Building Better Portfolios with Don Calcagni

·59 min·5 clips

Mercer Advisors invites Vanguard and AQR to a 'Hunger Games' style summit where they grade each other's portfolios.

The episode begins with hosts Benjamin Felix, Dan Bortolotti, and Mark McGrath discussing listener inertia in financial advice, noting a case where a podcast follower uses an advisor with actively managed funds. They introduce Don Calcagni, CIO of Mercer Advisors, who manages $63 billion for 35,000 families. Calcagni outlines Mercer's investment philosophy, emphasizing fiduciary duty, scientific grounding, and a structured investment committee with over 50 members. He describes the 'Building Better Portfolios Summit,' a biannual event where asset managers and academics review Mercer's portfolios, with participants including Vanguard, Dimensional, AQR, and Avantis. Calcagni shares insights from these summits, such as disagreements on factor implementation and surprising data on advisor portfolio costs. The conversation covers Mercer's alternatives program, launched through an acquisition, which uses a fund-of-funds structure to reduce fees. Calcagni offers advice for average investors, stressing the importance of financial planning, emotional management, and low-cost index funds. In the after-show, the hosts discuss an RBC client who lost $415 million from options trading, highlighting speculative risks. They also review listener feedback and announce a successful meetup in Ottawa.

As heard by us

A clear, practical look at how portfolio theory holds up inside real investment decisions.

Portfolio construction gets a grounded stress test through a discussion with Don Kalkagny, CIO at a large US RIA whose firm draws on industry and academic expertise.

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Why you'd press play

You want to hear how thoughtful portfolio teams wrestle with factors, precision, and diversification? Start here.

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