Think You Know Nasdaq?

Plus, should you buy Israeli bonds? 

Ric Edelman: It's Friday, July 19th. On today's show, we're making progress in the fight against Alzheimer's. Plus, the Nasdaq you don't know. I interviewed Jillian Delsignore, the VP and Senior Investment Officer of Nasdaq about the Nasdaq you've never heard of. I mean, we know how big this organization is. Operates in 29 markets, five central securities depositories in the US and Europe, 5,000 companies trade on Nasdaq from Apple and Microsoft to Alphabet, Meta, Amazon, Tesla, you name it. But did you know that Nasdaq helps financial advisors manage and grow their businesses? I'll be talking with Jillian about this. She is the senior investment officer of Nasdaq, and she's going to talk about how Nasdaq gives advisors access to new ways that they can serve their clients. That's on today's show. First, let's talk about Alzheimer's.  

We're making progress in the fight against Alzheimer's. And thank goodness too, you've heard me talk about Alzheimer's a lot. It's one of the key fights Jean and I are engaged in from a philanthropic perspective. And, importantly so, Alzheimer's affects more people than any disease in the world. It is estimated that there are 6 million Alzheimer's patients just here in the United States. The likelihood you'll get it, by age 60, one in 10. By the age of 80, it's one in three. By the age of 90, it's one in two. There is currently no way to predict it, there is no way to diagnose it, there is no way to treat it, there is no way to cure it, and there's no vaccine. Alzheimer's is 100% fatal and it's the most expensive disease to treat because from the date you are receiving symptoms to the date of death is an average of 12 years.  

And because Alzheimer's patients are usually fine physically, it means they're mobile. It means you can walk around, you can drive a car, pick up a firearm, turn on the stove. You're a danger to yourself and others, and that means you need 24/7 care. That's what makes Alzheimer's so expensive to treat as a disease. And it also requires family members to often give up their own careers to provide care for you. This makes it among the most expensive diseases for all these reasons.  

But now, whereas in the past Alzheimer's disease that diagnosis was a death sentence, now we've got early detection and new medications, and we know that lifestyle changes can delay and slow the disease. We now know that biomarkers can predict if you're going to get Alzheimer's and we've got some drugs in clinical trials right now that might be breakthroughs in treating the disease. 

For example, Takeda Pharmaceuticals in Japan just signed a $2.2 billion deal to develop a vaccine. That's just one of the drugs coming onto the market in coming years. There have already been early clinical trials of this one vaccine and there were no safety issues found. A second trial is underway. 

Right now, prevention is key. Pay attention to your body. Talk to a doctor if you have high blood pressure, diabetes, depression, if you smoke, if you drink alcohol, if you have a hearing loss, if you're obese, If you don't exercise much, if you're socially isolated, if you've had a brain injury, even if you merely have a negative attitude about aging, if you have any of these things, your doctor can give you ideas to help you delay the onset of Alzheimer's. Because yes, everything I just listed is a precursor. And you need to get your short term memory skills tested. Set a baseline so you can compare yourself every year or two. We can see if you're being challenged by stress, sleep problems, anxiety, depression, or if your medications are having side effects, a lot of this can be fixed and reversed. 

Doctors are now specializing in Alzheimer's. There are geriatric psychiatrists and geriatric neurologists. They can do a comprehensive evaluation for you at the first sign of cognitive change. And if you do have some symptoms, keep active, and find ways to enjoy life. In the early stages of Alzheimer's, you can continue to travel, and socialize, and engage, and all the fun stuff you've always enjoyed. You just might need to make some minor adjustments.  

And stay vigilant. Anxiety, depression, pain, social isolation, all this can make your Alzheimer's condition worse, but all of it is also treatable, so get regular checkups. Don't hesitate to see a mental health specialist who specializes in patients with neurocognitive disorders. And finally, stay positive. Scientific studies show that a good attitude, confidence, and a sense of purpose make a big difference in delaying the symptoms of Alzheimer's and in reducing the impact, if you have it. 

Coming up next, how Nasdaq gives advisors access to new ways they can serve their clients. 

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Ric Edelman: Welcome back to The Truth About Your Future, I'm Ric Edelman. The following interview is with Jillian DelSignore, the VP and Senior Investment Officer of Nasdaq from my Wealth Management Convergence back in March. 

Ric Edelman: VP and Senior Investment Officer at Nasdaq. Everybody, Jill, knows Nasdaq that, I mean, you know, you're Nasdaq after all. You actually joined Nasdaq only pretty recently. We knew each other back when you were at Blackrock. 

Jillian DelSignore: Exactly. 

Ric Edelman: I mentioned earlier today that Robbie and I, and you... 

Jillian DelSignore: Robbie's here? 

