WEALTHTRACK

Income and quality should always matter, but it’s markets like these when those characteristics really count. Historically, since 1930, dividends have contributed about 40% of the S&P 500’s total return. Their input has varied widely from decade to decade, however.  According to a recent Insights Report from the Hartford Funds, dividends played a large role in terms of their contribution to total returns. What sort of a role will dividends play now? We have a new guest on WEALTHTRACK with a long and distinguished track record of investing in high-quality, dividend-paying stocks. She is Clare Hart, who Morningstar calls “one of the industry’s most impressive managers.” Hart has been the Lead Portfolio Manager of two highly-rated funds since 2004. Hart will discuss the benefits of focusing on quality and dividends, particularly in a   difficult market environment. WEALTHTRACK #1918 broadcast on October 28, 2020 More info: https://wealthtrack.com/clare-harts-laser-focus-on-quality-income-has-paid-off-for-her-jpmorgan-equity-income-fund/

We are in the midst of a sea change in our financial lives. Here are the headlines: -Inflation is surging for the first time in years and has reached the highest level in forty years. -The Federal Reserve is embarking on the fastest and steepest tightening cycle in decades. -Value stocks are outperforming growth stocks after lagging them by record amounts for nearly a decade and a half. Is it time to make some changes to our financial plans? Our guest this week is an award-winning personal finance journalist who has been a WEALTHTRACK regular since our launch in 2005. He is Jonathan Clements, the founder, and editor of HumbleDollar, a free weekly online newsletter devoted to telling you “everything you need to know about money.” It is worth visiting. Clements was the personal finance columnist at The Wall Street Journal for 20 years and is the author of several personal finance books, including From Here to Financial Happiness and How To Think About Money. Clements will give us his perspective on the much-changed financial climate we find ourselves in, and offer portfolio and financial planning adjustments for rising interest rates and inflation. WEALTHTRACK #1917 broadcast on October 21, 2022. More Info: https://wealthtrack.com/portfolio-financial-planning-adjustments-for-rising-interest-rates-inflation/ Humble Dollar: https://humbledollar.com/ Bookshelf: From Here to Financial Happiness: https://humbledollar.com/book/from-here-to-financial-happiness/ How To Think About Money: https://amzn.to/3SmS3TF My Money Journey: https://humbledollar.com/book/my-money-journey/

Part 2 of 2 When was the last time you heard an investment discussion about capital allocation and what difference it makes to investment results? It is not a widely discussed topic on Wall Street or in the financial press. First of all, what is it? According to Investopedia, “Capital allocation is the process of allocating financial resources to different areas of a business to increase efficiency and maximize profits.” These decisions are made by the management teams and boards of companies. They include decisions like building a new plant, expanding into a new market or geography, increasing or decreasing the research and development budget, making an acquisition, paying a dividend, and repurchasing shares. The lack of attention being paid to capital allocation decisions by companies has bothered this week’s guest for years, so he decided to write a book about it. It's titled Capital Allocation: Principles, Strategies, and Processes for Creating Long-Term Shareholder Value. He is Great Investor, David Giroux, Chief Investment Officer and Head of Investment Strategy for T. Rowe Price Investment Management and the Portfolio Manager of T. Rowe Price’s Capital Appreciation Fund, which he has run since 2006. If you saw part one of my recent interview with him, you know that Morningstar calls him “One of the best in the business” and a “Pre-eminent investor at the top of his game.” A major part of Giroux’s process of picking stocks is analyzing how they allocate capital. In this weekend’s episode, we will learn why capital allocation decisions are so important to investment success. WEALTHTRACK #1916 broadcast on October 14, 2022 More Info: https://wealthtrack.com/david-giroux-on-the-importance-of-capital-allocation-decisions-to-investment-success/ Bookshelf: Capital Allocation: Principles, Strategies, and Processes for Creating Long-Term Shareholder Value https://amzn.to/3CFDyWn

“What do we want to own when things are cheap?” is the question driving great investor David Giroux on a daily basis.  Giroux is the Chief Investment Officer and Head of Investment Strategy for T. Rowe Price Investment Management. His reputation as a great investor has been earned as the  Portfolio Manager of T. Rowe Price’s Capital Appreciation Fund, which he has run since 2006.  It’s been a rough year for the markets and Capital Appreciation, although it’s down less than the market and its category. In this weekend’s episode, Giroux will give us his view of the state of the market, its risks, and potential rewards.  WEALTHTRACK #1915 broadcast on October 7, 2022 More info: https://wealthtrack.com/award-winning-investor-david-girouxs-laser-focus-on-what-he-wants-to-own-when-things-are-cheap/ Bookshelf: Capital Allocation: Principles, Strategies, and Processes for Creating Long-Term Shareholder Value https://amzn.to/3CFDyWn

Volatility is the name of this market’s game. The Dow and S&P 500 both entered bear markets this week, although they both put up a brief fight with a robust rally on Wednesday. Yields on U.S. Treasury securities also bounced around. These stomach-churning moves are hard to ignore unless you can take a longer view. This week’s guest is focusing on bigger investment themes and identifying cheap global sectors as the market sorts things out. A year ago on WEALTHTRACK, in September of 2021, Research Affiliates’ Rob Arnott made two macro observations. One, he predicted there were “very high odds” of a resurgence in inflation. Two, that the multi-year outperformance of growth over value stocks was probably finally over. He dated the turn to August of 2020. He proved prescient on the inflation call and so far seems to have gotten value’s comeback right. Rob Arnott is Chairman of the Board and Founder of Research Affiliates, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.  Research Affiliates describes itself as a “research-intensive asset management firm that focuses on innovative products.” Among the many funds that Arnott created and now co-manages is the PIMCO All Asset Fund, also celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. In this weekend’s interview, Arnott shares his outlook on inflation, value stocks, and his cheap diversifiers strategy. We also have an exclusive EXTRA feature with Arnott, who will discuss his penchant for high-performance motorcycles, including his most recent acquisition. WEALTHTRACK #1914 broadcast on September 30, 2022 More info: https://wealthtrack.com/buying-into-fear-a-financial-thought-leader-fund-pioneer-explains-his-cheap-diversifiers-strategy/ Arnott on WEALTHTRACK from September 2021: https://wealthtrack.com/financial-thought-leader-rob-arnott-likes-buying-cheap-assets-where-he-is-finding-them-now/

