The Raise Your Average™ Podcast

This is Raise Your Average, dedicated to making you a better long term investor. Join us and our co-hosts from ReSolve Asset Management, as we sit down with some of the most interesting names in finance to discuss and debate macro, markets, investment strategies, and more.

  1. 4d ago

    Russia, China, Iran, Energy: Why Every Western Move Makes Things Worse | Doomberg

    Every move the West makes seems to make things worse — and Doomberg explains exactly why. Pierre Daillie and Mike Philbrick sit down with Doomberg, one of Substack's most incisive financial and energy analysts, for a wide-ranging conversation that connects diesel shortages, European energy vulnerability, the Iran war, rare earth attrition, Taiwan's fragile energy grid, and a provocative case for why World War III may have already begun in 2014. Doomberg brings his signature blend of industrial experience, geopolitical realism, and premise-first thinking to a set of questions most Western commentators won't touch: Is Russia genuinely a formidable power worthy of deference? Is China running a long game of weapons attrition through proxy wars? And what should investors be doing before these fragile dominoes begin to fall? Chapters1:30 — Intro: The West's wars, the energy crisis, and who came out ahead 6:30 — Welcome: Doomberg joins; diesel export ban and Ukraine strikes 9:30 — Geopolitical checkers: Every Western move makes things worse 10:30 — Trump's 1980s worldview and the myth of escalation dominance 13:30 — Inside the room: Why smart institutions make catastrophic decisions 21:30 — Guyana vs. Venezuela: How small nations navigate great-power neighbors 29:00 — Europe's twin crisis: Natural gas and diesel heading into winter 32:00 — Reading Putin: Why you should go to the source 38:00 — Ukraine as a civil war: The electoral map no one talks about 46:00 — World War III started in 2014: The end of the post-WWII architecture 53:30 — Taiwan: 12 days of natural gas, 98% hydrocarbon imports, indefensible 1:06:00 — China's rare earth strategy and the war of attrition thesis 1:13:00 — Missile production gaps and the arithmetic of Western defense 1:21:00 — While the West postures, Russia and China are quietly winning 1:27:00 — The Western Hemisphere oil thesis: All You Can Eat 1:32:00 — The Doomberg book: Thinking like a sovereign person, fall 2027 #Doomberg #EnergyGeopolitics #RaiseYourAverage #RussiaUkraine #EuropeanEnergyCrisis #GeopoliticalRisk #OilMarkets #TaiwanStrait #ChinaStrategy #NATOEurope #InvestingIn2026 #MacroInvesting #EnergyInvesting #DieselShortage #RareEarths #SovereignThinking #FinancePodcast #GlobalMacro #AdvisorAnalyst #InsightIsCapital

    Russia, China, Iran, Energy: Why Every Western Move Makes Things Worse | Doomberg
  2. Sep 25

    Wesley Gray: The Invisible Risks Inside Every Portfolio

    What if the portfolio your clients think they own is actually just an expensive S&P 500 clone in disguise? In this episode of Raise Your Average, hosts Pierre Daillie (Managing Director, AdvisorAnalyst.com) and Mike Philbrick (CEO, ReSolve Asset Management) sit down with Wesley Gray, PhD (CEO and CIO, Alpha Architect) for a wide-ranging, no-nonsense conversation on factor investing, portfolio construction, and why the biggest threat to advisor value is hiding in plain sight. Wes brings his trademark Marine-meets-PhD directness to topics every advisor needs to hear: from the resurgence of value, to the behavioral and tax traps that quietly vaporize investor returns, to why transparency and process discipline are the only edges that compound over time. Chapters0:00 The wirehouse portfolio problem: what a look-through analysis reveals 1:00 Introducing Wesley Gray, PhD, former Marine intelligence officer and founder of Alpha Architect 4:00 Value investing is back: what the resurgence of QVAL tells us about patience and premiums 7:00 Crawl, walk, run: sizing factor strategies so clients actually stay invested 13:00 The real return killers: taxes, frictional costs, and the liquidity trap 19:00 Capital efficiency: why concentrated factor exposure beats closet indexing 26:00 Line item vs. portfolio allocation: the tracking error conversation advisors must have 33:00 Portfolio X-ray: using look-through analysis to win clients and expose hidden costs 39:00 QVAL deep dive: how academic factor research translates into a real portfolio 46:00 Quantitative vs. discretionary management: why process beats gut instinct 53:00 Luck, skill, and the evidence-based process that makes you look lucky over time 58:00 How to hire, trust, and fire a quant manager 1:05:00 Human nature, behavioral finance, and why factor investing will always be boutique 1:08:00 What advisors get wrong when introducing a factor strategy to clients #FactorInvesting #ValueInvesting #AlphaArchitect #WesleyGray #RaiseYourAverage #ETFinvesting #PortfolioConstruction #QuantInvesting #BehavioralFinance #WealthManagement #AdvisorAnalyst #FinancialAdvisor #TaxEfficientInvesting #ReturnStacking #QVAL #EvidenceBasedInvesting #IndexFunds #ActiveManagement #FiduciaryAdvisor #InvestmentStrategy ```

