"Being a mid-twenties analyst during the 2008 financial crisis was a very eye opening experience, and it showed me the importance of being methodical and critical, and not quick to make decisions whenever you're faced with adversity in investing." - Steven Wilson (Tweet)

Welcome to Top Traders Round Table, a podcast series on managed futures brought to you by CME Group and the Managed Fund Association. On today's episode, which took place at the MFA's Network 2019 conference in Miami, Niels Kaastrup-Larsen speaks with Jake Barton, the Senior Portfolio Manager at Promus Capital, Trent Webster, Senior Investment Officer of Strategic Investments at Florida State Board of Administration, and Steven Wilson, Senior Portfolio Manager at Teacher Retirement System of Texas. As managers of the investment of pensions and alternative portfolios, our guests today get in depth on how they use trend following to improve their client's capital, from interpersonal strategies in choosing a portfolio, how the funding status of a pension can affect a board's strategy, and what guides them in making the choices they do for their holdings.

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In This Episode, You'll Learn:

How the guests got their start in investing

Trent's philosophy for choosing his investments

What Jake looks for when working with managers

"There is a pension crisis coming in this country, probably sometime in the next decade or so, and there's going to have to be some hard decisions made." - Trent Webster (Tweet)

The core beliefs and principles that drive each of the guest's decisions

How the funding level of the pension fund can change investment decisions

The varying degrees of differentiation and how it changes with the markets

"That's something we spent quite a bit of time on, is 'what is our philosophy?' and 'how do we want to be good stewards of the capital our clients trust us with?'." - Jake Barton (Tweet)

Why our guests are firmly committed to trend following even after a few years of lower returns

Why convincing boards to invest in a hedge fund can be so difficult

This episode was sponsored by CME Group and Managed Funds Association:

Connect with our guests:

Learn more about Jake Barton and Promus Holdings

Learn more about Trent Webster and State Board of Administration of Florida

Learn more about Steven Wilson and Teacher Retirement System of Texas

"It takes us a while to maneuver, but when asset markets come down, we've started to look through the valley and start planning what we want to do into the bear market." - Trent Webster (Tweet)