Money problems are a major source of conflict for couples and a leading cause of divorce. Victoria Collins, one of the country’s top financial advisors for many years, has strategies to handle it.      WEALTHTRACK #1922 published on November 25, 2022   Bookshelf: Couples & Money Why Money Interferes with Love & What to Do About It https://amzn.to/3V5DJRM

In an extended, exclusive interview newly retired Treasury bond manager Robert Kessler elaborates on his earlier warnings of the likelihood of a financial crisis and prolonged downturn in the markets.

Part 1 of 2 The ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, “There is nothing permanent except change.” Charles Darwin certainly observed that in his trailblazing work on evolution more than 2000 years later. In a quote widely attributed to him, he is alleged to have commented, “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most adaptive to change.” As the markets fluctuate around us, how much should investors change? This week’s guest has his own historical perspective on that question because he has lived through a momentous evolution in the markets. He is Charles Ellis, whose storied career started on Wall Street in 1963 after graduating from the Harvard Business School.  He was a skeptical analyst during the go-go years of the 60s and founded Greenwich Associates, the top Wall Street consulting firm to major investment firms, institutions, and governments. He was an influential board member of Yale’s endowment advising its legendary head, David Swensen. He’s taught advanced investment courses at both Yale and Harvard. And he has authored 20 investment books, including the classic, Winning the Loser’s Game, now in its 8th edition, and the recently published Figuring It Out: Sixty Years of Answering Investors’ Most Important Questions, which we will discuss in this week’s exclusive TV interview. In the first of a two-part interview, Ellis will discuss the most significant changes that have occurred in the markets and what they mean for investors. WEALTHTRACK #1920 broadcast on November 11, 2022 More info: https://wealthtrack.com/sixty-years-of-investment-wisdom-from-financial-legend-charles-ellis/ Bookshelf: Winning the Loser's Game: Timeless Strategies for Successful Investing https://amzn.to/3AbA9Nt Figuring It Out: Sixty Years of Answering Investors’ Most Important Questions https://amzn.to/3UsNnxC

Here’s our new financial reality, which we have become all too familiar with: higher inflation, higher interest rates, and higher levels of debt among consumers, corporations, and governments, which all add up to significantly higher costs of doing business, living life, and borrowing. To fight higher inflation, the Federal Reserve continues to hike short-term interest rates. This week’s guest has experienced multiple economic and market cycles during his more than 50 years of managing money and thinks the current one is particularly perilous for investors. In an exclusive WEALTHTRACK appearance, he felt it was important to tell us why and what steps we should consider taking to mitigate its effects. Robert Kessler was the CEO of his namesake Kessler Companies from its founding in August of 1986 until he made the decision to close the business in October 2021.  Until then, he was a manager of fixed-income portfolios, specializing mostly in strategies using U.S. Treasuries for institutions and high-net-worth individuals around the globe. He has been an annual WEALTHTRACK guest since our launch in 2005 and one of our most popular ones. He has been a consistent critic of Wall Street practices and group think, and for decades has been particularly disparaging of the Street’s consensus that Treasury bonds were an expensive and dangerous investment sure to bring losses to investors. Robert Kessler explains why he thinks the markets are so dangerous for investors right now. A long-time critic of Wall Street and its pervasive groupthink. WEALTHTRACK 1919 broadcast on November 04, 2022 More Info: https://wealthtrack.com/the-financial-markets-are-perilous-warns-robert-kessler/

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