Money Life With Chuck Jaffe Daily Podcast

Michael Falk of Focus Consulting Group -- who has joined Chuck every three months in 2020 to discuss the market, investing and his personal battle with Lou Gehrig's Disease -- talks about how his unique circumstances have him viewing Covid as a blessing, bonds as broken and not worth buying for the foreseeable future, and about his hopes for the future. Also on the show, John Cole Scott of the Active Investment Company Alliance reviews the good, bad and ugly in closed-end fund investing from 2020, and Tom Lydon of ETFTrends.com taps a red-hot cybersecurity fund as his ETF of the Week.

Ben Carlson, author of 'Everything You Need To Know About Saving For Retirement,' joins Chuck to discuss exactly what people need to know and do to at least get comfortable with building their own retirement, and talks about how the daunting process of building a retirement nest egg is easier and simpler than most people make it. Also on the show, Noland Langford of Left brain Investment Research discusses cybersecurity stocks - and specifically Tenable Holdings -- and why they will keep running even after the pandemic boost the sector has experienced fades away, and Rob Spivey of Valens Research talk about survive-and-thrive stocks and more in the Market Call.

JJ Kinahan, chief market strategist at TD Ameritrade, says it would be healthy for the market to have a sell-off of up to 10 percent in the first quarter of 2021 before moving up from there. That said, he said the pace of stock market gains that have been evident through the holiday season will be hard to maintain in the year ahead. Also on the show, Brian Hamilton, chief executive officer at One, discusses how and why some institutions are offering 'early' advance stimulus checks, and Jason Browne of Alexis Investment Partners talks ETFs in the Market Call.

Dan Fuss, who has run Loomis Sayles Bond Fund for three decades -- but who is spry enough to have been named by Morningstar as its 'Outstanding Portfolio Manager' in 2019 -- says that all of the economic stimulus will affect the current economy the same way that past financial booster shots have, by creating inflation, which he says is already visible in a few areas but which he expects to become more visible in the next two years. In a wide-ranging Big Interview, Fuss discusses the dangers of chasing yield in the current low-rate environment, the trouble with moving up the risk scale and more. Also on the show, Christine Benz, director of personal finance at Morningstar and David Trainer, president at New Constructs , taking the year's final trip to The Danger Zone.

In a wide-ranging show, one back note rings out in today's interview, namely the importance of diversification. Tom Lydon of ETFTrends.com looks at a fund that buys into countries showing strong momentum -- and that gained more than 10 percent last week alone -- as his ETF of the Week, noting that it can diversify portfolios that don't have enough international exposure. Gene Tannuzzo of Columbia Threadneedle discusses the need to diversify fixed-income holdings and notes how 2020 has highlighted how different bond types can both boost and smooth out yields, Cheryl Pate of Angel Oak Capital talks about the potential for the value stocks in the financial sector to stand out next year, and Craig Hodges of the Hodges Funds talks stocks in the Market Call.

Scott Wren, senior global market strategist at the Wells Fargo Investment Institute, says we are 'in the early part of a new cycle' that is going to include a pretty good bounce in economic growth next year and that should lead to reasonably good returns even as the economy and stock market come back into sync. He's expecting large-cap stocks to deliver 8 to 10 percent in the new year, which he termed as 'not wildly optimistic, but optimistic.' Also on the show, an extended Market Call that's all about investing in Fidelity funds featuring John Bonnanzio, editor of the Fidelity Monitor and Insight newsletter, and Left Brain Thinking, where Brian Dress, research director at Left Brain Investment Research, discusses why MercadoLibre -- a stock that's up 200 percent this year -- still has room to grow impressively in 2021 and beyond.

Neil Hennessy, chairman and chief executive officer at Hennessy Advisors and the Hennessy Funds, is optimistic about the stock market for 2021, and says that the Dow will overcome significant volatility to reach 35,000 -- roughly a 15 percent gain from current record levels --but he notes that it will also be a good year for value stocks and mid- and small-cap names and not just for big brand-name companies. Also on the show, Shane Bartling of Willis Towers Watson discusses the firm's 2020 Global Benefits Attitude Survey which showed that one in four full-time U.S. employees have seen their financial situation deteriorate this year, even though they were the lucky ones to hang onto their jobs amid the pandemic. Also, Barry James, portfolio manager for the James Advantage Funds, talks stocks in the Market Call.

