67. Finance, Philosophy, and the Yen Carry Trade feat. John Normand

We often talk about institutional investors as the allocators of capital to the public and private markets.  They are huge, active participants driving supply and demand dynamics in the fixed income and equity markets, and they often make sizable investments as LPs in private equity and private credit funds.  But what exactly are they trying to accomplish, and why?

We sat down with John Normand --- the former head of Cross-Asset Strategy at JP Morgan and the current head of Investment Strategy at Australian Super --- to discuss investment strategy at a superannuation fund (what we in the US think of as a "pension fund").  John is one of our most accomplished and distinguished guests to date.   Not only does he explain the mechanics of defined benefit / defined contribution plans, but he also shares his philosophical perspective on the ethics of investing, his current views on the macro environment, and a crash course in one of the staples of fixed income markets: the Yen carry trade.  This episode is a must listen for anyone who wants to understand how some of the biggest allocators of capital in both the public and private markets approach investment strategy.

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