In this episode of Excess Returns, Matt Zeigler and Jason Buck sit down with Eric Crittenden, CIO of Standpoint Funds, for a wide-ranging and candid discussion about trend following, risk transfer markets, and what it takes to build a resilient investment strategy for uncertain futures. Eric shares decades of hard-won insights on investor behavior, portfolio construction, performance pain points, and why blending passive equities with systematic macro might just be the future of asset allocation.
🔍 Topics Covered:
The uncomfortable realities of trend following performance
Why many investors misunderstand managed futures
Eric’s view on the current drawdown and client behavior
Setting expectations with empirical data and simulations
The case for blending passive equities with trend following
Capital formation vs. risk transfer markets explained
What market participants get wrong about futures
The surprising resilience of cap-weighted equity indexes
The flaws in relying on bonds as diversifiers
How regime shifts and correlation changes affect trend models
Philosophical take on risk, regulation, and structural market design
