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Bilal
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Financial Expert / ETF Specialist
I would give you another sector that I think is really attractive and I was talking to Ian about this is healthcare. I think that's another area that we really should lean into because every single person here that's going to listen to this conversation is going to say, you know what, what do I do at my leisure time? I'm not sitting out drinking and partying and hanging out. I care much more about the infrastructure of my life and my health. That's why people are leaning into more drug use in a positive way. I'm talking peptides and other things. Right, right. But they're leaning into other opportunities to figure out where do we see growth. And Nvidia's made some announcements. Some of these other companies have made announcements in their support for healthcare. And I think that could be a deviation that you can see pop up soon.
Investor / Host
From an institutional standpoint, what is the outside of the hyperscalers? What does the software sector need to do in order to rebalance and regain dominance? We talked about Intuit Service. Now there's some companies that are really beating up Adobe. When you guys are looking at things to potentially invest in, what would you need to see as a catalyst to them?
Financial Expert / ETF Specialist
Yes, I'm gonna have to punt on this one and I'm gonna just tell you why. So the way that we structure the investments here at direction and I think it's important like shared this about sort of who we are and the way we think we launch products for investors to trade. We're not making the call of saying like hey, this section, this sector is going to recover versus this sector. We are saying can we build in a trading vehicle in an area that's going to trade a lot? So some of those areas, I think some of those businesses I'll just kind of share my 2 cents of what they need to do is I think they're going to need to either explore M and A opportunities with some of their cash to actually go out and maybe become a little more competitive in the space, or they really need to invest in a D or R D to pivot their business. And we already know the sales cycle and how long that can potentially take.
Investor / Host
So.
Financial Expert / ETF Specialist
Right. The term that everyone was talking about that we all grew up on was Mag 7. Well, the Mag 7 has now matured to the mangoes. Right?
CarMax Representative
Right.
Financial Expert / ETF Specialist
So that's the whole compartment, that's the whole part of the business where if Meta and I think we talked about this yesterday, Ian, with Meta, Microsoft and some of these companies that we love, they own the cloud and the software space, but guess what they're doing? They're being beaten up because they're making investment for the future. But they have to make that investment for the future. And at the same time they're also laying people off. Right. So we got to be mindful of like what that looks like. So we don't launch products based off of what these companies should do. We launch the products based off of where the trading opportunities are for the market.
Investor / Host
What's your feel for the market? Are you bullish? Are you bearish? Do you think that when he says something regarding late stages, do you feel that this is the late stages of a bull market and we're ripe for a bear market in the near future?
Financial Expert / ETF Specialist
So the old adage is bull markets don't die of old age. Right. There's usually a catalyst that make them stop running. And what I would say is for us, our view is that the market still has tailwind because of the support around earnings, but again, it's priced to perfection. And what I mean by that is if any companies have any small disappointments, you're going to see disruption and volatility. That's just kind of where we are. And I also alluded to the concentration that we see in the marketplace right now. So in a late stage area, one of the things that I think investors all need to consider and do is they need to actually broaden out the diversification, meaning pivot to maybe like equally weighted exposures versus these concentrated exposures. That's a very important point, and here's why. Because if you have any major headwind that hits the max 7, your ETF, your exposure, your stock, your option trade, it's going to go the other way and it might go against you. So you might want to consider a way to balance out the risk of the Q's as an example, and maybe hold qqqe, which is an equally weighted ETF versus just holding the Q's. And then someone's going to come back and say, well, should I hold qqqm? That's more of a momentum, that still concentrated bet. That's going to put you right back where you were. Should I hold qqqi? That's going to be more income based. If you just looked on par, you're not getting the exposure that you want, you're trying to clip a coupon with that particular product. So if you're going to say, hey, where do I get my exposure today? You should be thinking about broadening out your risk and understanding that, you know, we're going to be a little, probably choppy for a little while.
Investor / Host
Can you just explain that for the audience? People might not be familiar as far as like you're saying equally weighted as opposed to. And you could use QQQ as an example.
