Read The Bull

Paulina Bren

In the latest Read The Bull interview recorded live from Vassar College, Professor Paulina Bren [https://www.paulinabren.com/], discusses her acclaimed book "She Wolves: The Untold History of Women on Wall Street [https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/she-wolves-paulina-bren/1144659171?ean=9781324117650]," which she notes takes over from her previous book, "The Barbizon [https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-barbizon-paulina-bren/1137252147?ean=9781982123901]." She-Wolves, now out in paperback, chronicles women's experiences in finance from the 1950s through 9/11. Despite having little knowledge about finance, Bren noted she became fascinated with the women who went to work on Wall Street. She undertook extensive research to uncover stories of pioneering women who were largely invisible in traditional financial histories. Bren tells Read the Bull host Stefan Prelog that the book explores how early women entered Wall Street through clerical positions and research departments, often coming from working-class backgrounds. Bren highlights numerous women throughout the book, but she alternates her focus on six woman - Muriel "Mickie" Siebert (first woman to buy a NYSE seat), Alice Jarcho (first woman floor trader), Marianne Spraggins (early mortgage-backed securities expert), Lillian Hobson (the first African American woman to receive a Harvard University MBA), Beth Dater (one of the first female media analysts) and Doreen Mogavero (founder of the first and only floor based, direct access firm to be wholly owned and operated by women). Bren's book covers the evolution from scrappy 1950s-70s pioneers to MBA-educated 1980s professionals, examining how changing market conditions, and the cultural landscape helped shaped women's experiences. Bren explains ending her narrative at 9/11 as a pivotal moment when Wall Street's geographic identity dissolved, marking the end of an era for the financial district's unique culture and community. The discussion touches on the global financial crisis, another flashpoint for women on Wall Street as many long-standing investments firms like Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers. Bren's book is delightful look at these pioneering women on Wall Street, but it also tells the story of how women became an integral part of the workforce. "She-Wolves" is a must read.  Go to ReadTheBull.com [https://readthebull.com/] for more information.

Brian Portnoy

In the latest episode, host Stefan Prelog talks with Brian Portnoy, a leading behavioral finance expert and author of multiple influential finance books, including "The Investor's Paradox [https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-investors-paradox-brian-portnoy/1115892513]," "The Geometry of Wealth [https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-geometry-of-wealth-brian-portnoy/1128556836]" and "How I Invest My Money [https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/how-i-invest-my-money-brian-portnoy/1138280393]." Portnoy brings a unique perspective, having transitioned from a 15-year career in investment management to becoming a behavioral finance expert and starting a business that's helping transform the wealth management industry. Portnoy discusses the concept behind his first book, "The Investor's Paradox," which was modeled off Barry Schwartz's "The Paradox of Choice." The concept - while humans crave choice and autonomy, too many options lead to decision paralysis and unhappiness. Portnoy applied the concept to investment management selection and he noted the phenomenon is particularly pronounced in today's financial services landscape, where thousands of investment options create overwhelming complexity rather than clarity. Central to the discussion is Portnoy's concept of "funded contentment" - true wealth as the ability to underwrite a meaningful life rather than simply accumulating more money. Portnoy introduces his geometric framework: circle (define purpose), triangle (set priorities), and square (make decisions) in his second book, "The Geometry of Wealth [https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-geometry-of-wealth-brian-portnoy/1128556836]." This approach emphasizes starting with "why" before focusing on investment selection. Portnoy observes significant improvements in the financial advisory industry over the past 10-15 years, particularly with the rise of independent advisors who focus on client goals rather than product sales. However, he notes that many clients still lack someone to truly discuss money concerns with, despite working with financial advisors.  Portnoy's last book, How I Invest My Money, [https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/how-i-invest-my-money-brian-portnoy/1138280393?ean=9780857198082] published in 2020 was a collaboration with Josh Brown [https://www.downtownjoshbrown.com/], CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management and a well-known CNBC commentator. The book evolved from a viral blog post that Brown wrote about how he actually deploys his capital and makes investments. Portnoy and Brown featured other finance experts, including Morgan Housel, Christine Benz and others discussing how they put money to work. The conversation also touches on AI's transformative impact on wealth management and financial planning, with Portnoy predicting sophisticated AI financial advisors by 2027. His company, Shaping Wealth, is developing AI tools to help human advisors have more meaningful, empathetic conversations with clients. Throughout the interview, Portnoy emphasizes that the most fundamental client question isn't about market predictions or investment picks, but simply: "Am I going to be okay?" Go to ReadTheBull.com [https://readthebull.com/] for more information.

