This is an edited transcript of our podcast episode with Jay Pelosky, founder of TPW Advisory and former top ranked head of asset allocation at Morgan Stanley. We discussed the implications of a tri-polar world, how to play clean energy, why rising rates won’t hurt stocks and much more. While we have tried to make the transcript as accurate as possible, if you do notice any errors, let me know by email.

Jay’s Background and Career Path

Bilal Hafeez (00:01:26):

Okay, welcome, Jay, to our podcasts. Great to have you on. And I guess the first thing I like to do with all my guests, is I like to ask a bit about their background. So I know you've been in the industry for a while, you've had lots of different roles, but how did you end up where you are right now? Out of college, did you know you wanted to obsess about financial markets and investments and how to help clients make money? Was that what you wanted to do?

Jay Pelosky (00:01:49):

Well, it's funny you asked Bilal, because I do have a long and varied career, lots of different turns and corners. I did not know that that's what I wanted to do. I was a poli-sci undergrad major and a scholarship football player (American football) at college. And then I went and got a Master's in International Affairs at the George Washington University in DC. And I was told I needed to get some financial experience. I could write I was published, etc. But I needed some financial experience. And so my plan was to go to New York for a year, go through a bank training program, get that experience and then go from there. And that was 35 plus years ago. So I met a girl from Brooklyn and married her. And once that happens, you're not leaving New York.

Bilal Hafeez (00:02:37):

Where are you from originally? Where's your home state or your hometown?

Jay Pelosky (00:02:40):

I'm from Massachusetts originally and went to school at Duke University in North Carolina. And then George Washington. So moving my way back north, but this is New York as far as I've gotten. And in this time with the pandemic, I'm very much a New York City strong guy and a big believer in the city and raising two kids here. So no plans to leave. But my experience, I've got 30 plus years, I've done business in over 50 countries. Been on both the buy-side and the sell-side. I started out Asia ex-Japan. And then was hired by Barton Biggs at Morgan Stanley Asset Management in 1990. And the first thing he told me to do was to go start a Brazil fund. So it's the hubris of the investment banks, right? I didn't speak Portuguese, I had no Latin American experience. I was a Asia ex-Japan guy, and said, "No, you can go ahead and do it." And it was a great lesson because if you go back and look, Brazil in dollar terms, 1990 was literally the bottom for the Brazilian equity market.