Welcome to The Alternatives Mason: Building Alts Knowledge Brick by Brick. Banrion Capital Management uses technology to help independent advisors scale and educate themselves on alternative investments. Since education is such a big piece of the Banrion mission and business, we are excited to kick off this series to dive into the nits and grits of the alternatives space. Episode 2 "Better than Alpha" features alternative investment thought leader and author, Christopher Schelling.
Chris Schelling is an investor, advisor and published author. With degrees in psychology, business, and finance, Chris is an expert at incorporating insights from behavioral finance into investment decision making. He is also currently a contributing columnist for Institutional Investor and has authored over 60 articles on investing. As an institutional investor, Chris has allocated roughly $6 billion and met with over 3,500 managers across hedge funds, real assets, private credit, and private equity funds. Previously, Chris was Chief Investment Strategist of Venturi Private Wealth, Director of Private Equity at the Texas Municipal Retirement System, Deputy Chief Investment Officer at the Kentucky Retirement Systems, and an adjunct Professor of Finance at the University of Kentucky.
In his book "Better than Alpha: Three Steps to Capturing Excess Returns in a Changing World" Chris explains why strategies based on “beating the markets” are doomed to failure and provides a simple three-step framework for making better investment decisions: Behavior (smart thinking), Process (smart habits), Organization (smart governance). He explains why the search for alpha is destined to fail, the major role behavioral finance plays in so much wasted time, effort, and money, and, most important, how to avoid common mistakes and maximize your efforts.
Follow Chris on Twitter: @schelling_chris