Money Life with Chuck Jaffe

Ryan Isherwood, chief investment officer at Significance Capital, says that the stock market's momentum has not been broken even as it backed away from recent record highs, which means that stocks have been correcting since last October. That makes it more of a time correction — which can last longer — than a short, steep price drop. That said, Isherwood noted that there are strong signs that the market could resume its long-term upward trend and bullish bias once the geo-political pullback ends as there is more clarity in the headlines.
Yelena Maleyev, senior economist at KPMG Economics, discusses the March 2026 Outlook Survey from the National Association for Business Economics, released today, which showed that  the consensus forecast among economists has deteriorated sharply in the last few weeks, with two-thirds of the group expecting a reduction of GDP this year, and in many cases that economic activity slowdown will be big, but will stop short of recession conditions. Nearly 70% of the economists said the broadening of geopolitical conflicts is the "greatest downside risk to the  economy over the next 12 months;" just 8% felt that way about geopolitical worries just three months ago.
Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi, turns to a diversified natural resources index fund as his "ETF of the Week," noting that a multi-sector approach involving upstream energy companies, agricultural companies and more can be a good diversifier — while providing a decent yield — in current conditions.
Plus Matt Weyandt, a client portfolio manager on the listed real assets team at Nuveen, discusses how a "Halo theme" — heavy asset, low obsolescence — positions investments in real estate, infrastructure and commodities to perform well despite global headlines that are buffeting markets. Specifically, Weyandt notes that location-specific hard assets  with contractual income streams are built to deliver regardless of the broad market conditions.

David Chavern, president and chief executive officer for the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI), discusses how insurance companies — who have been investing in private credit situations long before those investments were available to the general public — are withstanding the risks that critics say could cause the next financial crisis. Chavern also discusses the changing role of insurance, and specifically annuities, in financial planning as the last generations to get pensions are reaching retirement age and the next group of savers is looking for consistent, stable income later in life.
Howard Dvorkin, chairman at Debt.com, discusses "pig butchering," a sophisticated financial scheme where criminals build a relationship with victims online and then persuade them to invest in fake crypto or other fraudulent schemes. The bad guys' efforts have been bolstered by the development of artificial intelligence, making it easier to connect with targets — often the elderly or young, naive newbie investors — for them to "fatten them up" before slaughter.  
Stash Graham, managing director at Graham Capital Wealth Management, talks stocks in the Market Call.  In an issue related to the private-credit concerns discusses in the Chaven interview, Graham takes a particular interest now in some of the business-development companies that have been tarnished by recent lending issues and portfolio re-valuation problems, noting that their are solid long-term business reasons to ride out the current headlines expecting a long-term payoff.

Arin Dube, an economics professor at UMass-Amherst, discusses his new book, author, "The Wage Standard: What's Wrong in the Labor Market and How to Fix It," noting that the federal minimum wage standard is so low that it's like having no standard at all, prompting many states to pass their own rules. Further, he notes that real wage growth happens mostly in times of full employment, so he is optimistic that sound policy and job demand can help fix problems in the current system.
On way some employers get around minimum wage rules is in jobs that involve tipping and WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo, discusses the site's annual tipping survey, which found that 81% of people think tipping has gotten out of control. More than 2 in 5 Americans think the U.S. should ban tips altogether. 
Stephen Dissette, founder of Stephen D. Dissette & Associates discusses how retirement savers can add "operational readiness" to financial plans, making more of their savings and getting more functionality out of their assets while easing shortfall worries. 
Plus, Chuck goes off the news to discuss Monday's announcement from the U.S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration on how it plans to expand access to alternative investments -- including private credit, cryptocurrency and more -- in 401(k) plans. The proposed rule lowers litigation risk and clears some regulatory burdens, lowering the hurdles for putting more alternatives into retirement accounts, but Chuck says it also raises some concerns and red flags.

Jim Thorne, economist and chief market strategist at Wellington-Altus Private Wealth, says that "when the Iran situation calms down ... we're going to see massive multiple expansion and the geopolitical risk is going to drop." As that story plays out, Thorne says to buy areas that will help build the U.S., and to buy into electricity generation to help support the artificial-intelligence boom. He also said that expects the Trump Administration to try to "run the economy hot" once tensions have ended, in order to help deal with the deficit.
Vijay Marolia, chief investment officer at Regal Point Capital, is also looking for a potential pick-up once the market can take its attention off of the war and the rapidly changing market sentiments in the battle between artificial intelligence and software. He says investors should back away from the headlines and keep a sharper watch on the job market, inflation and interest rates, which have the potential to take the market's focus off of the earnings numbers that drove gains in 2025.
David Trainer, president at New Constructs, says that he expects a number of high-flying companies to miss their earnings projections in the next quarter, noting that Wall Street keeps "two sets of numbers, the one they show the world and the real number," and that when the street figures out the real numbers, stocks like Solventum and Advanced Micro Devices are looking at big price adjustments.
Plus, Blake Gunderson of Northwestern Mutual Rockwall/East Texas discusses Northwestern Mutual's 2026 Planning & Progress study, which showed that a sizeable number of Americans — most notably younger adults — feel like they are financially behind and are investing in or considering high-risk speculative assets such as cryptocurrencies, prediction markets and sports betting as ways to play catch up.

Jessamyn Norton, senior managing director at Clearstead Trust, says we're in a "one-variable market," with the price of oil being the only thing currently moving prices, and with the commodity likely to be the determining factor daily moves until the Straits Times of Hormuz reopens. So long as the concern lifts and other variables come back into play soon, if oil concerns linger and the market stays below its 200-day moving average, she says the Standard & Poors 500 could be in for a big decline if it can't hold around the 6,000 level.
Kim Flynn, president at XA Investments, a firm that specializes in alternative investments, says recent private-credit bad news events have widened discounts and raised concerns over business-development companies and interval funds, but have likely created a buy-the-dip moment in the industry. 
In the Market Call, Michael O'Keefe, chief of staff at CAZ Investments, talks about his long-term thematic approach to stocks and ETFs, including how he is mixing the long-term uptrends in artificial intelligence with the more-recent downturn in software stocks. He also discusses why he currently owns none of the Magnificent Seven stocks.