Animal Spirits Podcast Talk Your Book: The Bull Market in Real Assets
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Mar 2, 2026 David Schassler, Head of Multi-Asset Solutions at VanEck and manager of the VanEck Real Assets ETF, brings expertise on real assets, gold, commodities, and macro drivers. He discusses why real assets are timely, how AI and infrastructure needs boost demand for energy and materials, the role of gold versus silver, and how VanEck constructs a diversified real-asset portfolio.
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Innovation Requires Old World Real Assets
- Schassler frames the current regime as an innovation-driven environment where old-world real assets are needed to build AI-era infrastructure and energy capacity.
- He links AI-driven data center buildouts, energy needs, and geopolitics to sustained demand for real assets.
Construct Real Asset Weights With Optimization And Momentum
- Build portfolio weights by identifying key real asset segments, optimizing for diversification/minimized volatility, then tilting to market momentum and mean reversion.
- Let winners run and trim (e.g., they sold gold after max allocation), while buying dips in favored segments.
Post Covid Regime Sparked A Multi Year Real Asset Cycle
- The real assets bull market started after 2020 monetary expansion and COVID regime change, producing a multi-year inflationary and structural shift favoring scarce and tangible assets.
- Additional catalysts include AI capex, energy needs, geopolitics and debt-driven spending.