Money Life with Chuck Jaffe

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NAIFA's Gandy: When it comes to retirement, people focus on the wrong things Sep 01, 2026

Show notes

Christopher Gandy, president of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, says that many consumers and savers are so focused on hitting numbers that they lose sight of what they really want, which is "a great quality of life and not having to worry about running out of money." Gandy, who is the founder of the Legacy Wealth Group, says that people spend their lives considering how much it takes to retire without looking at what they need to spend to have the retirement lifestyle they desire. Moreover, he says that those savers don't adjust their savings habits over time, so they set goals young but take poor paths to achieve them by not adjusting to their changing circumstances over time.

Lester Jones, chief economist for the National Beer Wholesalers Association discusses the August 2026 Beer Purchasers Index, which showed a marked improvement from last year, but which still maintains a "cautionary position" as the summer selling season winds down. The forward-looking index shows some signs of the K-shaped economy, with inflation and higher prices being reflected in below-premium brands picking up, with the top end of the curve spending more on premium beers and ciders.

Luke Lango, lead technology and cryptocurrency analyst at InvestorPlace — publisher of the Innovation Investor newsletter — talks technology and artificial-intelligence investing in the Market Call, noting that while A.I. is tied into every positive tech story, every individual stock is its own situation, and the best prospects are companies that have something that is needed, defensible and able to turn demand into profits.

Corgi's Weniger: The bond market will behave, supporting economic upside Aug 31, 2026

Show notes

Jeff Weniger, chief investment strategist at Corgi Invest, says that while the bond market and long-term bond yields have made the market nervous, he thinks they are more likely to go sideways for a while and that largely neutral stance will let the economy keep pushing forward for at least several more quarters. Weniger says that the debt burden is likely to go sideways, which will remove the panic response from a nervous market and push trouble out well into 2027 or later.

In "The Week That Is," Vijay Marolia, chief investment officer at Regal Point Capital, discusses the circular nature of the artificial-intelligence capital -expenditure cycle, and whether it could dry up if any link in the commerce chain is broken. He also discusses how Kalshi has partnered with Weather.com to get greater accuracy on climate-based prediction markets, and why this action highlights a need for integrity in the data backing prediction wagering. Marolia also discusses what he learned about Dolly Parton in the wake of the iconic country star's death, and the lesson he hopes investors and consumers will take away from her life.

Plus, Kyle Guske, investment analyst at New Constructs, puts Columbia Mid-Cap Select in the Danger Zone, noting that the fund — currently up more than 25% year-to-date — gets a four-star rating from Morningstar, it has a portfolio filled with stocks that his firm pegs as dangerous. "You're buying very unattractive rated stocks and you're paying a premium for those stocks," Guske says, a condition that he believes is setting the fund up for a fall.

Chase Investment's Klintworth: Shift in market leaders may be a sign of trouble Aug 28, 2026

Show notes

Buck Klintworth, senior vice president at Chase Investment Counsel, says that the market has been turning, to where recent laggards are now coming to the fore and some popular names slowing down. Coupled with mid-term elections, tariff and trade conflicts and war in the Middle East, Klintworth thinks investors may wait for clarity before they push the market higher. Klintworth, who runs the Chase Growth mutual fund, says investors "can't argue with the tape," meaning they shouldn't jump out of the market as it keeps powering through real concerns, but he says that the market's changing tides should have investors looking at whether they should pull back, pursue currently high yields to lock in income, and/or rebalance their portfolio.

Rob Thummel, senior portfolio manager at Tortoise Capital, appears in two different interviews today, reflecting his multiple roles at the money-management firm. In The NAVigator, Thummel — who manages the Tortoise Energy Infrastructure closed-end fund — says current conditions are as favorable for energy companies as he has ever seen in 30-plus years investing in the sector. He notes that "the foundation of the A.I. five-layer cake" described by Nvidia president Jensen Huang is energy and electricity. He says the focus on reliable and cost-efficient energy should have natural gas providers and producers leading the way, as natural gas remains cheap right now relative to other sources of power globally.

Thummel returns to talk individual stocks in the Market Call, covering both energy and artificial-intelligence infrastructure stocks, because he also manages Tortoise AI Infrastructure, an ETF that opened about a year ago and which is up more than 55% year-to-date.

Columbia Threadneedle's Vaillancourt: 'Time to take some chips off the table' Aug 27, 2026

Show notes

Jason Vaillancourt, chief portfolio strategist at Columbia Threadneedle, says that while the artificial-intelligence freight train continues to drive the market, investors should recognize that they're "playing with house money, it's time to take some chips off the table." Vaillancourt acknowledges that sometimes the best gains of a cycle come at the end of a cycle and that no one wants to miss out on that, but he suggests doing that by reallocating into income strategies that participate in the upside but also pay out and build stability into a portfolio as the cycle wanes. Vaillancourt also discusses his take on the Fed and its lead on interest rates and whether policy could mess up an economy with a driver as strong as AI expansion.

Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi, does two things in the final "ETF of the Week" that was not done in the roughly 750 episodes before it, covering two funds and both of them being single-stock funds, one offering leveraged exposure to Nvidia if you believe the stock is going up, the other providing negative exposure to the same company if you want to bet against it.

Jed Ellerbroek, portfolio manager at Argent Capital Management and for the Argent Large-Cap ETF, discusses his focus on "enduring businesses," and what that means as a stock-picker in an age dominated by an emerging industry like artificial intelligence where "enduring" qualities can be hard to identify and find.

Robertson Stephens' Katz on why this 'thoughtful' market has room to run Aug 26, 2026

Show notes

Stuart Katz, chief investment officer at Robertson Stephens Wealth M anagement, says that for all of the attention headline risks are getting, the current market environment is "relatively benign and supportive of equities," and while there are legitimate questions about what could go wrong, he says the resilience of the domestic and global economy is proof that "The market is being thoughtful" and showing signs that this cycle is not near its end. Katz also discusses Treasury yields, and the concern many investors have over their current high levels, but says he believes "We're at a new normal" with the economy being strong enough to sustain Treasury rates near 5% without disrupting economic cycle.

David Rose, chief investment officer at Granahan Investment Management, makes his debut in the Money Life Market Call, talking about small-cap stocks, detailing the firm's focus on "pioneer," core growth and "special situations" companies in pursuit of the traditional higher returns smaller stocks have delivered historically.

Plus, Chuck answers a listener's question about how and why he has used specialty retail credit cards, the kind that currently carry interest rates of 29.99% or more, and discusses how to turn those bad deals into real savings, earnings power and financial flexibility without losing your shirt.

Sage Advisory's Williams: Adjust your risk, but don't leave the party now Aug 25, 2026

Show notes

Rob Williams, chief investment strategist at Sage Advisory Services, says that investors are seeing cracks in this seemingly unbreakable market trend, noting that the capital expenditures trends that have been driving the market can't continue forever, but notes that "it's hard to leave the party when the party could go on for another year or two," so he is calling for more sensibly tackling risk rather than trying to beat a downturn by doing a full portfolio overhaul. Williams notes that conditions are suggesting there will be more volatility and sideways bumpt action, but says "it's hard to fight a market where you're pumping close to a trillion dollars in [capital expenditures] into the system and it's trickling across the economy and you have double-digit earnings," so the rally can continue even if it gets more volatility and returns become more muted.

Lawrence McMillan, president of McMillan Analysis, talks technical analysis and says the number to be watching for is 7,600 on the Standard & Poor's 500, which is both support and the high prior to the latest run-up. Typically, McMillan says, market volatility picks up with the arrival of the fall, and he says if that happens and the market drops below 7,600, it could lead "to a full-blown correction of at least 10 percent or so." But lacking that pick-up in volume and volatility, he sees any decline as a garden-variety buying opportunity. Macmillan also notes that from a technical standpoint, the market's charts are not reminding him of bubbles and problematic times of the past, but he adds that "When people are talking about the bubble, it's probably not going to happen."

Plus, Chuck talks with David Cowen, president and chief executive officer of the Museum of American Finance — the nation's only independent museum dedicated to preserving, exhibiting and teaching American finance and financial history — which opened in Boston at the start of July, and which Chuck toured recently. Cowen discusses more than the museum, its mission and how they have made a museum that won't bore all of the people who have no interest in money, to discuss how so much of the financial history of America remains relevant today, even in the face of a $40 trillion national debt.

Louie Navellier on the U.S. 'still winning' despite the nervous headlines Aug 24, 2026

Show notes

Veteran Wall Street analyst and money manager Louie Navellier, president of Navellier & Associates, has been saying since the outbreak of war in the Middle East that the domestic stock market and the energy industry would be big winners from the situation, and he says those conditions have played out and will continue for the foreseeable future. While Navellier acknowledges investor concerns over the levels of Treasury-bond yields, the national debt and more, he does not think they are enough to do more than slow an economy that is in the middle of its latest industrial revolution, so while he is not ignoring the worries, he suggests investors not be too consumed by them.

