back the curtain on what it truly takes to build and lead a successful franchise system. From creating airtight systems and documenting every process, to training franchisees and protecting your brand when other people's life savings are on the line — Brad shares the unglamorous but essential work that separates great franchisors from those who fail.Drawing from his remarkable journey — from the racetrack to buying the very driving school that taught him to drive, to scaling it into a 24-location franchise system — Brad brings a high-performance mindset to leadership, operations, and small business growth.Whether you're dreaming of franchising your business or simply want to build a more scalable, systems-driven company, this conversation will give you a clear reality check and a practical roadmap.Because franchising isn't just about growing your brand. It's about building something strong enough for others to run — and trusting them with it.Brad Coleman is the owner and CEO of SafeWay Driving, Texas' oldest driving school. A SafeWay graduate himself as a teenager, Brad went on to race professionally in NASCAR before returning to buy the very school that taught him to drive. Under his leadership, SafeWay has grown into a franchise system with 24 locations across Texas, training more than 275,000 students over its 50-plus year history. Brad's mission is simple: prevent the phone call nobody wants.LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brad-coleman-085bb71a/Website: https://www.safewaydriving.com/Every Tuesday evening on Leadership LIVE @ 8:05! - Talking Small Business, your host Andrew Frazier, is joined by experienced entrepreneurs and business owners who share their secrets to success via Livestream. You will learn about developing your business leadership skills from our roster of high-performing guest experts. Leadership LIVE is one of the many valuable resources provided through the Small Business Pro University, empowering business owners to learn, profit, and grow. *****************************************Explore our other video content here on YouTube, along with relevant website and social media links, where you'll find more insights into how to Make 2026 Your Best Year Ever!• YouTube: /@smallbusinessprouniversity • Website: https://www.sbprou.com/• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewfrazier/• Facebook: /andrew.frazier.jr

To learn more about valuable resources for entrepreneurs and business owners, please visit https://www.sbprou.com/Before You Use AI: Legal & Compliance Checkpoints Every Founder Needs is covered in this video.***************************************In this episode of Leadership LIVE @ 8:05!, Andrew Frazier, MBA, CFA, is joined by Chief Compliance Officer, Deputy General Counsel, and AI legal advisor Marcia Narine Weldon to discuss the legal and compliance risks business owners should understand before integrating AI into their operations. As tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and AI-powered assistants become part of everyday business, founders must understand the legal responsibilities that come with using them.Together, they explore the hidden risks surrounding AI adoption—from client confidentiality and data privacy to contracts, intellectual property, and FTC compliance. Marcia shares practical guidance to help entrepreneurs avoid costly mistakes while confidently embracing AI to improve productivity and growth.You'll learn:• How contracts, NDAs, and vendor agreements can impact AI usage.• Best practices for protecting confidential business and client information.• Why AI-generated marketing content must still comply with FTC regulations.• The legal considerations around AI-generated content, branding, and intellectual property.• A practical "Before You Use AI" checklist to help your business stay compliant.Whether you're a founder, coach, consultant, or small business owner already using AI—or just beginning to explore its potential—this conversation will help you leverage AI more confidently while reducing legal and compliance risks.Marcia Narine Weldon is the Founder and CEO of Legally Lucid, a legal diagnostic platform that helps businesses identify and manage legal and compliance risks. With more than 30 years of legal experience, she has served as a Deputy General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer, Chief Privacy Officer, law professor, executive coach, and AI legal advisor. Today, she helps organizations navigate the intersection of business, law, and artificial intelligence with practical, actionable guidance.LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcianarine/Website: https://linktr.ee/illuminatingwisdomEvery Tuesday evening on Leadership LIVE @ 8:05! - Talking Small Business, your host Andrew Frazier, is joined by experienced entrepreneurs and business owners who share their secrets to success via Livestream. You will learn about developing your business leadership skills from our roster of high-performing guest experts. Leadership LIVE is one of the many valuable resources provided through the Small Business Pro University, empowering business owners to learn, profit, and grow. *****************************************Explore our other video content here on YouTube, along with relevant website and social media links, where you'll find more insights into how to Make 2026 Your Best Year Ever!• YouTube: /@smallbusinessprouniversity • Website: https://www.sbprou.com/• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewfrazier/• Facebook: /andrew.frazier.jr