Zeke Faux

The 16th episode of Read the Bull is a fascinating discussion with Zeke Faux [https://zekefaux.com/], a Bloomberg investigative reporter and author of the best selling book, "Number Go Up [https://www.amazon.com/Number-Go-Up-Cryptos-Staggering/dp/0593443837]." Cryptocurrency is ubiquitous. You can't escape the endless news coverage on the price of crypto, or hearing your college friends talk about that one friend who made a killing buying DOGE coin. The slang associated with it seems juvenile, but people are making real money trading it, and its value is zooming once again on the heels of Donald Trump's victory, as investors anticipate a regulatory-friendly regime. But how does it really work and what are its real-world applications? Zeke wanted out to answer those questions and sets out to explore the real-world uses of Crypto.  His reporting takes him around the world to the Bahamas, Switzerland, El Salvador, Cambodia, the Philippines and Vietnam.  The book, published last year by Crown Publishing, is an exhaustive look at the world of cryptocurrency and the people behind it, but Stefan learns that the book has an auspicious genesis. Zeke's speciality is writing about financial fraud, but his interest in the topic is piqued when one of his friends starts bragging about making money in what he called Doggie coin. Zeke sets out to show his friend that DOGE coin and other cryptocurrencies   His journey into the crypto world starts by looking into the popular stable-coin Tether and its founders. Searching for the people who started Tether is easier said than done, but along the way Zeke is quickly introduced to crypto's world of oddball characters - scammers, zealots, an actor from the Mighty Ducks and the creator of Inspector Gadget.  It also includes Sam Bankman Fried, the founder of FTX and now convicted felon. Zeke was introduced to SBF early on and attended his star-studded Bahamas  crypto conference. Later, when the FTX and Alameda Research fraud unwind, Zeke heads back to the Bahamas and scores an interview with SBF that spans 11 hours.  Zeke finds that Tether is heavily used by criminals and he follows the trail to Cambodia where he interviews people who have been lured to country with he promise of high-paying customer service jobs and then are trapped in pig butchering farms, where they're forced to scam unwitting targets around the world. Stefan's impressed by Zeke's commitment to his subject, noting the time he had to tell his wife he had purchase a $20,000 mutant cartoon ape in order to get into a week-long the NFT event.  Zeke skepticism about cryptocurrency's use only grows after his investigations. While acknowledging that crypto prices have rebounded since the 2022 crash and FTX's collapse, he argues there's no real innovation justifying these higher values.  "Number Go Up" is a wild-ride that seems more like a science-fiction novel, but readers will learn more about cryptocurrency and how its used than any other book out there. This is a conversation you don't want to miss. Go to ReadTheBull.com [https://readthebull.com/] for more information.