David Jilek, chief investment strategist for Gateway Investment Advisors, says the market is poised for a reasonably good year ahead, but there are many potential trouble spots and risks. He notes that the market is pricing in greater implied volatility ahead for reasons related to the market, the pandemic, the economy, Federal Reserve policy and more more. He also notes that conservative investors are facing a period where their money isn't growing in low-rate fixed-income securities, forcing them to take on more risk to reach their goals. Also on the show, Meredith Stoddard discusses Fidelity's 2020 New Year's Resolution study, Kyle Guske of New Constructs talks in 'The Danger Zone' about why legacy credit ratings -- using traditional metrics and measures of the credit raters -- can create false impressions of corporate strength, and Chuck discusses the lists of the top companies that are being released for 2021 and whether investors should put any stock in these lists of the 'best stocks.'

Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research, says he expects a "digestion of gains" that could lead to a pullback or a mild correction, but he says that history says there are "two-plus years ahead of us before we have to start tiptoeing through the possibility of another bear market."   Crit Thomas says that it is going to be a better year for consumers than the market, because the market has already discounted the recovery. XConsumers will be happy but the market has anticipated this, so even though we are starting anew bull market ... so even though expected returns booking even beyond 2021 may be more moderate, the early stages of the bull market suggest we should have a tilt towatrd risk on

Noted bond fund manager Mary Ellen Stanek, chief executive officer at the Baird Funds, says that while the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates lower for longer, investors looking to generate yield need to be cautious because the places providing the best returns are a significant step up the risk spectrum. She also noted that while mortgage securities have been viewed by many as improving yields, she is underweight on them now because they have significant refinancing risk that could leave investors with cash to reinvest but little or no attractive places to put it. Also on the show, Tom Lydon of ETFTrends.com makes an oil-services trend play his ETF of the Week, and Chuck answers two questions from the audience, one a tax question with some help from IraHelp.com founder Ed Slott.

Jim O'Shaughnessy of O'Shaughnessy Asset Management and author of 'What Works on Wall Street' discusses how what is working now in the pandemic market is the same as what has always worked, namely patience and diversification. In a wide-ranging interview, O'Shaughnessy makes it clear that investors can get by with simple portfolios and without complex new and alternative investments. Also on the show, Freddy Garcia of Left Brain Wealth Management discusses a few growth stocks in a value sector, financial services, and John Augustine of Huntington Private Bank talks stocks in the Market Call.

Brian Nick, chief investment strategist at Nuveen, says that the disconnect between the stock market and the economy -- what the market running ahead as the economy sifts through pandemic fallout -- will mend itself late next year or in 2022, and that the result will likely be somewhat muted returns for the stock market. Nick says the market should remain positive with pockets of volatility, but that returns are likely to be muted compared to the bounceback investors have seen in 2020. Also on the show, Josh Jamner of ClearBridge Investments discusses the firm's latest Anatomy of Recession report, and says that most economic factors show that we are much closer to recovery than we are to a double-dip recession, and Jordan Waldrep, chief investment officer at Truemark Investments discusses stocks in the Market Call. Plus, Chuck pays tribute to James Coonan, the founder of the American Association of Individual Investors, who passed away at age 89 on Dec. 14.

Eddy Vataru, portfolio manager for the Osterweis Total Return fund, says that he does not see income-oriented investors getting much help on the yield front in 2020.With that in mind, he explains that investors may want to look at the mortgage market, which he suggested can be a great substitute for Treasuries, generating more yield with less risk. Also on the show, David Trainer of New Constructs discusses some stocks that investors love for the wrong reason but that fiduciaries -- financial advisers -- should hate, Chuck answers an audience question about where to put what might be considered piggy-bank savings, and Chris Mack of Harding Loevner makes his debut talking stocks in the Market Call.

Steve Nguyen, portfolio manager at Causeway Capital Management, says that the development of coronavirus vaccines will have short-term and limited impact on health-care and pharmaceutical stocks, but that the change in administrations and the advent of new technologies will have a much more long-lasting and positive effect on the sector. Also on the show, James Clark of Nuveen Asset Management talks about real assets and infrastructure investments, Jill Gonzalez of WalletHub.com discusses a survey showing consumers dislike deferred interest credit cards, and Michael Robinson, chief technology strategist at Money Map Press, talks stocks in the Market Call.

