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Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Bad trades are part of the business
You can catch Trader Talk on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. On this week's Trader Talk, host Kenny Polcari sits down with Atish Davda, CEO and cofounder of EquityZen, to discuss how average investors can gain access to pre-IPO shares in private tech companies. Davda explains how EquityZen connects shareholders, often early employees at high-growth startups, with accredited investors looking to buy in before an IPO. With private markets becoming increasingly important to diversified portfolios, Davda breaks down how the platform works, what makes a company investable, and how these trades differ from traditional public stock transactions. If you have ever wanted to own a slice of the next big tech company before Wall Street gets in, this episode offers a rare behind-the-scenes look at how that is possible. Watch more episodes of Trader Talk here. Trader Talk with Kenny Polcari on Yahoo Finance delivers expert analysis and actionable insights, empowering you to navigate market volatility and secure your financial future. This post was written by Langston Sessoms. Welcome to Trader Talk where we dish out the latest Wall Street buzz to keep your portfolio sizzling. I'm Kenny Polcari and I'm coming to you live once again from the iconic New York Stock Exchange, a place that I called home for many decades, but it still feels the pulse of capitalism, entrepreneurship, and freedom. Now let's takejump into my big take for the week. Let's get this straight. Every trader makes bad trades, not some, not rookies, everyone. The pros just recover faster because they don't waste time pretending that it didn't happen. A bad trade isn't a moral failure, it's a statistical will misread setups. You will get chopped up by volatility. You will chase. You will hold too long. Welcome to the game. What separates the winners from losers isn't avoiding a bad trade, it's how they handle them. Most retail traders double try to justify it. They revenge trade. They turn a paper cut into a gaping wound. Why? Ego, refusing to admit that they were wrong. But the pros, pros cut it. They log it. They learn from it, and then they move on without don't blow up from bad trades, you blow up from not owning those bad trades. Discipline is what turns a mistake into a lesson. Denial is what turns it into a disaster. Bottom line, bad trades are just part of the business. You're not judged by how perfect you are, you're judged by how quickly you get back to the process. The market doesn't care if you're wrong. It cares if you keep being wrong the same so now into my guests for the day. Now, joining us today is my new friend, Attis Dada, founder and CEO of Equity Zen, a groundbreaking platform that opens access to pre-IPO shares in some of the world's fastest growing private tech companies. Before launching equity Zen, Atti worked at algorithmic trading at AQR Capital and led product efforts at Amus, a digital marketing firm with a unique background that blends software engineering he's built equities then into a go to marketplace for for private tech investing, serving thousands of investors and completing hundreds of deals. Please welcome Attida. Atish. First of all, I got to tell you, it is such a pleasure having you here. I want to talk to you really quick because I think the audience will really appreciate this about your very first days at AQR Capital and when did thathappen? Yeah, so this is 2008. I'm fresh out of college. Uh, so that was September. September, this is the fall. I remember this vividly. Uh, everything we've learned about markets, you know, in textbooks, you throw it out the window when you're seeing 4 or 5% swings in the S&P every single day, every single day. Lehman Brothers bank number 3, and where I used to work previously as an intern, uh, you know, people are questioning is it going to be around next week? So those, that's how my career started. Yeah, and I basically realized, you know, be very careful about drawing a line too far out, basically. It was an exciting time for sure. Uh, you know, you would miss the Bear Stearns breakdown because that happened earlier in the year in March. And then it was that whole lemurs, and I was here on the floor during that whole kind of cycle, that whole event, when it happened, how it happened, the, you know, the, the, the anxiety in the markets. It was really a fascinating time to be here, but for someone that was just fresh out of college, still green, it had to be, it had to be really an eye-openingexperience. It was visceral, not always in a bad way, I got to tell you the fact thatI didn't have the 123 years of, you know, low volatility days, just made it, OK, this is the normal. This is what happened and they're thrown into the fire. Thankfully there wasn't the actual, you know, reality and things did calm down eventually. But talk about quickly because and this is going to take us into where you are now. But talk about quickly what your education was and what what brought you to HUR in the firstplace. Yeah, look, you know, so quick background, I grew up in India. I moved here right before college. I studied anything thatContain numbers. So my education was computer engineering, finance, and mathematics. My joke is numbers make sense to me. Everything else is a bit of a question mark. So, so I went to AQR, which was a fantastic place for someone like me for systematic trading all about all about numbers. Uh, so I'm at AQR actually one of my first projects there was to take a pension fund strategy, $50 million minimum investment, typical investments, a couple $100 million and a longshore strategy, convert that into a long only that mom with $2500 and a Vanguard account can access. So we didn't call it that back then, but this was the early days of Liquid Als. That was the, the, the, the little seed of diversifying, uh, democratizing access really to cold in my head in the early days of AQR. That had to be, that had to be a phenomenal experience for a young man just out of college as they got into. I used to joke that I could close my eyes. Someone would spin me around and whoever was pointing to had at least 2 more degrees than I did at AQR at there was such a phenomenal place to learn, continue a sense of learning and academic freedom from the college days, but now in a professional setting. So I, I was there for a couple of years and I was in the thought selection side and, uh, they moved around quite a bit during that time. Yeah, they movedaround quite a bit during that time. OK, so then from AQR we, youwent, yeah, I went to an advertising company called Amus and really what I was doing at AQR was writing algorithms that would either sell stocks. Early days of Facebook advertising, they had just opened up the Facebook API. Advertising is not that different. You buy, hold or sell ads. And so I went to this company as a first employee. I built these trading models that effectively bid up, bid down, or held steady ads at prices at prices, a bids and budgets, and by doing that, large Fortune 500 companies were using a tool like this in order to, you know, effectively clients into theirs. I get it I,I, I, for me, that's amazing because that's a world unknown to me, right? I spent 40 years here. That's like a world unknown to me that I find absolutelyamazing. We are bombarded by these ads all day long. I was fortunate enough to see the similarities between this world and that world and in the technology side and candidly, after spending a bit of time in finance and a bit of time in technology, what I realized is I really got to join the two together. OK, so now that brings us to equity's end. So talk to us about, because I think this, I saw you on TV, uh, and which actually I immediately reached out to you because I said I got to talk to this guy. He's gonna come on this podcast because you got to tell us what equity Zen is and how the retail investor gets involved. Yeah, exactly. So Eity Zen is a company that I co-founded with a couple of people, uh, zooming out. I used to work at a hedge fund. Now I'm working at a technology company. I'm not making the hedge funds salary anymore, but I've gotten the, these little pieces of paper, a tech company, not just in the company I was working at, but a few others that I was moonlighting for just helping some buddies along. Some of those, you know, pieces of paper, some of those private shares ended up being worth something. I'm in my mid-20s, right? I'm in my mid-20s, not, not really making the hedge fund salary anymore. I'm looking for an engagement ring. This is a true story. Uh, I'm looking for an engagement ring. It turns out they will not take my piece of paper that my boss guarantees is worth a million dollars or in my case $100, I'm trying to convince them you can't buy a burger with you can't buy a house with it and you can't buy jewelry with it, and that was really the light bulb that went off for me, uh, that said, hey, look, if I had, you know, $10 million worth of stock, there's a ton of solutions. But if I have $50,000 worth of stock, which is a lot of money, it's a lot of money, and you, you know, there's just not that many solutions to what that was what has now become equities and we are a platform where private companies can sell their shares and investors who want to buy private company shares can, can buy them always with the blessing of the company. OK, sothey could be, when you say in this case, when you say shareholders, you're not talking about the VC firm that's invested. You're talking about the employees that end up getting restricted