This week's Alpha Trader podcast features hosts Aaron Task and Stephen Alpher talking with Brian Portnoy, the founder of Shaping Wealth, and co-editor with Josh Brown of the new book, How I Invest My Money.
Prior to speaking with Portnoy, the hosts discuss an historic month for equity markets - the S&P posting its best November ever, the Dow posting its best month since 1987, and the Russell 2000 outperforming them both. They remind that while the headlines about growing Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations, and related shutdowns look grim, markets look ahead and - thanks to what appears to be outstanding news on vaccines - are pricing in a better world six-twelve months down the road.
And don't forget the election. Markets really appear to be liking the prospects for divided government and - contrary to some pre-election worries - Biden's early cabinet picks show someone who is set on governing roughly from the center.
How I Invest My Money explores the investment choices of 25 prominent finance players. The common theme across this spectrum of experts: There is none, says Portnoy, other than the maxim that personal finance is more personal than finance.
Even in this age of quantification and robo-advisors, says Portnoy, everyone has different goals they're optimizing, meaning investment choices will remain personal. Adding it up, nearly no one's portfolio is necessarily going to fit into the perfect efficient frontier, and there's nothing wrong with that.
So many folks beat themselves up over not being fully invested in the kind of bull market we've seen over the past several months, but Portnoy reminds that we tend to undervalue the optionality and freedom of holding cash. That's not just Portnoy's belief but - in a book of 25 different professionals talking about how they invest their money - the beauty of cash is a common theme.
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