Financial Expert / ETF Specialist
Yeah. So qqq, most of the indices, the way that they're created, they're created with, which is called market cap weighting. So based off the size of the company, that will be basically the percentage that they get inside of the etf. Because I'm using the cues for the sake of this narrative and conversation. That's the NASDAQ 100. So it's the top 100 tech companies for the most part. If you look from a sector perspective, the majority of those stocks fit into the information technology space. So it's heavy tech weighted. Because the Mag 7 has such a concentration of the top positions, your risk is concentrated in just how those four or five stocks do. Right. That's simple. Equally weighted. Just basically as an ETF in which the one that I just shared is QQQE, it's actually 1% exposure across the board for every security that's in that index. So that's 100 securities, 100 positions at 1%. Why does that matter? Because now we spread out the risk and then we get exposures to other positions that might do well. And one of the names that I kind of shared on a call the other day was Palo Alto Networks. That's not in people's top 10. Nobody's holding that. But if you look inside, that's a nice position. It's actually had a really strong run. They have really good covenants, they have really good relationships and good free cash flow. That's somewhere that people might want to get exposure to, but they're not getting exposure to that. So that's why a QQQE in a late stage cycle would make more sense opposed to just trying to capture, capture the run up of a concentrated position.
Financial Services Commentator
You've had an extensive career in finance.
Bilal
I wonder if there's something that you
Financial Services Commentator
learned as a professional that changed the way you invested personally. Right. Like for a retail investor who's new, there's obviously things that you've seen and you have access to that. You're like, wait, I wish people Would have traded.
Financial Expert / ETF Specialist
Yeah. So let me. I gotta. I gotta preference this. So you guys actually have more freedom than I have. And Bilal, you know this from having your security licenses, right? I have my. I have my series seven, I have my 63. I have a bunch of security licenses that I can't trade anything for the most part. We have to submit through compliance. So you have more flexibility than I have. The one thing that I've learned is the math matters on the downside. It matters more on the downside than even capturing the upside because the impact of loss is so great. However, greed and fear are two most innate characteristics. And you know this. You ain't made. No, I'm going to say, I'm going to speak like us. You haven't made any positive decisions when you've been emotionally charged, right? Like, it never happens. So. So my key takeaway from like my career is that just staying in the game is better than trying to win the game. And that's what people tend to forget. So when the market gets volatile, they tend to sell. Right. We just have the same terrible buying behaviors. We tend to sell. We think it's gonna, you know, the shoe is dropping. It's, you know, the sky is falling. So my ability to stay in the market and control my emotions have been the most supportive aspect of winning.
Investor / Host
I get, from a diversification standpoint, to be equally weighted. That tells me you may see somewhat of a correction. But how long do you stay equal?
Financial Expert / ETF Specialist
Good question. So, like, I think the equally weighted could be a core position and it's complimentary position. So let me just give you a couple of different ways to think about it. Most people, if they're going to hold two core ETFs, they're going to hold likely QQQ and VO. Right? Like, just give me a head nod if we're right. Okay. We're on the same page.
Investor / Host
Yeah.
Financial Expert / ETF Specialist
So one, you're already starting to get some overlap between the two positions anyway, right? Just as far as information and tech goes. But now what I'm thinking is you want beta when you know the market is going to have a strong tailwind and run up. So you have. We had beta from 2015 to 2020, then it got real volatile and then what happened?
Wasabi Representative
Excuse me.
Financial Expert / ETF Specialist
The beta trade was on at the bottom of 2020 and 2021. You're like, get in the market, didn't matter what you had. The AI trade is the exact same. So right now it's all run up, it's all pulled up together. But now what are we seeing? We're seeing now more of a trader's market where the opportunity to find dislocations is actually supportive of the environment. So you can trade as an example. Everyone's excited. How could you not be excited about Micron's earnings? Micron's earnings are through the roof. But look at the stock price. Stock price is back at $1100. The peak was 1250. It's not even back at its peak and it's crushed it. So it's not even strong enough to pull the entire space up. So being that the case now, I want to start to think the market is saying, hey, should I go out and find a new asset class and or another area that I can buy to gain value? That's the storyline there. That's what you should feel, that's what you should sense, that's what you should see. The market rewards the surprise to the upside and or making sure that you meet the objective that you set out. It does not like negative surprises. And the negative surprise, in my opinion, just looking at that is, well, we're not being rewarded anymore for that holding right. Right now where we are. So now can we pivot and place capital elsewhere?
