RT21: What's next for Hedge Funds? ft. Jake Barton, Trent Webster & Steven Wilson – 2of2

03/01/19 • 44 min

Today Niels continues his conversation with Jake Barton, the Senior Portfolio Manager at Promus Capital, Trent Webster, Senior Investment Officer of Strategic Investments at Florida State Board of Administration, and Steven Wilson, Senior Portfolio Manager at Teacher Retirement System of Texas. Listen in to learn when our guests use investment theory versus data, new standards for management fees, and what our guests look for in maintaining a reliable team for their investors.

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50 YEARS OF TREND FOLLOWING BOOK AND BEHIND-THE-SCENES VIDEO FOR ACCREDITED INVESTORS - CLICK HERE

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

When to use investment theory versus data, and how you know when you have chosen correctly
How the guests review their managers and analyze their results
What organizations of different sizes can do to prepare for a crisis
How Steven sees the new fee structure for hedge funds, that TRS helped develop, as more reasonable than the standard 2&20
How a race to the bottom for management fees can remove much of the creative energy from the alternative manager space
What excites Trent about the BBB section of the investment grade bond market
What is new and upcoming in the hedge fund space
The reading that our guests never miss inside and outside of the investment space

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Follow Niels on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube or via the TTU website.

IT’s TRUE ? – most CIO’s read 50+ books each year – get your FREE copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here.

And you can get a free copy of my latest book “Ten Reasons to Add Trend Following to Your Portfolio” here.

Learn more about the Trend Barometer here.

Send your questions to [email protected]

And please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest Rating & Review on iTunes or Spotify so more people can discover the podcast.

Learn more about Jake Barton and Promus Holdings

Learn more about Trent Webster and State Board of Administration of Florida

Learn more about Steven Wilson and Teacher Retirement System of Texas

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PLUS: Whenever you're ready... here are 3 ways I can help you in your investment Journey:

1. eBooks that cover key topics that you need to know about

In my eBooks, I put together some key discoveries and things I have learnt during the more than 3 decades I have worked in the Trend Following industry, which I hope you will find useful. Click Here

-----

50 YEARS OF TREND FOLLOWING BOOK AND BEHIND-THE-SCENES VIDEO FOR ACCREDITED INVESTORS - CLICK HERE

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

When to use investment theory versus data, and how you know when you have chosen correctly
How the guests review their managers and analyze their results
What organizations of different sizes can do to prepare for a crisis
How Steven sees the new fee structure for hedge funds, that TRS helped develop, as more reasonable than the standard 2&20
How a race to the bottom for management fees can remove much of the creative energy from the alternative manager space
What excites Trent about the BBB section of the investment grade bond market
What is new and upcoming in the hedge fund space
The reading that our guests never miss inside and outside of the investment space

-----

Follow Niels on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube or via the TTU website.

IT’s TRUE ? – most CIO’s read 50+ books each year – get your FREE copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here.

And you can get a free copy of my latest book “Ten Reasons to Add Trend Following to Your Portfolio” here.

Learn more about the Trend Barometer here.

Send your questions to [email protected]

And please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest Rating & Review on iTunes or Spotify so more people can discover the podcast.

Learn more about Jake Barton and Promus Holdings

Learn more about Trent Webster and State Board of Administration of Florida

Learn more about Steven Wilson and Teacher Retirement System of Texas

----

PLUS: Whenever you're ready... here are 3 ways I can help you in your investment Journey:

1. eBooks that cover key topics that you need to know about

Previous Episode

SI24: Why Trend Following has "failed" to attract a lot of Assets ft. Meb Faber

Meb Faber joins the show to discuss his journey into Trend Following, where Trend Following funds have gone wrong in terms of attracting assets & growing AUM, why he started his company Cambria Investments and the difficulties that this involved, the perceived safety of US Treasuries, Mutual Funds vs ETFs, and a lot more.

-----

50 YEARS OF TREND FOLLOWING BOOK AND BEHIND-THE-SCENES VIDEO FOR ACCREDITED INVESTORS - CLICK HERE

-----

Follow Niels on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube or via the TTU website.

IT’s TRUE ? – most CIO’s read 50+ books each year – get your FREE copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here.

And you can get a free copy of my latest book “Ten Reasons to Add Trend Following to Your Portfolio” here.

Learn more about the Trend Barometer here.

Send your questions to [email protected]

And please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest Rating & Review on iTunes or Spotify so more people can discover the podcast.

Episode TimeStamps:

00:00 – Intro

01:30 – Weekly review of performance

06:25 – Meb's backstory

10:15 – Jerry question: Why don’t CTAs have more AUM?

