About this episode
In celebration of March Madness, Chief U.S. Economist Lara Rhame and the Investment Research team go head-to-head in “Market Madness.” In this bracket-style debate, our experts consider which topics will be most influential to markets for the rest of the year and what it means for investors.
Transcript excerpt
Lara Rhame (00:16):
Welcome back to FireSide, a podcast from FS Investments. I’m Lara Rhame, Chief U.S. Economist here at FS, and today we are recording our annual market madness. You guessed it. In honor of the NCAA basketball tournament, we have created a bracket of our 16 ideas that could influence markets over the coming year. Some are obvious, some are here on a repeat appearance, and some are long shots, right? Like any good tournament. Let’s introduce the other folks on our panel before we really get into the competition. I’m joined by our Head of Private Wealth Solutions, Rob Hoffman. Rob, are you ready to go today?
Rob Hoffman (00:59):
Hello, I am super excited.
Lara Rhame (01:01):
Also, here is Andrew Korz, an Executive Director on the team who’s our thought leader on commercial real estate and equity markets in general. Andrew, welcome.
Andrew Korz (01:09):
Hey Lara. I got some shots up pre-game. I’m excited to go.
Lara Rhame (01:13):
I hope we’ve all gotten up for the game. I have. I know I have. Finally making his FS FireSide debut and rounding out our panel is Alan Flannigan. Alan is not only a terrific new addition to our team, but he’s also co-authored a white paper recently on private equity secondaries. It’s some of the smartest education around on this topic. So do yourselves a favor and look it up. And there’s another reason Alan’s here. He was in the NCAA tournament for Lafayette in 2015. So while his market insights are going to be valuable, I’m hoping he’ll give us a little peek into the intensity of that experience. And Alan, welcome to the podcast.
Alan Flannigan (01:53):
Thanks Lara. It’s a pleasure to be here. I didn’t realize I’d still be rehashing my college basketball exploit this many years later, but glad that it’s paid off here. So privileged to be here.
Lara Rhame (02:03):
Alright, let’s talk about the tournament, the brackets as we record today. The bracket isn’t out yet. We’re recording on March 13, the brackets coming out this coming weekend.
Alan Flannigan (02:17):
Selection Sunday.
Lara Rhame (02:18):
Yeah. Selection Sunday. Andrew, you as anybody who’s been a frequent visitor of this podcast recognizes Andrew is a rabid Villanova fan. Are you guys in this year by chance?