shares, that's private shares that they can't really do anything with but are worthmoney. These people are paper millionaires. Exactly right. We started off byUh, focusing exclusively on the little guy and gal that's, you know, that's, that's helping build the company, early investors wants a little bit of monetization, just a little bit. The whole idea is if you allow employees to sell, you know, they got a stack of monopoly money. If you make them sell two bills on top, it'll remind them, oh gosh, how many, what, what am I fighting for? That's right. It'll create actually more loyalty, I think, right, if they're able to, if they're able all of it, just some of it. OK, so, so then let's talk about it because now I'm up, I, like I said, I spent 40 years down here serving the institutional community. Now I, I flipped to the high net worth retail side of the business. And this is why it was so interesting to me the day that I saw you on TV because I talked to clients all day long that say, how can I get access to. And, and, and I had a conversation that day and then you come on the TV and I, I jumped out of the church. I have to have this guy on this. Podcast. So exactly what you said, Kenny, is what we're hearing from so many clients. Look, when, you know, back in the day, private markets were only the purview of institutional investors, right? So the JoeQub could not get, could not get access. And you know what, there were good reasons for that. What, what's happened over the last 15 years and equity has been around for 13 years and we've led the charge on this as we've said there is a way to allow responsible the private market. And so what equities then does is we work with the company. We work with the shareholder that wants to sell, and we open up access with the company's blessing to accredited investors with the company's blessing who want to buy as little as $5000 or millions of dollars and everything in between. But OK, so, so talk to me. Is there an active market or it's very, very, the market's wide. The bids and offers are wide like this. Some are very narrow. This will not surprise anyone, kind of like public markets. There's a small number of names that are extremely liquid and the bid ask is right next to each other. And then there's a long tail of companies that until they kind of become, you know, come to the zeitgeist, the bid ask is wide, and what we see and because equities then at this point serves 750,000 households, half of whom are wealthy, 10% of whom are actually ultra what we've realized is we can provide liquidity at the $10 million level. We can also provide liquidity at the $10,000 level and across the entire spectrum we're doing it with the company kind of saying, you know what equity and you can get on our cap table. You can then have effectively like an, like, like a street name, like an ETF. You can then manage who has access to it under your name. OK, so hold thatthought because we're gonna come right back after, after this marketing wait, so let's get back to that because I'm fascinated with this. If, if the, first of all, start like this, do you have to go out and find these private companies and bring them onto your platform? Or are there companies out there saying, look, we're available todo this. Yeah, look, in the early days, we were knocking on companies' doors and saying, here's who we are introducing ourselves. Give me an example of the companies. Yeah, so back in the Spotify is a perfect example of this. Spotify was a company where everyone that I looked around, you know, I, I was working in the technology industry was using moving off from Pandora. They were moving off from, uh, you know, literally using devices back then. And what we saw was, well, there's a lot of folks that actually want to invest in this company. We had someone call us up and say, I just threw my daughter's Sweet 16. Everyone is using Spotify. I don't invest in this thing. I'm not allowed to. What's what's going on? And so we went to Spotify and we said, hey, look, we've got about 3000 people who want to invest. That's a lot of money when you pull it all together. 100%. And we, we said, hey, do you have any shareholders that are looking for some liquidity?And we actually had about 12 to 13 shareholders at the time who had already signed up. We wanted to see what the company wanted to say. The company says, Oh, I don't think anyone's looking for liquidity. We said, Well would it surprise you that I've got a dozen folks who who used to work in your company or work in your company now who are candidly afraid to tell their boss that, hey, look, I love this company. I want to stay here for a while. I just want to go buy a house. I want to pay offa loan I need some liquidity because to your point, you can't take those restricted shares and go to the bank and say lend me $500,000 again. You you can't do it, can't do we went to Spotify in that case and we said, hey, look, uh, here's everything. We're going to do everything on the up and up and we, we helped them with hundreds and hundreds of trades before Spotify officially went public, we had helped over 1000 people access that private stock right before it went public. And by the way, Spotify is a great example also because what happens in IPOs is that companies pop and the first time a public investor allowed gets to touch it, all the, so much of the already been teased by a whole lot of other people. 100%.100%. Wait, so I, I gotta ask you a question. So how many names are on your, in your portfolio? If I go to equity Zen, is, is it like going shopping? There's a bunch of names that appear up on the screen and say, here's all the opportunities? Yeah, look, we offer single name investments. We offer people the ability to invest in individual companies. We also offer basket products. A lot of financial advisors, you know, first the client comes to us and they talk to the financial it. What a financial advisor is telling us is, hey, Atti, my client's putting in a couple 100,000 through your platform. I don't know who you guys are. Let's, let's talk. Let's, you know, let's connect. Um, and by doing that, what we're doing is two things. One, we're learning more about all the other clients a financial advisor has. And two, we're learning, hey, financial advisors sometimes have a tough time recommending individual stocks, especially without a ton of information. So what they want to do is say, do you have like an ETF? My client wants to invest in AI. Do you have like an AI fund?Or something they can invest in. Of course we do. And so that's the second offering we have is basket products for folks to say, I can't tell scale AI from data breaks from Glean AI, but I would like to bet on the tide that's rising, not no individual boats. OK, but clarify that. Maybe I misunderstood. You don't have a publicly traded ETF. No, these are private funds. OK, so just so to clear it up, because when I hear the word ETF, I think of a publicly traded ETF. That's not what you have. You just have private funds that you've That's We're providing diversified access in private funds to qualified investors. Minimum investment, minimum investment as little as $10,000. Individual stocks, $5000 minimums if people want in any situation, we conduct the trades through the company and now equity Zen has now facilitated similar trades in almost 500 companies. We've done about 45, almost 50,000 of these transactions. And what happens if there's a name that is not in your portfolio? Can I call you up and say,Can you get me access? Absolutely. We've got order books on the demand side the same way that we've got order books on the supply side and exactly to your point earlier, Kenny, that's how we know that hey, you know what, the Brasco is, is closing in on this name. There's something going on here where there's a lot more awareness of this company, there's a lot more folks that have been around in this company for a while that are looking for liquidity. OK, so, so two things. First, you and I need to make a date off, off camera because we have, I have to, I have to bring this to, to my, to my wealth management firm because it is absolutely an area of the market that, uh, you know, we're starting to dip our toes into it. We've got a couple of relationships, but they seem, they don't seem to be asLiquid maybe is, right? At least that's my sense. I guess we'll have a conversation. But the other part of this is talk about how you, how is it priced in terms of, how's it marked to market? How does it, how does somebody know what it'sworth? Yeah. So one of the things that equities and provides is an estimated mark on these names. These are not publicly traded names. That's right. Makes it difficult. You can't just look up a ticker. But what we do is, uh, any time there's any event, any sort of price setting event we updated, and at the same time, if there's any sort of market activity that tells us, hey, look, recent trades have been having 10-20% higher than where you bought in, hey, that's just one more input into us letting you mark to market your position. OK, butso that may not happen, that may happen every two not gonna happen daily. So, so for instance, if, if an investor gets in, here's the mark, here's the price. So that's your mark, and that, that's the mark that stays there until it's updated. It could be next week, could be 2 months, could be 3 months from now. It could be. But at the moment, that's my price. Uh, that's your price until there's some sort of thattakes. So if I call you up and I want to sell that's not necessarily the price though. That's not necessarily the price. What we do is we try to provide a price that is representative of where the market is actually