The Phil Bak Podcast

Stephen Sikes, COO of Public, joins the podcast to talk retail trading and why the segment is growing exponentially. Stephen explains how payment for order flow works and why Public chose to stop accepting PFOF on their platform. The conversation includes insights into social media, investor education, the difference between investing and gambling, and more.

Author, investor and entrepreneur Brian Portnoy joins the podcast to talk financial education, behavioral investing, the concept of funded contentment, and lessons from his new book, How I Invest My Money.

Julia Carreon joins the podcast to talk about her personal journey and how she became a leading voice advocating for financial institutions to better connect to Gen Z.

• Innovation and technology in financial services
• Why legacy firms struggle to adapt
• The coming generational wealth transfer
• Being self-promotional and out front
• Lots more

Eric Balchunas joins for a look at how the ETF industry changed over the years, and whether it remains "the Silicon Valley of finance". The conversation includes:

• Innovation in the ETF industry
• The Terrordome (fee war)
• The rise of Cathie Wood's Ark Invest
• Measuring Jack Bogle’s impact
• And more

Bloomberg's Eric Balchunas and Logica Capital's Mike Green join the podcast to debate whether price discovery and fundamentals have disappeared from the markets, and whether ETFs and index investing is to blame.

Dr. Daniel Crosby joins the show to talk behavioral finance, how he merged the fields of psychology and investing, the science of likeability, overcoming fear, his process for book writing, and whether Phil should write a book.

Mike Alfred joins the podcast to talk to Phil about his entrepreneurial journey as a two-time founder, his investing ideology, the case for bitcoin and what is next for fintech.

Dave Collum joins the podcast for a provocative conversation about markets, wealth creation and contrarianism versus conformity.

Phil is joined by Greg Martin, founder of Liquid Stock and Archer VC for a conversation about how employees can access liquidity for private company equity and options, private vs public market company valuations, whether late stage VC companies are in a bubble, the future of fintech, and more.

Alex Matturri, former CEO of S&P Dow Jones, joins the show for a wide ranging conversation about his career and the growth of index investing. Alex debunks some common myths around index investing and then explains how he built a brand at S&P that led to remarkable growth. the conversation delves into smart beta, ESG investing, the role of the index committee, price discovery and more.

Darren Riley joins the show to talk about all areas of the entrepreneurial ecosystem, including his work at Endeavor Detroit, his entrepreneurial journey at Rapids Air Quality and his new VC fund, Commune Angels.

Phil sits down with Vince Vitale, President of the CFA Society of Detroit and Director of Equity and Alternative Strategy Research at Advance Capital Management for a conversation about the markets and about giving back. They discuss selecting active managers, factor based portfolios and US equity valuations, and then talk about giving back to the community and creating a legacy. Vince announces the stock market challenge - sponsored by the CFA Society of Detroit - and about Junior Achievement of SE Michigan, who the challenge is raising money for. Finally, they talk about persistence and grit and how that drives Vince's career.

Register for the stock market challenge here: https://www.jamichigan.org/stock-market-challenge

Patrick Kelly, CEO/co-founder of Signal Advisors, joins the show to discuss fintech for financial advisors - including his new launch and how to advisors can seamlessly onboard annuities for their clients. The conversation then goes on to discuss entrepreneurship, early doubters, stoicism and more.

Phil is joined by Doug Drouillard, Co-Founder/CEO of Shrine Development, for a conversation about technology, app development, startups, and how social media and digital distractions impact our energy and focus.

John Bartlett, President of Reaves Asset Management, joins the podcast for a deep dive into investing in infrastructure and utilities. They explore the state of infrastructure in the US, why infrastructure matters, what factors drive the sector’s performance and more.

Phil sits down with Melissa Joy, founder of Pearl Planning, to discuss how Melissa launched her firm, gender gaps in the wealth management industry, personal finance tips and more.

Phil talks to Jared Dillian about creating and monetizing content across various mediums. They also discuss asset managers blinded by their anger at the Federal Reserve, Robinhood traders, inflation, and Jared's DJ career.

Ranjan Roy, Founder & CEO of The Edge Group and author of The Margins on Substack, joins Phil to tell the story of how he arbitraged pizza prices on Doordash and to discuss content creation, antitrust issues, Silicon Valley "platform" business economics, Robinhood and the game-ification of trading, and more.

Phil is joined by legendary ETF pioneer Jim Ross to reflect on his career, the state of the asset management industry and a fresh start in M&A as he launches a new SPAC targeting asset managers.

David Nadig joins Phil to explore the rapidly changing landscape in the Asset Management industry. They discuss ETFs, ESG, commoditization of financial products, whether you should trust this market, how to look great on a Zoom call, and more.

Nancy Davis, Founder and CIO of Quadratic Capital Management joins the show to talk about her fund and how it can help investors hedge against interest rate and inflation risks. She also talks about the challenges of entrepreneurship and how it has been difficult to brush off rejection in the financial services industry as she continues to tell the story of the fund and how it is designed to help investors.

Joe Smith, Founder of Parti Pris Investment Partners joins Phil for a conversation about entrepreneurship, direct index and diversity in the asset management industry. Joe discusses his new startup and how they are utilizing technology to deliver customized solutions to financial advisors. Joe and Phil then have a candid discussion about diversity and inclusion in the asset management industry, with Joe recounting his personal experiences and offering ideas for industry improvement in the future.

Liam Vaughan joins the podcast to talk about his recent book Flash Crash: A Trading Savant, a Global Manhunt, and the Most Mysterious Market Crash in History. The conversation includes details on how the flash crash went down, the aftermath and the resulting blame games, Nav Sarao and whether he was scapegoated, the complexity of market structure, and the status of a potential upcoming movie about the events of the flash crash.

April Boyle, Founder and Executive Director of the Build Institute in Detroit, talks about how underestimated entrepreneurs and communities can build lasting wealth and ownership. April discusses Build's mission, why small business is the backbone of communities, and the challenges in getting small business funding. The conversation includes how Detroit companies are surviving the Covid shutdown, the impact of monopolies on small business, and alternative funding sources such as community capital and invisible capital.

Learn more at www.buildinstitute.org

Phil is joined by the "Quant of Asia" Tariq Dennison. Tariq is the Founder of GFM Asset Management based in Hong Kong. Tariq explains what life has been like in Asia since Covid-19 hit, and how Hong Kong in particular has managed to contain the virus. Tariq then shares his outlook on a number of Asian and EM countries and currencies, and explains why he is bearish on gold as an investment.

Tony Greer from TG Macro and the Morning Navigator Newsletter joins the show to talk global macro, what happened to WTI oil futures and the USO ETF, the dominance of big tech, the airline trade and whether markets are disconnected from the fundamentals.

David Abner, President of Dabner Capital Markets and former CEO of WisdomTree Europe joins Phil for a wide ranging conversation about the digitization of the asset and wealth management industries, where the puck is heading, and how the world will be changed post-shutdown.

In this flash episode, Phil explains everything wrong with the Fed's recent actions.