In Episode #295, Larry Cao, CFA, recently sat down with Chris Ryan, managing director and head of the Asia Pacific region for MSCI in Hong Kong, and discussed these questions. This summer, investors anxiously waiting for MSCI's decision on whether to add China. A shares to the MSCI index were met with another disappointment. For the third year in a row, MSCI decided against including China A shares in its popular emerging market index. What are the general criteria a market needs to satisfy for it to be included? What's missing from the China A shares market and what will it take for China A shares to be added?

In Episode #294, Greg Valliere discusses the possible implications of the US presidential election. In particular, he highlights winning businesses and sectors resulting from the election of either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.

In Episode #293, Leah Joy Zell, CFA, shares the triumphs and tribulations of international small cap investing. Though she has produced an excellent long-term track record, Zell says she doesn't get sucked into predicting market movements. Rather, she focuses on bottom-up analysis supplemented by her deep knowledge of history in local markets. By having the flexibility to roam around the world in search of opportunities, she also feels that the combination of discipline and flexibility gives her firm a distinct advantage.

In Episode #292, we sat down with Yuichi Chiguchi, Head of Multi-Asset Strategies, BlackRock Japan, to discuss the best practices in managing these strategies. He also shared his views on whether long-term investing works in Japan given the slump in its stock market in recent decades and how he and his team are navigating the negative interest rate environment and finding opportunities in the Japanese bond market.

In Episode #290, Kazuhisa Okamoto, CFA, from I-O Wealth Advisors in Tokyo, formerly President of CFA Society Japan and CEO of Barclays Global Investors Japan, offered an explanation from the angle of Japan's deep cultural heritage and, in particular, the "merchants' way" (as opposed to the "samurai's way" that is well known in popular culture), the origin of which traces back to the Endo era.

In Episode #291, Ashby Monk discusses how leading investors are making use of these emergent technologies. Technology has been a force in investment management since the telegraph machine, but recent developments are intensifying the pace of change. As executive and research director of the global projects center at Stanford University, Ashby Monk is a frontline observer of what these changes mean for the world's major investors.

In Episode #288, Energy expert Amy Myers Jaffe walks through the breadth of innovation in the energy markets both in traditional energy sources (e.g., oil) and so-called alternative energy technologies (e.g., solar). Energy breakthroughs have lowered the costs of alternatives dramatically and provide a viable channel for both capital investment and government policy to flow. In particular, Jaffe expects a wave of climate change related policies to push economies more forcefully into alternatives going forward.

In Episode #289, Rupal J. Bhansali, a value investor whose patience and emphasis on risk management has helped set her apart from her peers, draws the important distinction between risk and volatility, addresses the perils of "value traps," and shares other valuable lessons that she has learned over the course of her investing career.

In Episode #287, Dr. Daniel Goleman, best-selling author of Emotional Intelligence and A Force For Good, the Dalai Lama's Vision for Our World, discusses the role of empathy in emotional intelligence and ways emotional intelligence can help finance professionals succeed and be a force for good.

In Episode #286, Investment manager and author Jacques Lussier, CFA, discusses what, other than superior analytical abilities, leads to investment manager outperformance, as well as the proper way of assessing investment manager performance. Hint: a factor-based approach is his preference. Additionally, Lussier discusses the important role that risk management has in driving outperformance, as well as what kinds of clients make for the best kind of client for investment managers.