right. And can somebody who gets in, they buy it, say 6 months from now they're going, I want out. Can they, they can come back to you to sell it. Sotypically it's really hard to get that liquidity unless the underlying company goes public. One of the things equity then has unless there's somebody else that wants to buy even if somebody else wants to buy, the company doesn't want to be a publicly traded company. That's why what Equities has provided the company with is basically an arm's length ability to say, equities and we know you, we trust you. You can get on our cap table. You manage within this SPV that's on the cap table. You manage who actually has the piece of the stock, like the fractional share, you manage that. And so with we've earned the trust of almost 500 of these companies and I think Kennedy, one other thing that's worth calling out here a couple months ago, less than 2 months ago actually, Larry Fink at BlackRock actually added private markets into the model portfolio. They got a lot of press at the time and it's a big deal because all of a sudden you have retail investors who have 0% allocation, 100%, which is, I listen, I, I'm, I'm experiencing now at sleep so we, we've got clients that are looking for ways to access the private markets. You know, there are some very specific names, right? SpaceX, everyone, right? But, but if there's a platform that I can bring to them and say, look, here's the platform. Here's what we can help you do in that space, uh, with the help of equity. Yeah, that's exactly right. And I think just one more thing I'd like to point out in terms of the why gonna, you know, I think 3 years from now, uh, Markro and Apoo CEO said, you know, a few years from now we're not going to talk about private equity and public equity. People are just going to hold equity and some of it's going to be public, some of it's going to be private. That line between the IPO is blurring. I think one of the things equity then is bringing to the table was responsible access to investors with the ability to you want to invest in this company, there's certain things you have to qualify for. But if you qualify for them, if you understand the risks you're taking, if you're a buy and hold investor, then you can actually do this. Arethere, would you, would you say that you, equity Zen hasA handful of competitors in the spaceor no? Oh, the private markets have been around. I mean, equities did not invent this. No, no, I know they didn't, but, but are there others competitors that, that, that are doing exactly the same thing. They have access. They have all that stuff. Absolutely. There's, there's about, you know, 3 or 4 names that have, you know, all of us peers have been operating in this space. Uh, the key thing to point out, and I think this is a question every single client that's considering entering this market is this transaction approved by the company, and I think equities and has established itself, uh, our brand, our, our, our ethos as a company that is a issuer friendly and B, uh, something that the issuers will, you know, you asked earlier, 1 out of 3 shareholders are referrals to us. It's companies saying, hey, look, I've got a small, I, I've got a VP of marketing. They're fantastic. They want liquidity, but we, we're not gonna be able to meet their in this case, can you please help them get liquidity? So we're getting referrals from the company. If your broker can't say that, then you should really do your research before you enter. Yeah, right. But, but even just to be clear, if that, if that person comes to you, say I'm that person and I come to you, I'm trying to monetize a little piece of it. Just because I come to you doesn't necessarily mean I'm going to be able to make that monetize that sale today, tomorrow, next week. It might take a month, 2 months. It might, it might neverhappen. That's true. Correct, as long as right, OK. I, you know, I think one way to think about this market is even though it says public, you know, private equity, it's closer to the real estate housing market than it is public stocks in terms of liquidity, and I think I found people find it easier to conceptualize, yeah, it might take me a month to sell my house at a price I'm happy with. That's right. Correct. Listen, I really, really appreciated this conversation and I look forward to visiting you again 3 or 4 months. We're gonna talk about how it's changed. If it's changed, we're gonna get this.I, I'm gonna tell you, I'm gonna take this interview after we do it and I'm gonna use it as kind of a marketing piece for us to show people what this opportunity potentiallyis. And you and I need to set that day to talk more about this offline. We absolutely do, and we should do it over dinner one night. That sounds great. All right, listen, hold on one second. So you know I end every podcast with the rest because I like to cook. So today I'm giving you this lemon roasted feta chicken. You just need to savor this whole thing. It's a simple yet delicious dish featuring on chicken thighs roasted to golden perfection alongside tender potatoes, sweet onions, and garlic, marinated in a zesty blend of lemon juice, olive oil, and oregano, then finished with a creamy, softened feta. This one pan meal bursts with Mediterranean flair, paired with a steamed green vegetable, it's effortless, crowd pleasing dinner that's as comforting as it is flavorful. And hey, if you want my take on it, you can scan the QR on the screen for the full recipe, you'll thank me later. Look, that's a wrap for today's trader Talk, but the conversation keeps going. You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. You got questions, you want, you want me to talk about? Email us attradertalk@yahoo because we are listening. Until next time, stay sharp, stay disciplined, and stay in touch. Take good care. This content was not intended to be financial advice and should not be used as a substitute for professional financial services.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Bad trades are part of the business
You can catch Trader Talk on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. On this week's Trader Talk, host Kenny Polcari sits down with Atish Davda, CEO and cofounder of EquityZen, to discuss how average investors can gain access to pre-IPO shares in private tech companies. Davda explains how EquityZen connects shareholders, often early employees at high-growth startups, with accredited investors looking to buy in before an IPO. With private markets becoming increasingly important to diversified portfolios, Davda breaks down how the platform works, what makes a company investable, and how these trades differ from traditional public stock transactions. If you have ever wanted to own a slice of the next big tech company before Wall Street gets in, this episode offers a rare behind-the-scenes look at how that is possible. Watch more episodes of Trader Talk here. Trader Talk with Kenny Polcari on Yahoo Finance delivers expert analysis and actionable insights, empowering you to navigate market volatility and secure your financial future. This post was written by Langston Sessoms. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trust the process, not the pitch
You can catch Trader Talk on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. In the latest episode of Trader Talk, Kenny Polcari sits down with Chris Versace, chief investment officer at Tematica Research, to discuss how thematic investing can help navigate today's volatile markets. Versace shares insights into identifying structural changes like AI, digital infrastructure, and sustainability, as well as building portfolios aligned with these long-term trends. They also touch on the recent rebound in tech, rising trade tensions, and shifting earnings expectations, concluding that clear strategies and adaptability are key to success in uncertain times. Watch more episodes of Trader Talk here. Trader Talk with Kenny Polcari on Yahoo Finance delivers expert analysis and actionable insights, empowering you to navigate market volatility and secure your financial future. This post was written by Langston Sessoms. Welcome to Trader Talk where we dish out the latest Wall Street buzz to keep your portfolio sizzling. I'm Kenny Polcari coming to you live from the iconic New York Stock Exchange, a place that had been my home for decades and still fuels the pulse of capitalism, entrepreneurship, and freedom. Now let's jump into my big take for the week. Turn on the TV, open scroll your feed, and there are all the financial gurus shouting predictions with god-like confidence. Stocks to buy now, crash warnings, millionaire blueprints. They look slick, they talk fast, they package themselves as shortcut to riches. But here's the truth. No one likes to say it out loud. Most of these gurus aren't in the markets. They're in more certain someone sounds about the future of the market, the less you should trust them because real investors, those who've spent decades in the trenches, don't speak in absolutes. They speak in probabilities. They know no one can predict the market consistently and they certainly don't promise you guaranteed returns in exchange for a subscription does this work? Because uncertainty is uncomfortable. So when someone steps up and says, I've cracked the code, people listen. Even when it's snake oil wrapped in financial jargon, even when they're selling fear, or worse, real investing is messy. It's slow. It's full of risk and mistakes and adjustments. There's no cheating code, just hard earned discipline. Bottom line, if someone's selling you an illusion of certainty, they're not a guru, they're a sales person. You don't need louder