    Wesley Gray: The Invisible Risks Inside Every Portfolio
  3. Sep 4

    Corgi Invest's Jeff Weniger: Big Wall of Worry, Fears, No Bubble. Not Yet.

    What if the firm disrupting the ETF industry launched 197 funds in its first year — and priced them cheaper than Vanguard? Jeff Weniger, Chief Investment Strategist at Corgi Invest, joins hosts Pierre Daillie and Mike Philbrick on Raise Your Average for a wide-ranging conversation that moves from the macro landscape of mid-2026 — rising yields, a surprisingly hot economy, and the great AI infrastructure build-out — to the audacious product shelf of one of the ETF industry's boldest new entrants. Jeff brings his trademark macro clarity, market history, and plain-spoken honesty to a conversation that covers bubbles, bond vigilantes, copper, fiscal profligacy, and the case for precision over breadth in portfolio construction. Timestamped Chapters00:00 — Bubbles as a feature of capital formation: railroads, dark fiber, and the AI build-out 06:00 — Introducing Jeff Weniger and Corgi Invest: 197 ETFs, a war machine, and a price war 07:00 — Where are we in the cycle? The economy may be running hotter than you think 11:00 — Rising long-term yields: fiscal profligacy or economic strength? The gold and Bitcoin argument 18:00 — The new Fed under Kevin Warsh: protecting the plumbing, not the price 20:00 — Rising yields as opportunity: Jesse Livermore, the 10-year benchmark, and round number psychology 27:00 — De-equitization, the SpaceX IPO, and what a wall of worry actually looks like 31:00 — Are we in a bubble? Pets.com vs. GameStop vs. Nvidia: which was actually crazier? 38:00 — The Nifty 50, Toronto condos, and how long it takes markets to bubble again 42:00 — The Mag Seven is just chilling: why no giddy tape may mean no bubble 45:00 — Dr. Copper, energy's comeback, and the capacity inputs the market is ignoring 48:00 — Nominal GDP, CPI, and Scott Bessent's bet on growing out of the debt burden 52:00 — Apartment rents, the K-shaped economy, and what CPI is really telling you 57:00 — Jeff's eighth day at Corgi: the story of a tech unicorn that decided to launch ETFs 01:00:00 — The Corgi product shelf: thematics, leveraged funds, buffers, and beta at cost 01:01:00 — Buffer ETFs explained: who they're for and why 30 bps beats the field 01:06:00 — Competing on expense ratio against Vanguard and BlackRock: no false illusions 01:11:00 — The T-bill play: five basis points vs. nine — and why every basis point matters More...Corgi Invest Jeff Weniger on Linkedin #RaiseYourAverage #ETFinvesting #JeffWeniger #CorgiInvest #BufferETFs #MacroInvesting #InterestRates2026 #AIboom #ThematicETFs #BondMarket #WealthManagement #AdvisorInvesting #FinancialAdvisor #MarketOutlook2026 #AdvisorAnalyst #PierreDaillie #MikePhilbrick #ETFstrategy #PortfolioConstruction #CopperBull

    Corgi Invest's Jeff Weniger: Big Wall of Worry, Fears, No Bubble. Not Yet.
  4. Aug 21

