TIP328: BALANCED PORTFOLIO ALLOCATION

W/ DAMIEN BISSERIER AND ALEX SHAHIDI

19 December 2020

On today’s episode, we sit down with Alex Shahidi and Damien Bisserier from Evoke Advisors, to discuss balanced portfolio allocation tactics used by billionaires like Ray Dalio.

Damien used to work for Dalio at Bridgewater Associates – the largest hedge fund in the world with more than $160B under management, while Alex has over 20 years of experience managing billions of dollars for his clients. We discuss why, after years of research, Alex and Damien have concluded that a portfolio based on risk parity is the optimal structure for any investor.

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IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN:

  • How to create a portfolio with a balance risk and reward for each investment
  • How to access the strategy used by Billionaire Ray Dalio
  • How this portfolio should endure any economic climate
  • Why each holding in your portfolio should be as uncorrelated as possible
  • What it’s like to work for Ray Dalio using “radical transparency”

TRANSCRIPT

Disclaimer: The transcript that follows has been generated using artificial intelligence. We strive to be as accurate as possible, but minor errors and slightly off timestamps may be present due to platform differences.

Stig Brodersen (00:00:03):
In today’s episode, we sit down with Alex Shahidi and Damien Bisserier to discuss balanced portfolio allocation tactics used by billionaires like Ray Dalio. Damien used to work for Ray Dalio at Bridgewater Associates. The largest hedge fund in the world with more than $160 billion under management. But Alex has over 20 years of experience managing billions of dollars for his clients. We discuss why after years of research, Alex and Damien have concluded that a portfolio based on risk parity is the optimal structure for any investor. So sit back and enjoy this discussion with Alex Shahidi and Damien Bisserier.

Intro (00:00:42):
You are listening to the Investor’s Podcast, where we study the financial markets and read the books that influence self-made billionaires the most. We keep you informed and prepared for the unexpected.

Stig Brodersen (00:01:02):
It’s your piece. Before we jump into this episode with Damien and Alex, I want to clarify a few different things. Quite a few of you had talked about Preston and me talking too much about Bitcoin here on a show. And I wanted to clarify that in the sense that in a way we do and the way we actually don’t. Every Wednesday, Preston has his own episode where he’s the only host and he’ll be talking solely about Bitcoin. If you don’t want to listen to it, that’s completely fine, of course. Then don’t listen to it. And then on Saturdays, I host We Study Billionaires. Sometimes with Preston, sometimes with Trey. And these are completely regular episodes. We won’t be talking about Bitcoin. We talk about Warren Buffett, books, stock investing, and how to optimize your portfolio like we’re doing in this episode here with Damien and Alex. So hopefully you see this as a good thing.

Stig Brodersen (00:01:46):
If you’re really into Bitcoin, listen to the Wednesday episodes. If you’re not into Bitcoin, listen to the ones we have on Saturdays. We try to make the difference clear in a few different ways. One way is that, the way I’m explaining here, but another way is also how we title the episodes. So if it’s a regular, the Investor’s Podcast episode, for instance, this one, this is called TIP328. So that’s a regular episode, we won’t be talking about Bitcoin. Then we have the Bitcoin episode and thy are called BTC4. For instance, that’s the one you had last Wednesday. And next Wednesday, it’s going to be called BTC5. And then a third way is that our logo is red and there’s a sketch with me and Preston on the regular episodes. And then the Bitcoin episode, it should be orange and only Preston or the guests for that matter.

Stig Brodersen (00:02:30):
Now, some of the podcast players that we work with actually have that feature. For instance, Spotify has that feature. But Apple podcast, we’re just fixing it right now and it hasn’t been fixed yet. So if you are on Apple, it may look like it’s a regular episode whenever it’s not. Okay, let’s jump into the episode with Damien and Alex. Welcome to the Investor’s Podcast. My name is Stig Brodersen. And as always, I’m accompanied by one of my co-host. And today, I’m here with Trey Lockerbie, out there in LA. We are super stoked to be sitting here with Alex and Damien to talk about the new ETF.

Alex Shahidi (00:03:02):
Thank you for having us.

Stig Brodersen (00:03:03):
So let’s kick this show off. How did you guys get to know each other and how did you come up with a new idea for your new ETF, RPAR?

Alex Shahidi (00:03:13):
Well, going back in time, I started at Merrill Lynch as a financial advisor. And what’s interesting is when you come in, they give you a phone and a computer and they say, “Go get clients.” And as more of an investor, rather than a salesperson, I set out to try to find what I thought was the best portfolio for clients and it’s been this lifelong journey. So this is over 20 years ago. And as I was going through this process, I discovered a firm that I thought was particularly insightful, Bridgewater Associates, largest hedge fund in the world. And they’re just very thoughtful about how they build portfolios. And so I started spending a lot of time learning about their perspective, which I thought was different and unique and made a lot of sense to me. And I met Damien at Bridgewater. And he was there for nine years. It all came together at a particular meeting Damien and I had with Ray Dalio.

Damien Bisserier (00:04:06):
It was a memorable meeting because Ray had a unique reaction after the meeting. It was the first time he had met Alex and Alex had a good back and forth with him. And he grabbed me in the hallway afterwards and said, “Hey, that guy I was talking to has good common sense. We should hire him.” And so that was about as high praises as I’ve heard from Ray, after an initial meeting. And so I gave Alex a call. I gave him the feedback and Alex said, “I’m flattered. I would love to spend time working with you guys out there, but my family is here in Los Angeles and so could I open an office in Los Angeles?” And I said, “No, I’ve been trying that for a years and I don’t think it’s going to work.” And so he said, “Well, while we’re on the topic, would you ever consider working with me?” And so that was the genesis of what ultimately became the firm that we launched, which was Advanced Research Investment Solutions. And we later combined forces with the EVOKE Advisors, but that was the, I think, the initial seed to the idea.

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