To learn more about valuable resources for entrepreneurs and business owners, please visit https://www.sbprou.com/How to Grow in a Sustainable Way is covered in this video.***************************************In this episode of Leadership LIVE @ 8:05!, Andrew Frazier, MBA, CFA, is joined by Gene Bohensky, CEO of Archers Contact Solutions and known as "The Outsource Coach and Lead-Gen Expert," to discuss practical strategies for growing a small business in a sustainable way. Growing a business isn't simply about getting bigger—it requires the right systems, processes, and support structure to maintain efficiency, profitability, and control.Together, Andrew and Gene explore how entrepreneurs can build scalable systems, improve operational efficiency, and use outsourcing to support growth without becoming overwhelmed. They also discuss how business owners can work strategically on their businesses, maintain quality, and create a foundation that supports long-term growth.You'll learn:• How small business owners can build sustainable, long-term growth.• The importance of systems, processes, and operational efficiency when scaling.• How outsourcing and strategic support can help business owners grow without burning out.• Ways to build a business that maintains quality, profitability, and control as it grows.Whether you're looking to grow your client base, improve your operations, or build a business that can thrive for years to come, this conversation provides practical insights for creating sustainable growth without scaling too quickly or losing operational control.Gene Bohensky is the CEO of Archers Contact Solutions and is known as "The Outsource Coach and Lead-Gen Expert." He has helped hundreds of business owners scale by providing expert virtual and executive support, strategic lead generation, and operational outsourcing solutions.LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eugenebohensky/Website: https://archerscontactsolutions.com/Every Tuesday evening on Leadership LIVE @ 8:05! - Talking Small Business, your host Andrew Frazier, is joined by experienced entrepreneurs and business owners who share their secrets to success via Livestream. You will learn about developing your business leadership skills from our roster of high-performing guest experts. Leadership LIVE is one of the many valuable resources provided through the Small Business Pro University, empowering business owners to learn, profit, and grow.*****************************************Explore our other video content here on YouTube, along with relevant website and social media links, where you'll find more insights into how to Make 2026 Your Best Year Ever!• YouTube: /@smallbusinessprouniversity• Website: https://www.sbprou.com/• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewfrazier/• Facebook: /andrew.frazier.jr

Gene Goldman, CFA®, Chief Investment Officer of Cetera Financial Group, joins Tim and Tyler for a conversation about what investors should be paying attention to in today's market. In this episode of Clear Money Talk, they discuss market concentration, elevated valuations, portfolio diversification, and whether investors are being adequately rewarded for the risks they're taking. Gene shares his perspective on the current investment landscape and the factors investors may want to consider as they evaluate risk, opportunity, and diversification within their portfolios. If you're wondering how today's market conditions could affect your investment strategy, this episode offers a thoughtful look at some of the biggest questions facing investors right now. Subscribe to Clear Money Talk for more conversations about investing, retirement planning, taxes, and the financial decisions that can shape your future.

Gene Goldman, CFA®, Chief Investment Officer of Cetera Financial Group, joins Tim and Tyler for a conversation about what investors should be paying attention to in today's market. In this episode of Clear Money Talk, they discuss market concentration, elevated valuations, portfolio diversification, and whether investors are being adequately rewarded for the risks they're taking. Gene shares his perspective on the current investment landscape and the factors investors may want to consider as they evaluate risk, opportunity, and diversification within their portfolios. If you're wondering how today's market conditions could affect your investment strategy, this episode offers a thoughtful look at some of the biggest questions facing investors right now. Subscribe to Clear Money Talk for more conversations about investing, retirement planning, taxes, and the financial decisions that can shape your future.

To learn more about valuable resources for entrepreneurs and business owners, please visit https://www.sbprou.com/AI for Operational Optimization is covered in this video.***************************************In this episode of Leadership LIVE @ 8:05!, Andrew Frazier, MBA, CFA, is joined by AI strategist and business transformation consultant Corey A. Wilson to explore how artificial intelligence is helping businesses optimize operations, improve efficiency, and drive sustainable growth. As AI continues to reshape the workplace, Corey shares practical insights on how business owners can move beyond the hype and implement AI solutions that deliver measurable results.Together, they discuss how organizations can automate repetitive tasks, streamline workflows, and empower employees with AI-powered tools while maintaining the human element that drives innovation. Corey also explains how thoughtful implementation, strong leadership, and effective change management are essential for successfully integrating AI into day-to-day business operations.You'll learn:• How AI can automate repetitive tasks and improve operational efficiency.• Practical ways to streamline workflows without sacrificing quality.• How to identify the best opportunities for AI within your business.• Common mistakes organizations make when implementing AI.• Strategies for leading successful AI adoption and long-term business transformation.Whether you're exploring AI for the first time or looking to improve existing business processes, this conversation offers practical strategies to help you increase productivity, strengthen your operations, and position your business for long-term success.Corey A. Wilson is an AI strategist, business transformation consultant, and speaker who helps organizations leverage artificial intelligence to improve operations, enhance productivity, and drive innovation. He works with business leaders to identify practical AI applications that streamline workflows, automate routine processes, and create more efficient, scalable organizations.LinkedIn:   / coreya-wilson  Website: https://alexanderskyegroup.com/Every Tuesday evening on Leadership LIVE @ 8:05! - Talking Small Business, your host Andrew Frazier, is joined by experienced entrepreneurs and business owners who share their secrets to success via Livestream. You will learn about developing your business leadership skills from our roster of high-performing guest experts. Leadership LIVE is one of the many valuable resources provided through the Small Business Pro University, empowering business owners to learn, profit, and grow.***************************************Explore our other video content here on YouTube, along with relevant website and social media links, where you'll find more insights into how to Make 2026 Your Best Year Ever!• YouTube: /@smallbusinessprouniversity• Website: https://www.sbprou.com/• LinkedIn: /andrewfrazier  • Facebook: /andrew.frazier.jr

