The 7investing Podcast

Our "No limit" podcast features 7investing advisors Luke Hallard and Krzysztof Piekarski breaking down investing-related topics.Episode 14 of No Limit has Luke saying goodbye to the alpine slopes while praising Krzysztof for his wholesome view on paying for Twitter’s blue verification check. Meanwhile, AI is starting to really scare people, including people who know what they’re talking about and who wrote an open letter about slowing down and not advancing much further until we establish proper frameworks. Luke wonders if organizations and companies involved are ethically minded enough or just going full blast at humanity’s expense and doom. But, the tools we have now are truly staggering and Luke dives into some of his most recent use cases. Krzysztof’s book of the week is The Grid which made his April recommendation for 7investing a seeming no-brainer: our electrical grid needs lots of help and companies are positioning themselves to make lots of money by fixing the oldest machine without which our society would fall apart -- so lots of talk about batteries and electricity. We end the conversation with some fascinating stats about home-schooling in the age of ChatGPT and the rise of the Indian economy which Luke suggests may deliver some great investments in the coming years. Krzysztof wisely asks Luke to tell him which ones, but that’s for episode 15!

Banking is just a sleepy, boring industry, right? Ha! Not if you've read the headlines lately. The failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank (the third-largest bank failure in U.S. history) turned the financial world upside down almost overnight. Is the entire financial industry about to collapse?   Veteran banking analyst and writer John Maxfield doesn't think so. Maxfield is the executive director of the Wilmers Integrity Prize, named after Robert Wilmers, the longtime CEO of MMT Bank. He was formerly the editor-in-chief of Bank Director magazine.  For the second time in a year, Maxfield joined 7investing lead advisor Matthew Cochrane to walk listeners through what happened at the above banks that led to their insolvency and subsequent takeover by the FDIC. Maxfield explains that the ground for the error was laid in early 2020, when Silicon Valley Bank was overtaken by a deluge of deposits flooding in from the government's response to the coronavirus pandemic. The bank's deposits more than tripled over the next two years, climbing to $189 billion by the end of 2022.  Silicon Valley Bank treated this windfall as regular deposits and invested the money into long-duration assets, simultaneously betting that the deposits would be sticky and that interest rates would remain low for years. Neither would prove true. As interest rates rose, these assets declined in value precipitously. As it became apparent that SVB's paper losses were enough to make the bank insolvent, venture capitalists advised the startups in their portfolios to withdraw their money, leading to a bank run and a lightning-quick collapse.  Maxfield advises when the banking equilibrium becomes unstable, it implodes exponentially, not linearly. Meaning banking panics can get magnified as more banks fall and panic spreads. This helps explain why First Republic Bank (NYSE:FRC), a "good" bank by all accounts, got caught up in the carnage, as it too had a large percentage of uninsured deposits that account holders rushed to withdraw as soon as the bank experienced a loss of confidence.  As the panic spread, even foreign banks, such as Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS), experienced a loss of confidence and were rushed into a forced merger with UBS Group (NYSE:UBS).  Maxfield talks through the rapid fall of these institutions, peppering the conversation with a plethora of historical examples, using his rich knowledge of the banking industry. Along the way, Maxfield and Cochrane discuss 1) FDIC insurance and whether it should be expanded to include all deposits; 2) Why regional banks are necessary; and 3) whether banking regulation should be more robust. At the end of the conversation, Maxfield explains why fast growth at financial institutions can be a red flag and gives examples of banks that he believes are well run and worthy of a long look from investors, such as Hingham Institution for Savings (NASDAQ:HIFS) and M&T Bank (NYSE:MTB).