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CarMax Representative
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Outdoor Enthusiast
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Outdoor Enthusiast's Friend
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Outdoor Enthusiast
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Outdoor Enthusiast
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Outdoor Enthusiast's Friend
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Martha (Kohler Ambassador)
when Kohler, the global design leader in luxurious kitchen and bath products, came to me and said, martha, we need an ambassador for our timeless, elegant, durable cast iron products. I said, I'm in now. Let me see the factory. Weeks later I was suited up in coveralls and work boots, walking through their Kohler, Wisconsin cast iron foundry. I stood next to the molten iron furnace, saw the hand applying enamel and touched the gorgeous finished products waiting to be sent out into the world. Since 1883, Kohler cast iron products have been forged and finished by the incredible craftspeople right in Kohler, Wisconsin. I'll tell you, I gained a newfound respect and appreciation for Kohler's cast iron craftsmanship. So now I'm lending my discerning staff of approval to my most beloved Kohler cast iron products for their durability, beauty and timelessness. Shop my Kohler Cast Iron favorites curated on Kohler.com bring the warmth, character and enduring style of these timeless products into your kitchens and Bathrooms. As the Kohler cast iron ambassador, I say long live cast iron.
Ryan Reynolds (Mint Mobile)
Hey, it's Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. Now I was looking for fun ways to tell you that Mint's offer of unlimited Premium Wireless for $15 a month is back. So I thought it would be fun if we made $15 bills, but it turns out that's very illegal. So there goes my big idea for the commercial. Give it a try@mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment
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Financial Expert / ETF Specialist
Me slow when network is busy See
Investor / Host
terms well place capital. The next question would be where?
Financial Expert / ETF Specialist
But yeah, I gotta ask b, I gotta ask you that.
Investor / Host
Yeah, for real.
But I want to ask you about crypto too because you mentioned crypto early and it has been beaten up. Specifically. Bitcoin is something that has a lot of people nervous because there's still talk that it could go down even further than it has been. And during this whole AI run, during the NASDAQ run, during all of this stock market run, crypto has not gone up at all. And bitcoin is down 50. But if you look at XRP and Ethereum, they're down worse than that. Solana. And then, you know, now you're starting, it happens all the time. Now you're starting to hear people saying that crypto is a scam and there's no point in bitcoin. It has no eccentric, no eccentric value. Even Mark Cuban, I think he's. No, was it Mark Cuban or was it the guy that owns barstool? He said that. He's saying, well, he's like, maybe bitcoin is going to zero. So what is your thoughts on the crypto space? Bitcoin? Yeah.
Financial Expert / ETF Specialist
So one, I think investors should think about it twofold. If you're a trader. Right. Then just identify your best opportunities to trade within the space. Just is what it is. Right. I'm not here to tell you which asset class is going to be in favor for a week or two. If you're a trader, you should continue to trade the asset classes if liquidity is there and the opportunity for you to have conviction in the trade. So that's one. The second thing is I think you should have to. There's has to be bifurcation in crypto versus Bitcoin just because of the association of bitcoin.
Investor / Host
Right.