    Ric Edelman: What everyone gets wrong about Bitcoin in 2026

    Ric Edelman was early on Bitcoin. He was right. Now he explains why the argument has changed completely. Ric Edelman, founder of Edelman Financial Engines (one of the largest independent RIA Firms in the U.S.), the Digital Assets Council of Financial Professionals (DACFP) and one of the architects of modern independent wealth management, joins Pierre Daillie and Mike Philbrick on Raise Your Average for a searching, unvarnished conversation about where the digital asset story actually stands today. With Bitcoin off roughly 50% from its peak and public attention captured by AI, Edelman reframes what this moment demands of advisors and investors. He traces the arc from being booed off stages in 2013 to watching Morgan Stanley tell its sixteen thousand advisors to allocate two to four percent to crypto, and argues that the real inflection point has already passed. The conversation moves well beyond price, covering the quiet institutionalization of blockchain rails inside the largest banks on earth, why a 90-year-old client may have every reason to own crypto, how advisors are quietly losing clients to an asset class they refuse to understand, and why the stalling of the CLARITY Act exposes a more troubling political dynamic than most observers have admitted. Chapters00:00 – Introduction: why most Bitcoin opinions haven't been earned 01:00 – Who is Ric Edelman? DACFP, Edelman Financial Engines, and the long conviction 07:00 – Bitcoin's 50% drawdown in context: behavioral lessons that apply to every asset class 09:00 – Why AI stole crypto's thunder (and why that may be an opportunity) 11:00 – Ric's origin story: from "digital what?" in 2012 to founding DACFP 16:00 – Bitcoin vs. Amazon: the chart that changes the conversation 19:00 – The CLARITY Act: why it stalled, who to blame, and why it may not matter 22:00 – How allocator sentiment has shifted from passion to shrug (and why that's healthy) 25:00 – TradFi adoption: JP Morgan, Goldman, Morgan Stanley, and the race to tokenize 28:00 – The training gap: why the C-suite is ready but advisors still can't answer client questions 32:00 – Beyond Bitcoin ETFs: 200+ crypto products advisors don't know exist 35:00 – Why older advisors say "why bother?" and why that logic is quietly destroying their books 40:00 – The 90-year-old client: asset allocation in the image of your heirs 48:00 – Tokenization and stablecoins: the plumbing that changes everything 54:00 – Real-world use cases: casinos, capital efficiency, and the velocity of money 57:00 – The American blind spot: why two billion people see crypto as a lifeline 01:01:00 – Why Wall Street didn't die: it adopted the rails instead 01:05:00 – Trump, the CLARITY Act ethics clause, and the politics of crypto self-dealing 01:09:00 – Where to start: DACFP, the CBDA designation, and The Truth About Crypto 01:13:00 – Final thought: crypto as the most intellectually interesting asset class alive DACFP - Digital Assets Council of Financial Professionals Ric Edelman on Linkedin #Bitcoin #CryptoForAdvisors #DigitalAssets #DACFP #RicEdelman #BitcoinETF #Tokenization #Stablecoins #ClarityAct #CryptoRegulation #WealthManagement #FinancialAdvisors #RIA #BlockchainAdoption #CryptoEducation #RaiseYourAverage #InvestmentAdvisors #PortfolioAllocation #BitcoinAllocation #CryptoInvesting #CBDA #FinancialPlanning #AdvisorTech #CryptoMarket #BitcoinBehavior

    Ric Edelman: What everyone gets wrong about Bitcoin in 2026
  5. Jul 31

    Is the Biggest Investing Solution Becoming the Market's Biggest Problem?