TLDR: Market dips aren't a reason to bail on stocks; they're a reminder to make sure you own the strongest assets. Momentum investing uses data to guide those adjustments, instead of knee-jerk selling, helps to protect you on the downside, capture the upside, and keep your long-term plan on track.  A market pullback can make you want to de-risk and pull money out of stocks. But reacting to short-term swings often locks in losses and can hurt your wealth over time. The only real reason to change your mix of stocks, bonds, and cash is a change in your own life or cash needs — not what the market is doing. That said, you don't have to just sit still. Momentum investing lets real market data, not emotion, guide the moves you make within your portfolio.  In this episode of Off The Wall, David B. Armstrong, CFA and Nate Tonsager, CFA, CIPM discuss why switching asset classes during a sell-off backfires, and how they use momentum investing — tracking which assets are gaining strength — to keep portfolios in good shape.  They explain how this approach captures upside while limiting downside, why taking the "timing" element out of the equation prevents excessive trading, and how zooming out to an 18-year view turns volatility into just another part of a long-term strategy.     Please see important podcast disclosure information at https://monumentwealthmanagement.com/disclosures   Episode Timeline/Key Highlights:   00:00 - The Wrong Reason To Shift 2:25 - Life Events Drive Allocation Changes 5:35 - Momentum And Relative Strength Explained 11:40 - Ranking Winners Without Overtrading 13:55 - When Momentum Gets Whipsawed 15:45 - How We Measure Momentum Today 19:55 - Staying Invested Through Big Sell Offs 28:15 - Planning Withdrawals And Building Patience 31:05 - AMA Invite And How To Reach Us   Connect with Monument Wealth Management:    Visit our website: https://monumentwealthmanagement.com/   Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/monumentwealth/#   Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/monument-wealth-management/   Connect on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MonumentWealthManagement   Connect on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/MonumentWealth#Fit   Subscribe to our Private Wealth Newsletter: https://monumentwealthmanagement.com/subscribe/   Check out our Between Sips Podcast: Where Money Meets Meaning Because money without meaning never feels like wealth. https://monumentwealthmanagement.com/between-sips-podcast/   About "Off the Wall":    Markets move fast, and headlines rarely tell the full story. Off The Wall cuts through the noise with unfiltered market and economic insight from Monument's CEO David B. Armstrong, CFA and Portfolio Manager Nate Tonsager, CFA, CIPM. Tune in for the conversations that actually explain what's moving your portfolio, without the Wall Street spin. Learn more about our hosts on our website at https://monumentwealthmanagement.com   

In this episode, Tim Warrick, CFA, Managing Director and Head of Alternative Credit at Principal Asset Management, discusses what insurance investors should know about private credit beyond the headlines. He shares Principal Asset Management's perspective on the differences across lower, core, and upper middle market direct lending, including how leverage, covenants, liquidity, and borrower characteristics can shape risk and return.   The conversation also explores why portfolio construction begins before a loan is originated, how active monitoring and downside testing can support capital preservation, and where Tim sees persistent value across private credit. He also discusses diversification, the role of the illiquidity or “inefficiency” premium, and how the market may continue to evolve as more investors enter the asset class.

Get your customized planning started by scheduling a no-cost discovery call: http://bit.ly/calltruewealth   Thinking about retiring in 2027? Before you pick your last day of work, there are several financial planning opportunities worth considering. Your exact retirement date can affect more than just your final paycheck. Bonuses, pension benefits, employer retirement contributions, health insurance, Medicare, taxes, Social Security, and even Roth conversion opportunities can all be influenced by when you leave your employer. In this episode, Tyler Emrick, CFA®, CFP®, walks through seven things to consider before deciding exactly when to retire. In this episode, Tyler covers: Why your retirement date shouldn't be chosen arbitrarily. Bonuses, stock compensation, pension milestones, and other benefits you could leave behind. How your final paychecks can potentially be used to maximize 401(k) and HSA contributions. Why employer matching and true-up provisions matter. How to bridge health insurance between work and Medicare. Why retiring in December versus January or February can produce different tax-planning opportunities. Why retiring from work and starting Social Security or a pension don't have to happen at the same time. How to balance financial optimization with actually being ready to retire. Have questions? Need help making sure your investments and retirement plan are on track? Click to schedule a free 20-minute call with one of True Wealth's CFP® Professionals. http://bit.ly/calltruewealth