Michael Green has seen markets from the inside at the highest levels, from managing capital connected to some of the biggest names in finance to building his own frameworks around how markets really function. In this episode, we go deep into the forces shaping modern markets, the unintended consequences of passive investing, and why he believes the structure of markets today may be setting the stage for a major turning point. 

Michael shares the lessons learned from decades in the industry, including his time working with major institutions, navigating legal and professional setbacks, and developing the research that made him one of the most provocative voices in finance today. This conversation blends market theory, real-world experience, and philosophical reflections on capitalism, risk, and the future of investing.

🧠 How Michael went from traditional value investing to focusing on market structure and flows after the 2008 crisis

📉 Why passive investing may be reshaping markets in ways most investors don’t fully understand

💥 The story behind the XIV collapse prediction and what it revealed about fragility in modern markets

🏛️ What he learned working around figures like Peter Thiel and institutions connected to Soros

🎯 His advice to young investors on preparing for the next major market shift and building durable investing skills

If you like deep market structure insights, macro thinking, and honest conversations about how markets really work, this one's for you.

Oh, and if you haven't already... subscribe to The Blunt Dollar for more raw and honest finance conversations.

New episodes drop every other week! Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.

And last, but not least, don't forget to follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ignacio-ramirez-moreno-cfa/

Enjoy the episode!

Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Listeners should consult a qualified financial professional before making any financial decisions.

In this episode of The Blunt Dollar, I sit down with Andrew from 8FIGURES to talk about how technology, psychology, and better education could reshape the future of investing. We explore what risk really means for everyday investors, why so many people still make costly mistakes, and how AI can act as a powerful second opinion when managing your portfolio. 

This conversation goes beyond theory and dives into practical ways to think about long term investing, portfolio balance, and staying relevant in a world increasingly powered by AI. 

🧠 Rethinking risk beyond volatility and focusing on real life outcomes that matter to investors

📚 Why financial education from a young age could transform the entire financial industry

🤖 How AI can serve as a second opinion to help investors avoid emotional and costly mistakes

⚖️ The importance of balancing conservative and high growth investment buckets for long term success

🚀 The future of financial advice, the role of human advisors, and why embracing AI is no longer optional

If you like conversations about AI in finance, smarter portfolio design, and the future of financial advice, this one's for you.

Oh, and if you haven't already... subscribe to The Blunt Dollar for more raw and honest finance conversations.

New episodes drop every other week! Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.

And last, but not least, don't forget to follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ignacio-ramirez-moreno-cfa/

Enjoy the episode!

Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Listeners should consult a qualified financial professional before making any financial decisions.

In this episode of The Blunt Dollar, I sit down with Vitaliy Katsenelson, CEO of Investment Management Associates and author of Soul in the Game, for a wide-ranging conversation that goes far beyond traditional investing.

Vitaliy is not your typical investor. He blends classical value investing with philosophy, music, writing, and deep introspection. In this conversation, we explore how stoicism, creativity, and self-awareness shape better investors and better decision makers.

From managing emotions during market cycles to designing processes that protect you from yourself, Vitaliy shares lessons built over decades of experience and reflection. This episode is as much about life as it is about investing.

Here are some of the key topics we cover:

🧠 Why writing sharpens thinking and helps investors organize chaotic ideas into clear decisions

⚖️ How stoic philosophy and the dichotomy of control help investors handle uncertainty, setbacks, and market volatility

🎯 The importance of process over ego and how position sizing, discipline, and humility protect long term results

🎵 What classical music, creativity, and curiosity teach about pattern recognition, patience, and lifelong learning

🤖 How to use AI as a thinking partner without falling into cognitive debt or outsourcing your critical thinking

If you like conversations about investing psychology, philosophy, decision making, and building long term conviction, this one's for you.

Oh, and if you haven't already... subscribe to The Blunt Dollar for more raw and honest finance conversations.

New episodes drop every other week! Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.

And last, but not least, don't forget to follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ignacio-ramirez-moreno-cfa/

Enjoy the episode!

Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Listeners should consult a qualified financial professional before making any financial decisions.

In this episode of The Blunt Dollar, I sit down with Vincenzo Riflesso, Head of Risk at Maverix Securities, former equity derivatives trader at BNP Paribas, Intesa Sanpaolo and UniCredit, and a thought leader at the Certificate in Quantitative Finance. With 10 years on trading desks and another decade leading risk teams, Vincenzo brings a rare perspective that bridges adrenaline driven markets and disciplined quantitative portfolio construction. 

We unpack the psychological and structural evolution from trader to risk manager to quant portfolio builder, and what 2008 really taught him about overconfidence, fragility and pain tolerance.

