The ETF Experience

Scott Nations joins the podcast to talk about how options trading has evolved over his career and to give an overview of his book, The History of the United States in Five Crashes. Topics discussed:

• Options trading pits – how they have evolved
• What it takes to be a good options trader
• Creating a better VIX
• Imbalance of options premiums
• Closet indexing and index bubble fears
• Anatomy of a market crash
• How exchanges have mitigated risk of another flash crash
• What the next market crash could look like

Dan Cupkovic, Director of Investments at Argi financial Group in Lousiville, KY talks to Phil about developing the BlackSwan index and why he set out to convert the SMA strategy into an ETF. They also discuss:

• The case for the SWAN index
• Lowering volatility while lowering correlation
• Where to use it in a portfolio
• The process of converting an SMA into an ETF
• How Argi evaluates ETFs for it's own portfolios

Phil talks to Alexandra Levis about marketing in the financial services industry and the challenges facing entrepreneurs. The topics include:

• What makes good marketing content
• The contrast between old and new financial companies
• How to disrupt the right way
• How to effectively get PR exposure
• Content generation and creating "micro moments"
• Millennial perspective

Behavioral investing author Daniel Crosby joins the podcast for a fascinating conversation with Phil that covers:

• Being yourself to grow confidence
• Writing the Behavioral Investor book
• Whether quant investing solves behavioral biases
• Irrationally taking risks in our everyday lives
• Brinker Innovation Lab & Tulip software

Phil is joined by Nicole Boyson, Professor of Finance at Northeastern University, to talk about her research about the asset management industry and best practices. The conversation includes:

• How Nicole keeps her finger on pulse of the industry as an academic
• Hedge Fund contagion & LTCM
• Nicole's research on Hedge Fund activists
• Brokerage and dual-registered advisor models versus fiduciaries
• Conflicts of interest and the Fiduciary Standard

Tobias Carlisle from Acquirers Funds joins Phil for a conversation about value investing. Conversation highlights:

• How Tobi discovered value investing
• An overview of Tobi's books, including Quantitative Value, Deep Value, Concentrated Investing and The Aquirer's Multiple
• The case for concentration and active share
• Launching a strategy in an ETF versus a hedge fund or mutual fund
• The cyclicality of value
• "This time is different" arguments and if value still works

Morgan Housel joins Phil in the podcast booth from the Wealthstack conference to talk about:

• The Collaborative Fund thesis
• Competitive advantages for businesses
• How companies get complacent over time
• Mean reversion and the business cycle
• Paranoia as driver of success
• Overcoming a speech disorder

Phil sits down with Perth Tolle, founder of Life and Liberty Indexes to talk about why freedom and liberty are personal to her and why she founded her company. They discuss:

• The connection between economic freedom and prosperity
• Freedom as both an ESG and alpha-seeking metric
• Investments born of passion and purpose
• Process of starting an index and licensing it to an ETF issuer
• Competing against large corporations
• Persistence and hustle
• How a chance meeting with Rob Arnott got the ball rolling

Phil is joined by Alex Chalekian, Founder and CEO of Lake Avenue Financial to discuss the changing nature of the financial planning and advice industry and where the puck is heading. The conversation includes:

• Differentiating financial planning vs portfolio management
• Going independent
• Growing by acquisitions and how to retain acquired clients
• Benefits of using social media to grow
• Misperceptions about working with millennials
• Leveraging technology
• AdvisorsUNITE and how Alex sources acquisitions

Exponential ETFs is excited to welcome Tyrone Ross Jr., as our Director of Financial Education. Josh Blechman and Tyrone discuss Exponential ETFs' Detroit Invests in You initiative, aimed at increasing financial literacy across the city of Detroit. Tyrone discusses his personal connection to this cause and the life changing impact this program can have. Topics include:

• Tyrone's personal journey to financial literacy
• The role that crypto-currency can play in serving under-banked banked communities
• Crypto's role is spurring investment interest in communities that have not traditionally participated
• Challenges of bitcoin – Hype vs Utility
• How social media allows an Advisor to stand out and connect with a community