voices. You need clearer thinking. Trust the process, not the joining us today is my friend Chris Versace, chief investment officer at Tomatica Research, where he leads the development of thematic investing that aligned portfolios with powerful long-term trends like digital transformation, aging demographics, and the rise of the connected consumer. Chris is also the co-author of Cocktail a veteran equity analyst with a deep background in technology, consumer, and industrial sectors. He spent years helping investors understand how big picture shifts translate into actionable stock ideas. Please join me in welcoming Chris Versace. Chris, it is a pleasure to have you here at the New York Stock Exchange, a place for me that feels like home. I'mI'm so happy to be here, Kenny. You are right. We have known each other for some time. I just hope that I live up to that very niceintroduction. Absolutely live up. But let's start by talking about thematic investing and what thematic research is. So, so educate the crowd just a little bit about, about what itis. So I got started a long time ago. I mean, I, I almost hate to say how long ago at this just as a regular sell side equity analyst, and you know, I wound up covering a certain sector, right, where you're responsible for understanding the puts the takes, the industry does everything about that sector that sector, only that sector, and at times you're in favor, you're out of favor, but as I was doing this, I kind of sat back and said, you know, there are things happening if I don't have a vertical approach, if I took a horizontal approach, boy, can I connect the dots and get something pretty interesting so this started to give rise to this thematic framework where we look for the shifting landscapes of economics, demographics, psychographics, technology, regulatory mandates when they happen, and what we're trying to identify structural change and that are poised to benefit from them. Not all companies are. Some companies will they get left behind? You bet they will, but that's really to us what thematic investing is about. It's about identifying structural change. OK, but so does it really work in today's environment, today's technology environment? Like give me an example. Talk to me about how you would maybe create a thematic portfolio. Uh, well, let's see. We haven't created one in a little bit of time, but we actually have about 2 dozen thematic models that we have. Everything from aging of population, AI, digital infrastructure. Are they ETFs or are they just? These are just models. We do individualnames with a basket of 8 names, but we also have taken some of these strategies into Europe where we've got some ETFs as well. One is cybersecurity, the other is sustainable future of food. We had a few others, you know, at one point in time, but those are the two that we have now with our partners overthere, right? So, are you, is, is, is a consumer, like, like, is the retail investor gonna go to you or is it an institutional? So I would say that today it's primarily, um, institutional clients and RIAs, butAnd I don't want to get too far ahead of myself. But if we talk, Kenny, let's say, 2nd half of the year, 4th quarter, we might have something to share. That's interesting. I look forward to that. I'd look because now, you know, I've, I've, I left my years here at the New York Stock Exchange, of which I will say it was 4 decades. Uh, that sounds better than 40 decades sounds better. But I left after being an institutional broker servicing the institutional community, and now I sit on the other side, right? So I'm the chief market strategist at Slate's Ow Wealth, which is an independent RAA, uh, so I'd be very interested to hear what you have to say come towards the end of the year. So let's just make sure we mark our calendars already right, so let's talk about, let's talk about the markets. So let's talk about this recent recovery. We had to sell off in April after liberation Day, and many of us got liberated from our money. I like to say, right? But, but some of it's come back. In fact, you see some of the, some of those names that got absolutely crushed are actually higher today than they were on April 2nd. And so the market has rebounded a little bit. Tell me, first of all, before we get into the Moody's downgrade and, and China's now kind of maybe pull back on this whole 90 day that they announced this morning, but talking about where you think the market istoday just as we're sitting here. So, you know, coming out of last week, you know, if we look at the relative strength index levels, S&P 500 flirting with overbought NASDAQ back in overboard territory, not surprising, right? Not at all. We've had huge runs in both of those market indices, but we don't buy the market, right? We pay attention. We're mindful of the market and where it is, but you know, we're continuing to look for names that are based on some of our themes and others that we can be opportunisticin, right? So what I always love is when someone asks me, is it too late? Is it too late for me to get in the market? Is it too late? I go, it's never too late to get into the market. A, because there's always opportunity, but B, tell me where you are in your life cycle. Are you talking about getting in the market for a month or 5 years? Because then there's always opportunity in the market. Yeah, I think that's right. I think you got to be mindful though of not there's as much opportunity at any particular time and I think after the rise that we've seen, right, if you were able to put, you know, money to work like I co-manage or manage, I should say, the street's pro portfolio, uh, pro portfolio, correct, right. Thank you. And it's a it's a real portfolio, 25 stocks, sometimes more, sometimes less is it a range of sectors? Uh, it leverages some of the thematics that we have thematico and some other areas that we want, um, That's what I will say. We're not as broad-based as the S&P 500. We don't have to have exposure in every sector, right? We want companies that are poised to outperform the market in, in whatever sectors you're at. So on that portfolio of the 11 major S&P sectors, what are you representing? Oh,good God, you know, I don't think of it that way. I, I, I, I hate to shatter that thought. And, and, and the reason I say that is if you get back to thematics, right? You know, think of a company like the, what's the sector? What's the rightsector? Yeah, right. You're right, could fall in a bunch of different sectors, right, right, or, or Apple these days, or even Disney, you could argue, right? So I, I try not to get caught up in that. So what's the biggest in your mind currently? What's kind of the biggest theme out there that, that investors and, and, and, and traders should know about? We're not gonna break any new ground with this, with this revelation, but I would say that today we'reWe stand, especially coming out of where we were, you know, 68 weeks ago and the potential going forward, it's going to be AI and I say that largely because, yes, we know about Nvidia and Marvel and all these other companies, but I also think about connecting the dots and the ripple effects, right? So if we think about the demand for data center, the construction of data center, we think about people, you know, sometimes people aren't thinking like that. No, no, I know, I know. And it's, I like one of my favorite things to do, not, not, not to get sidetracked is when you go through earnings season and you read all the transcripts and you pick up all these data points and you literally connect the dots, right? So it's, you know, there's the stock that you want, there's the, you know, math major, 1st, 1st, 1st derivative, second derivative, and sometimes you can use those data and down, right? So it's, I just love doing that. I find it very helpful. So I try to do that when we invest in the portfolio, but also tie it back to our themes as well. So for example, if we're going to build all these data centers, right, you need equipment to build them. You need electricity to power them. So, you know, if you were to say, well, Chris, it sounds like you might be long, you know, I rentals or Vulcan materials or waste management has to haul all this crap away. Uh, yes, yes, yes, yes. Well, what about names like Dominion and CEG that are getting into the nuclear space, right? Because the utilities. Now nuclear is interesting, right? So we own the, the Van Ek, um, I'll botch this name, but it's the Vanek uranium and nuclear ETF, and we have a nuclear model over at Tomatica. Now you need to be careful with this, right, because I want to benefit from the spending they have. So when I think about Dominion Power, Duke Energy, the utilities, uh, at least as it relates to building out the electrical grid, they're spenders. So I'm not gonna buy them, right? It's almost like if you want to, um, buy the 5G build out, you're not gonna buy AT&T because they need to spend to build the network. I the companies that are benefiting from that spending, that kind of brings us back to Eaton and there are some other names out there, that's interesting. I hadn't thought about it that way, right? That's why we're talking. That's why we're talking. I appreciate that. Wait, so talk to me also about quantum computing. Is that a theme at all that that makes sense or does it not yet? You know, it's a lot of potential themes out there, right? And you kind of need to hit a tipping point, right? And there's sometimes there are individual stocks that are going to be disruptive, but there's not, there's not a fully baked comprehensive theme out there. So like I'll give you an example. 