Financial Expert / ETF Specialist
Bitcoin is Seen as the store of value, all these other components of it that you already know. The other thing is it's not sticking with the narrative that it outpaces inflation. That's the bigger question and challenge. Right. It's like, okay, who owns it? It was in the Epstein's emails, like who is the to? There's a lot of different things. I saw something recently like people are calling for Satoshi to move his wallet or do something over the next 12 months. There's a lot of headlines associated with Bitcoin. So whatever you're going to do, you should just trade it, have your options there. When it comes to the rest of the ecosystem, I think the one question we all should ask, and it should be the only question is is there utility? Is there utility in the project? That's the number one question. And then if you start with that and then you look at to say who has real contracts, real partnerships, the same way that we're currently evaluating a lot of these crypto, these AI projects today, you should look at crypto the exact same way. Because even if we have, let's just say a, a cloud system that's hyper connected, that's more data, you have more devices that you're connected to. I got two laptops, I got two phones. Security is the number one threat to everyone, which means we need accounting systems that are structured, that are transparent, that are secure. So if we're moving data, if we're moving assets, if we're moving anything on these rails, you want them to work for the institutions. Now think about what's happening in crypto. While I was at the New York Stock Exchange, we announced the an alternative trading system or network which will be trading tokenized securities. You see every exchange announcing what tokenized securities. You see more support around banks and tokenized treasuries because we want to remove the friction and we want to support the movement of assets freely. Now I'll tell you, I think this is the dot com bubble for moment for crypto. They're going to be clear winners and they're going to be clear losers, I think. So in the next, in the near future, absolutely. Because we have to get the washout moment. People forget like Amazon was down 90% during the dot com bubble. People forget that like today is a staple, it's a hallmark, like we can't think of life without it. But that's where we are, I think in the maturity of this particular asset class.
Financial Services Commentator
Watch out, moment is upon us.
Financial Expert / ETF Specialist
That's, I think that's a fair moment. I think that's a fair, fair assessment of where we are.
Investor / Host
Yeah. Fair assessment. Yeah.
Financial Services Commentator
I got to start thinking about AI in terms of how disruptive it's going to be. Right. We know education, we know healthcare for good reason. I wonder what your thoughts are on financial services and if some point will we have AI managed ETFs. Right, because I feel like institutional has always had algorithmic ways to trade and now you're intensifying that by having artificial intelligence. So what do you see the future of financial services with this?
Financial Expert / ETF Specialist
You guys are coming with the haymakers on these. So, so, so two things. The first is I think innovation is
Wasabi Representative
what gets your business to market. And Wasabi is designed to give every business a shot at competition. How break free from skyrocketing storage costs and unpredictable egress fees from old and top heavy legacy providers. You know, the big guys. Wasabi is the world's hottest cloud storage company and the go to provider for professional and collegiate sports teams and leagues around the world. And here's why. Innovation from Wasabi's AI enabled intelligent media storage, Wasabi Air to the industry's only cloud storage service with triple protection against cybercriminals, data deletion and ransomware. The world's top companies trust Wasabi. Remember, Wasabi is up to 80% less than market competition and doesn't charge a cent for businesses to access their own data. Wasabi another championship story. Check them out for free@wasabi.com Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage proud partner of iHeart Podcast Network.
Outdoor Enthusiast
Awkward time to ask this, but. Hey, did you download the trail map?
Outdoor Enthusiast's Friend
Yeah, no, I don't need to.
Outdoor Enthusiast
I don't understand. You're trusting your signal out here.
Outdoor Enthusiast's Friend
I'm trusting T Mobile. They have the best network. And if we end up in bumtots nowhere, well, we've got T Satellite for backup.
Investor / Host
Whoa.
Outdoor Enthusiast
I don't trust my carrier that much.
Outdoor Enthusiast's Friend
We'll just use your phone as a flashlight.
T-Mobile Representative
With America's best network and T Satellite, we're keeping you connected in places you never thought possible. And if you switch today, you get free phones for zero down and only 25 bucks a month per line for four lines. Find out more@t mobile.com or visit your local store.
