Bogleheads On Investing Podcast

Episode 042: Spencer Jakab on Robinhood, Reddit, and Meme Stocks, host Rick Ferri

Spencer Jakab is the Editor of the "Heard on the Street" column for the Wall Street Journal and the author of two books. His new book is "The Revolution That Wasn't: GameStop, Reddit and the Fleecing of Small Investors," which is the topic of our conversation. Previously he wrote "Ahead of the Tape" published in 2015. Prior to joining the WSJ, Spencer was an analyst and later a director of emerging markets equity research at Credit Suisse.

 

Back in 2020, when millions of mostly young people opened brokerage accounts for the first time while sheltering from the Covid-19 pandemic, it seemed like they could do no wrong, even as some legendary investors could do no right. But that all changed after a climactic battle between the haves and have-nots during January 2021. In this surreal interview, we look back over the rise and fall of meme stocks, young and wild Robinhood traders, COVID checks and easy credit, and the Reddit revolution that wasn't.  

 

This podcast is hosted by Rick Ferri, CFA, a long-time Boglehead and investment adviser. The Bogleheads are a group of like-minded individual investors who follow the general investment and business beliefs of John C. Bogle, founder and former CEO of the Vanguard Group. It is a conflict-free community where individual investors reach out and provide education, assistance, and relevant information to other investors of all experience levels at no cost. The organization supports a free website at Bogleheads.org, and the wiki site is Bogleheads® wiki. 

 

Since 2000, the Bogleheads' have held national conferences in major cities around the country. There are also many Local Chapters in the US and even a few Foreign Chapters that meet regularly. New Chapters are being added on a regular basis. All Bogleheads activities are coordinated by volunteers who contribute their time and talent.  

 

This podcast is supported by the John C. Bogle Center for Financial Literacy, a non-profit organization approved by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) public charity on February 6, 2012. Your tax-deductible donation to the Bogle Center is appreciated.

Episode 041: James Watkins, lll, JD, host Rick Ferri

James (Jim) Watkins, III, J.D., CFP, is an attorney and adviser specializing in fiduciary best practices. He has extensive experience in the areas of securities law, trust law, forensic investment analysis, financial planning, asset protection, wealth management, estate planning, and pension design.

 

He is the author of The 401(k)/403(b) Investment Manual and publishes two blogs. “CommonSense InvestSense” (investsense.com) for individual investors and fiduciaries, and “The Prudent Investment Fiduciary Rules” (iainsight.wordpress.com) for investment advisors and other professional investment fiduciaries.

 

Jim has been an attorney since 1981 and is the owner of The Watkins Law Firm. His career also includes serving as a compliance officer with several national brokerage firms and as the director of financial planning quality assurance for the advisory division of an international insurance corporation. He is a 1977 honors graduate of Georgia State University and a 1981 graduate of the University of Notre Dame Law School.

 

This podcast is hosted by Rick Ferri, CFA, a long-time Boglehead and investment adviser. The Bogleheads are a group of like-minded individual investors who follow the general investment and business beliefs of John C. Bogle, founder and former CEO of the Vanguard Group. It is a conflict-free community where individual investors reach out and provide education, assistance, and relevant information to other investors of all experience levels at no cost. The organization supports a free website at Bogleheads.org, and the wiki site is Bogleheads® wiki. 

 

Since 2000, the Bogleheads' have held national conferences in major cities around the country. There are also many Local Chapters in the US and even a few Foreign Chapters that meet regularly. New Chapters are being added on a regular basis. All Bogleheads activities are coordinated by volunteers who contribute their time and talent.  

 

This podcast is supported by the John C. Bogle Center for Financial Literacy, a non-profit organization approved by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) public charity on February 6, 2012. Your tax-deductible donation to the Bogle Center is appreciated.

Episode 038: Ted Aronson, host Rick Ferri

Ted Aronson of AJO Partners joins me for a candid discussion about Vanguard's plans to bring private equity to the masses and their addition of actively managed funds to their Personal Advisor Services (PAS) program. We begin with a tribute to David Swenson, the late OIC of Yale Endowment and the founder of the Yale Model, commonly known in the investing world as the Endowment Model. David was outspoken about why individual investors should avoid private equity, and how difficult it is to pick active fund managers who will outperform the capital markets. 