Welcome to our 7investing Market Madness competition! Throughout this campaign, we’re matching popular stocks up against one another to determine which will be the best investment over the next three years. And then, by voting in the poll at the bottom of the article, you can help us determine which stock will go on to the next round! Our rankings are determined by the total return of the stock during calendar 2022. The highest-ranked stock had the best overall return of those in our tournament, and our lowest-ranked stock had the lowest overall return. In this final first-round matchup, we have a battle of the semiconductor chipmakers: with Intel up against AMD! The two were very similar performers in 2022, with Intel’s stock falling (48%) and AMD falling (52%). But past performance is not predictive of future returns. Which of these stocks do you believe will provide investors with the best forward three-year return? Read our investing thesis and cast your vote in the poll below! To follow along with our entire Market Madness tournament: 7investing.com/marketmadness Our Market Madness tournament is in support of our new 7investing Starter membership, which we are giving away free during the entire month of March. To get started with Starter — and to see how we’re already outperforming the S&P 500 by a convincing margin — click here to automatically apply your “madness” promo code.

Welcome to our 7investing Market Madness competition! Throughout this campaign, we’re matching popular stocks up against one another to determine which will be the best investment over the next three years. And then, by voting in the poll at the bottom of the article, you can help us determine which stock will go on to the next round! Our rankings are determined by the total return of the stock during calendar 2022. The highest-ranked stock had the best overall return of those in our tournament, and our lowest-ranked stock had the lowest overall return. In this first-round matchup, the entertainment empire Disney is up against the global chip designer AMD. Disney’s stock was down (43%) in 2022, while AMD was down (56%). But past performance is not predictive of future returns. Which of these stocks do you believe will provide investors with the best forward three-year return? Read our investing thesis and cast your vote in the poll below! To follow along with our entire Market Madness tournament: ⁠7investing.com/marketmadness⁠ Our Market Madness tournament is in support of our new 7investing Starter membership, which we are giving away free during the entire month of March. To get started with Starter — and to see how we’re already outperforming the S&P 500 by a convincing margin — ⁠click here⁠ to automatically apply your “madness” promo code.

Welcome to our 7investing Market Madness competition! Throughout this campaign, we’re matching popular stocks up against one another to determine which will be the best investment over the next three years. And then, by voting in the poll at the bottom of the article, you can help us determine which stock will go on to the next round! Our rankings are determined by the total return of the stock during calendar 2022. The highest-ranked stock had the best overall return of those in our tournament, and our lowest-ranked stock had the lowest overall return. In this first-round matchup, search and AI giant Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) squares up against the cloud-based continual monitor platform Datadog (NASDAQ: DDOG). Alphabet’s stock fell (38%) in 2022, while Datadog was down (60%). But past performance is not predictive of future returns. Which of these stocks do you believe will provide investors with the best forward three-year return? Read our investing thesis and cast your vote in the poll below! To follow along with our entire Market Madness tournament: ⁠⁠7investing.com/marketmadness⁠⁠ Our Market Madness tournament is in support of our new 7investing Starter membership, which we are giving away free during the entire month of March. To get started with Starter — and to see how we’re already outperforming the S&P 500 by a convincing margin — ⁠⁠click here⁠⁠ to automatically apply your “madness” promo code.

Our "No limit" podcast features 7investing advisors Luke Hallard and Krzysztof Piekarski breaking down investing-related topics. Episode 13 of No Limit focuses entirely on Luke schooling Krzysztof about the banking industry and the reasons and fall-out from the Silicon Valley Bank failure. Krzysztof follows this tutelage with his views on why blockchain technology and smart contracts are a powerful paradigm shift that has become all the more important in response to the lack of stability and transparency in the banking system. https://youtu.be/X3d1m1DRlAw But if banking failures aren’t your cup of Joe, fear not, we talk March Madness and which company we think should win the 7investing tournament vs which company might deliver the best real-world results. Shuffle the deck, deal the cards, good luck to all the players!

