Episode Summary

Paul Schatz, founder of Heritage Capital, joins Jeff and Bruce to explain the nuances of the GameStop saga that has gripped the investing community and the United States at large. There are reasons beyond just a Reddit group for the wild action, and Paul goes through all of them. Robb Baldwin, CEO of TradePMR, tell his personal story of dealing with a challenging merger and how it relates to the service issues some advisers at experiencing with the Schwab/TD acquisition.

Episode Notes

Interview with Robb Baldwin - 4:45 - 19:00

• Robb’s background and what got him into the custodial business
• Should advisors anticipate merger pains?
• Opportunity for Schwab/Ameritrade competitors
• How remote work has/hasn’t affected customer service for custodians
• What Charles Schwab has been/hasn’t been saying during this time

Interview with Paul Schatz on GameStop etc. - 19:10 - 39:45

• The concept of short squeezes
• The GameStop story
• The recurrence of manias
• Behavior of Robinhood and other brokerages
• How this affects short selling and market liquidity

Guest Bios: 

Robb Baldwin is the founder, president and CEO of TradePMR. The firm provides technology, support and services to registered investment advisers through its own innovative management platform. TradePMR was born out of Robb’s personal experience with a difficult transition in his own RIA firm during the merger of two major custodians. Since 1998, TradePMR has focused on combining exceptional service with a truly innovative, industry leading technology platform. 

Paul Schatz, founder and president of Heritage Capital, has a wealth of experience investing in equities, fixed income, options and futures. While he is best known for his equity index and precious metals models, his technically driven strategies have taken him into other asset classes as well. Paul is a recognized pioneer and expert in the exchange-traded fund field, having employed them in his work since 1994. Additionally, he has consulted for many of today’s ETF purveyors on new product development and is a highly sought after speaker in the field.