 

Ted joined Drexel Burnham Lambert in 1974 while still a graduate student. He was a member of the Quantitative Equities Group, which managed the Revere Fund, the first actively managed fund registered with the SEC to employ Modern Portfolio Theory. Prior to forming AJO, Ted founded Addison Capital Management. Ted was past chair of the CFA Institute and the Association for Investment Management & Research and is a CFA charterholder. He is also a trustee of Spelman College and chair of its investment committee. 

 

This podcast is hosted by Rick Ferri, CFA, a long-time Boglehead and investment adviser. The Bogleheads are a group of like-minded individual investors who follow the general investment and business beliefs of John C. Bogle, founder and former CEO of the Vanguard Group. It is a conflict-free community where individual investors reach out and provide education, assistance, and relevant information to other investors of all experience levels at no cost. The organization supports a free website at Bogleheads.org, and the wiki site is Bogleheads® wiki. 

 

Since 2000, the Bogleheads' have held national conferences in major cities around the country. There are also many Local Chapters in the US and even a few Foreign Chapters that meet regularly. New Chapters are being added on a regular basis. All Bogleheads activities are coordinated by volunteers who contribute their time and talent.  

 

This podcast is supported by the John C. Bogle Center for Financial Literacy, a non-profit organization approved by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) public charity on February 6, 2012. Your tax-deductible donation to the Bogle Center is appreciated.

 

Episode 037: Gerry O‘Reilly and Rich Powers, host Rick Ferri

Gerry O'Reilly is the manager of the $1.3 trillion Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund and ETF, and Rich Powers is the Head of ETF and Index Product Management at Vanguard. In this fascinating interview, we go behind the scenes to learn how the largest mutual fund in the world operates. Our discussion covers trading the mammoth fund - including tricky microcap stocks, fund fees and expenses, security lending, proxy voting, tax efficiency, cash management, in-kind additions and distributions, and a lot more! 

 

This podcast is hosted by Rick Ferri, CFA, a long-time Boglehead and investment adviser. The Bogleheads are a group of like-minded individual investors who follow the general investment and business beliefs of John C. Bogle, founder and former CEO of the Vanguard Group. It is a conflict-free community where individual investors reach out and provide education, assistance, and relevant information to other investors of all experience levels at no cost. The organization supports a free website at Bogleheads.org, and the wiki site is Bogleheads® wiki. 

 

Since 2000, the Bogleheads' have held national conferences in major cities around the country. There are also many Local Chapters in the US and even a few Foreign Chapters that meet regularly. New Chapters are being added on a regular basis. All Bogleheads activities are coordinated by volunteers who contribute their time and talent.  

 

This podcast is supported by the John C. Bogle Center for Financial Literacy, a non-profit organization approved by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) public charity on February 6, 2012. Your tax-deductible donation to the Bogle Center is appreciated.

Episode 034: Jason Hsu, host Rick Ferri

Jason Hsu, Ph.D., is one of the world’s top thought leaders on factor investing and the co-creator of the fundamental indexing™ methodology. He has authored more than 40 peer-reviewed articles and won numerous research awards. Jason is a member of the board of directors at the Anderson School of Management at UCLA, as well as an adjunct professor in finance. He is an associate editor of the Journal of Investment Management and serves on the editorial board of the Financial Analysts Journal, the Journal of Index Investing, the Journal of Investment Consulting, and the Journal of Investment Management. Jason is the founder and chairman of Rayliant Global Advisors, and formally the co-founder and vice-chairman of Research Affiliates.

 

This podcast is hosted by Rick Ferri, CFA, a long-time Boglehead and investment adviser. The Bogleheads are a group of like-minded individual investors who follow the general investment and business beliefs of John C. Bogle, founder and former CEO of the Vanguard Group. It is a conflict-free community where individual investors reach out and provide education, assistance, and relevant information to other investors of all experience levels at no cost. The organization supports a free website at Bogleheads.org, and the wiki site is Bogleheads® wiki. 

 

Since 2000, the Bogleheads' have held national conferences in major cities around the country. There are also many Local Chapters in the US and even a few Foreign Chapters that meet regularly. New Chapters are being added on a regular basis. All Bogleheads activities are coordinated by volunteers who contribute their time and talent.  

