Jeff Aronson is Co-Founder and Managing Principal of Centerbridge Partners, a $43 billion alternative investment firm he started in 2005 after two decades at Angelo Gordon. Jeff's career spans forty years of investing across credit and private equity through multiple market cycles, giving him a front-row seat to the evolution of the alternatives industry.

Our conversation covers Jeff's path from law school to distressed investing, lessons learned under mentors John Angelo and Michael Gordon, and the founding of Centerbridge with Mark Gallogly to bridge the worlds of private equity and credit. We discuss the firm's distinctive model of investing on both sides of the balance sheet in sector teams, building culture and compensation systems to reinforce collaboration, and adapting strategy through changing credit environments. Jeff also shares his perspectives on late-cycle market behavior, the shifting dynamics of private credit, partnerships with insurers and banks, and the challenge of staying differentiated as alternatives become mainstream.

From our sponsor, Morningstar

Embrace the global language of investment data

Learn More
Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn
Subscribe to the mailing list
Access Transcript with Premium Membership

Mike Trigg and Sanjay Ayer are Portfolio Managers at WCM Investment Management, a $120 billion investor in growth stocks, where Mike also serves as Co-CEO. I've had the opportunity to chronicle the growth of WCM over the years in conversations with Paul Black, Mike, Sanjay, and other members of the team. Paul first joined the show in 2018 when WCM managed $25 billion, and Mike last appeared four years ago with Paul, describing a piece they had just written entitled How to Build a $100 billion Money Manager. That podcast marked a near-term peak in assets for the firm and subsequently offered a great case study in humility, adaptation, and evolution.

In this conversation, we unpack how WCM navigated its most difficult stretch of performance in a long time – what they learned from it, and how they came out stronger on the other side. Mike and Sanjay discuss changes to their investment process, like putting the trajectory back in moat trajectory and searching for the cult in culture, retooling the research funnel, integrating AI as a research partner, and expanding into private markets. As always with WCM, a common thread throughout our discussion is doubling down on the firm's core values to think different, get better, and serve others.

From our sponsor, Morningstar

Embrace the global language of investment data

Learn More
Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn
Subscribe to the mailing list
Access Transcript with Premium Membership

Morgan Housel is a bestselling author, partner at Collaborative Fund, and Board member of Markel. Morgan's work focuses on the intersection of human behavior and financial decision making. His first book, The Psychology of Money, has sold 10 million copies since releasing five years ago and is already one of the best-selling investment books of all time. His second, Same as Ever, explores human behaviors that never change, and is rapidly approaching 1 million copies sold.

Our conversation discusses Morgan's latest work, The Art of Spending Money: Simple Choices for a Richer Life. I wanted to get him back on the show to share his thoughts on a subject that affects us all. But I wasn't expecting to have my mind turning on how Morgan's insights about envy, aspiration, and contentment also apply to the assessment of money managers and corporate executives.

His recently released book is another tour de force, and I suspect, once again, will soon hit the best seller list.

From our sponsor, Morningstar

Embrace the global language of investment data

Learn More
Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn
Subscribe to the mailing list
Access Transcript with Premium Membership

Morgan Housel is a partner at Collaborative Fund, blogger about behavior and money, and author of The Psychology of Money. The book has sold 4.5 million copies since its release three and a half years ago and already ranks in the top five best-selling books about finance. Morgan recently published his second book, Same As Ever: A Guide to What Never Changes.

Our conversation starts with what happened since his last appearance on the show just before the release of The Psychology of Money. We then turn to his latest magnum opus and discuss some of its themes and stories across storytelling, expectations, compounding, risk, incentives, and people.

Morgan's wisdom, humility, and passion for his work come out in spades. He also happens to be a wonderful person and dear friend.

Learn More
Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn
Subscribe to the mailing list
Access Transcript with Premium Membership

Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (⁠https://thepodcastconsultant.com⁠)

Morgan Housel is a partner at Collaborative Fund and one of my favorite writers about investing. Morgan recently released his first book, The Psychology of Money, and I'll go on record and predict it will be a best-seller in short order.

Our conversation starts with Morgan's non-traditional education, his path to writing, and his process for writing each week. We then turn to the book and discuss some anecdotes about luck and risk, greed, compounding, patience, and tail events. We close with two of Morgan's personal stories – one about his own investing and the other, which seems inconceivable as you listen, about his lifelong challenge with stuttering.

Learn More
Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn
Subscribe to the mailing list
Access Transcript with Premium Membership

Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (⁠https://thepodcastconsultant.com⁠)

John Graham is the President and CEO of Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board, or CPPIB, which oversees $730 billion Canadian ($530 billion USD) making it the 7th largest pension fund in the world. Geoffrey Rubin, Chief Investment Strategist at CPPIB, was a past guest on the show describing the Canadian model and that conversation replayed a few weeks ago as part of our CIO Greatest Hits Summer Series.

Our conversation picks up from my conversation with Geoffrey, discussing the evolution of the Canadian model, buzz about Total Portfolio Approach, onset of global competition, and its impact. We discuss John's leadership approach to leverage the benefits of CPPIB's size alongside the challenges of doing so across the internal team, external partnerships, global offices, and governance structure.

From our sponsor, Morningstar

Embrace the global language of investment data

Learn More
Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn
Subscribe to the mailing list
Access Transcript with Premium Membership