Invest Like The Best
Episode 237 All Things Macro
Invest Like The Best

Episode 237: All Things Macro

Invest Like The Best

Episode 237

All Things Macro

Karen Karniol-Tambour is the Co-CIO for Sustainability at Bridgewater Associates. We cover a variety of the most important themes in the market today, how each of them has become more important for investors, and what today's 60/40 portfolio might look like.

This episode is brought to you by:

Tegus. Tegus has built the most extensive primary information platform available for investors. With Tegus, you can learn everything you’d want to know about a company in an on-demand digital platform. Investors share their expert calls, allowing others to instantly access more than 10,000 calls on Affirm, Teladoc, Roblox, or almost any company of interest. All you have to do is log in. Visit tegus.co/patrick to learn more.

Eight Sleep. Eight Sleep's new Pod Pro Cover is the easiest and fastest way to sleep at your perfect temperature. Simply add the Pod Pro Cover to your current mattress and start sleeping as cool as 55°F or as hot as 110°F. To embrace the future of sleep and get $150 off your new mattress go to eightsleep.com/patrick or use code "Patrick".

[00:03:39] - [First question] - How Bridgewater invests and the experiences that led her there

[00:06:47] - What working with Daniel Kahneman felt like and learning his perspective

[00:08:09] - An example of accumulating and stress testing data

[00:10:17] - Important variables to consider when seeking returns in large-scale bets

[00:14:18] - What we should be thinking about in terms of inflation as we look to the future

[00:20:07] - How she thinks about inflation and how she defines it

[00:22:57] - Relevant asset classes that can protect or help diversify against inflation

[00:26:14] - What still largely confuses her about inflation and its many facets

[00:28:05] - Her philosophy and model for understanding the system of currency

[00:33:21] - How investors should think about the US dollar 

[00:35:50] - Whether or not owning an unhedged global equity index gives you currency exposure

[00:37:07] - The fundamental nature of equity markets and household balance sheets

[00:41:37] - Ways the growing wave of retail investors will impact prices and returns 

[00:43:53] - How she’s evolved her valuation approach given our new investor landscape

[00:45:43] - The good and bad roles ESG might play for investors going forward

[00:50:36] - Potential concerns around the growing trend of ESG writ large

[00:53:51] - Thoughts on the 60/40 portfolio and whether or not it’s still worth using

[00:55:32] - Designing a default diversified portfolio in light of markets today

[00:57:45] - Aspects of the global market economy today people should be talking about more

[01:01:15] - Ways she investigates a new topic and how it has evolved over time

[01:04:14] - Variables that matter in investment teams and company cultures

[01:06:53] - How she would approach cryptocurrency and what’s interesting about them

[01:09:08] - A rosey and gloomy take of what the world could look like in a decade

[01:12:37] - The kindest thing that anyone has ever done for her

All Things Macro

Introduction

Patrick
My guest today is Karen Karniol-Tambour, Partner and Co-CIO for Sustainability at Bridgewater Associates. You'll quickly understand why Ray Dalio described Karen as a "vacuum cleaner of learning". Our conversation covered a variety of market themes, and Karen goes deep on each of them. We touch on inflation, monetary policy, currencies, retail investors, ESG, and how each of these levers has become more important for investors to understand.

Karen has a rare skill for making complex ideas seem simple, and I love the frameworks she uses to deconstruct big, important issues. She does such a good job of explaining what's changed, why it matters, and what to do about it. I hope you enjoy my great conversation with Karen Karniol-Tambour.

Karen's Journey to Bridgewater

Patrick
So Karen, this has been a conversation long in the making. I'm excited to finally do it. We've had all sorts of disasters that have gotten in the way of us getting this on the books, but have been so looking forward to it.

Access the full transcript
Sign in or register to view episode transcripts.

Contact

Get in touch at help@joincollossus.com