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PayPal Representative
Every sale comes down to second the one between buy now and maybe later. PayPal is built to help your business win that moment with a checkout experience that feels certain, reliable and familiar with a global two sided network and hundreds of millions of buyers who already know us all to keep you in control. However, buying happens next. New markets, new AI powered selling services. A whole new agentic era where you decide how your business will show up and stand out. PayPal is built to help your business come out ahead. We're built for payments, built for growth, built for Agentic PayPal open built for all business. Visit PayPalOpen.com to get started. That's PayPalOpen.com
Martha (Kohler Ambassador)
when Kohler, the global design leader in luxurious kitchen and bath products, came to me and said, martha, we need an ambassador for our timeless, elegant, durable cast iron products. I said, I'm in now. Let me see the factory. Weeks later I was suited up in coveralls and work boots walking through their Kohler Wisconsin cast iron foundry. I stood next to the molten iron furnace, saw the hand applying enamel and touched the gorgeous finished products waiting to be sent out into the world. Since 1883, Kohler cast iron products have been forged and finished by the incredible craftspeople right in Kohler, Wisconsin. I'll tell you, I gained a newfound respect and appreciation for for Kohler's cast iron craftsmanship. So now I'm lending my discerning staff of approval to my most beloved Kohler cast iron products for their durability, beauty and timelessness. Shop my Kohler Cast Iron favorites curated on Kohler.com bring the warmth, character and enduring style of these timeless products into your kitchens and bathrooms. As the Kohler Cast Iron Ambassador, I say long live Cast Iron.
Glen Washington (Snap Judgment Host)
I'm Glen Washington, host of Snap Judgment from kqed. Every week Snap drops you inside someone's biggest decision. The kind of decision you can only make once. With everything on the line. What do you believe? What do you want and what would you risk to get it? Find out Snap Judgment New episodes every Thursday. Wherever you get your podcast,
Financial Expert / ETF Specialist
let me take financial advice. I think people will always want to speak to people when markets get volatile and choppy because there's emotional connection to it. And b you being a former Advisor, you know, like the hand holding that is required. And you guys have been dealing with people already, right? So the market, when markets are good, everyone's making money, everyone's quiet, market's gonna be choppy, people are gonna be on your phone, you'll see your numbers go up considerably because they're looking for guidance. So that's one. I don't think AI can step into that human component just yet. Troy, the second piece, when you think about the ETF side of Active versus Passive, it can be a rules based strategy with an active overlay. Meaning rules based, meaning we're only going to hold equally weighted positions in the ETF and then apply a sector rotation to it based off of the fund manager. So that's a conservative way to run a active portfolio. Right. Now, when you think about what's happening in active and passive, nine out of $10 that are launched or products that are launched are active. So every time 10 new ETFs come to the market, nine of them are active. Active is actually starting to outpace passive. Why? Because the market is becoming dislocated and you're being rewarded for making your concentrated bets where they are appropriate for the trading side of things. I still believe information and Troy, this is, goes directly to your point. Information still moves through conversation. I'm not sure how AI will be able to interpret and deploy that based off of me having a conversation with you guys right now. Let's just say I was at Oracle and I a technical founder and we're doing some stuff and we're getting ready to release some new announcements, but we're having a conversation. AI is not going to be able to take that just as quickly right now from this conversation and then go deploy that with future projections. So I think it's still some time for that to sort of work through the system, but I do believe it's, it's a critical component of service. So when you think about if you have a financial advisor, if I can prepare my documents for my client better with their meeting notes and clear tasks for them to work through their estate planning needs, I think that's a value. So I think it's going to actually make it better for the client experience. But I don't think it's going to be managing the capital just yet.
Financial Services Commentator
Okay,
Investor / Host
I meant to actually this last on a stock club call, but you've met a lot of people in your career who are two people that gave you the best pieces of advice in your career. And what were those?
