meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
The Meb Faber Show - Better Investing

Kathryn Kaminski - Don’t Fire Your Diversifier | #604

The Meb Faber Show - Better Investing

The Idea Farm

Management, Business, Investing

4.8978 Ratings

🗓️ 31 October 2025

⏱️ 38 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Today’s guest is Kathryn Kaminski, Chief Research Strategist at AlphaSimplex, where she’s also the co-portfolio manager for the firm’s Managed Futures Strategy and Global Alternatives Strategy. She also co-authored the book Trend Following with Managed Futures: The Search for Crisis Alpha. In today’s episode, Meb and Katy discuss the tough year for managed futures strategies, which have experienced the 2nd largest drawdown in the last quarter century. Katy walks through the history of drawdowns and recoveries since 2000, explaining investors who have been patient in the past have been rewarded when the strategy recovers. She emphasizes managed futures’ ability to serve as a diversifier to stocks, revisits her research on crisis alpha, and touches on the rise of managed futures ETFs as a way for investors to get exposure to this asset class. Listen to Katy’s first appearance in May 2021. (0:00) Starts (1:05) Katy's thoughts on managed futures in 2025 (3:31) Lessons from past drawdowns (10:04) The patience premium (17:10) Follow the trends (22:12) Crisis Alpha revisited (26:01) Managed futures accessibility and ETFs (29:35) Replication methods (35:02) Implementing AI ----- Follow Meb on⁠ X⁠,⁠ LinkedIn⁠ and⁠ YouTube⁠ For detailed show notes, click ⁠here⁠ To learn more about our funds and follow us, subscribe to our ⁠mailing list⁠ or visit us at⁠ cambriainvestments.com⁠ ----- Follow The Idea Farm: ⁠X⁠ | ⁠LinkedIn⁠ | ⁠Instagram⁠ | ⁠TikTok⁠ ----- Interested in sponsoring the show? Email us at Feedback@TheMebFaberShow.com ----- Past guests include ⁠Ed Thorp⁠, ⁠Richard Thaler⁠, ⁠Jeremy Grantham⁠, ⁠Joel Greenblatt⁠, ⁠Campbell Harvey⁠, ⁠Ivy Zelman⁠, ⁠Kathryn Kaminski⁠, ⁠Jason Calacanis⁠, ⁠Whitney Baker,⁠ ⁠Aswath Damodaran⁠, ⁠Howard Marks⁠, ⁠Tom Barton⁠, and many more.  ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (⁠https://thepodcastconsultant.com⁠). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Welcome to the Medfavor show, where the focus is on helping you grow and preserve your wealth.

0:10.9

Join us as we discuss the craft of investing and uncover new and profitable ideas, all to help you grow wealthier and wiser.

0:16.9

Better investing starts here.

0:19.5

Metfabor is the co-founder and chief investment officer at Cambria Investment Management.

0:22.6

Did it industry regulations, he will not discuss any of Cambria's funds on this podcast.

0:25.8

All opinions expressed by podcast participants are solely their own opinions and do not reflect

0:28.9

the opinion of Cambria Investment Management or its affiliates.

0:31.2

For more information, visit camriainvestments.com.

0:34.7

Welcome back, everybody.

0:36.5

Today's guest is Catherine Kaminsky, chief research strategist at Alpha Simplex, where she's also

0:42.1

co-portfolio manager for the firm's managed future strategy, global alternative strategy.

0:47.6

She also co-authored the book, Trend Following with Managed Futures, The Search for Crisis Alpha.

0:53.2

It's not her first time on the show.

0:54.6

She was first on back in May 2021, episode 310.

0:58.8

You can check the notes and the show notes for the link.

1:01.7

Katie, welcome back to the show.

1:03.1

Thanks for having me.

1:04.4

Fun to be here.

1:05.7

I almost feel like other than gold going to 10 zillion, This is almost a little bit of like a glass half

1:14.7

empty. I heard the other day, someone always talks about glass half empty, half full,

1:19.3

and they said, you know, my glass is refillable. I said, that's a good way to think about it.

1:23.6

But talking about managed futures this past year, maybe a little bit better last few months,

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Idea Farm, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Idea Farm and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.