    If markets no longer price value, then what's actually setting the price?Raise Your Average hosts Pierre Daillie and Adam Butler sit down with Michael Green, Chief Strategist and Portfolio Manager at Simplify Asset Management, for a deep dive into the passive investing thesis he has spent over a decade researching, defending, and stress testing. Green argues that trillions of dollars flowing automatically into index funds via 401(k)s, RSPs, and defined contribution plans have created a market where price no longer reflects judgment about value. He walks through the mechanics of the "inelastic market hypothesis," the outsized role of leveraged and levered sector ETFs like SOXL, the Grossman-Stiglitz framework and why its core assumptions no longer hold, and why active and value investing have become structurally disadvantaged in the current regime. The conversation also covers the 2026 macro backdrop of a US-Iran conflict, an oil shock, and equities at all-time highs despite it, the risk of a passive "end stage," and where genuine diversification (like managed futures) still fits. It's a candid, occasionally combative, and consistently illuminating discussion for anyone trying to understand why markets are behaving in ways that don't match historical patterns. Chapters00:00 – Introduction: has the market stopped pricing risk? 08:00 – Welcome to Michael Green; setting up 2026's contradictions 09:00 – The 50-year shift into "all equities all the time" 10:00 – How ETF mechanics reduce market elasticity 12:00 – Why pod shops and passive flows ignore fundamentals entirely 13:00 – Leveraged sector ETFs (SOXL) aren't really passive 15:00 – Echoes of the dot-com bubble: 1999 vs. today 18:00 – Circular funding and Mag Seven earnings 41:00 – Momentum, autocorrelation, and portfolio construction under passive dominance 44:00 – Pushback from the Financial Times and mainstream finance media 44:30 – Malkiel's Paradox of Skill and the Grossman-Stiglitz framework, unpacked 47:00 – Why the "equal endowment" assumption is false 49:00 – The large-stack player sets the terms of the market 50:00 – The Inelastic Market Hypothesis (Gabaix and Koijen) and Green's updated multiplier estimates 52:00 – Facilitators vs. correctors: why Citadel and Jane Street are thriving 55:00 – The Newtonian vs. quantum physics analogy for market scale 57:00 – GameStop, Michael Saylor, and self-liquidating vehicles 1:13:00 – Market cap concentration data and transaction cost asymmetries 1:15:00 – Why cap weighting has flipped from historically losing to structurally winning 1:17:00 – Stein's Law and the coming correction 1:18:00 – Why value investing is a "negative selection criteria" right now 1:21:00 – Where active investors can still add value: becoming facilitators 1:22:00 – Managed futures as liquidity provision and portfolio ballast 1:25:00 – Capacity constraints and closing thoughts #MichaelGreen #PassiveInvesting #RaiseYourAverage #SimplifyAssetManagement #ETFs #IndexFunds #MarketStructure #InelasticMarketHypothesis #ActiveManagement #ValueInvesting #ManagedFutures #Macro #InvestingPodcast #StockMarket #FinancePodcast #WallStreet #PortfolioManagement #MarketBubble #AdvisorAnalyst

    Is the Biggest Investing Solution Becoming the Market's Biggest Problem?
  6. Jul 3

    Why 0% in Bitcoin & Blockchain is Actually a Riskier Bet Than 1%

    Bitcoin is down 50% from its highs — but Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan says the price is the least important thing happening in crypto right now. In this episode of Raise Your Average, hosts Pierre Daillie and Mike Philbrick sit down with Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer at Bitwise Asset Management, to make sense of the 2026 crypto winter. Hougan argues this is "the best winter ever" for crypto: prices are down, but the fundamentals, regulatory clarity, and institutional infrastructure are stronger than in any prior cycle. The conversation moves from Bitcoin's role as scarce, digital hard money to the quieter, faster-moving story underneath it: stablecoins and tokenization rebuilding the plumbing of global finance. Hougan walks through why the "neutral" Bitcoin allocation isn't zero, why advisors and institutions get stuck at the finish line even after months of due diligence, and how blockchain rails already move money and assets faster and cheaper than traditional banking. The episode closes with a deep dive into agentic AI, exploring how autonomous AI agents transacting 24/7 could become the largest driver of blockchain activity yet, and what that means for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Chainlink, and Bittensor. A must-listen for advisors trying to figure out how to talk to clients about crypto without the noise. Timestamped Chapters00:00 – Cold open: crypto winter and Bitcoin at $62K 06:30 – Welcome, Matt Hougan (Bitwise CIO) 09:00 – SpaceX's IPO vs. Bitcoin's entire market cap 10:40 – Why this is "the best crypto winter ever" 16:40 – Institutions take 8 meetings to allocate — then freeze 17:16 – The sticky-note trick for disciplined buying 19:14 – Crawl, walk, run: a systematic approach to allocation 20:32 – Why the neutral Bitcoin position is 1-2%, not zero 22:29 – Bitcoin vs. gold: scarcity, cash flow, and correlation 26:08 – Blockchain 101: Bitcoin vs. Ethereum vs. Solana 27:23 – Stablecoins and tokenization, explained simply 29:31 – Investing in tokens vs. the companies building on them 32:26 – What's really holding back adoption (the AI "black hole") 34:50 – SEC Chair Paul Atkins on tokenizing all stocks and bonds 41:42 – Instant settlement and the velocity of money (casino example) 46:12 – Inverting the objections: why the old system is the strange one 49:07 – Do you actually own your stocks? Distributed ownership explained 58:27 – Agentic AI meets tokenization: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Chainlink, Tao 1:05:05 – Digital natives and the next generation of finance 1:07:08 – Advisor takeaways: how to talk to clients about crypto 1:09:02 – The final case for a portfolio allocation 1:11:06 – Free Bitwise resources for advisors 1:14:23 – Bitwise's product lineup, including its flagship index fund 1:16:36 – Where to find Matt Hougan Matt Hougan on Linkedin Bitwise Asset Management #Bitcoin #Crypto #MattHougan #BitwiseAssetManagement #CryptoWinter #Tokenization #Stablecoins #AgenticAI #Ethereum #Solana #Chainlink #DigitalAssets #FinancialAdvisors #WealthManagement #CryptoInvesting #BitcoinAllocation #RaiseYourAverage #InsightIsCapital #CryptoNews #Blockchain #AIandCrypto #PortfolioManagement #InvestmentStrategy #DigitalGold ```

