Capital Allocators – Inside the Institutional Investment Industry

Latest Episodes:

[REPLAY] Tim McCusker – Consistency and Creativity as CIO at NEPC (Capital Allocators, EP. 80) Apr 30, 2020

Show notes

Tim McCusker is the Chief Investment Officer at NEPC, an investment consultant that advises on $1 trillion in assets on behalf of 400 institutional clients. Tim oversees NEPC's 50-person investment research team and leads investment strategy for the firm. In each of 2014, 2015, and 2016, CIO Magazine recognized Tim as one of the world's most influential consultants.

Our conversation covers NEPC's client centric model, meeting the needs of a range of client types, forming and implementing capital market views, researching managers, sourcing in public and private assets, allocating to scarce capacity managers, and forming and leaning into the megatrends of artificial intelligence, income inequality, demographics, and shifting currency regimes.

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Michael Mervosh - Investing in Yourself During a Crisis (Capital Allocators, EP.134) Apr 27, 2020

Show notes

Michael Mervosh, clinical psychologist and founder of the Hero's Journey Foundation. Michael joined me to talk about how people are managing their way through the crisis.

Our conversation covers the unexpected resonance of shelter-in-place, facing ordeals, valuing connection, and discovering creativity. We close with a simple tip to participate in something bigger than yourself, and a poetic word about kindness.

If you'd like to learn more about Michael and his work, in which I've been an active participant, check out herosjourneyfoundation.org/introduction, and have a listen to our previous conversation that follows on the feed.

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[REPLAY] Michael Mervosh – Invest in Yourself (Capital Allocators, EP.68) Apr 27, 2020

Show notes

Both times I was interviewed (by Khe Hy and Patrick O'Shaughnessy) and shared those conversations on Capital Allocators, I made reference to a special experience I've participated in for the last five years called the Hero's Journey. The weeklong journey in the mountains of West Virginia provides a setting and platform for each participant to access their best self.

Michael Mervosh is the deeply insightful Executive Director of the Hero's Journey Foundation, an organization he created that provides experiential learning opportunities for human development and transformation based on Joseph Campbell's mythic hero's journey. He has a passion and indescribable skill in enlivening the developmental process and fostering vitality, meaning and well-being in individuals, groups, and organizations. When not running programs or training others, Michael practices psychotherapy at the Nuin Center in Pittsburgh, where he has professionally resided for 25 years.

Our conversation took place in the mountains towards the end of this year's journey and is quite different from those you may be accustomed to hearing on the show. We cover Michael's path to creating the experience, the myth of the Hero, lessons in how the world actually works, the call to adventure, perfectionism, uncertainty, fear, and poetry.

If you're intrigued, I strongly encourage you to check out herosjourneyfoundation.org. Spaces are limited for the annual summer Men's and Women's Journeys, so sign up for next year's trip at the website or reach out to me. I intend to be back on the mountain next year and hope to see you there.

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Book Links

Phillip Shepherd, New Self, New World: Recovering Our Senses in the Twenty-First Century

Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces

Jack Kornfeld, After the Ecstasy, the Laundry: How the Heart Grows Wise on the Spiritual Path

Joseph Jastrab, Sacred Manhood Sacred Earth: A Vision Quest into the Wilderness of a Man's Heart

Andrew Golden – Navigating Princeton's Endowment Through (Another) Crisis (Capital Allocators, EP.133) Apr 23, 2020

Show notes

Andy Golden is the President of PRINCO, where he has overseen the management of Princeton University's $25 billion endowment since 1995. He was an early guest on the show and came back to discuss steering the ship in this tricky time.

Our conversation covers communicating remotely, adding value incrementally in volatile markets, managing time, considering liquidity, and playing offense.

Join Ted's mailing list at CapitalAllocatorsPodcast.com Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides For more episodes go to CapitalAllocatorsPodcast.com/Podcast

[REPLAY] Andrew Golden - Princeton University's Chief Investing Tiger (Capital Allocators, EP.13) Apr 23, 2020

Show notes

After getting some great feedback from the replay of my conversation with Scott Malpass, I am going to repeat some gems from the past every few months. This week I picked out my conversation with Andy Golden, the venerable head of Princeton's 24 billion dollar endowment. It's another master class in endowment management from a seasoned veteran.

Andy Golden is the President of Princeton University's Investment Management Company (PRINCO). Having grown from $3B at the time of his arrival in 1995 to $22.5B today, PRINCO has been among the highest performing endowments in the world. Andy came to PRINCO from Duke Management Company, where he was an Investment Director, and received his formative training in the business working for David Swensen at the Yale University Investments Office. Andy currently serves on the fund Advisory Boards of several well-known private equity and venture capital managers, including Bain Capital, General Catalyst Partners, and Greylock Partners. He was a founding member of the Investors' Committee of the President's Working Group on Financial Markets and serves as a Trustee of the Princeton Area Community Foundation and Rutgers Preparatory School. Andy holds a B.A. in Philosophy from Duke University and an M.P.P.M. from the Yale School of Management.