 

This podcast is supported by the John C. Bogle Center for Financial Literacy, a non-profit organization approved by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) public charity on February 6, 2012. Your tax-deductible donation to the Bogle Center is appreciated.

 

Episode 033: Jeff Ptak, host Rick Ferri

Jeff Ptak, CFA, is the global head of manager research at Morningstar Research Services, LLC, and past president & chief investment officer of Morningstar Investment Services. He also Co-hosts Morningstar's "The Long View" podcast with Christen Benz. Jeff has deep knowledge of active and passive investment strategies, and our talk focuses on key aspects of the active versus passive debate.

 

This podcast is hosted by Rick Ferri, CFA, a long-time Boglehead and investment adviser. The Bogleheads are a group of like-minded individual investors who follow the general investment and business beliefs of John C. Bogle, founder and former CEO of the Vanguard Group. It is a conflict-free community where individual investors reach out and provide education, assistance, and relevant information to other investors of all experience levels at no cost. The organization supports a free website at Bogleheads.org, and the wiki site is Bogleheads® wiki. 

 

Since 2000, the Bogleheads' have held national conferences in major cities around the country. There are also many Local Chapters in the US and even a few Foreign Chapters that meet regularly. New Chapters are being added on a regular basis. All Bogleheads activities are coordinated by volunteers who contribute their time and talent.  

 

This podcast is supported by the John C. Bogle Center for Financial Literacy, a non-profit organization approved by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) public charity on February 6, 2012. Your tax-deductible donation to the Bogle Center is appreciated.

 

Episode 025: Don Phillips, host Rick Ferri

Don Phillips is the former CEO and a managing director of Morningstar, Inc. who remains involved in corporate strategy and investment research. He joined Morningstar in 1986 as the company’s first mutual fund analyst and soon became editor of its flagship publication, Morningstar Mutual Funds™, establishing the editorial voice for which the company is best known. Don helped to develop the Morningstar® Style Box™, the Morningstar® Rating™, and other innovations that have become industry standards.

 

Investment Advisor magazine named him as one of the most influential people in the financial industry in 2006, and Financial Planning magazine named Phillips one of the planning industry’s “Movers & Shakers” in 2003. Don holds a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Texas and a master’s degree in American literature from the University of Chicago. 

 

This podcast is hosted by Rick Ferri, CFA, a long-time Boglehead and investment adviser. The Bogleheads are a group of like-minded individual investors who follow the general investment and business beliefs of John C. Bogle, founder and former CEO of the Vanguard Group. It is a conflict-free community where individual investors reach out and provide education, assistance, and relevant information to other investors of all experience levels at no cost.

 

The organization's free website is Bogleheads.org and the wiki site is Bogleheads® wiki. Bogleheads sites are operated by volunteers who contribute time and talent. Donations help defray operating costs.

 

Since 2000, the Bogleheads' have held national conferences in major cities around the country and currently meet in Philadelphia in the autumn of each year. There are 56 Local Chapters in the US and three Foreign Chapters that also meet regularly. New Chapters are being added on a regular basis.

 

This podcast is supported by the John C. Bogle Center for Financial Literacy, a non-profit organization approved by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) public charity on February 6, 2012.

Episode 024: Dr. Wade Pfau, host Rick Ferri

Wade D. Pfau, Ph.D., CFA, RICP, is the program director of the Retirement Income Certified Professional designation and a Professor of Retirement Income at The American College of Financial Services in King of Prussia, PA. As well, he is a Principal and Director for McLean Asset Management. He holds a doctorate in economics from Princeton University and has published more than sixty peer-reviewed research articles in a wide variety of academic and practitioner journals. 

 

Dr. Phau hosts the Retirement Researcher website and is a contributor to Forbes, Advisor Perspectives, Journal of Financial Planning, and an Expert Panelist for the Wall Street Journal.  He is the author of the books, Safety-First Retirement Planning: An Integrated Approach for a Worry-Free Retirement, How Much Can I Spend in Retirement? A Guide to Investment-Based Retirement Income Strategies, and Reverse Mortgages: How to Use Reverse Mortgages to Secure Your Retirement.

 

This podcast is hosted by Rick Ferri, CFA, a long-time Boglehead and investment adviser. The Bogleheads are a group of like-minded individual investors who follow the general investment and business beliefs of John C. Bogle, founder and former CEO of the Vanguard Group. It is a conflict-free community where individual investors reach out and provide education, assistance, and relevant information to other investors of all experience levels at no cost.