11 of the companies that we own in the portfolio is Universal Display. They help manufacture the key chemicals that go into organic light emitting diode we're seeing widespread adoption. Wait, what kind of displays organic light emitting diodes, excuse me, or OLED displays. Your iPhone has it. You're gonna start seeing them in a lot more places. OLED display called OLED OLEDs, yeah, so smartphones, tablets, um, and a growing, uh, array of automotive interior lighting displays there, and I think even United in their new Polaris cabin is having some nice OLED displaysas well. So hold that thought one minute because we, we'll be right back after this short right, so let's go back to talking about the old because that's fascinating to me. So talk to me about what's different, what, what makes that different than the displays maybe 5 yearsago. Oh, so you're talking against LCDs or liquid crystal displays. Couple of different things. One, organic light emitting diodes, they are individual pixels, right? So you deeper blacks, which is great for TVs and, and all of that. Uh, you definitely do, do you, you would pop on the display, right? So there's that, right? But then at the same time, because it's or light emitting diode, there it's actually less uh power it allows for thinner displays and as we're we'll probably see more of foldable displays. So you've looked, you think of Samsung's Galaxy folding their phones, right, that's that. Apple is rumored to have one of those in the next few years, foldable tablets, you know, this is kind of where it's going, and Universal is a key that it supplies chemicals to all the major display manufacturing companies. That's what's it, Universal Universal display ticker symbol, OLED OLED. Yeah, that's interesting. I had not, I hadn't even heard about these displays. I think that's great. I'll have to take a look. Yeah. Wait, let me ask you another question. You made another point is that these displays use less energy, less power, and, and they're thinner, right? That's why you like if you notice howThin smartphones have become, you may not notice it's got a case on them, but you pull off the case, you see how thin they are. You see how thin, uh, Apple's new iPad Pros are compared to other iPads, the display. My iPads, I guess 3 years old or so time to upgrade, Danny, but it's pretty thin, but it is in a, it's in a case itself. No, no Apple Intelligence in that device. I know that, but there's Apple Intelligence in my iPhone, you know what I mean. Speaking about the intelligence, I have to tell you, have you used Grok? You know, I have used a lot of them, but not Gronk. I, I, I, I think Gronk, listen, I, I think they're all good, but Gronk for some better to me. Like when I, when I use it, it just feels better like it, the data it it produces and the, I don't know where its sources are, um, but it just feels well, that's the key though, right? I mean, 100% it's all about the array of data that it can tap. And if you think of all that, you know, X or Twitter, whatever you want to call it has, that's a tremendous amount of mine for 100%, but I, I will say this though, that's also why I don't think you can rule Google out when you think of what they have in search and YouTube. Yeah, no, I don't know. I agree with you. I think the whole thing is fascinating and I think Chat GBD does a great job. Uh, and, you know, when it first started, I was using Chat GBT. For for recipes? No, no, no, when I would ask it a question if I need to clarify something, uh, but you can use it to clarify a recipe. Do you know what else you can do withthat? You can make a recipe, get your ingredients, and then you can export it to Instacart. OK, you can. Yes, you can. There's a tool you have to get, but you can do it. Oh, no way. Yeah, yeah. Oh, that's interesting. I never thought about that. Anyway, what I'll tell you is that, so then when I, when they put crack on the Twitter grok on the Twitter and you're a premium user, then it, you know, the little buttons right there at the bottom and you, you pop it open. Here's the only thing I'll say is if I ask it one question and I'm still in that same thread and then I ask it a different question, it'll tie it, it'll try to tie the second question to the first question and keep the theme going when it's two separate thoughts. And so I always have know, check out and then check back in and start a new thread so that it doesn't, it doesn't continue to try to create that same. I think you should tell Elon this. Yeah, well, OK, Elon, listen. All right, so let's talk about is there hype or what's real and this whole AI thing that he's now done in that Trump did, he just came back from the Mideast, had some massive conversations with some of the some of theYeah, the country, United Arab Emirates, uh, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, uh, that they are, they are all plunging deep into AI, building massive data centers over there in the middle of the desert. Uh, does that concernyou? Concern? I don't think that's the right word. I think that, you know, why would we think that AI and the data center build out is only to be that that's the way I think about it, you know, technology is global, right? We're we're not the only country with smartphones, right? So I, I'm not surprised that this is going to happen. I think it's got some great implications. Um, you know, again, a lot of the names that we just talked about, some, some of them on the construction side are more US based, but if we think about Nvidia, Marvel, and the like, this is great. Yeah, no, I, I think there'll be huge beneficiaries of what's going on.I mean, especially if you hear the, you know, the conversation, the commitments kind of what they're looking to do, and they want to be a player in the space and they should be, right? But back it up too though. So, you know, a couple of months ago, I think, um, Nvidia CEO Jensen Wong said, oh, I see a $1 trillion build out in data center. This is all part of that. 100%. And, and I think we'll hear more from other countries, you know, over time. And I, and I suspect that asWe use AI more as it gets um in the enterprise more more devices, right? What's gonna happen? You're gonna need more data centers. You're gonna need to upgrade the digital infrastructure, but it's more energy demand, they talk about wane, energy demand is not waning. I think there's a massive oversupply of, of energy, which is fine, but I don't think demand is waning at all. I don't.I mean if we're talking electrical energy, 100% right just not happening. Right, let's talk real quick about kind of we came through the first quarter or growing, I think they're growing what about 15% year over year. Is that what the number was, uh, it's so full year 2025, right? That's what you're talking about. Well, what the first quarter? Oh, the first quarter, yeah, I think, I think that's somewhere up in the double digits. Yes, yeah, I think that's right. What do you think about the second quarter now? Uh,well, I'm a little more concerned about the 2nd quarter. Yeah, well, we'll see the full impact of tariffs, right? We'll see potential price retailers are gonna come out, you know, any day now soon. They're gonna start to report. So it's gonna be interesting, you know, uh, uh, the Walmart CEO made that comment about passing on these price hikes, these tariffs on the consumers, and Trump right away, you know, I saw that. Well, it wasn't even that though. You remember a couple of weeks ago where Amazon was going to list the impact of tariffs and the administration got on, got on them and they backpedaled pretty, you know, the argument was, why didn't you do that during the Biden years when inflation was running at 9 9.4%. Why didn't you break it out and show what that impact was? I think that'sa little harder to quantify than thantariffs. OK, it might be, except prices were going up every month. Prices are going up. I mean Paris, they're gonna go up once and then adjust. No one's arguing about what happened during the Biden years. We all know we all lived through my wallet was a little lighter. So, but, but again, I think companies are responding to this because they, you know, people are concerned. And I, and I, and I understand that. But I also think though that if we, the concern I have is this, was the last time you went to the grocery store, Kenny, and you got a box of cereal or you got a box or bag of coffee and prices were going up and then those prices you were paying came down as other prices and pressures came down. I haven't seenit yet. It doesn't happen. I haven't seen it yet. Yeah, I go to the, I go to the, I go shopping. I listen, I know little secret. I love to go groceries. So do I. I don't know what it is. It's like a treasure. I love to go grocery. It's a treasure hunt. Yeah, yeah. So I haven't seen that yet. Yeah, you're never gonna see it. Just like a pound of coffee, just like a pound of coffee comes in a 10 to 12 ounce bag and a pound of coffee last time I thought was supposed to 16 ounces. Yeah, right. They do the same thing with peanut butter, that you know they put that hole in the bottom of the of the of the jar a little bit bigger. It's less peanut butter, so it's the same price. I get it, you know, but I just, I, I, I think it's, I think unless there's a full blown I don't think you're gonna see prices come down. They'll stop going up and then once again, people just kind of get used to it, right? So just hoping that wages start to increase. Right. So what I'm wondering just about retailers, so near term, I, I think there's gonna be a little bit of pain for them, right? I think we're gonna have to watch their margins. We're gonna have to see, are they gonna announce further price increases? I think