In episode 276, we welcome our guest, Craig Wichner, Founder of Farmland LP, a leading investment fund that generates returns by converting conventional commercial farmland to sustainable farmland.
In today’s episode we learn the ins-and-outs of farmland as an asset class. Farmland has been an asset that’s been inaccessible for most people and Craig is trying to change that. We learn what piqued his interest in farmland and get an overview of the company, which now manages over 15,000 acres and $175 million in assets. He walks us through how the company manages the farms they acquire, focusing on both capital appreciation and increasing profits over time. We even talk about why owning an organic farm can serve as a hedge against a weaker dollar.
As we start to wind down, Craig offers suggestions to policy makers on how to encourage inexpensive and environmentally friendly practices for farmers.
All this and more with Farmland LP’s Craig Wichner!
In episode 275, we welcome our guest, David Lau, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of DPL Financial Partners, a firm focused on the distribution of financial products geared toward the Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) and fee-based advisory channels.
In today’s episode, we’re talking all about annuities. Annuities are often thought of as being too expensive and a bad product for clients, but David explains how his firm is changing that by removing the commission, which lowers the cost by 80%. We get into the benefit of annuities, which offer tax deferred accumulation and income generation, while also taking risk management into account. David explains how RIA’s are using annuities for clients and why they make sense in a world with rates so low around the globe.
As we start to wind down, we hear about the future plans for the firm, which include building out their suite of offerings and eventually offering a direct-to-consumer product.
Please enjoy this episode with DPL Financial Partners’ David Lau.
In episode 274, we welcome our guest, Mitch Baruchowitz, a Managing Partner at Merida Capital Holdings, a private equity firm targeting fundamental growth drivers underpinning the rapid development of the cannabis industry.
In today’s episode we’re talking about investing in the cannabis space. We hear what piqued Mitch’s interest in the cannabis space and what the process was like to get a cannabis license in Connecticut and build and operate a 65,000 square foot facility. Mitch explains what led him to start Merida Capital and how he knocked it out of the park with his investment in the unicorn GrowGen. We chat about what types of investments he looks to make and what the impact of COVID and 2020 elections have had on the space.
As we wind down, Mitch shares why he launched a SPAC in 2019 before the craze began and what that process was like.
Please enjoy this episode with Merida Capital Holdings’, Mitch Baruchowitz.
In episode 273, we welcome our guest, Adam Moelis, co-founder and CEO of Yotta Savings, which allows users to save money, earn over 2x the national average in interest and get weekly chances to win additional prizes up to $10 million through weekly random number drawings
In today’s episode, we’re talking about how to use behavioral psychology to encourage American’s to save. We start with a somber look at the average American’s financial picture. Then Adam explains the history of lottery or prize-linked savings accounts and why the idea was mostly banned in the U.S. until 2015. He discusses the experience of going through Y Combinator’s first remote batch and then explains the lottery program, which offers users a chance to win between ten cents and ten million dollars.
As we wind down, we hear about the company’s’ experimentation with customer acquisition with influencers and why they’ve focused on the social aspect of the app.
Please enjoy this episode with Yotta Savings’, Adam Moelis.
In episode 272, we welcome our guest, Tobias Carlisle, founder and managing director of Acquirers Funds, where he serves as the portfolio manager of the firm’s deep value strategy.
In today’s episode, we’re covering Tobias’ best idea: small cap and microcap value. Value stocks have underperformed but Tobias thinks now they offer a great risk/reward. He walks us through historical data and research from the past 200 years and why that leads him to believe value will outperform going forward. We compare the current setup to prior periods when value underperformed in 2000 and even talk about some of his favorite holdings.
As we wind down, he touches on shorting the market and how it provides protection for long positions if the market falls over.
Please enjoy this special “Best Ideas” episode with Acquirers Funds’ Tobias Carlisle.
In episode 271, we welcome our guest, Gary Zimmerman, Managing Partner of Six Trees Capital LLC and Founder of MaxMyInterest, a software platform that allocates individuals’ cash among their own bank accounts so that they earn the most interest possible while staying within the limits for FDIC government-deposit insurance.
In today’s episode, we’re talking about how to actually earn some interest on your cash. Most banks today provide little to no interest and our guest has created a company that gives you a way to maximize your interest on deposits. Gary explains how trying to solve this problem for himself actually led our guest to start the company in 2013. We talk about how it works and why banks offer the Max platform a preferential rate, with the top rate on the platform right now at 85 basis-points, while most online banks are offering 25-60 basis-points.
As we start to wind down, we hear Gary’s thoughts on the potential for negative interest rates, how banks are positioned, and why the product has been picked up by lots of RIA’s and financial advisors.
Please enjoy this episode with Max My Interest’s, Gary Zimmerman.
In episode 270, we welcome our guest, Terri Spath, Chief Investment Officer and Portfolio Manager at Sierra Investment Management, where she's responsible for market and economic analysis, portfolio allocation, investment strategy and building client solutions.
In today's episode, we're talking about her rules based approach to investing. Terri talks about Sierra Investment Management's different funds, including their tactical junk bond fund and their muni-bond fund. She gets into the benefits of applying a trend following approach to her strategies, what she's seeing across different asset classes, and why she's bullish on municipal bonds and South Korea.
As we start to wind down, Terri offers ways to implement some of these ideas with your own portfolio, whether it's with the equity or fixed-income portion.
Please enjoy this episode with Sierra Investment Management's Terri Spath.
In episode 269, we welcome our guest, Scott Lynn, the Founder & CEO of Masterworks, the first company to allow investors to buy shares representing ownership of great masterpieces by artists like Warhol, Monet, and more.
In today’s episode, we’re getting into the ins-and-outs of the art market. It’s been around a long time, but investing in it hasn’t been widely accessible. Scott launched a business that has set out to change that. He takes us through some history and the evolution of the market. We discuss constructing a data set to formally analyze returns of the asset class, and what he and his team learned from the process.
Scott talks about the interesting opportunity the art market offers from an investment standpoint, and specifically, what segments and artists the Masterworks team keeps their eye on.
Please enjoy this episode with Masterworks’, Scott Lynn.
In episode 268, we welcome our guest, Doug Ludlow, the co-founder and CEO of MainStreet, a startup making it easy for businesses to access government incentive programs. In today’s episode, we talking Doug’s best idea: unclaimed money for small businesses and startups.
Every year the federal and local government have incentives that go unused and MainStreet’s platform is helping businesses access these and save around $75,000 per company! Doug updates us on MainStreet’s progress since we first heard from him earlier this year. He even have an exciting announcement on the company expanding their offering by almost doubling the available credits that companies have access to.
As the conversation winds down, Doug provides some real examples of companies who have saved a large amount of money using their platform.
Please enjoy this special “Best Ideas” episode with MainStreet’s Doug Ludlow.