In this episode of The Blunt Dollar, I sit down with Vincenzo Riflesso, Head of Risk at Maverick Securities, former equity derivatives trader at BNP Paribas, Intesa Sanpaolo and UniCredit, and a thought leader at the Certificate in Quantitative Finance. With 10 years on trading desks and another decade leading risk teams, Vincenzo brings a rare perspective that bridges adrenaline driven markets and disciplined quantitative portfolio construction.

We unpack the psychological and structural evolution from trader to risk manager to quant portfolio builder, and what 2008 really taught him about overconfidence, fragility and pain tolerance.

Here is what we cover

📉 2008 from the trading desk
What real market chaos looks like when liquidity, counterparties and volatility all break at once and how that crisis reshaped his understanding of fragility and personal limits

🧠 Overconfidence, humility and psychological pain
Why early success can distort self perception, what happens when you trade your own capital, and how discovering your true pain threshold changes your entire investment philosophy

📊 Drawdown tolerance over return targets
Why maximum drawdown is a more realistic constraint than return expectations and how proper backtesting prepares both managers and investors for inevitable stress

⚙️ Quant discipline and implementation
Why sticking to the model matters more than being “right,” how momentum really works in practice, and why second guessing your system can quietly destroy performance

🛡️ Portfolio construction and investor behavior
How diversification across equities, fixed income and alternatives helps manage panic, why communication builds trust, and what separates structured portfolio thinking from pure trading

If you like honest conversations about risk, quant investing and the psychology of markets, this one is for you.

Oh, and if you haven't already... subscribe to The Blunt Dollar for more raw and honest finance conversations.

New episodes drop every other week! Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.

And last, but not least, don't forget to follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ignacio-ramirez-moreno-cfa/

Enjoy the episode!

Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Listeners should consult a qualified financial professional before making any financial decisions.

What if you could forecast GDP from space?

In this episode of The Blunt Dollar, I sit down with Jake Schneider, Founder of Atlas Analytics, to explore how satellite imagery, artificial intelligence, and economic modeling are converging to create a completely new way to measure economic activity in real time.

From working directly for former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan to building proprietary algorithms that estimate GDP before official government releases, Jake shares the story behind one of the most fascinating intersections of finance and technology today.

📡 How Atlas Analytics uses satellite imagery to track economic activity across countries and regions

🧠 The technology behind forecasting GDP using computer vision, machine learning, and geospatial data

🏛️ Jake’s experience working with Alan Greenspan and the lessons he learned about macroeconomic forecasting

🌍 Why real-time economic intelligence could be transformative for developing economies and institutions like the IMF

📈 How hedge funds, policymakers, and investors can use alternative data to gain an informational edge

If you like macroeconomics, alternative data, and the future of financial intelligence, this one's for you.

Links to Atlas Analytics here: https://www.atlasanalytics.info/ and https://atlasanalytics.com/

Oh, and if you haven't already... subscribe to The Blunt Dollar for more raw and honest finance conversations.

New episodes drop every other week! Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.

And last, but not least, don't forget to follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ignacio-ramirez-moreno-cfa/

Enjoy the episode!

Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Listeners should consult a qualified financial professional before making any financial decisions.

In this episode of The Blunt Dollar, I sit down with Simon Evan-Cook from Downing Fund Managers for a deep and refreshingly honest conversation about what investing really looks like in practice.

Simon brings a unique engineering mindset to markets, challenging the industry’s obsession with precision, models, and certainty. We unpack how real investors navigate uncertainty, learn from mistakes, and build systems that actually work in the real world, not just on paper.

Here’s what we cover:

💡 Why most investors fail not because of bad ideas but because of bad timing and behavior.

🧠 The power of thinking like an engineer and building investment systems that solve real problems.

📉 How to run honest post mortems and actually learn from mistakes instead of rewriting history.

🤖 Where AI helps and where human intuition still has an edge in investing.

🔥 The underrated trait Simon calls “bellicious” and why it matters more than intelligence.

If you like practical investing insights, honest reflections from practitioners, and conversations that challenge conventional finance thinking, this one’s for you.

Oh, and if you haven't already... subscribe to The Blunt Dollar for more raw and honest finance conversations.

New episodes drop every other week! Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.

And last, but not least, don't forget to follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ignacio-ramirez-moreno-cfa/

Enjoy the episode!

Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Listeners should consult a qualified financial professional before making any financial decisions.