Ric Edelman: Yeah, he was. He spoke earlier today. And you were part of the team that helped us launch XT back in the day. Tell me, what you're doing at Nasdaq and how you're connecting advisors to Nasdaq. 

Jillian DelSignore: Definitely. Thank you all for being here. It's great to be back with you, Ric. Thank you for the invitation. So I just joined Nasdaq five months ago. I've been in investment asset management distribution for 20+ years. And made the shift over to the index business about five months ago at Nasdaq, and I am the global head of our investor distribution strategy for the index business. So what does that mean? That means that I'm trying to help Nasdaq indexes connect to the clients of our clients. So the Nasdaq index business essentially is helping to launch investment product around the world largely in the US in the wrapper of an ETF, the Qs, most notably celebrating 25 years actually yesterday, but celebrating today. And so how do we better connect as an index business to advisors, and other investors around the world? So here to bring Nasdaq a bit more into the fold here with the advisor market. 

Ric Edelman: And that's really the major point, Jill, is that, the Qs are a big deal. They're one of the oldest and largest ETFs in the industry. And I think one of the most influential helping to drive the entire ETF world.  

Jillian DelSignore: Absolutely. 

Ric Edelman: Celebrating the 25th anniversary. But everybody knows that about Nasdaq, and they know the Nasdaq 100, and the incredible power that it's had in the world. When Microsoft decided to list at Nasdaq, that was like, everybody thought they were crazy and it was a huge moment for Nasdaq and you never look back and now everybody from Apple, Meta, list goes on and on. But what I want you to really tell everybody here is what they don't know about Nasdaq because you're so much more than just the exchange. 

Jillian DelSignore: Absolutely. And, I think whenever I tell people that I work for Nasdaq, everybody always assumes it's in the listings business, right? Yeah. 

Ric Edelman: Well, you've got what, I'm just looking at the numbers, 28,000 stocks, 5,000 ETFs and indexes, 19,000 mutual funds. 

Jillian DelSignore: That's just within the research platform for Nasdaq Dorsey Wright. We joke that sometimes we'll be at a conference like this and people say, why is the exchange here? Right? Like, my job is to make sure that never happens again. People associate Nasdaq with a value added partner for advisors. And yes, we have the listings business. And yes, we are the home of innovation. You named all the companies that are listed with us. But even if you look at our index is well beyond the Qs. We are the face of innovation, and we're doing that for advisors too. Admittedly, continuing to come up that curve. And I know as we go through, we can talk about what's coming next. But I sit within a business called investment intelligence. For what it's worth, there's three businesses in there. It's data, analytics and index. And each of those businesses are actually touching and serving advisors. And I think all of you should be aware of how. Our data team pop onto any financial website, pop onto any of you are associated with a home office, any of the home offices. The tick data, the equity data, the market data, that's being powered by Nasdaq. Nasdaq basic, Nasdaq plus, all the different data. So you're consuming it every day, whether sometimes you realize it or not. The analytics business, I think, is another story. And we talked about that. We'll talk about Nasdaq Dorsey right in a minute. But Nasdaq does not shy away from acquisition. We have a ventures team acquiring businesses to help fill out sort of our continuum of offering. And so a couple of years ago, acquired eVestment and a lot of people hear eVestment and they might think, oh, consulting database, right? It's actually so much more than that. I continue to learn every day. There's a lot of you, I'm sure, have high net worth, ultra high net worth, even small institutional clients. This is a database that can allow you to have a more engaged conversation with your clients because you can actually obtain, trend analysis, institutional flow data. You can create proposals, you can, do performance attribution. It has become the de facto for SMA research and due diligence. There's over 27,000 products housed in investment from SMAs to hedge funds to private markets, so it becomes a real value add for you as an advisor. And then the third is my business, and that's the index business. So clearly, we're launching indexes. There's over 10,000 indexes around the world. If you include what's attached to structured products, and so we're working hand in glove with asset managers around the world to help them identify what is going to be a product that is going to potentially, fit a need and be in demand and you're part of the world that's part of what I'm doing today. But beyond that, we actually have in 2015 acquired, who in this room is familiar with Nasdaq Dorsey Wright? Oh, a lot of people to educate. I love it. So, actually not far from your neck of the woods in Virginia. Nasdaq Dorsey right in Richmond. My colleague Randall is out there at our booth, and I'm sure he'd be happy to share more with you. But Nasdaq Dorsey Wright is an RIA based in technical analysis. They've been around for over 30 years. And in 2015, Nasdaq acquired them again to try to help fill up this continuum of what we can offer to advisors. So just within Nasdaq Dorsey Wright, they spend their days serving advisors. They work with thousands and thousands of advisors every day. They have a research platform. You quoted the numbers. You've got 28,000 global stocks, 5,000 ETFs, ETPs and 19,000 mutual funds that you, regardless of if you use Nasdaq Dorsey Wright product, can utilize this research platform. So they've got research, they have... 