Wayne Wicker, chief investment officer at ICMA Retirement Corp. and Vantagepoint Investment Advisors, says that 2020 should have taught investors the benefits of focusing on the long-term, where the results matter more than the day-to-day journey, and he stressed that 2021 will be a year in which diversification is helpful -- because the market will find different sources of leadership as it recovers from the pandemic -- to go along with what ultimately will be 'surprisingly good' results. Also on the show, Tom Lydon of ETFTrends.com makes a unique take on entrepreneurship his ETF of the Week, Simon Zhen of MyBankTracker.com talks about what people do with their spare change, and C.T. Fitzpatrick of Vulcan Value Partners says in the Market Call that people who say value investing is dead aren't defining the style correctly.

Rob Arnott, founding chairman of Research Affiliates, says that domestic stocks are priced to deliver a 'terrible performance' for the 2020s, although investors who invest heavily into international and emerging markets will mitigate the domestic stock situation and show strong overall portfolio results. Also on teh show, Ben Johnson, director of global ETF Research at Morningstar talks ETFs in the Market Call and Janice Quek of Left Brain Investment Research checks in from Singapore to discuss a company that is ni a surprising market to benefit from COVID pandemic fallout, but which she sees as having explosive growth as the economy returns to normal.

Rob Sharps, head of investments at T. Rowe Price, says that unfulfilled demand that has been building up throughout the pandemic will be unleashed when the coronavirus threat is diminished and it will fuel a major rebound in many of the stocks and sectors that have been beaten down this year. Sharps is optimistic that the market can push higher, though he warns that any recovery will be uneven and says that income investors will need to get creative to overcome low interest rates. Also on the show, Jason Thomas, chief economist at AssetMark,  Jason Thomas says the current economic environment has made it easy for typical investors to miss out on the market's run back to record highs, and while he is optimistic about the future, he notes that average investors may still miss out. And Leo Leydon of Financial Focus Advisory Services says that the market's technicals are showing that a pullback is in the offing; he expected the Standard and Poor's 500 to have a decline of more than 10 percent back to October lows

Ed Slott, the founder of IRAhelp.com, says that while retirement savers do not have to take 'required minimum distributions' this year -- a move made as part of the government's Covid-19 relief package -- he believes many investors who don't need an RMD could benefit from pulling money this year, making the money taxable at a time when earnings may be down as a result of the pandemic. He also discusses other year-end steps and why -- this year more than most -- key tax-reduction strategies are more accessible than in normal years. Also on the show, Glenn Williams from Primerica discusses the firm's recent survey of middle-income Americans and the impact coronavirus has had on their finances, David Trainer of New Constructs talks about index investing in the Danger Zone, and Chuck answers three audience questions about trading.

Brian Beitner of Chautauqua Capital Management says that investors are risk-on right now -- despite a market and global economy that could have trouble shaking off the impacts of coronavirus -- at a time when they likely should be risk-off, meaning more conservative and fearful of a downturn.  Also on the show, John Cole Scott of Closed-End Fund Advisors and the Active Investment Company Alliance answers audience questions and discusses how big discounts don't actually make closed-end funds 'cheap' on a relative basis, Lawrence McMillan of McMillan Analysis discusses why the market's technicals have him optimistic right now, and Ken Laudan of the Buffalo Discovery fund talks health-care and pharmaceutical stocks in the Market Call.

Barry Ritholtz of Ritholtz Wealth Management -- one of the nation's leading financial planners -- and Axel Merk of the Merk Funds agree that forecasts tend to be misleading, meaningless, overplayed but mostly wrong. In separate interviews, they talk about why they're not in favor of making predictions, but then cover wide stretches of ground, with Merk discussing the market for equities, gold and more, while Ritholtz discusses the importance of being able to ride out the trouble spots and the twists and drops that happen between now and when some long-term market projection comes true, noting that investors might have entered 2020 expecting low double-digit returns but many didn't get them because they couldn't stand the market's steep decline in February and March. Also on the show, Tom Lydon of ETFTrends.com discusses a dividend-investing strategy that he says can be an income replacement or supplement in a portfolio.