Here is what we cover

📉 2008 from the trading desk
What real market chaos looks like when liquidity, counterparties and volatility all break at once and how that crisis reshaped his understanding of fragility and personal limits

🧠 Overconfidence, humility and psychological pain
Why early success can distort self perception, what happens when you trade your own capital, and how discovering your true pain threshold changes your entire investment philosophy

📊 Drawdown tolerance over return targets
Why maximum drawdown is a more realistic constraint than return expectations and how proper backtesting prepares both managers and investors for inevitable stress

⚙️ Quant discipline and implementation
Why sticking to the model matters more than being “right,” how momentum really works in practice, and why second guessing your system can quietly destroy performance

🛡️ Portfolio construction and investor behavior
How diversification across equities, fixed income and alternatives helps manage panic, why communication builds trust, and what separates structured portfolio thinking from pure trading

If you like honest conversations about risk, quant investing and the psychology of markets, this one is for you.

Oh, and if you haven't already... subscribe to The Blunt Dollar for more raw and honest finance conversations.

New episodes drop every other week! Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.

And last, but not least, don't forget to follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ignacio-ramirez-moreno-cfa/

Enjoy the episode!

Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Listeners should consult a qualified financial professional before making any financial decisions.

What if you could forecast GDP from space?

In this episode of The Blunt Dollar, I sit down with Jake Schneider, Founder of Atlas Analytics, to explore how satellite imagery, artificial intelligence, and economic modeling are converging to create a completely new way to measure economic activity in real time.

From working directly for former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan to building proprietary algorithms that estimate GDP before official government releases, Jake shares the story behind one of the most fascinating intersections of finance and technology today. 

📡 How Atlas Analytics uses satellite imagery to track economic activity across countries and regions

🧠 The technology behind forecasting GDP using computer vision, machine learning, and geospatial data

🏛️ Jake’s experience working with Alan Greenspan and the lessons he learned about macroeconomic forecasting

🌍 Why real-time economic intelligence could be transformative for developing economies and institutions like the IMF

📈 How hedge funds, policymakers, and investors can use alternative data to gain an informational edge

If you like macroeconomics, alternative data, and the future of financial intelligence, this one's for you.

Links to Atlas Analytics here: https://www.atlasanalytics.info/ and https://atlasanalytics.com/

Oh, and if you haven't already... subscribe to The Blunt Dollar for more raw and honest finance conversations.

New episodes drop every other week! Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.

And last, but not least, don't forget to follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ignacio-ramirez-moreno-cfa/

Enjoy the episode!

Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Listeners should consult a qualified financial professional before making any financial decisions.

In this episode of The Blunt Dollar, I sit down with Simon Evan-Cook from Downing Fund Managers for a deep and refreshingly honest conversation about what investing really looks like in practice.

Simon brings a unique engineering mindset to markets, challenging the industry’s obsession with precision, models, and certainty. We unpack how real investors navigate uncertainty, learn from mistakes, and build systems that actually work in the real world, not just on paper. 

Here’s what we cover:

💡 Why most investors fail not because of bad ideas but because of bad timing and behavior.

🧠 The power of thinking like an engineer and building investment systems that solve real problems.

📉 How to run honest post mortems and actually learn from mistakes instead of rewriting history.

🤖 Where AI helps and where human intuition still has an edge in investing.

🔥 The underrated trait Simon calls “bellicious” and why it matters more than intelligence.

If you like practical investing insights, honest reflections from practitioners, and conversations that challenge conventional finance thinking, this one’s for you.

Oh, and if you haven't already... subscribe to The Blunt Dollar for more raw and honest finance conversations.

New episodes drop every other week! Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.

And last, but not least, don't forget to follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ignacio-ramirez-moreno-cfa/

Enjoy the episode!

Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Listeners should consult a qualified financial professional before making any financial decisions.

In this episode of The Blunt Dollar, I sit down with Sebastian Lewis from Vanguard, one of the most influential investment firms in the world.

We explore Sebastian’s journey from Morgan Stanley during the dot-com era to a 15-year career at Sanford Bernstein and ultimately to Vanguard, where he helps bring investment research and market insights to financial advisors across Europe. Along the way, we dive into indexing, investor behavior, market concentration, and some of the most fascinating research shaping how we think about investing today. 

📈 Why indexing remains one of the most misunderstood concepts in investing and why the active versus passive debate is more nuanced than most people think

🧠 The behavioral mistakes investors keep making, from performance chasing and panic selling to the emotional traps that destroy long-term returns

🌍 Why market concentration is normal, what history teaches us about dominant companies, and why diversification matters more than ever

📚 The groundbreaking research of Besenbinder and what it reveals about the tiny number of stocks responsible for most wealth creation in financial markets

🚀 Sebastian’s career journey through Morgan Stanley, Sanford Bernstein, and Vanguard, plus his advice for young professionals looking to build a successful career in finance

If you like indexing, behavioral finance, and evidence-based investing, this one's for you.

