In this episode, we speak with Unlimited Funds founder Bob Elliott. We discuss the general landscape of the hedge fund industry including the strategies hedge funds employ, whether they add value from a return perspective and if the top performing hedge funds are able to maintain that status over time. We also discuss the challenges of replicating hedge fund returns and Unlimited’s unique approach to doing it via the ETF wrapper. In the second half of the interview, we get Bob’s take on the current macroeconomic environment, why inflation might be tougher to tame than many think, what the resolution of the debt ceiling issue might mean for markets and a lot more.
- 02:05 – Bob’s biggest lessons from working at Bridgewater
- 05:49 – What Bob learned from the financial crisis
- 10:58 – The biggest misconceptions about Bridgewater
- 13:34 – What does the overall performance of hedge funds look like?
- 16:08 – The major types of strategies hedge funds employ
- 20:57 – Replicating hedge fund returns
- 28:09 – The tax advantage of pursuing hedge fund strategies in an ETF wrapper
- 30:58 – Is there any value in trying to replicate the top performing hedge funds?
- 33:29 – Do the top performing hedge funds change over time?
- 36:18 – How a hedge fund replication strategy fits into an overall portfolio
- 38:55 – Ignore the marketing consultants on Twitter
- 40:55 – Bob’s take on the current macro environment
- 46:04 – The challenge of containing inflation
- 48:48 – The importance of wage growth
- 52:11 – Are real time inflation tracking websites useful?
- 57:18 – What does inflation mean for the major asset classes?
- 01:02:26 – The impact of the debt ceiling resolution on markets
- 01:05:26 – The challenge of a protracted market downturn
- 01:08:28 – The one lesson Bob would teach the average investor
