This is the last "official weekend of summer" and I am committing (to you and to me) to keep this short.

I recently wrote on LinkedIn that I feel like I am the luckiest person alive.

I meant it.
I love my family.
They love me back.
And we're all healthy.
What else can I possibly ask for?

The other reason I feel so lucky is that my professional life affords me the opportunity to talk to people I deeply respect, learn from them, and share that knowledge and wisdom with others.

(That last bit was the motivation behind launching the TREUSSARD TALKS podcast.)

I recently released my conversation with David Kotok.

Let me give you the one big takeaway up front, for context:

Having studied hundreds of years of economic history, David argues that we’re transitioning from pandemic economics to war finance, a regime shift that historically has raised the baseline (“neutral”) rate of interest and made inflation more persistent.

Therefore, it is reasonable to expect upward pressure on inflation and interest rates; any productivity gains from defense-driven innovation tend to arrive later and are uncertain.

Put simply, the world in which we now live and invest might be radically different from the world we’re all used to.

Before I tell you more, David reminded me of this quote from Winston Churchill. It’s the “why” behind Kotok’s unwavering focus on learning from the past to prepare for the future.

Now, if you're not in finance, you've almost certainly never heard of David.

Every profession has a handful of people like him.

→ People you've heard stories about.
→ People who've made an impact on others.
→ People whose name gets dropped out of the blue.

I guess, you would call people like Kotok members of the "if you know, you know" class.

For the record, I didn't know David personally. 🙂

A few weeks ago, my friend Dave Nadig mentioned on LinkedIn that my father-in-law Professor Zvi Bodie (who I also interviewed on TREUSSARD TALKS recently) reminded him of his longtime friend and mentor… David Kotok.

A passing comment. I thought it was sweet, and a lovely compliment.

The type of thing that puts a smile on my face.

Then, I got a phone call.

"Hi, this is David Kotok."

It was early morning.

I was walking my dog.

We ended up talking about history and behavioral finance.

We talked about Isaac Newton and Daniel Kahneman.

I told him I was teaching a Master's level course at UCI on Behavioral Finance this summer.

I desperately wanted my students to understand why the South Sea Bubble holds lessons that every investor should learn (and never forget).

He wanted to help with the class.

Unfortunately, teaching at 7pm Pacific doesn't make it easy for someone on the East Coast to patch in…

"That's ok. Put me to work in any other way you can put me to work."

So we settled on the podcast.

I can't actually force you to listen to it.

But you should.

Simply because learning from someone like David is a gift:

• Wisdom accumulated over the course of decades.

• A commitment to sharing and educating, just because that's the right thing to do.

• And above all, a commitment to kindness and civility.

• Making time for others in a world that only rewards generosity sometimes and in "mysterious ways," as the expression goes.

I am the luckiest person alive.

And I think you might be too.

Because people like David Kotok are out there.

And that just might be enough to put a smile on your face.

Now go listen to the full episode on TREUSSARD TALKS.

It's on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. You can find all the links here: https://www.treussard.com/newsletter/when-history-meets-markets-geopolitics-civility-and-capital-with-david-kotok

P.S. I also feel extraordinarily grateful for the way I get to serve my wealth-management clients at Treussard Capital Management. 

A fiduciary collaboration and partnership that leverages everything I have learned and everything that I’ve seen out there in markets for the last twenty years in the service of your wealth, your goals, and your life’s mission.

If you’d like to connect, send me an email at [email protected]. Or you can call or text me at 949 776 9696. I’d love to hear from you.