Oh, and if you haven't already... subscribe to The Blunt Dollar for more raw and honest finance conversations.

New episodes drop every other week! Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.

And last, but not least, don't forget to follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ignacio-ramirez-moreno-cfa/

Enjoy the episode!

Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Listeners should consult a qualified financial professional before making any financial decisions.

In this episode of The Blunt Dollar, I sit down with Thomas Veillet, one of Switzerland’s most recognizable financial voices and a pioneer in making markets understandable, entertaining, and brutally honest.

With more than three decades in finance and thousands of market columns under his belt, Thomas shares how he went from trading floors to building a media brand that challenges the traditional tone of financial commentary. From waking up at 4 AM to read global markets to reinventing himself after leaving institutional banking, this conversation is packed with insights on discipline, storytelling, and staying authentic in a highly competitive industry. 

💡 How Thomas transitioned from institutional trading to becoming a leading financial storyteller and media personality

📚 Why simplicity, storytelling, and humor are powerful tools for explaining complex financial markets

🚪 The bold decision to walk away from banking in 2009 and build an independent career from scratch

📱 The evolving role of media, AI, and social platforms in shaping investor behavior and financial education

🔥 Real lessons on passion, consistency, burnout prevention, and how to build a lasting career in finance

If you like market insights, career reinvention stories, and honest conversations about finance media, this one's for you.

Oh, and if you haven't already... subscribe to The Blunt Dollar for more raw and honest finance conversations.

New episodes drop every other week! Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.

And last, but not least, don't forget to follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ignacio-ramirez-moreno-cfa/

Enjoy the episode!

Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Listeners should consult a qualified financial professional before making any financial decisions.

In this episode of The Blunt Dollar, Ignacio sits down with Gina Martin Adams, Chief Market Strategist at HB Wealth and one of the most recognizable voices in financial markets.

After more than two decades on Wall Street spanning firms like Wells Fargo and Bloomberg, Gina shares how she built a disciplined, model driven approach to understanding markets and why combining macro, technicals, fundamentals and behavioral insights is essential for navigating modern investing. 

📊 How Gina built a systematic framework blending macro, technicals and fundamentals to cut through market noise and identify real signals

🧠 Why investor psychology and sentiment are often the most powerful indicators when trying to identify major market bottoms

⚠️ The biggest mistakes strategists make including relying too heavily on a single discipline and ignoring price behavior

📉 How risk has evolved in today’s markets from concentration risk in mega cap stocks to policy driven volatility and shifting portfolio dynamics

🚀 Career lessons for the next generation of market strategists including why developing your own process and intellectual patience matters more than copying others

If you like market psychology, systematic investing frameworks and deep conversations about how strategy is really built inside Wall Street firms, this one's for you.

Oh, and if you haven't already... subscribe to The Blunt Dollar for more raw and honest finance conversations.

New episodes drop every other week! Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.

And last, but not least, don't forget to follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ignacio-ramirez-moreno-cfa/

Enjoy the episode!

Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Listeners should consult a qualified financial professional before making any financial decisions.

In this episode of The Blunt Dollar, Ignacio sits down with Andrew Wells, Chief Investment Officer at Sanjak Alpha and a veteran fixed income investor with decades of experience navigating bond markets, hedge funds, and ETFs. Andy shares his journey from small town Texas to running trading desks and hedge funds, while breaking down how today’s bond market is fundamentally different from the last four decades of falling interest rates. 

🔎 Why the bond market may ultimately challenge the Fed and why cutting rates into strong markets and persistent inflation could be a dangerous experiment

📊 The hidden complexity of fixed income and why active management tends to outperform in bonds while most equity managers struggle to beat the index

⚠️ Liquidity risk, credit spreads, and the illusion of safety in bonds including lessons from the 2008 financial crisis and the brutal bond drawdowns of 2022

🧠 How professional investors think about risk management, preventing drawdowns, and why sequencing of returns matters more than most investors realize

🚀 Career advice for young professionals including the importance of intellectual humility, handling criticism, and why communication will still beat machines in the age of AI

If you like fixed income insights, macro thinking, and honest conversations about how markets really work, this one's for you.

Oh, and if you haven't already... subscribe to The Blunt Dollar for more raw and honest finance conversations.

New episodes drop every other week! Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.

And last, but not least, don't forget to follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ignacio-ramirez-moreno-cfa/

Enjoy the episode!

Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Listeners should consult a qualified financial professional before making any financial decisions.