In this episode of The Blunt Dollar, I sit down with Phil Rosen, a former Business Insider reporter turned media entrepreneur, whose journey from literary fiction to launching one of the fastest-growing finance newsletters in the game is anything but typical.

Phil is the cofounder of Opening Bell Daily, a high-impact financial newsletter read by investors around the world and syndicated by Inc. Magazine and Bloomberg Terminals. He also hosts Full Signal, a show that breaks down market trends and interviews top thinkers in finance and tech.

We discuss the tectonic shift in financial media, how AI is reshaping content creation, and what it takes to build a sustainable voice in a noisy digital world.

✅ From Business Insider to building an independent media empire 📈
✅ Why volume still wins and how to scale without burning out 🔥
✅ Legacy media’s trust problem and the rise of individual brands 🧱
✅ How AI is changing the game and how Phil uses it daily 🤖
✅ Storytelling, stoicism, and simplifying finance for real people 📚

If you like media disruption, creator-led finance, and sharp takes on the future of content, this one’s for you.

Oh, and if you haven't already... subscribe to The Blunt Dollar for more raw and honest finance conversations.

New episodes drop every other week! Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.

And last, but not least, don't forget to follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ignacio-ramirez-moreno-cfa/

Enjoy the episode!

Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Listeners should consult a qualified financial professional before making any financial decisions.

In this episode of The Blunt Dollar, I sit down for the third time with Lucy Baldwin, Global Head of Research at Citi, to unpack what it really takes to lead one of the largest and most influential research platforms in the world.

With a career spanning Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Credit Suisse, Lucy offers a candid, thoughtful look at how research, leadership, and markets are evolving in an era defined by AI, information overload, and constant disruption.

Together, we explore how great research is built, how to think independently in a consensus driven industry, and why curiosity, structure, and storytelling matter more than ever.

💡 What the day-to-day life of a Global Head of Research actually looks like at a truly global institution

🤖 How AI is reshaping equity research, analyst productivity, and competitive advantage across industries

📊 The balance between speed and depth in research in a world that demands instant insights

🎯 What separates great analysts from good ones, and how to build real differentiation with clients

🚀 Career advice for young professionals navigating finance in a rapidly changing job market

If you like conversations about markets, research, leadership, and the future of finance, this one’s for you.

Oh, and if you haven't already... subscribe to The Blunt Dollar for more raw and honest finance conversations.

New episodes drop every other week! Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.

And last, but not least, don't forget to follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ignacio-ramirez-moreno-cfa/

Enjoy the episode!

Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Listeners should consult a qualified financial professional before making any financial decisions.

John Haslett is not your typical finance COO. As cofounder of Graphite Asset Advisory, John brings a rare blend of risk discipline, storytelling flair, and market intuition that sets him apart in the world of discretionary fund management. Named a Top 10 LinkedIn Voice in South African finance, John has built a firm that has never lost a single client or team member in over a decade. In this episode, we dive deep into how he did it and what it means to truly play the long game in both markets and life.

🔍 From auditing structured finance in the 2008 crisis to building a human centered investment firm

🧠 How behavioral risk, not just portfolio theory, drives Graphite’s asset allocation

📈 Why both value and growth managers are outperforming and what it signals for active investing

🤖 The creative power of AI in finance and John's process behind the Green and Bear It letter

🏉 What rugby, deadlifting, and raising a daughter taught him about long term thinking

If you are into resilience, market psychology, and the future of asset management, this one is for you.

Oh, and if you haven't already... subscribe to The Blunt Dollar for more raw and honest finance conversations.

New episodes drop every other week! Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.

And last, but not least, don't forget to follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ignacio-ramirez-moreno-cfa/

Enjoy the episode!

Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Listeners should consult a qualified financial professional before making any financial decisions.

Karl Rogers has traded everything from oil calendar spreads to electricity across the US grid and now he's building one of Ireland’s most forward thinking family office investment platforms at Elkstone.

In this episode of The Blunt Dollar, we dive deep into how Karl’s prop trading roots shaped his unique investment approach, why he believes most forecasts are useless, and how to build portfolios that are both behaviorally resilient and future proof.

🎯 Built Elkstone’s investment platform from scratch with a focus on edge, not orthodoxy

⚡️ Former pro trader in oil, cocoa and US power markets and why electricity trading rewired his thinking

📉 Why Karl says macro doesn’t matter and most forecasts are just expensive guesses

🧠 Behavioral “armor” for investors and how to prevent panic selling and cognitive pitfalls

🧰 Why the 60 40 portfolio might be outdated and how to build for the next market cycle

If you like unfiltered takes on hedge funds, behavioral finance insights, and how to actually build a robust investment platform, this one's for you.

Oh, and if you haven't already... subscribe to The Blunt Dollar for more raw and honest finance conversations.

New episodes drop every other week! Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.

And last, but not least, don't forget to follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ignacio-ramirez-moreno-cfa/

Enjoy the episode!

Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Listeners should consult a qualified financial professional before making any financial decisions.

In this episode of The Blunt Dollar, we sit down with Andrew Spence, founder and CEO of Aspen, one of the UK’s fastest-growing model portfolio service (MPS) providers.