    Why 0% in Bitcoin & Blockchain is Actually a Riskier Bet Than 1%
  7. Jun 19

    David Dziekanski: The End of the Options-Based Income ETF Trade-Off

    The options income ETF industry just crossed $1 trillion in assets — and almost nobody is talking about the structural flaw buried inside every one of those products. David Dziekanski, co-founder, CEO, and CIO of Quantify Funds, spent nearly two decades building ETFs — more than 75 of them — before he saw a gap so fundamental he had to build something entirely new. In this episode of Raise Your Average, Pierre Daillie and Mike Philbrick sit down with David to examine what covered call and derivative income ETFs get wrong, why most investors don't realize it, and how Quantify's Stacked Income fund family — powered by Return Stacked ETFs and Convexitas as options sub-advisor — attempts to deliver income, full upside exposure, and genuine diversification without asking investors to choose between them. ⏱ Chapters00:00 — Introduction: The $1 trillion problem hiding in options income ETFs 03:00 — David Dziekanski: Career background, Tidal Financial Group, and the founding thesis of Quantify Funds 05:00 — The three design flaws of derivative income ETFs: income targeting, formulaic strategies, and lack of benchmarking 10:00 — Why covered call ETFs became popular — and why advisors accepted the trade-off for so long 13:00 — Delta drift explained: how a 0.74 delta on day one becomes 0.54 by month-end without any manager decision 17:00 — Negative alpha in plain sight: why most covered call products underperform even a T-bill + equity blend 20:00 — Convexitas's three-step options framework: implied vs. realized vol, skew profiling, and tenor selection 24:00 — The core thesis: income without sacrificing total return — ending the trade-off 27:00 — Return stacking as capital efficiency: A + B in a single dollar, and imposed diversification 30:00 — Distribution policy: why Quantify lowers payouts in drawdowns and tops up on rebounds 53:00 — Fee structure: 114 bps on 200% exposure = 57 bps unlevered, and why that beats the competition 55:00 — Daily trade transparency: how Quantify posts options rationale on X every trading day 59:00 — Building behavioral stickiness: transparency, distributions, and investor intuition 01:01:00 — The advisor conversation: aha moments and the covered call education gap 01:05:00 — Simplicity vs. complexity: blind spots are the cost of simple option strategies 01:09:00 — Quantify as "version 3.0" of options income — crawl, walk, run adoption framework 01:11:00 — BTGD, ISBG, ISSB: the Bitcoin + gold stacking thesis and currency debasement 01:15:00 — Gold, Bitcoin, and scarcity assets: what comes after the bazooka 01:22:00 — Closing: why the derivative income category exists, and where it needs to go Links & Resources Quantify Funds: quantifyfunds.com Daily trade rationale: Quantify Funds on X (Twitter) Return Stacked ETFs: returnstackedetfs.com Convexitas: convexitas.com #OptionsIncome #CoveredCallETF #ReturnStacking #ETFinvesting #QuantifyFunds #Convexitas #VolatilityHarvesting #BitcoinETF #GoldETF #IncomeInvesting #DividendETF #OptionsStrategy #WealthManagement #AlternativeInvesting #FinancialAdvisor #RaiseYourAverage #ETFEducation #ImpliedVolatility #OptionsAlpha #CurrencyDebasement #PortfolioConstruction #CapitalEfficiency #RetailInvestor #PassiveIncome #SmartBeta