This episode's guest is a longtime holder of Berkshire stock and has been an avid student of Buffett’s style of value investing since meeting the legendary investor at Stanford Business School in the early 1980s. He is Tom Russo, managing member of the investment advisory firm Gardner Russo & Quinn, where he oversees the Semper Vic Partners Funds, which he launched in 1983 after hearing Buffett address his class at Stanford. The global value manager focuses on owning a small group of exceptionally well-managed, well-known brand name firms, many family-owned, with dominant, almost unassailable positions in their mostly consumer-oriented businesses, and then holding them pretty much forever. Berkshire Hathaway has consistently been one of his largest positions. In this weekend’s interview, we will learn how Buffett’s talk in graduate school made such a huge impression on him. WEALTHTRACK #1913 broadcast on September 23, 2022 More Info: https://wealthtrack.com/how-a-concentrated-portfolio-of-global-brand-name-companies-is-faring-in-this-challenging-market/ Part 1 on portfolio concentration: https://wealthtrack.com/how-a-concentrated-portfolio-of-global-brand-name-companies-is-faring-in-this-challenging-market/ The Winston Churchill Foundation of the United States: https://www.churchillscholarship.org/ Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger: https://amzn.to/3UxRatE

How times have changed. It wasn’t many months ago that the entire financial world was singing the praises of inflation. The greatest fear among Wall Streeters and other financial lights was lower prices that might actually decline more and turn into that monster known as deflation. The thought conjured up nightmarish scenes of bread lines and bank runs. Ever since the global financial crisis of 2008 and especially since the Covid pandemic, central banks and governments around the world have pulled out all stops to prevent such an occurrence. And guess what? It finally worked. After declining since the early 1980s, inflation has roared back to life, recently hitting 40-year highs. But no one is celebrating. In fact, now central banks around the world have declared war on inflation, and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is leading the charge. The Fed has dramatically raised the federal funds rate several times this year, with more action to come. This week’s guest has long been an avowed enemy of inflation and an outspoken critic of the Fed’s inflation-boosting policies. How is he feeling now? He is financial thought leader James Grant, the Founder, and Editor of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer. Grant is also the author of 9 books. Several are financial histories, including the prize-winning The Forgotten Depression: 1921: The Crash That Cured Itself. Grant will discuss the Fed’s about-face on inflation, the battle it faces to bring it under control, the implications for financial markets, and two investment ideas for this new investment era. WEALTHTRACK #1912 broadcast on September 16, 2022 More info: https://wealthtrack.com/inflations-damage-financial-consequences-investment-strategies-with-historian-james-grant/ In his WealthTrack interview and a recent issue of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer Jim Grant highlighted the small-cap equity fund Palm Valley Capital Fund (PVCMX) which holds mainly cash “awaiting the return of valuations at which an unbending, unconventional, uncompromising, value-seeking investor can put other people’s money to work”. Grant also recommended reading the firm’s quarterly letters to shareholders, “some of the best and wittiest financial-markets commentary on the web.”  Here is a link to the firm’s most recent missive. https://www.palmvalleycapital.com/fundletter Bookshelf: The Trouble With Prosperity: The Loss of Fear, the Rise of Speculation, and the Risk to American Savings: https://amzn.to/3ds0azQ Money of the Mind: Borrowing and Lending in America from the Civil War to Michael Milken: https://amzn.to/3qGuSIK The Forgotten Depression: 1921: The Crash that Cured Itself: https://amzn.to/3RQixO9

The bond world changed dramatically in 2022.  From several years of historically low to negative interest rates, as far as the eye could see, the horizon is now filled with rising rates across the globe. It’s a welcome change for yield starved investors and fixed income managers who have been coping with a record breaking yield drought.  One of them is this weekend’s guest who recently reopened his fund to new investors because of the “improved opportunity set.” He is Tom Atteberry, now Senior Advisor to FPA New Income Fund having just retired, as planned, from his portfolio manager duties in July of this year.  He had been Portfolio Manager of the fund since 2004.  Atteberry will discuss why they have reopened the fund and where they are investing now. He will also share his current preference for asset-backed bonds over Treasuries and corporates.  WEALTHTRACK #1911 broadcast on September 09, 2022 More info: https://wealthtrack.com/the-new-investment-opportunities-being-discovered-by-award-winning-fpa-new-income-fund/

Global bond manager Jack McIntyre says central banks around the world are determined to stamp out inflation. Their success will determine the direction of markets and economies. He explains how he is investing for several outcomes. WEALTHTRACK #1910 broadcast on September 02, 2022 More info: https://wealthtrack.com/why-inflation-is-now-key-to-investing-with-brandywine-globals-jack-mcintyre/ Bookshelf: Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice, https://amzn.to/3CWQho7

We are joined by ClearBridge’s Investment Strategist Jeff Schulze. He will explain why he now believes that there is a 55% chance of a downturn, why a recession is not inevitable but what conditions could push it one way or the other. He will also discuss market implications and strategy. WEALTHTRACK #1908 published on August 20, 2022 More info: https://wealthtrack.com/a-widely-followed-investment-strategists-indicators-now-signaling-heightened-recession-risk/