Free Money with Sloane and Ashby

Wow! We were fortunate enough to have had Joachim Klement join our most recent episode. This one is jam-packed with a variety of topics which range from structural differences in growth between Europe and the U.S to Joachim's fascinating concept of industry "Cassandras". Plus, we have even more Free Money to offer, including the usual beloved banter, industry updates, and burning questions from listeners just like you. Tune in to cash out!

This carbon special featuring Mark Campanale is one you don't want to miss - we discuss peak oil, Mark's vision for the carbon market, and whether it's reasonable to rely on the carbon market as the catalyst for change. Definitely one for the books. We also answer some exciting questions from our lovely listeners, offer gardening tips galore, and share developments both fun and fund-related!

What an exciting show for our LAST episode of the year! We were joined by Bahar Baharloo, who was Sloane's roommate during her time in the McKibbin lofts of Brooklyn. Their experience as an intimacy coordinator gives us some amazing insight into consent and how it applies to the governance and approval we encounter in investment decision making. Ashby's head explodes multiple times, and we're quite confident yours will too. Happy New Year from the Free Money Fam!

Hop in folks, this train is headed to Brakkestan! We were fortunate enough to meet up with Tom Brakke, one of the keepers of the flame in active independent investment management. We talk about what innovation really is, due diligence in the manager selection process, and more. Ashby's whereabouts on January 6th are also discussed, and if you'd like the answer to that burning question, you'll just have to tune in! Thanks for joining us - we genuinely appreciate each and every one of you.

Today we're joined by Bill Burckart and Megan Kashner of Colorful Capital, both of whom are professors of impact investing (Columbia and Northwestern) as well as co-founders of the venture firm focused on the LGBT community. We hear from them on why the firm is necessary, how they've gone about trying to access the people they're trying to reach, and then discuss the role they see for Colorful Capital going forward. For a deeper exploration of the topics we discussed and links to various resources mentioned, check out our blog post on this episode. Don't forget our typical helping of banter - this episode's topics feature new sovereign wealth funds, guns, and a roast of burning man. Ya know, the usual.

This one's nearly a year old - but still filled with the usual gold. It honestly didn't come as a shock to us that modern American accounting practices are deeply rooted in slavery (nothing shocks us anymore). But in order to further wrap our heads around this insane concept, we spent some time chatting with Caitlin Rosenthal, historian of business and slavery.

Perhaps this episode could be a great business case for not hating yourself. It's amazing when you look at what you bring to the table at work as a truly happy person, which in Maeve's case was a result of coming out. Join the crew as we discuss what it was like for her coming out at Goldman Sachs, real experiences of what it's like to be trans in finance, and Maeve's expert advice for communicating around innovation in the industry.

AI, research, and farming? Oh my! On today's episode, we're joined by Ruchit Garg, who is working to build a much more efficient market for agricultural goods in India. We also discuss ancient spreadsheets, whether or not AI will ever have a material impact on institutional investment decisions, and the general vibes this lunar cycle.

See - we told you we weren't dead! Our guest in this episode is...nonexistent (thanks to a typical tech error). That said, we're thrilled to get back in the swing of things and to be able to offer our listeners the usual flow of banter, news, jokes, and as always, a gardening tip. Our conversation in this episode touches upon an exciting change in Sloane's life, the explosion of crypto, growing pains, and more.

Some things are more important than beating the market. That's particularly true when it comes to managing a pension fund. In this episode, we chat with NYC BERS' Sandy Rich about what he's done over the past seven years to streamline decisionmaking, clarify the term structure of his fund's liabilities, and build a talented internal team. Note: This conversation was recorded on September 1st, 2021.

Our guest in this episode is Mary Childs, The author of The Bond King, a look at the life and legacy of PIMCO founder, Bill Gross, the unusual organization that he built, and the fixed income market that he came to dominate. Our conversation starts by talking about why stocks are dumb, the elements of operational alpha that made PIMCO what it is, and what Bill Gross's success means for the neurodiverse community. It starts about 13 minutes into this podcast.

How much money is needed to keep climate change under 1.5 degrees celsius, how much is currently available, and how much more money needs to be found after the passage of the inflation protection act? We talk with Dimitry Gershenson and Erin Davis, co-founders of the climate-centric lending platform Enduring Planet, to get the skinny. The conversation starts about eighteen minutes into the episode.

Franklin Templeton's Ben Meng joins us to talk about why capital markets need carbon pricing to function properly, how litigation risks prevent companies from making certain disclosures, and why investment professionals need to use their imagination to get ahead of the climate crisis. That conversation starts about seventeen minutes into the episode.

If you’re like most people, you may not have realized that fish farm finance is somewhat unfixed at the moment. We talk with Scoot Science CIO Grant Cavanaugh about why that is.

What could a new mechanism for municipal funding unlock, and why is it neccessary? We speak with Tammie Arnold, a fixed-income veteran and the founder of AlphaLedger, to find out.

On this episode, we’re joined by Delilah Rothenberg of the Predistribution initiative. Her work focuses on reimagining investment structures to promote sustainability through stronger long-term alignment between asset managers and their clients. That conversation starts about thirteen minutes into the episode.

Plenty of institutional investors are making net zero commitments, but what do they actually mean? In this episode, we chat to Kristy Jenkinson, CalSTRS' Head of Sustainable Investment and Stewardship Strategies, about what these commitments mean to an organization that has been a recognized leader in the ESG movement since 2004. That conversation starts about 18 minutes into the episode.

How can financial advisers figure out what clients really want? We're zooming in on that question in this episode with Stacey Kline of Otto Intelligence. She’s built a behavioral questionnaire that helps advisers discover their clients’ detailed preferences and build portfolios that suit them. That conversation starts about 17 minutes into this episode.

Are carbon offsets a viable tool to help us build a more sustainable world? Lars Kroijer says so. He's a recovering hedge fund manager who got mixed up in the carbon offset market a few years ago. The conversation starts after the news (about 22 minutes into the episode.)

12:50 - THE NEWS! CalPERS is getting closer to hiring a new CIO and other big developments that will come in the new year. 24:59 - Trend #1 - 2022 should be the year when fiduciary investors' commitments to go net-zero and fossil fuel free actually get some teeth. 29:36 - Trend #2 - Robinhood's acquisition of Say Technologies might herald a new era of retail-driven shareholder engagement. 33:01 - Trend #3 - Tools and techniques for facilitating long-termism go mainstream thanks to the Long-Term Stock Exchange, Sequoia Fund, and growing adoption of ESG among long-term investors 36:44 - Trend #4 - Earth gets a black box to trace earth's unfolding climate crisis as it unfolds, recording data that future civilizations can find and learn from about how we reckoned with existential threats. 40:40 - Trend #5 - Investment decision-making shifts formally from a process-based model to a data-driven decision model (and Ashby explains what that means). 46:41 - Trend #6 - Sustainable investing starts getting real (and Sloane explains what that means). 52:30 - HARD THINGS - Sloane and Ashby talk about the challenges they've encountered in their respective projects 1:01:17 - Listener question #1 - Did you change your mind about anything big this year? 1:05:30 - Listener question #2 - What's your favorite desk toy? 1:07:10 - Listener question #3 - If you could go back in time and kill the person who ate and/or had sex with a pangolin to start the pandemic, would you? Nobody would know you did it. 1:11:02 - THE GARDEN TIP