Welcome to our 7investing March Madness competition! Throughout this campaign, we’re matching popular stocks up against one another to determine which will be the best investment over the next three years. And then, by voting in the poll at the bottom of the article, you can help us determine which stock will go on to the next round! Our rankings are determined by the total return of the stock during calendar 2022. The highest-ranked stock had the best overall return of those in our tournament, and our lowest-ranked stock had the lowest overall return. In this first-round matchup, i-everything consumer device maker Apple matches up against the social network pioneer Meta Platforms. Both stocks had a challenging 2022: Apple was down (30%) while Meta Platforms fell (63%). But past performance is not predictive of future returns. Which of these stocks do you believe will provide investors with the best forward three-year return? Read our investing thesis and cast your vote in the poll below! To follow along with our entire Market Madness tournament, visit 7investing.com/marketmadness Our Market Madness tournament is in support of our new 7investing Starter membership, which we are giving away free during the entire month of March. To get started with Starter — click here to automatically apply your “madness” promo code.

Welcome to our 7investing March Madness competition! Throughout this campaign, we’re matching popular stocks up against one another to determine which will be the best investment over the next three years. And then, by voting in the poll at the bottom of the article, you can help us determine which stock will go on to the next round! Our rankings are determined by the total return of the stock during calendar 2022. The highest-ranked stock had the best overall return of those in our tournament, and our lowest-ranked stock had the lowest overall return. In this first-round matchup, mRNA and COVID-vaccine developer Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA) is up against the electric vehicle innovator Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA). Moderna’s stock fell just (30%) during 2022, while Tesla tumbled (69%). But past performance is not predictive of future returns. Which of these stocks do you believe will provide investors with the best forward three-year return? Read our investing thesis and cast your vote in the poll below! Follow our entire Market Madness tournament at 7investing.com/marketmadness  Our Market Madness tournament is in support of our new 7investing Starter membership, which we are giving away free during the entire month of March. To get started with Starter — and to see how it’s already beating the market significantly — click here to automatically apply your “madness” promo code.

Welcome to our 7investing Market Madness competition! Throughout this campaign, we’re matching popular stocks up against one another to determine which will be the best investment over the next three years. And then, by voting in the poll at the bottom of the article, you can help us determine which stock will go on to the next round! Our rankings are determined by the total return of the stock during calendar 2022. The highest-ranked stock had the best overall return of those in our tournament, and our lowest-ranked stock had the lowest overall return. In this first-round matchup, enterprise software titan Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) takes on the digital financial services innovator SoFi Technologies (NASDAQ: SOFI). Microsoft’s stock fell (29%) during 2022, while SoFi dropped (72%). But past performance is not predictive of future returns. Which of these stocks do you believe will provide investors with the best forward three-year return? Read our investing thesis and cast your vote in the poll below! Follow along with our Market Madness tournament at 7investing.com/marketmadness Our Market Madness tournament is in support of our new 7investing Starter membership, which we are giving away free during the entire month of March. To get started with Starter — and to see how it’s already beating the market by 20 percentage points — click here to automatically apply your “madness” promo code.

Welcome to our 7investing March Madness competition! Throughout this campaign, we’re matching popular stocks up against one another to determine which will be the best investment over the next three years. And then, by voting in the poll at the bottom of the article, you can help us determine which stock will go on to the next round! Our rankings are determined by the total return of the stock during calendar 2022. The highest-ranked stock had the best overall return of those in our tournament, and our lowest-ranked stock had the lowest overall return. In this first-round matchup, the second-seed pharmaceutical powerhouse AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) is up against the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN).  AbbVie’s stock returned 23% in 2022, while Coinbase’s stock fell (86%). But past performance is not predictive of future returns. Which of these stocks do you believe will provide investors with the best forward three-year return? Read our investing thesis and cast your vote in the poll below! Follow along with our Market Madness tournament at 7investing.com/marketmadness Our Market Madness tournament is in support of our new 7investing Starter membership, which we are giving away free during the entire month of March. To get started with Starter — and to see how it’s already beating the market by 20 percentage points — click here to automatically apply your “madness” promo code.