In episode #403, human rights activist Bill Browder discusses the role personal history and timing played in his career trajectory. From the founding of Hermitage Capital Management just after the fall of the Soviet Union, to his current role fighting state-sponsored corruption and human rights abuses through the Magnitsky Act, Browder shares his evolution from rebel capitalist, to activist investor, to full-time human rights activist, detailed in his book, Red Notice.

Episode #402. Stephanie Kelton explains modern monetary theory, a new approach to economics. She explains how to break free of the myths and misunderstandings about money and the role of taxes, debt, and deficits that have hamstrung policymakers around the world.

In episode #401, Kathleen M. Bochman, CFA, discusses the state of the art of ESG (environmental, social, and governance) integration in fixed-income management.

In this 400th episode of the Take 15 Podcast, Mebane Faber, a cofounder and chief investment officer of Cambria Investment Management, and our guest host, Rodney Sullivan, CFA, discuss industry trends and global asset allocation strategy as we head into a new decade of the 2020s. Mr. Faber cautions investors about "home country bias" and recommends allocating investments toward the world market portfolio, particularly with lofty valuation levels in the United States from an historical perspective. Mr. Faber discusses changes to the industry that will affect financial advisers, including the impact of zero commissions and the rise of systematic or quantitative investing. He also shares why he believes financial advisers need to reassess their business risks as we enter the later stages of the economic cycle.

Episode #399. Overconfidence is a behavioral bias that plagues many investors. What does overconfidence mean, and where does one draw the line between confidence and overly optimistic behavior? What are the most common forms of overconfidence? In this episode, Ryan O. Murphy, head of decision sciences at Morningstar Investment Management, provides the answers and offers practical tips on restraining this common bias.

Episode #398. Paula Campbell Roberts leads KKR's efforts to incorporate big data and machine learning into many of its investing and value creation efforts. In this episode, she discusses how data analytics can be used to identify investment themes and talks more broadly about "the new consumer" and the investment implications from the disruption in the renting and sharing economies.

Episode #397. Have Central Banks exhausted their ability to engender growth? Is there an alternative to equities? Will there be a US-China trade deal? In this episode, Jason DeSena Trennert, chairman and chief executive officer of Strategas Research Partners and one of Wall Street's thought leaders on the subject of markets and economic policy, discusses these questions and much more.

Episode #396. Nouriel Roubini, sometimes known as "Dr. Doom" for his gloomy predictions, lays out four "games of chicken" that could crash the global economy and markets: US-China trade war, the US-Iran conflict, Brexit implications, and Argentina. He also shares his views on the US presidential elections in 2020 and why crypto is a "scam" and bitcoin "the most over-hyped technology ever."

Episode #395. We live in disruptive times. But as valuation expert Aswath Damodaran often says, disruption is easy, but making money from disruption is hard. In this episode, the author of five books on valuation discusses the "disruption dilemma," shares his advice for investors trying to value the disruptors, and gives viewers and listeners a preview of what attendees can expect from an extended session on valuation that he will be teaching at the 73rd CFA Institute Annual Conference in Atlanta in May 2020.

Episode #394. There is no shortage of negative headlines, but Lucy Johns, CFA, a vice president at Dodge & Cox, is optimistic about global bonds. In this Take 15 episode, she explains why she believes investors can find real positive yield and have an edge through security selection, being benchmark agnostic, and managing currency exposure.