    David Dziekanski: The End of the Options-Based Income ETF Trade-Off
  8. Jun 12

    Justin Huhn: Uranium is the Missing Layer Beneath the AI Trade

    Most portfolios already own the AI trade — but almost none own the energy underneath it, and that's exactly where the next big opportunity lives. In this episode of Raise Your Average, hosts Pierre Daillie and Mike Philbrick sit down with Justin Huhn, Founder, Lead Analyst and Editor of Uranium Insider, to unpack why uranium is the missing layer beneath the AI trade — and why the structural supply-demand imbalance in the nuclear fuel cycle may be one of the most consequential and overlooked investment opportunities of the decade. Justin traces uranium's journey from a forgotten commodity trading near $18/lb in 2017 to today's spot price of $85 — and explains why the bull case is more durable now than ever. The convergence of AI data center power demand, Western electricity grid strain, reactor life extensions, hyperscaler nuclear power agreements, and a deeply undersupplied fuel cycle has created a structural setup that, in Justin's view, doesn't require the AI tailwind to deliver significantly higher uranium prices. That tailwind is, as he puts it, "a bonus." The conversation covers the full uranium fuel cycle — from mine to reactor — including why supply simply cannot respond as quickly as demand, why utilities are systematically late to contract, how hyperscalers like Microsoft, Google and Amazon entering the nuclear fuel market is a landmark signal, and how advisors can think about positioning uranium as an infrastructure-adjacent hedge on the AI power squeeze. ⏱ Chapters00:00 — Introduction: AI, energy crisis, and the nuclear renaissance 04:04 — Why nuclear is the only power source AI infrastructure actually needs 09:07 — Justin Huhn: from $18/lb uranium to the global nuclear renaissance 13:50 — Safety, carbon, and why the anti-nuclear narrative finally broke 16:16 — Western electricity demand awakens: AI and electrification converge 21:32 — U.S. grid stress: data centers testing the limits of existing infrastructure 23:40 — Every U.S. reactor getting life extended; hyperscalers entering the fuel cycle 26:39 — What Microsoft, Google and Amazon signing nuclear deals actually signals 28:49 — Supply vs. demand: why uranium can't be turned on like an oil well 34:44 — Why uranium price is almost irrelevant to reactor restart decisions 39:17 — How utilities contract uranium: long-term deals, herd behaviour and missed timing 44:57 — Why utilities have been "utterly wrong" about price trajectory — and why that matters 50:35 — How Uranium Insider models supply and demand out to 2040 52:40 — The dynamic trading model: doubling money while outperforming ETFs by 50–60% 53:10 — Reading the physical market, sentiment signals, and RSI for trade timing 57:54 — Uranium as an advisor portfolio play: the AI-adjacent energy infrastructure trade 59:07 — SMR demand, OPG Darlington, and what the next leg of the cycle looks like #Uranium #NuclearEnergy #AIInfrastructure #EnergyInvesting #UraniumInsider #NuclearRenaissance #DataCenterPower #SmallModularReactors #UraniumBullMarket #RaiseYourAverage #CriticalMinerals #EnergyTransition #NuclearStocks #UraniumMining #PowerGrid #AIDataCenters #AlternativeEnergy #PortfolioConstruction #InvestmentStrategy #FinancePodcast

    Justin Huhn: Uranium is the Missing Layer Beneath the AI Trade

About

This is Raise Your Average, dedicated to making you a better long term investor. Join us and our co-hosts from ReSolve Asset Management, as we sit down with some of the most interesting names in finance to discuss and debate macro, markets, investment strategies, and more.

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