 

The organization's free website is Bogleheads.org and the wiki site is Bogleheads® wiki. Bogleheads sites are operated by volunteers who contribute time and talent. Donations help defray operating costs.

 

Since 2000, the Bogleheads' have held national conferences in major cities around the country and currently meet in Philadelphia in the autumn of each year. There are 56 Local Chapters in the US and three Foreign Chapters that also meet regularly. New Chapters are being added on a regular basis.

 

This podcast is supported by the John C. Bogle Center for Financial Literacy, a non-profit organization approved by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) public charity on February 6, 2012.

Episode 023: Dr. Burton Malkiel, host Rick Ferri

Burton Gordon Malkiel is an American economist and writer, most famous for his classic finance book A Random Walk Down Wall Street (now in its 12th edition).  He is the Chemical Bank chairman's professor of economics at Princeton University and is a two-time chairman of the economics department there. Dr. Malkiel is a leading proponent of the efficient-market hypothesis, which contends that prices of publicly traded assets reflect all publicly available information, and one of the original thought leaders of that lead to the creation of index funds. 

 

Dr. Malkiel served as a member of the Council of Economic Advisers (1975–1977), president of the American Finance Association (1978), and dean of the Yale School of Management (1981–1988). He also spent 28 years as a director of the Vanguard Group. He currently serves as Chief Investment Officer for Wealthfront Inc. a software-based financial advisor, and as a member of the Investment Committee Member for IRA Rebalance, an investment advisory firm. 

 

This podcast is hosted by Rick Ferri, CFA, a long-time Boglehead and investment adviser. The Bogleheads are a group of like-minded individual investors who follow the general investment and business beliefs of John C. Bogle, founder and former CEO of the Vanguard Group. It is a conflict-free community where individual investors reach out and provide education, assistance, and relevant information to other investors of all experience levels at no cost.

 

The organization's free website is Bogleheads.org and the wiki site is Bogleheads® wiki. Bogleheads sites are operated by volunteers who contribute time and talent. Donations help defray operating costs.

 

Since 2000, the Bogleheads' have held national conferences in major cities around the country and currently meet in Philadelphia in the autumn of each year. There are 56 Local Chapters in the US and three Foreign Chapters that also meet regularly. New Chapters are being added on a regular basis.

 

This podcast is supported by the John C. Bogle Center for Financial Literacy, a non-profit organization approved by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) public charity on February 6, 2012.

Episode 022: Dr. Ed Yardeni, host Rick Ferri

Dr. Ed Yardeni is a long-time veteran of the investment industry and the President of Yardeni Research, Inc., a provider of global investment and asset allocation research. He previously served as Chief Investment Strategist at Oak Associates, Prudential Equity Group, and Deutsche Bank’s US equities division in NYC, and was also the Chief Economist of CJ Lawrence, Prudential-Bache Securities, and EF Hutton. Ed started his career as an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of NY and held positions at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and the US Treasury Department. 

 

Ed completed his undergraduate studies magna cum laude at Cornell University and earned his Ph.D. in economics from Yale University in 1976. He is frequently quoted in the financial press, including The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Barron’s. He appears frequently on CNBC and Bloomberg Television. This podcast highlights his new book, Fed Watching for Fun and Profit. 

 

This podcast is hosted by Rick Ferri, CFA, a long-time Boglehead and investment adviser. The Bogleheads are a group of like-minded individual investors who follow the general investment and business beliefs of John C. Bogle, founder and former CEO of the Vanguard Group. It is a conflict-free community where individual investors reach out and provide education, assistance, and relevant information to other investors of all experience levels at no cost.

 

The organization's free website is Bogleheads.org and the wiki site is Bogleheads® wiki. Bogleheads sites are operated by volunteers who contribute time and talent. Donations help defray operating costs.

 

Since 2000, the Bogleheads' have held national conferences in major cities around the country and currently meet in Philadelphia in the autumn of each year. There are 56 Local Chapters in the US and three Foreign Chapters that also meet regularly. New Chapters are being added on a regular basis.

 

This podcast is supported by the John C. Bogle Center for Financial Literacy, a non-profit organization approved by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) public charity on February 6, 2012.