In "The Week That Is," Vijay Marolia, chief investment officer at Regal Point Capital, also weighs in on high yields and the record debt level, but notes that the market and the economy has dealt with and powered through those problems in the past, particularly during times of economic expansion. He looks ahead to Nvidia, whose Wednesday earnings report will dominate markets this week, and examines how hedges funds and institutional investors will soon be able to use prediction markets to generate investment returns, and why this is more an evolution of how things are traded than it is some embrace of gambling.

Plus, Kyle Guske, investment analyst at New Constructs revisits SNAP, a stock which has lost roughly 80 percent of its value since it was first put into "The Danger Zone" a few years ago, but which he says has real potential to go the rest of the way to zero based on its business prospects, cash burn and more.

Long-short manager Lamensdorf says the market is overdue for a correction Aug 21, 2026

Show notes

Brad Lamensdorf, manager of the Ranger Equity Bear ETF and Alpha Alts — a new long-short hedge fund set to open soon — says he thinks the market is due for a bear market, and the indicators are starting to show signs of stress, setting it up to get knocked down. He worries the trigger might be what's happening in the bond market, where higher rates are going to slow the economy, triggering a correction or worse. Lamendorf says that over the next few years, "there will be a very large layer of stocks that don't do well ... struggling under this environment and valuation."

While Lamensdorf focuses mostly on the equity markets' reaction to Treasury rates hitting their highest level this week in nearly 20 years, John Cole Scott, president of CEF Advisors weighs in on what it means for income-oriented investors, particularly in closed-end funds. He says the Treasury situation — including the U.S. Treasury announcing it would double its buy-back capacity — currently calls for portfolio tilts and mild changes, but notes he will be watching for bigger buying opportunities.

Ryan Jacob, chief investment officer of the Jacob Funds, discusses technology stocks in the Market Call. Jacob, who was the manager of the first pure-play Internet fund during the late 1990s, also compares the artificial-intelligence revolution to the Internet situation, sizing up the similarities and whether the current bull market has to come to a similarly ugly end.

Baird's Diederich: High yields give investors ballast amid A.I. revolution Aug 20, 2026

Show notes

Gabe Diederich, portfolio manager on the municipal income team at Baird, says that yields are back near the upper end of their recent ranges, "capturing the imagination of investors" searching for income at a time when the stock market is making them nervous. Diederich discusses how artificial-intelligence is impacting bond markets, between municipalities financing infrastructure products or corporations issuing debt to pay for A.I.-related capital expenditures, and discusses strategies for using — or trying to eliminate — bonds as an A.I.-adjacent play, but how investors with huge expectations for artificial intelligence need to have more realistic hopes, based more around consistent returns, when it comes to bond tied to artificial intelligence.

A week after making an actively managed fund filled with blue-chip growth stocks his "ETF of the Week," Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi, circles back to large caps but this time selects an index-based large-cap value-oriented fund. It's a contrast in styles and management techniques that also digs into portfolio construction and the way the funds should be used by investors.

In the Market Call, Erk Aydogan, co-founder of Traidechart — an app that uses artificial intelligence to examine stock prospects over different investment time frames — talks about the approach, which is designed to use computing power to determine confidence in a stock's direction and ability to deliver to investor expectations.

Merrill's Quinlan: Curb longer-term expectations, but buy the dips Aug 19, 2026

Show notes

Joe Quinlan, head of CIO market strategy for Merrill and Bank of America Private Bank, says he expects some near-term choppiness, but longer-term he is expecting that volatility to be a buying opportunity because "the S&P 500, the U.S. economy, you want to own it forever." Quinlan says that investors need to recognize that there will be drawdowns, but they are resetting and re-pricing a market and encouraging investors to diversify, mitigate the hard times and stay focused on their ultimate goals. Quinlan says that he is not expecting a recession for several more years — until some of the artificial-intelligence frenzy calms and there's more clarity on the ultimate winners from it — but he says investors should expect a "good year" for 2027, but says he expects the market to deliver modest single-digit gains into at least 2028.

Mark Hackett, chief market strategist for Nationwide, discusses survey research from the Nationwide Retirement Institute, which found that more than three-quarters of non-retired investors are concerned about a U.S. economic recession in the next 12 months, but very few of them are changing the way they invest to reflect those worries instead, Hackett says they are buying the dips and, in some cases, taking on more risk. Hackett says it highlights another discrepancy between hard and soft data — the way that consumer sentiment numbers show that people are miserable but spending data shows they haven't curtailed habits — showcasing why Wall Street has continued climbing the proverbial wall of worry, overcoming investor fears to return to record levels.

Plus, Gary Fitts, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, discusses his strategic approach to life, detailed in his new book "The Longevity Triad: A Practical Guide to Building a Strong Body, a Sharp Mind, and a Secure Future."

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