they will. What's the impact of what we've seen, uh, at the ports and, you know, supply shortages in the short term, butIf we do get these trade deals and tariffs are ultimately brought lower, then the question becomes, does the price go? They don't. And if they don't, what does that mean for their margins? Margins go back up, right. Butif they don't, if the, if the tariff deals are not necessarily as onerous as they were made out to be, and it doesn't look like, by the way, that it's, that's gonna happen.I think they're not gonna be as onerous as that's thegoal. The goal is to reset global trade. That's right, which I think is OK. I think it's OK to have these conversations and renegotiate trade agreements that are decades old. The world changes. So I, so I have no problem with that. But if they're not as onerous, if some of these companies started raising prices and then the, the tariffs aren't nearly as bad, to your point, are they gonna come down? Is Trump gonna call people out and say, Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, that's a greatquestion. Great question. I don't know. I mean, this is, this is not a popular thought, but ultimately, companies are responsible to their shareholders 100%, right? So if they've, if they can improve their profits and drive their EPS, which I think is exactly Walmart's not responding. Walmart's responding to their shareholders. They're not responding, you know, they're not saying they're going to raise prices because they're trying to stick it. They want to maintain their margins for their shareholders. I mean, let's, let's, let's call for whatever it is, no, no, 100%, right?Anyway, listen, it, it has been a pleasure. I, I hope we get to do this again. I want you to come back in 3 or 4 months and revisit this whole conversation. I look forward to it. We're going to see what they're doing over in the Mideast, what's happened here in the United States, what tariffs have and have not done, and kind of where we stand. And maybe we'll have some thematic stuff to talk about. I hope so. In the meantime, you know, I, I end every, uh, podcast with a recipe. And so today it's spring now in New York City. It's spring across America. So I want to introduce the spring pasta. Now this is a vibrant celebration of the season, right? It's featuring an al dente Ditalini pasta tossed with tender asparagus, sweet peas, and sauteed leeks and shallots, a creamy sauce born from mascarpone cheese, a basil pesto, and fresh parmigiana. It coats every single bite. You add a splash of lemon juice to just awaken all the flavors. Pair that with a chilled glass of Pino Grigio. My favorite is Santa Margarita, and it's a fresh, elegant dish that captures the essence of in every mouthful. You can scan the QR code on the screen for the full recipe and you'll thank me later. Now look, that's a wrap for today's trader talk, but the conversation keeps going. You can subscribe on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. You got questions or topics you want covered, email us at tradedertalk@yahoo because I'm always listening. Until next time, stay sharp, stay disciplined, and stay in touch. Take good care. This content was not intended to be financial advice and should not be used as a substitute for professional financial services. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trust the process, not the pitch
You can catch Trader Talk on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. In the latest episode of Trader Talk, Kenny Polcari sits down with Chris Versace, chief investment officer at Tematica Research, to discuss how thematic investing can help navigate today's volatile markets. Versace shares insights into identifying structural changes like AI, digital infrastructure, and sustainability, as well as building portfolios aligned with these long-term trends. They also touch on the recent rebound in tech, rising trade tensions, and shifting earnings expectations, concluding that clear strategies and adaptability are key to success in uncertain times. Watch more episodes of Trader Talk here. Trader Talk with Kenny Polcari on Yahoo Finance delivers expert analysis and actionable insights, empowering you to navigate market volatility and secure your financial future. This post was written by Langston Sessoms. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
It's not about picking stocks it's about building habits
You can catch Trader Talk on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. In this episode of Trader Talk, Kenny Polcari talks with Brandon Krieg, co-founder of Stash, about how fintech is changing the way everyday Americans invest. Krieg explains how tools like fractional shares, automated savings, and personalized portfolios help new investors build long-term wealth. They discuss how financial education and behavioral tools can reduce fear and promote smarter decisions. With more people gaining access to the market through apps like Stash, the conversation highlights how technology is breaking barriers and encouraging consistent, goal-based investing. It's a must-listen for anyone looking to better understand the future of personal finance and investing. Trader Talk with Kenny Polcari on Yahoo Finance delivers expert analysis and actionable insights, empowering you to navigate market volatility and secure your financial future. Welcome to Trader Talk, where we dish out the latest Wall Street buzz to keep your portfolio sizzling. I'm Kenny Polcari, and today I'm not coming to you from the New York Stock Exchange, but I'm coming to you live from the Yahoo Finance offices here at on Broadway in New York City. I'm still bringing you decades of market insight and energy. Now let's jump into my big take for the settle this once and for all. Buying shares and buying options are not the same game. One builds a portfolio, the other tests your psychology. If you're treating options like a shortcut to wealth, you're not trading, you're gambling. Sharesyou ownership, they give you time, they let you be wrong for a little while and still be right over the long term. You get dividends, you ride the cycles, you compound and most importantly, you get to breathe options?They're the opposite. They're a bet on speed, direction, and precision with a ticking clock tied to every move. You're not betting on a business, you're betting on market behavior and if your timing's off by a matter how great your idea was, you lose. That doesn't mean options are bad. If used correctly, they're very powerful. They hedge, they leverage, they give you flexibility, but too many retail traders use them to skip the hard part conviction, patience and risk management. So here's the truth, if you can't win with shares, you have no business learn the long game first learn to hold learn to sit through volatility without panicking because until you can do that you're not using options you're being used by them. Bottom line shares are how you build the future options are how you test what you've learned if you mix them up, the market will make sure you learn the us today is Brandon Krieg, co-CEO and co-founder of Stash, the pioneering fintech company that he co-founded in 2015 with the belief that all Americans deserve the advice, tools, and opportunity to invest in themselves, starting with just $5. Most recently, Brandon led the launch of Stash Works as well as Stash's AI Money Coach. Brandon also serves as CEO of Stash Capital, the company'sbroker dealer. Prior to stash, he co-founded Edge Trade, one of the first and largest agency trade execution and software firms later acquired by Knight Capital and served as head of electronic execution at Macquarie Securities Group. I am thrilled to have him join us. Please welcome Brandon Creek. Brandon, it is a pleasure to have you. I've been looking forward to this conversation because you and I have so much to talk about and so much in common. Yeah, so I mean, so many years of you used to do and years of my life, yeah, yeah, your old life. I like to, I have my old life and my new life. Iknow I call it my prior life and my new life, right? I mean, I spent 40 years on the New York, uh, which was great, but that was my prior life, right? Um, and so tell us just a little bit, you know, I, I introduced you, but tell us a little bit about how you founded Edge trade and how that whole thing happened and now where you are now. Yeah, I mean, it's, it's just been incredible since 1998 when I moved to New York andI got very lucky. I met these two incredible guys that were, uh, running and started the company Edge Trade, which was called Precision Edge before that and it was a trading firm and joined them and really started taking find ways to make trading more efficient. So wait a minute, wherewere you before, uh, in this business? No, I have no business being in this business. yeah, somewhere when you moved, you, you had no experience. No, I knew software and I knew about technology, but the ability to marry technology with trading for me was like, wow, this is like the most beautiful recipe, and it was very early, as you know, like I hated you guys. Can I just tell you guys remember the New York Stock Exchange, I hated that whole idea. It was. It was wild. I mean, but at the time, the markets were so fragmented, trading was all over the place and we were able to like just assemble an amazing group of people and we started building algorithms that would trade in the market, and we would give those algorithms to hedge funds and different mutual funds trading desks that would use these to be better at trading. And this business just took off and it got really big and eventually it became part of Night Capital and they acquired I spent 5 