Money Life with Chuck Jaffe

Investigative reporter Zeke Faux, author of "Number Go Up: Inside Crypto's Wild Rise and Staggering Fall," discusses his adventures covering the cryptocurrency market, from connecting with Sam Bankman-Fried before the collapse of FTX to attending "ApeFest," convincing his wife to let him spend $20,000 on an NFT as part of his book research and more. He also notes that despite its trading popularity, having crypto used as currency remains a struggle, even in the countries that have tried to adopt its usage. Forensic accountant Tracy Coenen talks about digging into the more obscure and esoteric documents -- insurance policies, car titles, estate-planning paperwork and more -- and making a timeline to help uncover forgotten or missing accounts (something Chuck experienced personally in his own case) in the latest installment of "Find Me The Money," and Mike Venuto, chief investment officer at Tidal Financial Group talks ETFs in the Markt Call.

Andrew Foster, founder and chief investment officer at Seafarer Capital Partners, says that stock prices in emerging markets are depressed -- understandably so -- but he thinks they have been too beaten down, which makes the case for emerging markets as a value play right now. That said, Foster says there is not a strong argument for growth investing in emerging markets now because struggles in China, the hub of the emerging markets, are tamping down the potential for growth in the asset class. Foster notes that China has been decoupling from U.S. markets, and visa versa, which is changing the international markets picture and the outcomes likely based on international politics. Also on the show, David Trainer of New Constructs is back with another IPO that he believes is rotten from the get-go, opening into troubling conditions that will lead to trouble once the market's honeymoon with the new offering is over, and we revisit a recent Marekt Call interview with Stephen Dodson, portfolio manager at The Bretton Fund.

Michael Baron, portfolio manager for the Baron Partners Fund, explains how the fund came to have nearly half of its portfolio in one stock -- Tesla -- and how his confidence in the company may lead for those holdings to become an even bigger portion of the portfolio. Just as importantly, Baron explains how the Tesla example highlights the way active management and good stock picking can still beat the indexes and deliver superior returns. Also on the show, Carley Garner, senior commodity strategist at DeCarley Trading, explains that a wave of mostly negative sentiment among traders has the market poised to finish out the year relatively strong, provided it can get through some short-term bumps now, Colin McBurnette of the Angel Oak Funds discussed how the high-rate, high-inflation environment have set up the housing and mortgage market to deliver at a time when headlines suggest that real estate is troubled. Plus, in the Market Call, Noland Langford, chief executive at Left Brain Wealth Management, returns to the show to talk growth stocks.

Whitney Tilson, founder and chief executive officer at Empire Financial Research, says he expects the market to be flat to slightly up for the remainder of 2023 -- gaining about 5 percent on top of the 17 percent gains thus far -- and then gaining another 10 to 15 percent in 2023. He expects the "sanguine, strong" economic environment to continue despite the skepticism that has been present -- but which hasn't really slowed anything -- this year. Also on the show, Tom Lydon of VettaFi dives into factor ETFs with his pick for "ETF of the Week," and Eric Marshall, president and portfolio manager at Hodges Capital Management talks stocks in the Market Call.

Jeff Rosenkranz, manager of the Shelton Tactical Credit Fund, says the economy and rate cycle are both reaching inflection points, making it tricky to make moves in fixed income without risking being wrong and facing punishment that's "severe". As such, he suggests moving up in credit quality, avoiding undue risks and starting to lengthen maturities, planning for rates to start going lower in six to nine months when the Federal Reserve has pushed the economy to where inflation finally recedes. Also on the show, Toby Eng discusses the latest results from Northwestern Mutual's 2023 Planning and Progress Study, showing that nearly one-third of Americans lose sleep at least once a month due to financial uncertainties. In the Market Call, Conrad Doenges, chief investment officer at Ranger Investment Management, makes his first appearance on the show and discusses small-and micro-cap investing.