Financial Expert / ETF Specialist
The first person is Reggie Brown. If you guys don't know Reggie Brown, he is known as the godfather of ETFs. So you guys got to get him at some point. I know you guys get a lot of big hitters. Reggie is a partner at one of the largest market makers, which is GTS. They have maybe 700 ETFs that they trade. He's a brother. He's super dope. He's from Philly. And Reggie told me around decision making, he said, make sure your life is interesting. And when you. When you think about that, interesting means do you have something to say when you're in the room? Is it complimentary to the audience? Can people learn from it? Can people grow from it? So that was one. So is your life interesting? Which is a question I ask myself all the time when I'm kind of studying or reading the. The next person that I met that I think was critical for me was actually the CEO of this particular fir firm Direction, which is Doug Jonas. And Doug spent time building Vanguard's ETF business in Tokyo, in Hong Kong. So he lived in Hong Kong for years, and then he ran the stock exchange for nine. For nine years. And he told me to
Ryan Reynolds (Mint Mobile)
remove the
Financial Expert / ETF Specialist
complexity out of your life and keep it simple. Like, I thrive in complexity. But when he's like. He's like, when you're more senior and you're leaning into a lot more of the infrastructure around our business and our industry, you don't have the capacity to go down the rabbit hole of every single thing that you're curious about. So he said, hey, remove the complexity and you'll have more peace. And I'll be honest with you. My life has been. And we talked about this. I've been a little more peaceful the last couple of years than I've been in a long time since I've met Doug. So I think those two things are important is because you guys get bogged down with really helping people save for retirement. Think about these very difficult conversations that they need to have around, hey, do we have enough for retirement? Are we going to buy a house? Like, do we do this for our kids? You guys do a lot with 529 plan conversations. Like, you guys are doing a lot. Most people can't absorb all the things that you guys are sharing. So being able to remove some of the filter, like being a natural filter, would actually help more people to complete simple tasks to get to where they're trying to go. So I think those are the two things. I think they're fair.
Investor / Host
Well, Malal we want to thank you. I was coming on greatly, greatly appreciate it. I know you have a show. Anything that you want to tell the audience?
Financial Expert / ETF Specialist
Yeah, the one thing is I, I'll share this personally. I think people right now are trying to figure out what's the most important things to them. And you guys spend a lot of time talking about the aspects of financial services. I think it's equally critical to make sure that people's mental headspace is right. And that's fathers, that's men as women. Everyone's looking at, you know, the comparison tool right here of who's, you know, who's who. I think right now making sure that people feel comfortable in their own skin and confident that they're doing what it takes for them to be happy is foundational for us all to have success in the future. So that's the most important thing. You can find me on social. I'll be down at Invest Fest to support you guys. Go check out our website. Anything that I've discussed today. You can see all of our leveraged products. We're the largest leverage ETF issuer on the planet and the website is directly direction.com
Investor / Host
and we dropped the classic at ETF central top five
Financial Expert / ETF Specialist
ever all time videos viewed on the New York stock exchanges platform. So next I got to get you guys on, man. I love what you guys have been doing. So we got to make sure we collaborate as well.
Financial Services Commentator
Absolutely, man. Let's do it.
Financial Expert / ETF Specialist
From Stanford, New York.
Investor / Host
Yeah, Connecticut. Stanford, Connecticut. And for stand up. All right. All right, my brother.
Financial Expert / ETF Specialist
Thank you guys. Seriously. Yep. Talk soon.
Investor / Host
I appreciate you, my brother.
All right.
Great conversation.
Financial Services Commentator
Very intelligent brother, man.
Investor / Host
Yeah, him and bottom one to me are twins intellectually. They just focus on different things and then I believe in correlation. I gotta find another Bella to do business with because I'm two for two. I'm two for too. So if there's another Belial in the finance space,
Financial Services Commentator
he's not lying when he's talking about the amount of ETFs, man. They. They're usually the first ones to, to come forward with an ETF in new space. So yeah, that's dope that, that we got that conversation.
Investor / Host
Yeah, sure.
For sure. Shout out to him.
Glen Washington (Snap Judgment Host)
Yeah.
Bilal
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Financial Expert / ETF Specialist
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Podcast Host
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Original Air Date: July 6, 2026
Hosts: Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings, iHeartPodcasts
Featured Guest: Financial Expert / ETF Specialist
This episode focuses on the emerging financial investment opportunities in the healthcare sector, the evolving landscape of technology stocks and ETFs, and the future of crypto and AI in financial services. The discussion blends concrete investment strategies with reflections on market psychology, risk management, and personal growth, giving listeners both actionable advice and high-level industry insights.