years there, just, it was amazing because going from a, you know, a business that was relatively small to being in a business that was trading about 25% of the US stock market volume every day was like, wow, this is what like this is what size and scale look like. And I'd stayed there for 5 years andUh, took some time off. My wife did not like that. She's like, push me, push me back to work. Yeah. It was not good. And, uh, I went to Macquarie, which was an amazing, uh, business. Wereyou there when Amy B was at Macquarie? Uh, I don't, I don't, she would have the chief financial officer, I don't know. I was way, way below that level, but I, I was focused on building a new type of electronic trading business, which is where I met my co-founder at Stash, Eddie. He was at Macquarie for 10 years. He's an Aussie, and we were running, uh, building out this this new trade in 58 countries at the same time electronically and then the idea of stash popped up and we had to do it, which was basically that every American deserves advice and we wanted to build effectively the private bank for the middle class. OK, so, so then let's talk about that. So, so then was born Stash, right? Now it's interesting that, that the, the listeners should know this. There's another company out there called which is not you, right, because it's, it's a, it's a, it's another fintech but I think they're down in the Carolinas or something. Ithink it's like advisor yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, but it, but it's, it's funny because it's got that same name stash. Yours is just stash OK, so let's talk about who your demographic is, how you appeal to them, how you get them involved, how you draw them in. Is it, is it, would you equate it to an early Robin Hood type of a type of a, uh, an organization? Yeah, so Robin Hood started before us and my co-founder Eddie and I, we had a lot of, a lot of time to think about this. What do we want to be?When we were starting the company and we had to dream and say like when we grew up, what do we want to be? And I didn't want to be a day trading app because I've done this long enough, as you know, most people that day trade or take active trading, especially doing it from a phone where you don't have the compute that I used to have, you're likely going to lose money, maybe not on the single trade, but over time you will. And so I wanted to build something where you could actually build long-term wealth, right? And to do need to do it where either I'll do it for you through a managed account, you do it yourself through advice, or and there's some new stuff that we have now that we could talk about around banking and investing as you spend while you bank, but ideally it was around getting advice. So what I wanted to do was have people buy ETFs or have them buy investments they want and be there to give them guidance and advice. They could buy individual stocks as well. They can, yes, and they, they can and they still can. And so what'sthe advice you give them the advice after, if I, if I say it was me, I came in, I opened up an account and now I want to get started. I don't put $1000 into the account to get it started, for instance. Um, do I have to, how do I get, how am I getting advice? Do I have to sign up for something? Do I, is there a query on the, on the page and I just type something in? Yeah, I, I mean, like any good financial advisor, when you on board the stash, we ask you a lot of questions, right? We don't ask them because the regulator says we have to we ask it because we have to. We actually use that what we do first is we kind of calculate a risk profile. I was waiting for you to say that. How old are you? What's the we ask you direct questions. Do you have to? Do you want to rent a home? Any advisers should ask that. They all probably do. We actually use that information to say, OK, now we understand what type of customer this is. Now we use fractional shares, so you can $5. So I, I don't think the share price should matter for you to be able to buy a company or an ETF. So youcan, so what he means by that is you can buy $5 worth of Apple. That's right, $5 of Amazon. It doesn't matter. We use, uh, fractional share fractional share of it. And so once you start, you decide what you want to do. So right now if you're on board will ask you, do you want us to do it for you? If you want stash to do it for you with $5 at a time, you could have us manage the money through you for you through something we call Smart portfolio, which is a portfolio that we manage. It's diversified globally. It's automated. We ask you to turn on something called AutoStash because investing once isn't that good. Investing every week or every 2 weeks or every month for 2030 years is really, really good. 10%. And so we ask you to do we will rebalance the portfolio as it drifts and we'll do that once a quarter. At a minimum we do it once a year. So wait, let me ask a question. If you ask me to, to, to sign up, what was that you called it smart portfolio smart, yeah, but then do you go intoMy bank account and just take the money every week so I don't have to send it to you. You just pull it from my bank account. So it's like I have to do basically nothing. You're doing it all. That's right. And the way, the way I think about it for our customers is we want to actually help you create a really positive all have all these negative habits, 100%, putting money away and paying yourself first. There is nothing better that people can do than that if you treat yourself like a bill, and they don't, you know, a lot of, I, I agree with you 100%. And that's the thing that a lot of people don't understand. Treat yourself like the first bill, like the, like the utility bill, like the phone bill. Make the first check out to you. That's I, and I look at, you know, people on customers that use AutoStash on stash, whether I invest through smart or you do it yourself. They're like 9 times ahead of the average American who doesn't stash just by turning on AutoStash. Hold that thought one minute. We're gonna just take a break. We'll be right right, so let's just pick up from, from what you just said about the auto stash about, about, about really forcing people, well, yeah, I kind of you are forcing because you're automating the process for them, right? You're taking it out of their hands and helping them grow their way, making it easy, making it easy, right? I don't, it's not a negative, it's a positive, of course. I mean, for look, when I think about myself, I was 23 years old, I started investing and putting money away every week. I don't come for money. I'm self-made. I'm really proud of that. I put money away every week. I did it through the dot-com crash. I did the Great Recession. I mean, what, what am I missing? Multiple wars, multiple presidents, multiple, everything, everything, everything crazy bad and crazy good. I kept investing through all of what I want Stash customers to do is do the same thing. Do the same thing, you know, right now with the tariffs, with the interest rate decision today, with whatever happens tomorrow or the crazy thing that will happen at some point next week, just keep investing through it. That's why AutoStash is so awesome, right? So what's really great about that is that it doesn't, while the person themselves can get emotional feeling about the market, it's crashing not crashing. It says tariffs. What AutoStash essentially does is it takes that emotion out of it for them and you just keep investing, right? That's which is exactly the message that people need to hear. Yeah, I, I, I always say this to people on, on stashes I've been doing this for 25 years and I don't have a crystal ball, but I can make a promise. The market will go up, down, and be flat. That, that I can promise you something will happen. What will happen, I don't know, which is why a dollar cost averaging andAnd you say this all the time to your listeners like just being consistent and thinking about long-term growth is, is, it's time tested. There's no guarantees in any of this stuff, but consistently paying yourself is, is really important. But buildinga portfolio that has high quality names in it adds to that ability to to generate wealth. If somebody's gonna, you know, a lot of people, know, and I, they want a day trade. They wanted the, the, the latest name, the latest, you know, uh, name that's gonna make them rich overnight, right? Um, and that's where they go off track. It's fine to have a mad money account if that's what you want to do. But you need to have a long-term wealth account. You need to have a long term account that's gonna generate long-term wealth for you, for your family, for your children, your grandchildren, um, and you, and the earlier you start, the better off you're gonna be. So, tell me who your demographic is. Our demographic literally is are nurses and teachers and uh plumbers and name it. They're America. So our one of our top customer uh demographics is US military. Uh, there, it's just everybody. It's, it's the people that unfortunately,Uh, the wealth managers don't want to serve, so they, they're not gonna sit there and sit down and go, All right, you have $500. Let me spend an hour with you giving you a wealth plan. Let me talk about your budget. Let me help you think about how to put money away for your kids and retirement. Those are the customers Iwant. OK, so if I come to you, I'm one of those customers. Is it who's talking to me? Is it AI talking to me or is it actually a live human being that's talking to me? Yeah, so it'snot a live human being, and this has changed now. Technology is incredible with AI. It's I'm, I'm one of the, I, I helped contribute to with the