Michael Kahn, senior market analyst at Lowry Research Corp., says the trend since October of last year remains up, despite the corrective nature of the last six weeks; that push and pull makes it that Kahn suggests buying only a few solid choices but not buying broadly or getting widely invested because the market's 'just not there at the moment.' Lowry notes that small-cap companies are struggling and he wants to see a resurgence in small-caps to get happy about the market's resurgence and prospects. In The Book Interview, best-selling author Diana Henriques discusses her newest effort -- 'Taming the Street: The Old Guard, the New Deal, and FDR's Fight to Regulate American Capitalism' -- which is out today. In the latest episode of 'Find Me The Money,' forensic accountant Tracy Coenen dives into the high cost -- and the spent money that might be recovered -- in cases of romantic infidelity, and Chuck discusses taking some old coins and jewelry to a gold buyer, and what he learned from the process.

Anastasia Amoroso, chief investment strategist at iCapital, says the biggest surprise in 2023 has been just how resilient the economy has been, but not the Federal Reserve's ability to deliver a soft landing, because economic growth combined with declining inflation and a cautious central bank are the recipe to delay a decline. Amoroso believes there will eventually be a recession, but says it's not imminent unless the Fed becomes too restrictive too quickly. Also on the show, David Trainer, president at research firm New Constructs, says this week's hot IPO deal is headed for trouble right out of the box, Megan Sanctorum discusses a survey showing that nearly one-third of Americans feel stuck or 'trapped' in a home they don't like or can't afford and, in the Market Call, Chris McMahon, chief executive officer at Aquinas Wealth Management, talks stocks and praises the very IPO that Trainer has in the Danger Zone.

Matt Harris, chief investment officer at The Hausberg Group, says he expects the stock market to continue higher -- until something interrupts the trend and shows a reason to be bearish -- but he acknowledges that the market is climbing the proverbial wall of worry because 'Things are not as bad as people feared.' Conditions haven't been great, but neither have they been awful, and 'not terrible' doesn't inspire investors to get more adventurous. Also on the show, Mitchel Penn, managing director of equity research at Oppenheimer and Co., discusses the impact of higher interest rates and stubborn inflation on business-development companies, Roni Israelov, president of NDVR, discusses portfolio construction and the idea that most market moves shouldn't inspire portfolio changes for ordinary investors, and Jay Woods, chief global strategist at Freedom Capital Markets, brings his top-down, flavored-with-technicals approach to the Money Life Market Call.

Odysseas Papadimitrou, chief executive officer at WalletHub.com, says that concerns over recent news about the nation's credit-card debt are overblown, in part because the numbers released recently by the Federal Reserve aren't adjusted for inflation. WalletHub analyzed the numbers and found that credit card debit levels relative to assets and other metrics show that the consumer is stronger than the Fed number suggests, which suggests that the consumer-driven economy can keep rolling. Also ont he show, Tom Lydon of VettaFi makes a currency hedged play on Japan his 'ETF of the Week,' Greg McBride of BankRate.com discusses the site's annual checking account survey which shows record levels of ATM fees -- though he argues that statistic is less important than it has been in decades -- and, in the Market Call, Ken Mahoney of Mahoney Asset Management discusses his GPS Method of buying companies that beat estimates and raise guidance.

Greg Martin, co-founder of Rainmaker Securities -- which specializes in initial public offerings and private-market securities -- says the run-up in interest rates has changed the risk profile of potential buyers, and makes it harder for new projects to draw the dollars if all conditions aren't nearly perfect. He also talks about the SPAC market -- which he calls a 'house of cards' and a Ponzi scheme -- and how companies that want access to the public markets have to change in order to attract those dollars now. Also on the show, Paul Seaton of Fulcrum Asset Management North America discusses the firm's recent survey of investment advisers and discusses where those money managers want to go to diversify client portfolios now, Chuck responds to a listener who suggests that Chuck might have missed his beloved Michigan game last weekend 'on principle,' rather than paying a fee to a streaming service, and Mac Sykes of the Gabelli Funds talks financial stocks in the Market Call.