Why Healthcare?
The guest identifies healthcare as a sector primed for growth, emphasizing increased personal interest as people focus more on well-being and infrastructure improvements.
Industry Disruption
Nvidia and other major tech companies are increasingly supporting healthcare, signaling a potential deviation and new opportunities in this realm.
"Healthcare...I think that's another area that we really should lean into...I care much more about the infrastructure of my life and my health."
— Financial Expert / ETF Specialist, [02:47]
Tech Maturity & “Mag 7”
The once-dominant “Mag 7” (top market cap tech stocks) are maturing into “the mangoes,” with Meta and Microsoft investing for the future but facing headwinds like job cuts and competitive pressure.
Product Launch Philosophy
Focus is on creating trading vehicles with high activity, not predicting sector recoveries.
"We launch the products based off of where the trading opportunities are for the market."
— Financial Expert / ETF Specialist, [05:02]
Diversification Is Critical
The current market is “priced to perfection”—meaning any slip-ups by big tech result in volatility. The guest urges diversification, specifically via equally weighted ETFs, to spread risk.
"If you have any major headwind that hits [the Mag 7], your ETF, your exposure, your stock, your option trade, it's going to go the other way and it might go against you."
— Financial Expert / ETF Specialist, [06:33]
Timestamps:
Downside Protection Matters Most
The guest stresses that for long-term success, it's essential to “stay in the game.” Protecting against losses is more important than chasing the top.
"The math matters on the downside...Greed and fear are two most innate characteristics. You haven't made any positive decisions when you've been emotionally charged, right? Like, it never happens."
— Financial Expert / ETF Specialist, [09:57]
Timing and Strategy for Equally Weighted Positions
QQQE and VO (Vanguard Index) as "core" holdings; equally weighted ETFs can smooth out choppy, late-stage bull markets and complement core tech exposure.
Bitcoin & Crypto Utility
Crypto’s current struggles are analyzed, with a clear distinction between Bitcoin as store of value and other tokens/projects.
"Whatever you're going to do, you should just trade it, have your options there...Is there utility in the project?"
— Financial Expert / ETF Specialist, [20:12]
"This is the dot com bubble moment for crypto. They're going to be clear winners and they're going to be clear losers..."
— Financial Expert / ETF Specialist, [22:32]
AI-Managed ETFs?
Potential for AI to enhance, but not yet replace, key human elements in financial advising and ETF management.
"I don't think AI can step into that human component just yet...Information still moves through conversation."
— Financial Expert / ETF Specialist, [28:14], [29:12]
Active vs. Passive ETF Trends
"Nine out of $10 that are launched or products that are launched are active. So every time 10 new ETFs come to the market, nine of them are active."
— Financial Expert / ETF Specialist, [29:46]
On staying invested:
"Just staying in the game is better than trying to win the game."
— Financial Expert / ETF Specialist, [10:41]
On market’s technology concentration:
"If you have any major headwind that hits the Mag 7, your ETF...it might go against you."
— Financial Expert / ETF Specialist, [06:33]
On the impact of AI:
"Information still moves through conversation. I'm not sure how AI will be able to interpret and deploy that based off me having a conversation with you guys right now."
— Financial Expert / ETF Specialist, [29:12]
On avoiding complexity:
“When you’re more senior...you don’t have the capacity to go down the rabbit hole of every single thing...Remove the complexity and you’ll have more peace.”
— Financial Expert / ETF Specialist (attributing Doug Jonas), [32:18]
The episode delivers a robust analysis of where headlines and long-term trends intersect in investing—highlighting healthcare, diversification, and new ETF strategies as critical themes for the coming years. The dialogue remains practical, candid, and human-centered, encouraging listeners to both seize new opportunities and stay grounded amidst market uncertainty. The final note is a reminder to not just optimize portfolios, but also mental health and personal contentment.