From his early career in marine engineering to a life-altering health scare that reshaped his outlook, Andrew shares the pivotal moments that led him to build Aspen with a clean slate and a mission to add real value to wealth management.

We dive into how Aspen challenges the "me too" nature of the MPS industry, why most risk profiling is broken, and how goal-based investing can reshape the advisor-client conversation.

Key topics covered:

🔧 How engineering principles and a brush with mortality inspired Aspen’s no-nonsense, tech-forward approach to portfolio management

🧠 Why the current risk profiling system fails both advisors and clients, and what a better framework could look like

🌦️ Inside Aspen’s flagship Four Seasons portfolio and the thinking behind modular strategies like core versus satellite investing

💰 A candid breakdown of the false binary between low-cost index funds and high-fee managers, and what real value should mean in MPS

🤖 The impact of AI on wealth management and why the advisor’s human role is still irreplaceable for now

If you’re interested in goal-based investing, fixing broken financial frameworks, and building things that truly matter, this one’s for you.

Oh, and if you haven't already... subscribe to The Blunt Dollar for more raw and honest finance conversations.

New episodes drop every other week! Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.

And last, but not least, don't forget to follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ignacio-ramirez-moreno-cfa/

Enjoy the episode!

Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Listeners should consult a qualified financial professional before making any financial decisions.

After four decades in European finance, David Hawa has seen it all, from the birth of the euro to managing €3 billion bond portfolios and leading distribution at firms like Nordea, Fortis, and Robeco. In this episode, David unpacks the evolution of fixed income markets, the critical role of client communication, and how staying calm in a crisis defines great investors.

We explore his career arc, from cold-calling at Morgan Stanley to managing sovereign debt portfolios and shaping sustainable investing strategies long before they were fashionable.

Here’s what we cover:

📉 How managing €3B in government bonds teaches discipline, clarity, and staying power

🌍 Why European firms differ so much in culture, and what he learned from each

🌱 What “transition investing” means, and why ESG is entering a new, more rigorous chapter

💼 How to build client trust and explain complex strategies with precision

🧠 The overlooked beauty (and misunderstood complexity) of fixed income investing

If you like career deep dives, European market insights, and brutally honest takes on ESG and risk, this one's for you.

Oh, and if you haven't already... subscribe to The Blunt Dollar for more raw and honest finance conversations.

New episodes drop every other week! Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.

And last, but not least, don't forget to follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ignacio-ramirez-moreno-cfa/

Enjoy the episode!

Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Listeners should consult a qualified financial professional before making any financial decisions.

In this week’s episode of The Blunt Dollar, I’m joined by Spencer Jakab, renowned investment columnist at The Wall Street Journal, author of "Heads I Win, Tails I Win" and "The Revolution That Wasn’t", and the voice behind the widely read "Markets AM" newsletter. Before journalism, Spencer was a top-ranked equity analyst and head of EM research at Credit Suisse. He’s been on both sides of the machine, and now writes to explain why smart investors still make dumb mistakes.

This conversation is a candid dive into the craft of financial storytelling, the psychology of market manias, and what it means to be a journalist in an age of information overload.

We get into:

📈 Spencer’s unusual path from emerging markets research to *WSJ* columnist

📚 The GameStop saga, what it revealed about retail behavior, and why conspiracies still persist

🧠 Why intelligence alone won’t make you a good investor (and what might)

🗞️ How financial journalism is adapting to AI, social media noise, and collapsing attention spans

🧵 The newsletter flywheel: how Spencer writes daily for half a million readers without losing his voice

If you’re into behavioral finance, media skepticism, and finance without the fluff, this one’s for you.

Oh, and if you haven't already... subscribe to The Blunt Dollar for more raw and honest finance conversations.

New episodes drop every other week! Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.

And last, but not least, don't forget to follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ignacio-ramirez-moreno-cfa/

Enjoy the episode!

Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Listeners should consult a qualified financial professional before making any financial decisions.

What do a monastery in India, a £50 billion multi-asset franchise, and a fixed income desk have in common?

In this episode, we sit down with Mitesh Sheth, former CEO of Redington and CIO at Newton Investment Management, for a deeply human conversation about purpose, reinvention, and what it truly means to lead.

An actuary by training and a strategist by conviction, Mitesh has built his career not only around financial alpha—but organizational alpha.

From sleeping on a straw mat in a monastery to transforming investment firms from the inside out, Mitesh challenges the traditional narratives of finance with radical humility, emotional intelligence, and spiritual insight.

We discuss:

🌍 Growing up as a “double exile” between Bolton and India and how it shaped his leadership style

🧘‍♂️ Why he chose to live like a monk right after university—and what it taught him about purpose and identity

🏢 His concept of “organizational alpha” and how culture can become a firm’s greatest edge

🧠 How AI and spirituality can co-exist in a more human-centered model of finance

📖 Why storytelling, not spreadsheets, drives real inclusion and innovation

If you like conversations about purposeful leadership, rethinking the future of finance, and finding meaning in the messiness of life, this one's for you.

Oh, and if you haven't already... subscribe to The Blunt Dollar for more raw and honest finance conversations.

New episodes drop every other week! Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.

And last, but not least, don't forget to follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ignacio-ramirez-moreno-cfa/

Enjoy the episode!

Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Listeners should consult a qualified financial professional before making any financial decisions.