16:50 – Moritz question: When and why did you start your firm?

21:00 – Moritz question: Why do you think TF and value is a great blend?

28:00 – Niels question: Please talk about the perceived safety of US Treasuries (based on your research) and why you use a broader portfolio.

36:20 – Niels question: What needs to happen before Betterment (and others) embrace TF?

40:15 – Moritz question: Why did you set up an ETF vs a mutual fund or another vehicle?

50:00 – Jerry question: What needs to happen for mutual funds to be competitive with ETFs (tax wise)?

53:00 – Niels question: With ETFs do you have to disclose your trading methodology?

57:00 – Jerry question: What do you think of products designed for client desires/tolerances compared to optimally designed pure TF products?

01:02:30 – Jerry question: What is your opinion on active mgt = discretionary & index = systematic?

01:12:30 – Niels questions: What are your favorite factors? How is your competition going with Patrick O’Shaughnessy?

01:19:30 – Moritz question: Do you trade any vol products?

01:25:45 – Jerry question: Why isn’t there a distinction between the good (full trading systems) and bad (market timing indicators) parts of systems trading in articles?

01:30:45 – Benchmark performance update

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PLUS: Whenever you're ready... here are 3 ways I can help you in your investment Journey:

1. eBooks that cover key topics that you need to know about

2. Daily Trend Barometer and Market Score

One of ...

Next Episode

SI25: Where to start your Trend Following jouney?

Discussion points this week include: Where to start if you want to become a Trend Following Trader, whether or not to trade markets differently, Bloomberg’s article on the supposed Failing of Trend Following, how strategies can cope and adapt during drawdowns, how to know when you are truly diversified or not, and a lot more.

-----

50 YEARS OF TREND FOLLOWING BOOK AND BEHIND-THE-SCENES VIDEO FOR ACCREDITED INVESTORS - CLICK HERE

-----

Follow Niels on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube or via the TTU website.

IT’s TRUE ? – most CIO’s read 50+ books each year – get your FREE copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here.

And you can get a free copy of my latest book “Ten Reasons to Add Trend Following to Your Portfolio” here.

Learn more about the Trend Barometer here.

Send your questions to [email protected]

And please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest Rating & Review on iTunes or Spotify so more people can discover the podcast.

Episode TimeStamps:

00:00 – Intro

01:20 – Weekly review of performance

07:00 – Top tweets

32:30 – Question 1: Karl; Where would you start if you wanted to become a Trend Follower?

36:30 – Question 2/3: Paul; Considering return volatility and investor tolerance, how do you help investors determine their optimal allocation to Trend Following? Have your personal volatility preferences changed over time?

45:45 – Question 4: Antonio; If historical drawdowns have no bearing on the future (as the podcast has said), how do you know your system won’t blow up?

50:10 – Question 5: Antonio; How do you calculate future expected returns with a TF system?

55:20 – Question 6: Antonio; If you can’t estimate future returns, why bet TF will keep working in the future?

59:30 – Question 7: Antonio; Should recent performance of TF systems influence future return expectations?

01:03:10 – Question 8: Brian; How does a CTA choose a company to sell their products?

01:05:00 – Question 9/10: Samuel; Based on correlation, what level of diversification is enough? What will cause Jerry to adjust his risk?

01:09:00 – Question 11: Samuel; How often should positions be adjusted based on account equity?

01:15:15 – Question 12: Brian; Why do investors hold CTA returns to a higher standard (versus other hedge funds)?

01:18:50 – Question 13: Seth; What are the unique “sectors” that drive diversification in a TF system?

01:22:40 – Discussion of Bloomberg article on TF failing – suggested by Christian

01:35:00 – Benchmark performance update

----

PLUS: Whenever you're ready... here are 3 ways I can help you in your investment Journey:

1. eBooks that cover key topics that you need to know about

In my eBooks, I put together some key discoveries and things I have learnt during the more than 3 decades I have worked in the Trend Following indus...

Top Traders Unplugged - RT21: What's next for Hedge Funds? ft. Jake Barton, Trent Webster & Steven Wilson – 2of2

Transcript

Niels

Welcome back to Top Traders Round Table, a podcast series on manage futures brought to you by CME Group, and the Managed Funds Association where I continue my conversation with Steven Wilson who is a senior portfolio manager in the Public Markets Group at the Teacher Retirement System of Texas; Trent Webster who is the Senior Investment Officer of Strategic Investments for the State Board Of Administration of Florida; as well as Jake Barton who is a Senior Portfolio Manager at Pro