Financial Thought Exchange Podcast

Thomas M. Idzorek, CFA, is chief investment officer, retirement, for Morningstar Investment Management LLC. He also serves as a member of Morningstar's 401(k) committee, Public Policy Council, Global Investment Committee, U.S. Investment Policy Committee, the editorial board of Morningstar magazine, and the Journal of Investment Management conference series Advisory Board.

Paul D. Kaplan, CFA, was director of research for Morningstar Canada and a senior member of Morningstar's global research team. He led the development of many of the quantitative methodologies behind Morningstar's fund analysis, indexes, adviser tools, and other services. Kaplan conducted research on asset allocation, retirement income planning, portfolio construction, index methodologies, and other investment topics.

Tom & Paul join host Lotta Moberg for the second time to continue discussing how life-cycle finance provides a practical, integrated three-stage model for financial planning that not only embraces life-cycle finance but also integrates it with single-period optimization models. Here is a link to their research: https://rpc.cfainstitute.org/en/research/foundation/2024/lifetime-financial-advice-a-personalized-optimal-multilevel-approach

Financial Thought Exchange is the official podcast and video channel of the CFA Institute Research Foundation. If you would like to support the show and our work, please donate here: https://rpc.cfainstitute.org/en/research-foundation/donate

Mike Dowdall is Chief Investment Officer of Alternative Fund Advisors and the portfolio manager of the AFA Private Credit Fund. He is responsible for the investment sourcing, due diligence, and positioning of the AFA Private Credit Fund.

Prior to joining Alternative Fund Advisors, Mike was a director and the portfolio manager at BMO Global Asset Management, where he managed the US multi-asset and multi-alternative portfolios.

Mike is a member of the CFA Society of Chicago and is a CFA Charterholder. He received an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a BBA from the University of Notre Dame.

In this episode, Mike joins host Lotta Moberg to discuss the future of alternative credit and the myriad of associated factors and risks.

His published work on the topic can be found here (pages 84-93): https://rpc.cfainstitute.org/-/media/documents/article/rf-brief/introduction-to-alt-credit.pdf

Financial Thought Exchange is brought to you by the CFA Institute Research Foundation. If you would like to support the show and our research, please use the following link: https://rpc.cfainstitute.org/en/research-foundation/donate

Nick joined Vantage Infrastructure in 2012 to build out the global infrastructure debt platform and has more than 25 years of relevant experience. Nick leads the North American business, including investments origination, execution and portfolio management. He is a member of the Investment Committee and the firm's global Executive Committee.

Prior to joining Vantage Infrastructure, Nick spent over six years in the banking industry across energy, resources, project and infrastructure financing.

Nick holds a Bachelor of Surveying degree from the University of Tasmania, and a Master of Business Administration from the Macquarie Graduate School of Management, Australia.

Nick joins host Lotta Moberg to discuss the intersection of the infrastructure and financial industries and how infrastructure debt finances the interconnected world we live in today.

His published work on the topic can be found here (pages 67-73): https://rpc.cfainstitute.org/-/media/documents/article/rf-brief/introduction-to-alt-credit.pdf

Financial Thought Exchange is brought to you by the CFA Institute Research Foundation. If you would like to support the show and our research, please click here.

#alternativecredit #infrastructure #altcredit #financepodcast #businesspodcast

Zack Ellison, CFA, CAIA is the founder and managing general partner of Applied Real Intelligence (A.R.I.) and the chief investment officer of the A.R.I. Senior Secured Growth Credit Fund, which provides debt financing solutions to premier startups in North America.

He previously worked as a loan structurer and underwriter, investment banker, corporate bond trader, and fixed income portfolio manager at three firms with over $1 trillion in assets – Scotia Bank, Deutsche Bank, and Sun Life.

Mr. Ellison holds an MBA from the University of Chicago, an MS in Risk Management from NYU, and is completing his Doctorate in Business Administration at the University of Florida.

His views on investing in innovation and venture debt are showcased in monthly columns he writes for Venture Capital Journal and Built In, as well as engaging discussions with leading investors each week on The 7 in 7 Show with Zack Ellison (Podcast). Additionally, he authored the Venture Debt chapter in the recently released book from the CFA Institute Research Foundation: An Introduction to Alternative Credit. For a deeper dive into A.R.I.'s pioneering growth credit and venture debt solutions and to discover how they're shaping the future of startup financing, visit www.arivc.com.

Financial Thought Exchange is the official podcast and video channel of the CFA Institute Research Foundation. If you would like to support the show and our work, please use the donation link below: https://rpc.cfainstitute.org/en/research-foundation/donate

Thomas M. Idzorek, CFA, is chief investment officer, retirement, for Morningstar Investment Management LLC. He also serves as a member of Morningstar's 401(k) committee, Public Policy Council, Global Investment Committee, U.S. Investment Policy Committee, the editorial board of Morningstar magazine, and the Journal of Investment Management conference series Advisory Board.

Paul D. Kaplan, CFA, was director of research for Morningstar Canada and a senior member of Morningstar's global research team. He led the development of many of the quantitative methodologies behind Morningstar's fund analysis, indexes, adviser tools, and other services. Kaplan conducted research on asset allocation, retirement income planning, portfolio construction, index methodologies, and other investment topics.

Tom & Paul join host Lotta Moberg to discuss how lifecycle finance's wide, encompassing approach provides an over-arching framework for individuals to better invest their money over the course of their life. Here is a link to their published research: https://rpc.cfainstitute.org/research/foundation/2024/lifetime-financial-advice-a-personalized-optimal-multilevel-approach

Financial Thought Exchange is the official podcast and video channel of the CFA Institute Research Foundation. If you would like to support the show and our work, please use the donation link below: https://rpc.cfainstitute.org/en/research-foundation/donate

Stephen Sexauer is SDCERA's Chief Investment Officer and oversees SDCERA's $17 billion pension Trust Fund, investment team, and investment consultants. Sexauer graduated from the University of Illinois with a BS in Economics and from the University of Chicago with an MBA in Economics and Finance.

Laurence B. Siegel is the Director of Research at the CFA Institute Research Foundation and a writer, speaker, and consultant. Siegel graduated from the University of Chicago with both a BA & a MBA. His website is http://www.larrysiegel.org.

Sexauer and Siegel describe the "bolt from the blue" represented by Harry Markowitz's 1952 discovery of mean-variance optimization for investment portfolios. They indicate how optimization has been applied and misapplied, and suggest a new heuristic for combining optimizer outputs with other information.

Their published work on the topic can be found here: https://rpc.cfainstitute.org/en/research/financial-analysts-journal/2023/harry-markowitz-and-the-philosophers-stone

Financial Thought Exchange is brought to you by the CFA Institute Research Foundation. If you would like to support the show and our work, please use the following donation link: https://rpc.cfainstitute.org/en/research-foundation/donate

Alfonso Ricciardelli, CFA, is based in New York City. He is a Co-Founder at Noosk, a social platform for knowledge-based content. Alfonso's career spans 15 years between politics and finance.

Alfonso joins host Lotta Moberg in the first ever episode of the Financial Thought Exchange podcast to discuss the basics of alternative credit and its usefulness as an asset class. His published work on the topic can be found here: https://rpc.cfainstitute.org/research/foundation/2024/an-introduction-to-alternative-credit

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