Peggy Chait, compliance consultant, chats with Bruce and Jeff about Finra’s effort to increase the diversity of the financial services industry. They discuss the details of Form U4, disclosures, and the role of Finra versus an employer. Teri Shepard from Carson Group talks about their new research on women in the RIA space. Jeff searches for concrete answers to the question: Why aren’t there more women RIAs?

R.J. Moore, newly minted CEO of Private Advisor Group, discusses with Jeff and Bruce the recent explosion of M&A activity and specifically, RIA valuations. Peter Yi of Northern Trust Asset Management joins as well to talk about Jeff’s favorite topic of the day, inflation. Is it transitory, is it going to get worse, what to do about it, and just what exactly is ‘stuck-flation’?

InvestmentNews’ fintech reporter, Nicole Casperson, has become a true expert on all things Robinhood through her reporting, and she joins Jeff and Bruce on Robinhood’s IPO day to share her findings. They discuss the companies challenges, where they go from here, and the performance of the IPO itself. Professor Luke Taylor from Wharton joins today’s pod to chat about the results of his department’s research on the future of ESG performance. Their verdict? The future will not be as bright as the prior two years worth of gains.

Burt White, CIO of LPL, joins the pod this episode to chat about LPL’s annual meeting, transitioning from the 60/40 mindset, and the role of a CIO. Zach Teutsch, an adviser whose practice specializes in progressive clients, chats with Jeff and Bruce about having a niche practice, tax planning for the left-minded, and Zach’s curious career path through Bear Stearns during the ’08 financial crisis.

See it Be it honoree Dana Wilson shares her story of founding CHIP (Changing How Individuals Prosper), an online community that helps people of color find advisers and other professionals who look like them. Jordan Waxman, an adviser to professional athletes, celebrities and advocates, joins to discuss how advisers could take advantage of the recent NCAA rule allowing greater freedom for student athletes to earn income off their name and likeness.

Tom O’Shea, a director at Cerulli Associates, explains why taxes and ESG are creating a surge of interest in direct indexing, a separately managed account product that has been around for 20 years. His research firm predicts a 12.4% growth in direct indexing assets, compared with 11.3% for exchange-traded funds and 3.3% for mutual funds. InvestmentNews hosts Jeff Benjamin and Bruce Kelly discuss a report from two academics that suggests $36 million of the $590 million that RIAs accepted in the first round of PPP loans last year went to firms that abused the program.

Jim Paulsen of The Leuthold Group and Paulsen’s Perspective joins the podcast to discuss his views on S&P valuations, the possibility of inflation and a market outlook. Our own Mark Schoeff Jr. fills Jeff and Bruce in on Barbara Roper’s move to the SEC from her longtime work for the Consumer Federation of America.

Leslie Marshall of Morningstar joins Jeff and Bruce to discuss the company’s conference, which is the final large in-person conference still standing. They talk about the deliberations in going forward with it, Covid policies, what makes this year different, and Leslie’s job title. Bruce and Jeff also go through the recent American Century conspiracy theory.

Writer and researcher Jamie Hopkins, managing partner of wealth solutions at Carson Wealth, discusses at length with Jeff and Bruce the current Democratic tax plan making its way through Congress. They discuss realistic outcomes of the bill and ramifications for advisers and clients. They also discuss crypto, the new Carson headquarters building and the Bain Capital investment.

Steve Skancke from Keel Point joins Jeff and Bruce to chat alternatives. With his long history of both governmental and private-sector work, Steve helps break down why the 60/40 portfolio is now 70/30, and why alts make more sense now than ever.