Money Life with Chuck Jaffe

Doug Ramsey, chief investment officer at The Leuthold Group, discusses current market valuation risks and how his firm is responding to the market's mixed signals, including the inverted yield curve signal the market flashed months ago, increases in volatility and uncertainty and more. He also discusses research based on fishing charts and solar-lunar calendars showing that investors do better -- and should trade more -- at times with a full moon. Also on the show, John Boroff of Fidelity Investments discusses the firm's annual study on New Year's resolutions, Chuck answers an audience question about portfolio rebalancing, and David Trainer puts an equity fund with a history of topping the performance charts every few years into the Danger Zone.

Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research, expects the market to stay strong in 2020 noting that be believes politicians can go beyond settling the trade dispute with China to give stocks a boost. Stovall says he would not be surprised to see tax cut measures -- proposed if not enacted -- that get investors excited that the bull market can keep running into 2021 or 2022. Also on the show, Buck Klintworth of Chase Investment Counsel talks optimistically about the market's technicals, Jeremy Goff of Tortoise Advisors discusses interval funds and the benefits of using them as opposed to traditional closed-end fund investments, and Stephen Dodson of the Bretton Fund talks value investing in the Market Call.

Charles Rotblut, editor of AAII Journal, says that the biggest winners for the next decade on the Standard and Poor's 500 Index may not even be big enough to be on the banchmark now. In a recent study of the last decade, Rotblut found that the big winners were not necessarily the names anyone might have expected to be big gainers 10 years ago. Also on the show, Tom Lydon of ETFTrends.com makes a biotech and pharmaceutical fund his ETF of the Week, Alia Dudum of Lending Club talks about how many people engage in 'YOLO spending' because 'you only live once' but wind up paying off those purchases for years. Also, we rebroadcast a recent chat with Alan Gayle of Via Nova Investment Management.

Mary Ellen Stanek of Baird Funds notes that in the 11th year of an economic expansion, investors should be cautious, but she says the excesses that typically come late in an economic cycle are not there, so investors should keep their seatbelts on, should make sure they are being paid to take on risk and are otherwise moving forward cautiously into 2020 and beyond. Also on the show, Chuck chats with David Molnar from HighTower San Diego about how investors should properly evaluate an adviser's performance, discusses the ways in which President Trump's tweets have been moving the market with Francesca Ortegren of Clever Real Estate, and we revisit a recent Market Call chat with Charlie Bobrinskoy of Ariel Investments.

Brian Nick, chief investment officer at Nuveen, says that the stock market enters the next decade with high valuations and other conditions that do not seup up well for great investment returns, and he warns investors that they may need to move away from the tradition 60-40 stocks-to-bonds allocation in favor of something that carries more alternatives in order to continue to deliver anything close to recent results. But Nick's cautious notes are a contrast to comments from Gene Peroni of Peroni Portfolio Advisors, a renowned technical analyst who said there are "no telltale signs of a serious market top" currently on the horizon, and who suggested that dips will remain buying opportunities for the foreseeable future. Also on the show, Lior Rachmany of Dumbo Moving and Storage discusses the financial benefits of moving during the winter, and Odysseas Papadimitrou of WalletHub chats about deferred interest on retail cards and how he believes the practice should be outlawed.

Michael Dowdall, investment strategist for BMO Global Asset Management, says the trade war between the United Stateas and China will be the over-arching headline for the foreseeable future, and while he expects minor deals to be announced he believes a full resolution of tensions will be elusive in 2020. Despite that, he believes the American consumer will continue to drive the market higher, and that the U.S. economy will continue to lead the world, though he expects a bounce-back from a number of countries that mostly suffered through 2019. Also on the show, Catherine Collinson of the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies discusses women and their retirement preparedness, Davd Trainer talks about technology companies and puts a troubled tech stock in the Danger Zone, and Chuck discusses how being a bit of a humbug for the holidays and talking moderation with family memebrs could be a true gift of the season.

Michael Mullaney, director of global markets research at Boston Partners says that while there are some warning signs clearly visible -- and wildcards like trade wars and Brexit that could cause further deterioration -- investors should stay fully invested for as long as the economy continues showing growth and companies keep on reporting profits. He suggests that investors side with stocks that have 'high-quality characteristics' as a way to hedge against a weakening market. Also on the show, John Kosar of Asbury Research gave a technical outlook that wasn't nearly as positive, noting that the market is overextended and that if the major indexes break through support levels, investors might want to take better control of their risks. Axel Merk of the Merk Funds and the ASA Gold and Precious Metals closed-end fund discusses the difference for investors between using traditional funds and the closed-end structure for exposure to precious metals, and George Young of the Villere Funds talks stocks in the Market Call.

Tom Lydon, editor at ETFTrends.com, made the PIMCO Low Duration Active ETF -- ticker symbol LDUR -- his 'ETF of the Week,' noting that the low-duration exchange-traded fund not only mitigates risk but can increase returns from money-market funds by as much as one full point, a significant difference in a time when money mostly parked on the sidelines isn't delivering much return. Also on the show, Jason Reposa of MyBankTracker.com talks about the financial mistakes savers and investors admit to making around the holidays, Rob Lutts of Cabot Wealth Management talks stocks in the Market Call, and we revisit a recent interview with Frank Holmes of US Global Investors.

Erik Weisman, chief economist and portfolio manager at MFS Investments, says that while the market and economy are giving off generally positive signs of strength, the numbers this time may be hiding some issues that could shorten the current business cycle and dampen returns. Also on the show, Washington Post columnist Allan Sloan talks about the one tax move he thinks anyone in their 70s should do to minimize what they owe Uncle Sam, Adam Thurgood of HighTower Advisors discusses how to match risk tolerance and today's positive investment sentiment with the market's realities for the future, and Ted Rossman of Bankrate.com talks about his site's latest survey of how consumers misbehave with credit cards.

Jason Thomas, chief economist at AssetMark, said that investors are too concerned with current events and the upcoming election when they should be focus instead on the earnings power of big companies, which he said will continue to drive the market for the foreseeable future. Thomas said that while investors have reasons for their personal concerns around news, they should tune out the noise to focus on the strong earnings picture. Similarly, two very different technical analysts -- Adam Grimes of Talon Advisors and Lawrence McMillan of McMillan Analysis -- came to similar conclusions, namely that the market could be headed for a technical blow-out but both suggested that the warning signs are still hard to see and said they would wait until they see a downturn as imminent before changing their investment strategy to something more defensive. Finally, Chuck Carlson of Horizon Investment Services and the DRIP Investor talked stocks in the Market Call.