In Episode 122 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Christopher Cole, the founder of Artemis Capital Management about how to grow and protect generational wealth that lasts a hundred years. Imagine you have the opportunity to grant your family great wealth and prosperity for 100 years. The opportunity is subject to one final choice. You must decide what assets to invest in and maintain that allocation for an entire century without ever changing it. The future of your children’s children depends on your decision. What do you do?

According to Christopher Cole, in order to be successful the hundred year portfolio must be able to navigate the secular booms of the market (1947-1963,1984-2007) while not losing capital during periods of economic contraction, stagnation, and renewal (1929-1946, 1964-1983). In pursuit of this, many investors assemble a varied portfolio of asset classes thinking there is safety in diversification, but in a crisis, such portfolios often collapse right along with the broader markets. Another class of investors believes they can always time the wild cycles of risk when, in fact, they can barely manage the demons of their greed and fear. The greatest threat to a hundred years of prosperity, according to Chris Cole, is neglecting the lessons from long-term financial history and having no true diversification against secular change. Accordingly, the solution is to find assets that can perform when stocks and bonds don’t and boldly size them in one’s portfolio regardless of short term performance. Long Volatility, Gold, Commodity Trend, and Discretionary Global Macro, according to Mr. Cole, should be core portfolio holdings and not just periphery investments. The investor can then apply margin to the risk-balanced portfolio to meet return targets, rather than seek the excess return from components.

The first part of today’s conversation explores the investing landscape in which retail investors and professional money managers alike find themselves in today. Chris and Demetri discuss factors that have led to volatility suppression and the build-up of risk in financial markets. 

During the overtime segment, Chris shares his views on what assets should occupy such a portfolio, in what quantities, and how retail and accredited investors alike might approach the task of building and protecting generational wealth that can last a hundred years. 

You can access the overtime, transcript, and rundown to this week’s episode through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers also gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application. 

Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas

Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou

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Christopher R. Cole, CFA is the founder & CIO of Artemis Capital Management LP. Mr. Cole's core focus is systematic, quantitative, and behavioral based trading of volatility and derivatives. His decision to form a fund came after achieving significant proprietary returns during the 2008 financial crash trading volatility futures and options (verified by independent auditor). Cole's volatility research is highly influential in derivative and macro trading circles and widely quoted by the financial press. His 2012 research paper entitled, Volatility at World's End argued the equity options market was mis-pricing and hedging the wrong tail (left as opposed to right). The paper was credited with re-pricing long-dated volatility, and named one of the best macro-economic thought pieces of the last decade. Mr. Cole is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and in the media. He previously worked in capital markets at Merrill Lynch and structured over $10 billion in derivatives and debt transactions.