engineers on the AI side. There are days I like almost fall off my chair with like, I can't believe it just did that, right? It's amazing. The way it historically has always been was we have a lot of different experiences built into the stash app that will show you your diversification score. It will give you, uh, recommendations around ETFs to balance out because to your point just now, like if you really, really want to buy Tesla, you really, really want to buy IBM. It doesn't ahead. You should do that. I want you to do that. I, I want people to invest in things they believe in, things they care about. That's not for me to decide for you. That's on you. Around that though, I don't want to see you concentrate your position in one stock in one sector, yeah, or one stock, right? Those are things that you don't need AI to do. You could do that through experiences in the stash shop and, you know, I think we do that really well. AI been incredible because I can't go out. If look, if I go out and hire 500 human advisors, I have to pay them. I, I have to raise the prices. It doesn't work. But what does work is we've spent the last year and a half training in AI model and built out an AI ecosystem and stash that's really good at talking to you. It's not gonna tell you what stock is gonna go up or down, but it will tell you about what sector you can think about and how to balance out the risk in a portfolio that you might be overweight technology, you need to add staples, you need to add some healthcare or you, you know, you might want to look at it with an ETF or particularly if you like a name, I'm sure you can query a name. If I like Kellogg, I will put it up, what about Kellogg or what about Procter and Gamble Johnson and Johnson. I mean, we, we, we could do that. I mean, we do that now. We bias to ETFs though. It's like I would say if you like love uh farming, right, let's look at a farming ETF, correct. And then around that, let's look at, are you, do you have enough international exposure? Do you have enough bond exposure? Things that are time give you exposure to all asset classes because look, we're in this environment now with the tariffs and interest rates and the only way that I know over my career to handle this is to have a really robust diversified portfolio 100%. And you know, look, I went from the institutional trading side, transactional side of the business for 40 years, and now I moved to the high ultra high net worth management side, right? So the chief market strategist at, at a, at a $2 billion RIA down in South Florida. But we do essentially the same thing at a, at a, for a client that has significantly more assets, which isn't necessarily good or bad. It's just that's the demographic that I'm in, right? But everybody has to start somewhere. And so the sooner you start, particularly the younger you start, because time is on your side. And I, you know, that's exactly right. If I look at Stash's user base have about 1. just over 1.3 million monthly active users who have, uh, accumulated over $4 billion of assets on stash, and I'm really, really proud of every single one of them because whether you start with $5 or $1000 or you have a million dollars, I actually don't care. What I want you to do is start. That's what I 100%. Where do you custody the money? Uh, Apex clearing is where the money sits. Does it, does it sit in my individual name or is it in an omnibus account under your name? No, we don't do omnibus. It's literally in my name. So theaccount is in my name. Just like if I go to Schwab, I go to Fidelity, it's in my name. That's right, your name, but you get your statements and I can, I can sign in and see what it is every day. No one else has access to it other than the automatic investment program. That's, that's correct. We're both uh RAA and we're also a broker dealer, a broker deal, right? OK. So, so let me ask you a question about the recent, the recent we've seen in the market really since the beginning of the year, um, more, more recently since Liberation Day. Uh, tell me the reaction in from your demographic. Were people panicking? Were they saying get me out, get me out, get me out, or were they in fact saying, here's more money? So we've seen some of the biggest inflow days on stash, uh, in history over the last few and I think this is really important, there are always going to be people who look at the headlines and panic, and I through the AI I see a lot of it because we see the conversations. You see the questions, yeah, and look, we, we represent our bases in America. There are some people going, I love what's happening right now. I love what Trump is doing. There are some people that, this, OK. The advice is going to be the same. And that's right. I, I think that people have a right to pay attention right now. They should be paying, but just like we've seen over the last 100 years for me, 25 years for you, what, 35, 40 years, 40, I heard you say 40, but I lowered it to 35, gonna be, you have to just take the long game. 100% you have to take the long game. I think that's the part for me when I talk to investors, especially younger investors, convincing them now at 25, 26, 20, even if it's $100 100 dollars a month, might be $20 a week, whatever it is, do something to get yourself started because you'll be amazed at howit grows. I agree. I mean, our, our average customer on stash is in their upper 20s, early I, I always ask myself why I wonder why they're not like super young, and I think what I've figured out now after 10 years, and we've asked a lot of people this is people are kind of getting their their, this is, I don't know if I could say the S dropping S bomb, but they're getting their shit together. They're getting married. They're having families, they're getting promoted at work and they have expenses, orYou know, someone in the family died and they're starting to really think about their futures. I don't know of a single person in my life that has day traded a stock in and out 1000 times a day and has sorted out their financial future. I, I, that's in the movies. I've not met anyone who's 100%. If I could do that, tell me. I'm with you. Listen, I've really enjoyed this conversation and as usual we run out of time. I want to come back the next time you're right here in New York. It's easy to get back together.I'd love to get back on and continue this conversation, especially as we move into the second half of the year and we kind of see how this all played out and where the market is and kind of what the economics are in the country and how people are really feeling. But I think what you're doing is great. I think stash wealth for individual investors and for a young demographic that's just getting started or for, uh, uh, someone who's never, someone might be older who's never done it. You have to start somewhere and stash is a great place to do it. Thanks forhaving me. This is great always a pleasure. Thank you for wrap things up with 3 essential market tips to keep in mind. No matter which way the wind is blowing. If there's no volume, it's just noise. You see, a stock is moving, but the volume's dead. Walk away. That's not real interest. It's a ghost move. Pros wait for the volume to confirm what the price is telling you. Volume is commitment. No volume, no want to trade with the crowd? Not against the echo. Once you exit, what it does next is none of your business. This one's hard, but it separates traders from gamblers. You close out a position, maybe you locked in a profit or maybe you cut a loss. Either way, once you're out you're out. Don't chase it, don't stalk it, don't rewrite history in your head. What it does next is none of your concern. You made a decision, respect it, learn from it and move respect the macro trade the micro big picture keeps you grounded. Fed policy, inflation, geopolitical headlines, but that's not where you make your trades you trade the chart in front of you, the set up, the risk reward. Don't get paralyzed by the noise. That's how you stay sharp in any you know, at the end of every episode, I feature a classic recipe, and today I'm gonna give you chicken piccata. Now here's a short history. Piccata is an Italian term that refers to a style of cooking where the meat is sliced, then dredged in flour, sauteed and served in a sauce made of lemon, butter, wine, and capers. Uh, in Italy, the traditional dish is made with veal and is especially popular in the northern regions like piccata, as we know it in the US, is a classic Italian American adaptation born out of practicality. When Italian immigrants came to America in the early 20th century, veal was much more expensive and much harder to find, so they turned the chicken, which was much more affordable and more available. The method stayed the same though, lightly floured and pan fried meat in a vibrant lemon caper sauce, but the protein in Italian American restaurants, uh, it gained all kinds of popularity in Italian American restaurants throughout the mid-twentieth century and has since become a loved staple, appreciated for its bright flavor and simple elegance. You can scan the QR code on the screen for my full a wrap for today's trader talk, but the conversation will keep going on Apple Podcast, on Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcast. If you have any questions or topics you want covered, email me at tradedertalk@yahoo I'm listening. Until the next time, stay sharp, stay disciplined and stay in touch. Take good care. This content was not intended to be financial advice and should not be used as a substitute for professional financial services. This post was written by Langston Sessoms. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
