The NAVigator
268 episodes - English - Latest episode: 16 days ago - ★★★★★ - 5 ratingsThe NAVigator, from the Active Investment Company Alliance (AICA), talks all-weather investing and “excellence beyond indexing” through the use of closed-end funds (CEFs) & business-development companies (BDCs). AICA – a new organization that includes a diverse constituency that runs from investors through fund sponsors – aims to help investors & advisors plot a new and different course to financial success, via the tactical use of securities that mix active management within listed & non-listed structures. Subscribe now to get regular updates on everything you need to know to succeed with CEFs & BDCs.
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Episodes
Three decades of data and change give a glimpse into the future
January 03, 2020 11:34 - 12 minutes - 10.3 MBJohn Cole Scott, chief investment officer at Closed-End Fund Advisors and the founder and executive chairman of the Active Investment Company Alliance, revisits data used by his father George Cole Scott in writing "Investing in Closed-End Funds: Finding Value and Building Wealth," the seminal book on closed-end fund investing that was written 30 years ago. He examines changes in the industry -- moves away from single-country funds, dramatic growth amongst new funds and more -- and gives his ...
AICA's founding chairman looks back on 2019 and ahead to 2020
December 27, 2019 11:30 - 12 minutes - 9.89 MBJohn Cole Scott, chief investment officer at Closed-End Fund Advisors and the founder and executive chairman at the Active Investment Company Alliance, looks at the year that was in closed-end funds for 2019, starting from the Christmas holiday a year ago when the business had been decimated by a market downturn to turn things around in the course of one of the industry's best years ever. Scott also turns his attention to what lies ahead for closed-end funds in 2020.
How and why some closed-end trades require a matchmaker
December 20, 2019 12:38 - 9 minutes - 8.12 MBRussell Robinson of Capital Institutional Services -- a brokerage platform that supplies liquidity for closed-end funds -- describes how some issues are thinly traded and require an intermediary like his firm to step in and maintain an orderly market. He explains the importance of having that liquidity and the lengths his firm sometimes must go to make it work when institutional investors want to make big moves in funds that don't trade much.
Interval funds offer a unique, structured way to get alternatives
December 13, 2019 11:39 - 8 minutes - 7.17 MBThis week on The NAVigator, Jeremy Goff, managing director at Tortoise Advisors, discusses how investors can use interval funds -- which have less liquidity than the standard closed-end fund -- to add structure and diversification to a portfolio. Goff compares traditional closed-end funds, as well as hedge funds, to interval offerings, noting that the reduced liquidity of an interval fund often pays off by allowing managers to pursue higher-risk strategies without any danger of investor flight
Fund manager Merk: Closed-end options can figure into precious-metals decisions
December 06, 2019 11:51 - 9 minutes - 7.73 MBAxel Merk, president and chief investment officer at the Merk Funds, recently took over the ASA Gold and Precious Metals closed-end fund, and he talks about what convinced him to mak the move, the differences between traditional funds and closed-end funds for investors seeking precious-metals exposure, and how the closed-end space -- which traditionally has not been filled with lots of options for investors -- is changing in its coverage of precious metals now.
2019 has been a record year for closed-end IPOs, and 2020 should be better
November 29, 2019 11:43 - 10 minutes - 8.34 MBJerry Raio, president and chief executive officer at Arbor Lane Advisors in New York -- a firm that helps money-management companies develop new investment products -- says that changes making closed-end fund initial public offerings more attractive have combined with favorable market conditions leading 2019 to be the most prolific time for IPOs that the industry has seen in years. Raio says the trend looks likely continue into the new year with a wide range of new, different and unique new ...
BDC Reporter's Marshi: Expect a stable year ahead for business-development companies
November 22, 2019 11:57 - 7 minutes - 6.6 MBNicholas Marshi, editor of BDC Reporter, said that business-development companies held strong on their dividends in the third-quarter despite LIBOR dropping and eroding investment income during the period. Marshi said BDC's made up for the income shortfall caused by LIBOR by adding assets or selling equity stakes in companies to keep earnings steady to slightly up from a year ago. Marshi noted that BDC's are mostly immune to headlines and politics, so he expects stable dividends to continue ...
Answers on cash-flow generation, tax-loss selling and more
November 15, 2019 15:05 - 10 minutes - 8.93 MBJohn Cole Scott, executive chairman of the Active Investment Company Alliance returns to The NAVigator to answer audience questions about some of the nuts and bolts of closed-end fund investing, covering tax-loss selling and where to expect good opportunities this year, cash-flow generation and how to build a portfolio of closed-end funds that produces an income stream, and the documents an investor should review with closed-end funds as compared to what they might examine with a traditional...
