The Investors First Podcast

In today's episode, we welcome back Mike Pyle of BlackRock. Mike is a senior leader within BlackRock and a key member of the BlackRock Investment Institute (BII), where he helps shape the firm's global macro views and portfolio construction frameworks. Mike has a law degree from Yale and a bachelor's degree from Dartmouth.

Mike brings a unique perspective to markets, having served in the Obama White House before joining BlackRock as their Global Chief Investment Strategist, followed by another stint at the White House with the Biden-Harris Administration and back to BlackRock in 2024. While in government, he worked closely on economic policy at the highest levels and completed much of the CFA Program during his first turn at the White House.

In this conversation, we revisit Mike's journey, explore how BlackRock is thinking about today's evolving macro regime, and discuss the BlackRock Investment Institute before pivoting to portfolio construction in a world where stock-bond diversification is less reliable. We also dive into the growing role of hedge funds and alternatives as investors navigate higher volatility, geopolitical fragmentation, and structurally higher rates.

Today's hosts are Steve Curley, CFA (Co-Managing Principal, 55 North Private Wealth) & co-host Chris Cannon, CFA(CIO/Principal, FirsTrust).
Please enjoy the episode. You can follow us on Twitter & LinkedIn or at investorsfirstpodcast.com

Show Notes:

BlackRock – BlackRock.com
BlackRock Investment Institute - https://www.blackrock.com/corporate/insights/blackrock-investment-institute

In today's episode, we have Danny Jenkins, who is the CEO and Co-Founder of ThreatLocker, a rapidly growing cybersecurity firm focused on Zero Trust endpoint protection. With over 20 years in cybersecurity and a background in ethical hacking, Danny is unique in that he dropped out of school when he was 15 years old and has an unconventional resume. Danny has built multiple security companies and is widely recognized for his hands-on, real-world approach to stopping ransomware and cyber threats before they happen.

After witnessing firsthand how devastating cyberattacks can be, he became a leading advocate for the Zero Trust model—blocking everything by default and only allowing what's trusted. Today, ThreatLocker protects tens of thousands of organizations globally, and Danny is a frequent speaker, Forbes Technology Council member, and one of Orlando's most influential leaders. We are proud to feature a local thought leader today. Danny is right here in our backyard in Central Florida and is at the helm of one of the fastest growing cybersecurity firms in the world.

Today's hosts are Steve Curley, CFA (Co-Managing Principal, 55 North Private Wealth) & co-host Chris Cannon, CFA (CIO/Principal, FirsTrust).
Please enjoy the episode. You can follow us on Twitter & LinkedIn or at investorsfirstpodcast.com
Show Notes:
threatlocker.com

We are excited to welcome a friend of the show, Brent Sullivan of The Tax Alpha Insider. We discuss all things Tax Alpha as the investment puzzle is different when it comes to taxable investors. I have been fortunate to have known Brent since the very beginnings of his Tax Alpha Insider Newsletter, a highly successful, focused publication in the wealth management space. I often say that he could become the Michael Kitces of Tax Alpha. Brent is also behind the first Tax Alpha Conference, Basis Northwest, in Seattle on May 28th and 29th, which I will be attending.

Brent has an interesting career background, both corporate and entrepreneurial. As mentioned before, he is the Founder of The Tax Alpha Insider, as well as the Basis Northwest Conference. He was also a Software Engineer at Parametric, who is the godfather of direct indexing. Before that, he worked in Investment Banking and Asset Management. Brent holds a Masters of Engineering from Cornell University (Financial Engineering/Statistics), as well as a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from the University of California, Riverside.

In this episode, we discuss all things Tax Alpha, as this is our first interview with Brent. We talk about the reasons he decided to launch this, why Tax Alpha is important now, and how this is one of the best times in history to be a taxable investor with all of the tools available. We discuss everything from householding/asset location, to direct indexing, to tax-aware long-short, buffer ETF's, 351 exchanges, advisor launched ETF's, assets that shouldn't be used for taxable investors, collars/variable prepaid forward contracts, heartbeat trades/ETF share classes, box loans, tax alpha as a volatility buffer, trader funds, etc. We also discuss the impact of AI on advisors and taxable investing, as well as taking the other side, why not just pay the taxes and keep things simple.

Today's hosts are Steve Curley, CFA (Co-Managing Principal, 55 North Private Wealth) & co-host Chris Cannon, CFA (CIO/Principal, FirsTrust).
Please enjoy the episode. You can follow us on Twitter & LinkedIn or at investorsfirstpodcast.com

Learn more:
https://www.taxalphainsider.com/
https://www.basisconf.com/

We are excited to welcome Joe Davis for this episode, currently Vanguard's Global Chief Economist and Global Head of the Investment Strategy Group. Many of you likely know various iterations of the Vanguard story, but most of the professionals I know do not know how big a research team they have.  Joe has a big influence on the company because he is also chairs the firm's Strategic Asset Allocation Committee. Ok, that was exhausting listing all of his titles, he is a busy person. Before that, he was still busy; he earned his M.A. and Ph.D at Duke University and is a graduate of the Advanced Management Program at the Wharton School of U Penn. Joe is a frequent keynote speaker and currently serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Portfolio Management and the Journal of Fixed Income.

In this episode, we are all over the place (which is normal), ranging from Vanguard's 50+ year history as a disruptor, to how many CFA charter holders are at Vanguard now (hint: a lot), their vast and under the radar research group, new CEO Salim Ramji, patents that Vanguard created in ETF space, the breakdown of active vs. passive funds in their lineup (which surprises many) and Joe's new book on AI. This was a great segue into the markets, with the impact of AI, Fed independence being potentially disrupted, a new multi-polar world, expected returns, potential market scenarios, and more.

Today's hosts are Steve Curley, CFA (Co-Managing Principal, 55 North Private Wealth) & co-host Chris Cannon, CFA (CIO/Principal, FirsTrust).

Please enjoy the episode. You can follow us on Twitter & LinkedIn or at investorsfirstpodcast.com

To kick off year 7 of the Investors First Podcast, we interviewed Rick Rieder of BlackRock, currently Chief Investment Officer of Global Fixed Income, Head of the Fundamental Fixed Income business, and Head of the Global Allocation Investment Team. After earning a BBA in Finance from Emory University and later an MBA from The Wharton School. He started his career as an Analyst at SunTrust, briefly joining E.F. Hutton's training program, and then spending nearly two decades at Lehman Brothers trading before joining BlackRock.

In this episode, we start where his interest in finance began with analyzing sports outcomes and probabilities—sometimes betting lunch money to test his thinking. We cover everything in this episode, from Rick's start as a credit analyst at SunTrust, to a lengthy stay at Lehman Brothers, and then joining BlackRock post GFC. We discussed the team/resources he manages, his investment approach with a heavy emphasis on risk management, and the ability of his strategy to go anywhere to find yield. We discussed gambling vs. investing, the impact of new technologies, AI, and opportunity abroad in fixed income markets, along with much more.

Today's hosts are Steve Curley, CFA (Co-Managing Principal, 55 North Private Wealth) & co-host Chris Cannon, CFA (CIO/Principal, FirsTrust).
Please enjoy the episode. You can follow us on Twitter & LinkedIn or at investorsfirstpodcast.com

Learn more:
https://www.blackrock.com/corporate/insights/blackrock-investment-institute/publications/outlook