Fall 2024 Book Preview with Lee Munson

The 15th episode of Read the Bull is the Fall 2024 Book Preview. Portfolio Wealth CIO Lee Munson joins host Stefan Prelog for an in-depth discussion about timeless investing classics, finance beach reads and a new slate books to watch for this fall.   Lee talks to Stefan about the recent market volatility and how he prepares clients for moments like this. Lee's clients are concerned about the 2024 Presidential election and what the potential outcomes means for their portfolios.  In addition to managing his clients' portfolios, Lee's been busy reading and he  dives in to the books he's read over the summer. He's reread some investing classics including the third edition of Justin Mamis' 1977 book "When to Sell," the 1965 edition of Gerald Loeb's "The Battle for Investment Survival" and all of Peter Lynch's books, including "One Up on Wall Street," which Lee says has given his life new breath. Lee also touts "38 Letters from J.D. Rockefeller to his Son," and notes investors can learn a lot by reading "The Science of Getting Rich," by Wallace Wattles and the early investment letters of Warren Buffett. Lee also recounts some of the newer books he's read including Carrie Sun's "Private Equity" and the financial novel "The Vegan" by Andrew Lipstein. Lee also gained an appreciation for Bill Gross' impact on the bond market after reading Mary Childs' "The Bond King." The 2024 Fall book preview highlights a slate of new titles including, "Making Sense of Chaos: A Better Economics for a Better World" by J. Doyne Farmer, "She-Wolves: The Untold Story of the Women on Wall Street," by Paulina Bren, "The Little Investment That Beats the Market," by Joel Greenblatt, a new edition of "The Intelligent Investor," by Benjamin Graham that includes new commentaries for every chapter by Wall Street Journal columnist Jason Zweig, and "Myth of Money: Breaking Out of the Failing Financial System" by Tatiana Koffman who's a General Partner at the digital assets investment firm Moonwalker Capital. Listen to the episode to hear what Stefan and Lee have to say about these new books and if they'll stand the test of time. Go to ReadTheBull.com [https://readthebull.com/] for more information.

Scott Fearon

The 14th episode of Read the Bull is an unfiltered discussion with Scott Fearon [https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/2bsuuohjya9qtk5scjy80/premium/good-guys-scott-fearon-crown-capital-management], author of "Dead Companies Walking: How a Hedge Fund Manager Finds Opportunity in Unexpected Places [https://www.amazon.com/Dead-Companies-Walking-Opportunity-Unexpected/dp/1137279648]," published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2015.  If you want to know how a veteran long/short hedge fund manager approaches investing, this is the interview for you. Scott started Crown Advisors Management, a long/short equity hedge fund, in 1990.  He manages around $180 million and invests in small and mid-size public companies that have around a $200 - $300 million market cap. He invests on the long side in companies he finds that are undervalued, and also shorts companies that he believes are headed for zero. Before Scott started his firm, he worked at Texas Commerce Bank [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Commerce_Bank]in the 1980s. It's there he learned the value of face-to-face meetings, and he tells Stefan that he's visited and met with the management of every company he invests in on the long side. At the time of the book's publication, he had visited 1,400 companies. Now, almost 10 years later, that number is well north of 2,000 companies. When he started to write "Dead Companies Walking," Scott looked back at the 200 companies he'd shorted and gone bankrupt and found they all made the same strategic mistakes. Scott distilled those mistakes into six themes for why a company fails - Historical Myopia, Getting too Attached to Formulas, Disregarding or Overlooking Your Customers, Madness and Manias, Failing to Recognize Tectonic Shifts, and Not Accepting Blame or Incorrectly Assigning Blame to External Forces. Some of the stories are well known - Blockbuster's failure to recognize the shift to digital streaming or JC Penney's CEO Ron Johnson ignoring its customers [https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/10/business/how-an-apple-star-lost-his-luster-at-penneys.html] by shifting to a no-sale strategy and bringing in more fashionable merchandise. Others are not as well known - Quokka Sports [https://www.sportico.com/business/tech/2020/quokka-oral-history-dot-com-startup-sports-media-1234609714/]- a company that wanted to bring immersive viewing to Yacht Racing or First Team Sports, a company that went all in on inline skating. Scott also discusses some of his recent company visits and reveals a couple that he believes will ultimately go to zero. He also talks about why short selling is good for markets and notes that highlights three categories - fads, frauds and failures.  Scott's not immune to failure himself, and he walks Stefan through mistakes his made, including what led to the demise of his first restaurant. Scott is not your typical hedge fund manager, or at least not the one you typically read about in the Wall Street Journal or see on CNBC. He stopped taking outside capital years ago and focuses solely on finding companies to invest in or to bet against. That means he doesn't have to market his fund or raise new capital to grow assets like many hedge funds out there.  It also means he can also speak truth to power and pull the curtain back on some of the things that are wrong with the industry. For example, he criticizes hedge fund managers who chase assets, as well as the allocators who cheer them on. Scott's book is timeless and there are lessons here for everyone - whether you own a business, work for one or are investing in them.  Go to ReadTheBull.com [https://readthebull.com/] for more information.