Bulldog Investors' Goldstein sees trouble ahead for activist investors
November 08, 2019 12:18 - 10 minutes - 8.39 MBPhillip Goldstein, co-founder of the Bulldog Investors hedge fund and a legendary activist investor in the closed-end fund space said at the Active Investment Company Alliance Boot Camp and Conference in New York City that he fears for the future of shareholder activism in closed-end funds because firms have been putting up barriers that regulators have allowed, making it increasingly difficult for outsiders to gain a foothold that will help them make a difference.
Rob Shaker of Shaker Financial focuses on discounts to get paid in closed-end investing
November 08, 2019 12:09 - 7 minutes - 7.45 MBIn this bonus edition of The NAVigator taped at the Active Investment Company Alliance Boot Camp and Roundtable in New York City on Nov. 6, host Chuck Jaffe talks with Rob Shaker, portfolio manager at Shaker Financial, about why his primary focus in choosing closed-end funds is the discount level, but why all discounts are not created equal.
Matisse Capital's Boughton on the benefits of buying funds of closed-end funds
November 08, 2019 12:08 - 10 minutes - 9.42 MBIn this bonus edition of The NAVigator taped at the Active Investment Company Alliance Boot Camp and Roundtable in New York City on Nov. 6, host Chuck Jaffe talks with Eric Boughton, chief analyst at Matisse Capital about which investors might prefer a fund of closed-end funds rather than a few individual holdings and why, but also discusses discounts, which sectors are particularly attractive now and more.
Nuveen's Meyers talks muni funds, interest rates and more
November 08, 2019 11:59 - 11 minutes - 10.3 MBIn this bonus edition of The NAVigator taped at the Active Investment Company Alliance Boot Camp and Roundtable in New York City on Nov. 6, host Chuck Jaffe talks with Bill Meyers, senior managing director at Nuveen about how and why he thinks investors are overly focused on discounts, on the reasons why investors -- if they focus less on discounts -- would want closed-end funds at all, about how interest rates are affecting funds and more.
Business-development companies offer unique opportunities for yield
November 04, 2019 11:34 - 11 minutes - 9.13 MBChris Oberbeck, chairman and chief executive officer at Saratoga Investment Corp. talks about how and why he and his partners took over a struggling business-development company at the height of the late-2000s financial crisis, and how BDCs by structure and underlying assets make for a unique and diversifying investment for investors looking for alternatives to traditional yield-focused investments.
Lessons from the birthplace of closed-end funds
October 25, 2019 10:45 - 9 minutes - 7.7 MBPiers Currie of Warhorse Partners discusses the long history of closed-end funds and unit investment trusts in England and what domestic investors can learn from the industry in Europe, as well as why closed-end funds are ideal for making international investments and how he thinks the financial industry will be affected by the resolution of Brexit.
'Interval funds' are growing in popularity, especially for alternative investments
October 24, 2019 14:56 - 10 minutes - 8.4 MBJoshua Deringer, chairman of the investment management group at the law firm Drinker, Biddle and Reath, explains the inner workings of 'interval funds,' a type of closed-end fund that is not publicly traded but that is growing in popularity in part because the fund structure itself makes it ideal for alternative and illiquid types of investments that haven't always fared well when managed in a traditional mutual fund wrapper.
The value of indexes made up of closed-end funds
October 11, 2019 10:48 - 10 minutes - 8.96 MBPatrick Shaddow, director of index operations at S-Network Global Indexes, discusses the merits to and the construction of index funds built entirely of closed-end funds, noting the importance of favoring issues with discounts and good liquidity in developing products and benchmarks that reflect the true potential and performance of the closed-end fund space.
Alternative investments find a new and expanding platform in closed-end funds
October 04, 2019 10:38 - 9 minutes - 7.56 MBKimberly Flynn, managing director of alternative investments at XA Investments, discusses how alternative investments from private equity to illiquid securities, insurance credits and much more are being increasingly made available through closed-end fund structures, a result both of investor demand and changing regulatory rules. Flynn discusses how and why advisors want to use these new portfolio tools and identifies several alt funds with low minimum investments that personify the trend.
Welcome to The NAVigator! This is what it's all about
October 01, 2019 10:31 - 10 minutes - 9.98 MBJohn Cole Scott, founder of the Active Investment Company Alliance, is the guest on the first NAVigator podcast, discussing the ins and outs of this new show and closed-end fund investing, what to expect from it in the future, and what his new organization is trying to achieve by bringing together all of the constituents of the closed-end fund and business-development company industry.