OC Talk Radio

Eric Clark is the portfolio manager of Accuvest Alpha Brands Consumer Spending Index. This strategy is focused on three things. One, the consumer spending. Two, brand recognition. Three, stock performance. He discusses these in detail to show how this empowers the investor and makes a better investor.

Listen to Jeff Johnson, Founder and CEO of Epus Energy, discuss the opportunities of investing for cash flow thru oil production by investing in existing producing wells.  In his third Start-up, Jeff explains the unique business model of Epus - They seek to purchase good assets (currently producing wells) where the owner is in a distressed situation and needs to raise capital.  He believes that this is an opportune time to find quality assets at distressed prices and generate a strong yield for the investors.  These are producing assets, with a track record of production and costs.  Anyone interested in generating yield would be interested in the interview.

Michael Roomberg, Portfolio Manager of Miller Howard, discusses their unique mutual fund - "Drill Bit to Burner Tip."  Invests in the entire North American energy chain.  It recognizes that the shale technology is a technological revolution which will create significant benefits to many ancillary companies and industries that are beneficiaries of this revolution. They look for companies in certain categories of energy that are quality, well run companies, but also have misspricing in their current stock value.  A unique view of energy investing that is not heard elsewhere.  Very interesting.

Bill Sherman of The Sherman Sheet, and Paul Carroll of Pinnacle Sherman Funds, discuss the two funds created by Pinnacle to follow the signals of The Sherman Sheet.  The Sherman Sheet is a publication for Advisers that provides investment research and models to use for client investment portfolios.  Built upon trend identification of markets (not individual stocks), it constructs portfolios for applying the results of the research.  The Pinnacle Funds have created two mutual funds that follow the signals and models of The Sherman Sheet.  They buy and sell positions according to the signals of The Sherman Sheet.  Paul and Bill discuss these funds and the research that results in the positions they choose. Any investor or Adviser will find this to be very interesting.

Eric Crittendon, Chief Investment Officer of Longboard Asset Management, discusses their two funds, both focused on low correlation with stocks and bonds.  Their Long/Short strategy is based on trend following, focused on long duration trends.  This rules based strategy holds long stocks but shorts index futures, a unique approach to long/short investing.  The desired result is a low beta investment, being net long higher trending stocks and synthetically net short the stocks NOT trending higher.  Their flagship program, Managed Futures strategy, uses similar trend following methodology to the Long/Short fund, and goes long and short for each market.  With a longer holding period than most Managed Futures strategies, Eric discusses the background and elements of their strategy and investment philosophy in Managed Futures.  These strategies are unique in the marketplace and Eric knows how to explain them.

iSelect Fund, a Venture Capital firm, raises funds from private investors and finds funds worthy of investment.  Investors can select those firms in which to invest or they can invest in eSelect's evergreen fund, which chooses the next twenty funds for investment.  Carter Williams, founder and CEO with a strong background in venture capital,  seeks to match  investors with middle America companies needing capital.   This portfolio diversifier allows a private investor to participate in vc investing at a lower amount with greater diversification than is usually possible.  Focused on middle America companies, as opposed to Silicon Valley, iSelect is on a mission to increse early stage funding for companies in non-Silicon Valley industries.  Investors and Advisers looking for investment diversifiers and ways to penetrate this historically productive investment asset class will find this interview to be very interesting.

Founder and CEO of Money360, Evan Gentry discusses their unique business model of making loans secured by income producing real estate.  With hundreds of investors, and having made about $150 million in loans, they make two year bridge loans on real estate.  Investors can select the properties they can invest in, or can invest in a fund offered by Money360.  He compares their model to mortage and real estate REIT's.  This is a very interesting alternative to generate yield for investors.

Sean Hickham, VP of Fund Management at CNL in Orlando, Florida, discusses the firm's Business Development Company (BDC) investment.  CNL, starting in 1973, is an Alternative Asset Manager, has acquired and managed over $34 Billion in assets. Their BDC aggregates capital from investors, lends it to small companies, and gives net returns to investors.  Current supply of lending from banks has receded and BDC's have proliferated to fill the need.  CNL has partnered with KKR to find and perform due duligence on potential borrowers.  These are floating rate loans, with duration of around 2 years. Listen to this interview for a potentially  productive way to generate yield in a very low yield environment.

Martin Bergin is president and owner of DUNN Capital, a Commodity Trading Advisor (“CTA”) firm based in Florida. In this episode of Strategic Investor Radio, Mr. Bergin and host Charley Wright discuss DUNN Capital’s history – including that of its colorful founder – as well as the firm’s trading methodology and how the futures market works in general.

 

DUNN Capital boasts a research team that includes four PhDs. The firm trades in 54 different futures markets across seven sectors: energy, metals, currencies, interest rates, bond indices, equity indices, and agricultural products. Bergin says he does not recommend individual investors buy or sell futures contracts themselves – since only a deposit of 10% is required in most cases, a move of greater than 10% in the wrong direction could incur a loss of greater than 100% of the initial investment. Instead, he recommends investing with quality CTA firms, which are able to diversify risk across a multitude of markets and contracts.

In this episode of Strategic Investor Radio, host Charley Wright interviews Jeremey DeGroot of Litman Gregory Asset Management. Mr. DeGroot is Chief Investment Officer and Principal of the firm, which provides investment research to over 4,000 advisors, institutions, and clients; as well as operating several multi-manager, sub-advised mutual funds. In this interview, Charley and DeGroot focus on one fund in particular: the Litman Gregory Masters Alternative Strategies Fund. The Fund is available in institutional shares under the ticker “MASFX,” and to individual investors under ticker “MASNX.”