Our conversation discusses Princeton's endowment two decades ago and today, including its strategic advantages as an institution, shifts in thinking about asset allocation, decision making, team development, and partnership with managers. Andy's long tenure in his seat, insight, and wisdom provides a treasure trove of information about how a top endowment manager practices his craft, and his subtle wit always keeps things light.

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Annie Duke – Decision Making in a Crisis (Capital Allocators, EP.132) Apr 20, 2020

Show notes

My friend Brian Portnoy recently put together a Zoom call where he and Jonathan Novy interviewed Annie Duke about decision making in the crisis.

Brian was a long-time fund investor and has authored two books in the field of behavioral finance. He and I discussed his second book, The Geometry of Wealth, on Episode 57 that follows on the feed. He is currently a financial wellness consultant for advisors, corporations, and industry associations.

Jonathan is a financial advisor at Ritholtz Wealth Management, a prominent and fast-growing RIA.

And Annie is a regular on the show. She's a poker legend, decision-making theorist and best selling author. And, she's releasing a new book later this year entitled How To Decide, but that's subject matter for another show down the road

What follows is the segment of their call pertaining to the crisis. They discuss the difference between complicated and complex decisions, the tradeoff between time and certainty when making decisions, the process of preparing clients to make good investment decisions today, and decision-making education for children.

Please enjoy Brian and Jonathan's conversation with Annie Duke.

[REPLAY] Brian Portnoy – From Complex to Simple (Capital Allocators, EP.57) Apr 20, 2020

Show notes

Brian Portnoy Brian is currently the Director of Investment Education at $100B investment solutions provider Virtus Investment Partners, where he strives to simplify the complex world of money in an effort to help investors make better decisions and lead a joyful life. For the past two decades, he has held senior investment, research, and strategy roles in the hedge fund and mutual fund industries at Chicago Equity Partners, Mesirow Financial, and Morningstar.

Brian is the author of "The Investor's Paradox," a book about manager selection rooted in choice theory. His second book, "The Geometry of Wealth" hits electronic and physical bookstores this week.

Our conversation covers Brian's experience in manager research and lessons learned, choice theory and managing expectations, differences between institutional investment and private wealth management, distinction between seeking wealth and trying to get rich, his terrific new book, and why volatility is risk. Brian's insightful take on investing and his journey from the complex to the simple is full of investment nuggets of gold.

[REPLAY] Annie Duke – Thinking More in Bets (Capital Allocators, EP.76) Apr 20, 2020

Show notes

My guest on today's show once again is Annie Duke, decision-making expert, former world-famous poker player, and author of the best seller, Thinking in Bets. I had a chance to interview Annie at The Investment Institute's Fall Forum in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and the live interview follows. Special thanks to Andrea Szigethy and Donna Holly, founders of the Institute, for having Annie and me down for their terrific event.

Our conversation covers the challenge of separating signal from noise in making decisions, the formation and confirmation of beliefs, forming decision groups, communicating with teams, and mistakes Annie's advisory clients have made after reading her book. We close with some questions from the audience and end with two great poker stories of how Annie approached being a woman in the male-dominated poker world. Annie's irrepressible brain was on display this time around, covering a few of the same ideas from our last conversation and some new ones with different anecdotes along the way.

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Discuss show and Read the Transcript

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For more episodes go to CapitalAllocatorsPodcast.com/Podcast

Sandra Robertson – Calibrating Oxford's Portfolio in a Crisis (Capital Allocators, EP.131) Apr 16, 2020

Show notes

Sandra Robertson, OU Endowment Management's esteemed CEO and CIO, rejoined me for an update on how she and her team have been navigating the markets. It's quick and chock full of wisdom, including her priorities, calibration of the portfolio, assessment of opportunities, and shopping list in a time that she renders too late to sell and too early to buy.

Sandra Robertson – Oxford's Queen of Endowment Management (Capital Allocators, EP.130) Apr 13, 2020

Show notes

Sandra Robertson is the CEO and Chief Investment Officer of OU Endowment Management Ltd, a subsidiary company of the University of Oxford that manages the 4 billion GBP Oxford Endowment Fund. Simply put, she is one of the most respected endowment managers in the world.

Our conversation covers Sandra's start at the Wellcome Trust in the mid-90s, her arrival at Oxford in 2007, Oxford's investing lens across inefficiencies, talent and themes, decision making, behavior and actions in volatile markets, private equity fees and alignment, and ESG.

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