BROADCASTS.com

b'With\\xa0Barry Ritholtz, Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Ritholtz Wealth Management



Barry Ritholtz is the founder and chief investment officer of Ritholtz Wealth Management, a financial planning and asset management firm with over $175 million in assets, including investments in the S&P 500. Ritholtz writes a daily column for Bloomberg View and a twice monthly column on Personal Finance and Investing for The Washington Post.

Barry lays out his views on U.S. economic strength and why, despite its strength, a lot of people aren\\u2019t all too happy with the economy. He believes people need to focus on how nicely the U.S. economy has recovered after a major financial crisis and in a fairly short period of time. But he does believe this has been a lumpy recovery, with parts of the country with vibrant sectors - such as Seattle, San Francisco, New York, Boston, D.C. and regions with manufacturing and farmland roots \\u2013 having recovered nicely, while others continue to struggle. His data also shows that people with good educational backgrounds have bounced back nicely relative to those without a college degree that continue to see challenges with jobs and wage growth. So two factors \\u2013 your industry sector and your education level \\u2013 influence your economic bounceback.

He talks about the tremendous advantage of having ultra-low interest rates, and how that\\u2019s aided our economic recovery. For the most part, he doesn\\u2019t see the impending rate hike as overly significant for savers in the near term. Barry also puts today\\u2019s low interest rates into perspective relative to 16% bonds in decades past.

Barry also lays out why people don\\u2019t outperform the S&P 500 or other benchmark funds \\u2013 because they\\u2019re off chasing whatever is \\u201chot\\u201d at the time and ignore markets that are beaten up. He also sees stocks as expensive in the U.S. relative to Europe and emerging markets, and believes this may be a good time to diversify your portfolio. And while he\\u2019s wary of making predictions, he believes the U.S. economy is on the right course and is gradually strengthening, so he does not anticipate a major crash anytime soon unless extraneous factors kick in.'