Episodes

Feb. 1, 2024

Vikram Mansharamani on Developments to Watch Over the Next Five Years

Our returning guest today is Vikram Mansharamani, a global trend-watcher who shows people how to anticipate the future, manage risk and spot opportunities. In today’s episode, Vikram updates us on what’s been a busy three ye…
Jan. 4, 2024

Howard Marks - Investing During a Regime Change from CFA Charter #3,700

Today we host Howard Marks of Oaktree Capital Management. For most of us in the investment community, Howard needs no introduction. He is somebody we have looked forward to hosting for quite some time and I couldn’t think of…
Dec. 7, 2023

Daffy’s Adam Nash on Disrupting DAF’s (Donor Advised Funds)

Our guest today is , the co-founder & CEO of , a modern platform and community for charitable giving that allows you to sign up for your donor-advised fund. Adam has served as an executive, angel investor, and advisor to som…
Nov. 2, 2023

Aswath Damodaran: Unmasking ESG

Today we host Professor Aswath Damodaran, where we speak about how Aswath gained his love for teaching and how it led to him becoming an expert in valuation. The episode quickly veered into a sharp critique of the shortcomin…
Oct. 5, 2023

Phil Hayes, Berman Hopkins: Everything Everywhere All At Once w/ The ESOP Guy

Today we host Phil Hayes, The ESOP Guy, where we speak about how Phil went from banker to Managing Partner of a large regional accounting firm (as a non-CPA) to now becoming an expert in ESOP’s.     In today’s episode, we sp…
Sept. 14, 2023

Peter Atwater – Diversifying by Sentiment

Our guest today is Peter Atwater, President of Financial Insyghts and an adjunct professor at William & Mary and the University of Delaware. He studies the impact of changing confidence on consumer decision-making, using his…
Aug. 24, 2023

KC Joyner - Fantasy Football Draft Prep Using Peter Zeihan’s Geopolitical Framework

Our guest today is Orlando’s own fantasy football expert, . KC used to work for ESPN and now runs his own website called The Football Scientist. We’ve had lots of amazing podcast guests since we started in March 2020, but si…
Aug. 3, 2023

NewEdge Wealth’s Cameron Dawson on the State of the Markets

Our guest today is Cameron Dawson, Chief Investment Officer of NewEdge Wealth. Cameron is a Florida native, Rollins college graduate and former board member of the CFA Society of Orlando.  In today’s episode, Cameron talks a…
July 13, 2023

David Lau, DPL & Dr. Wade Pfau, RISA: Insurance, Annuities & The Outsourced Chief Insurance Officer

Our guests today are David Lau and Wade Pfau. These two individuals have been collaborating for quite some time to solve retirement income puzzles for investors. David has been doing it with DPL, bridging the gap between low…
June 1, 2023

Wes Gray, Alpha Architect: Build Your Own ETF, Advanced Tax Strategies & a New T-Bill Alternative

In today’s episode, we host Wes Gray, CEO of Alpha Architect. Founded in 2010, Alpha Architect is a research focused quant firm that put themselves on the map offering value and momentum factor exposures, but it doesn’t stop…
May 4, 2023

Jan van Eck, VanEck: Back to School, A Lesson in Financial History

Today we host Jan van Eck for the second time on the Investors First Podcast. Jan is the CEO of VanEck, a global asset manager with over $57 billion in assets under management, including ETF’s, mutual funds, SMA’s, UCITS and…
April 6, 2023

Rick Bookstaber & Govinda Quish, Fabric Risk - Current State of Banking & Risks of Contagion

Our guest today are Rick Bookstaber and Govinda Quish, co-founders at Fabric Risk, which provides factor-based risk management applications for investment advisors, consultants and family offices. This is the second time we …
Feb. 2, 2023

Dan Rasmussen & Bob Elliott - Replicating Private Equity/Hedge Funds in Public Markets

Our guests today are Dan Rasmussen and Bob Elliott. This is the first time both Dan and Bob have shared a podcast stage and they did not disappoint.
Jan. 5, 2023

Jeffrey Sherman, DoubleLine – 'Sherman Says' His Take on The Fed, Rates, & State of the Markets

Our guest today is Jeffrey Sherman, Deputy CIO of DoubleLine, which manages over $100 billion.  Jeffrey oversees and administers DoubleLine’s Investment Management sub-committee coordinating and implementing policies and pro…
Nov. 29, 2022

Mark Brewer, Central Florida Foundation: Strategic Philanthropy: Head, Heart & Wallet

Our guest today is , President and CEO of the Central Florida Foundation. Mark frequently advises private and corporate foundation grantmakers across the region and plays a public policy advisory role on strategy and advisor…
Nov. 3, 2022

David Berns & Mike Taylor, Simplify: Finance for a Cure

Our guests today are David Berns & Mike Taylor. David Berns is Chief Investment Officer & Co-Founder of Simplify Asset Management, which is focused on creating hedge fund and structured product strategies in a liquid, trans…
Oct. 6, 2022

Dr. Sean Snaith, UCF: Florida Economic Update & Predicting Recessions

Dr. Snaith is the Director of the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Economic Forecasting and a nationally recognized economist in the field of business and economic forecasting. An award-winning forecaster, resea…
Sept. 22, 2022

Zach Conway, Seeds Investor: ESG, Values Based Investing & Bespoke Portfolios

Our guest today is Zach Conway, Founder and CEO of Seeds Investor. Seeds Investor is a new wealth technology platform designed to empower advisors to better understand investors and deliver the personalized portfolios that a…
Sept. 8, 2022

Andrew Beer, Dynamic Beta Investments: Replicating Hedge funds in an ETF Wrapper

Our guest today is Andrew Beer, Managing Member and Co-Portfolio manager for Dynamic Beta Investments, an investment firm founded in 2012. Over the past decade, Andrew’s singular focus has been to identify strategies to matc…
Aug. 18, 2022

KC Joyner, The Football Scientist: A Buffett/Munger Approach to Fantasy Football

Our guest today is KC Joyner, a fantasy football guru and pioneer of the football analytics revolution, featured on ESPN and The Athletic. He is Founder of the Football Scientist, a data analytics subscription service design…
July 14, 2022

Ranji Nagaswami, SVPGlobal: A Primer on Private Credit

Our guest today is Ranji Nagaswami, Managing Director, Chief Strategy/Commercial Officer at SVPGlobal. Headquartered in Greenwich, CT. SVP is a global investment firm focused on distressed debt and private equity opportuniti…
June 2, 2022

Samir Vasavada, Vise: Automating Wealth Management

Our guest today is Samir Vasavada, co-founder & CEO of Vise. Samir came up with the idea for Vise when him and Runik Mehrotra (fellow co-founder) were teenagers. Samir is responsible for Operations, Business Development and …
May 5, 2022

Eduardo Repetto: Building Better Portfolios, From Aeronautics To Avantis

Our guest today is Eduardo Repetto, Chief Investment Officer for Avantis Investors. Avantis was established to help clients achieve their investment goals through a persistent focus on providing well-diversified investment s…
April 21, 2022

Chris Arnade: Dignity: Seeking Respect in Back Row America

Our guest today is Chris Arnade, author of the best seller Dignity: Seeking Respect in Back Row America. A Florida native, Chris was one of the first quants on Wall Street and spent 20 years as a trader before becoming disen…