Ric Edelman: It's all at the website? 

Jillian DelSignore: It's all on the website. It's a research analytics on said products and tools. Tools like, portfolio construction, portfolio analysis. So you can actually go in there. You can build your own portfolios after you've screened them. There's a screener, there's a builder, and then there's the ability to do proposals, portfolio attribution all contained within the Nasdaq Dorsey Wright platform. So I think that's a part of our business that not enough people know about. Because it doesn't have to be necessarily associated with the technical analysis of Nasdaq Dorsey Wright. The research platform is far and wide, and I think could be incredibly valuable to everyone in this room, just as it relates to research, constructing portfolios, doing ongoing analysis. 

Ric Edelman: There's no fees to use those research platforms. You just, register on the site. 

Jillian DelSignore: So there are fees, and Randall is not in this room. He has the actual fees. There are levels of membership, and I don't know who in this room is associated with which. If everybody's independent or associated with a BD in some capacity, but some firms actually have firm wide relationships with Nasdaq, both on the data side that I mentioned for the tick data, which it'll just show up on your desktop, and for Nasdaq Dorsey Wright's research platform. So you may actually have access to it and not know it, but there is a small fee. We are in the process of actually developing what we're calling freemium, which would be a free version of said platform. 

Ric Edelman: And you also have index options and content and tools. 

Jillian DelSignore: We do. One of the things that I'm trying to do in my role is how do I go across this massive organization and poke into all the corners and figure out what is it that we have that we can provide to you that's going to be valuable. And so we talked about on the data side, the analytics side, the index side. But another is index options. Options has become something, I feel like it's been the most talked about since I've been in the business recently, whether it's through the ETFs that are they're using derivatives within those products for buffer and whatnot. But we do have a whole index options team, and they're creating content pretty much daily. They also have tools that you can utilize. If you're trying to price options and what not. But, we actually have an economist, we have a chief economist at Nasdaq who's producing content, he and his team, nearly every day, via an email list. Actually has 55,000 people on his email list that we can happily get anybody in this room added to. His name is Phil Mackintosh. Been with Nasdaq for a number of years, previously at Credit Suisse. And so he's providing great macro research, he and his team, to their audience via Nasdaq.com, and of course, via his email distribution list, index options. And then, Dorsey Wright, I think it's so important to really highlight the fact that although they become associated, I'm glad nobody in the room knows it, because nobody has a preconceived notion, but they get very associated with technical analysis. And I think the bottom line and really key point to take away is, yes, that's how they manage money. But their tools and their research and their platform, their screeners is inclusive of all the numbers that we talked about. So largely the entirety of the universe. So whether or not you believe at all in technical analysis, there are tools for you to utilize from Nasdaq and from that team. 

Ric Edelman: The report that is being produced daily by Phil, would you say that, is of any value from a client facing perspective? 

Jillian DelSignore: I do. And I think that's what's really interesting about the research that we put out is whether it's Phil, the index options team and Nasdaq Dorsey Wright and one piece a month from Nasdaq Dorsey Wright is being put out on prospect. How do you have better conversations with your clients? How can Phil and his team take complicated macro topics and distill them down to something that might be a bit more digestible as you're sitting across the table from some of your clients? And then on the flip side, with being produced out of eVestment, I'm sure many of you in this room have high net worth, ultra high net worth, small pension clients, that allows you to go in and have a really interesting conversation about sentiment and where are flows going. They've done some research that shows that retail flows follow about six months after institutional flows. So even that could be potentially interesting for you as you're, running money, talking to clients. I'm working to try to package all this, right? You're talking to me five months in, how do we take all these disparate places and consolidate them to face off with advisors. 

Ric Edelman: And so I guess like the question that comes to mind is why is Nasdaq, why did they recruit you? 

Jillian DelSignore: Yeah. 

Ric Edelman: To do this. Why is Nasdaq trying to, why do you care? I mean, considering everything you are and do. 

Jillian DelSignore: Yeah. Yeah. 

Ric Edelman: I don't see the NYSE doing any of this. 

Jillian DelSignore: From an index business, as the products grow, we benefit. And we look at ourselves as partners to our clients. And so how can we help them the most? We can help them raise assets. 

Ric Edelman: So for you it's just a loss leader. It's another service. 

Jillian DelSignore: We want to be able to be that valued partner. We want to be able to provide you not just with product, which we do across the business, but how can we bring value add to you as an advisor? I just launched an advisor council actually with 15 members, some Nasdaq Dorsey Wright advisors, some non and some home office because the campaigns we're doing from a marketing perspective, the research that we're writing, the products that we're developing, we want them to be rooted in truth. And what's really happening in the market and what you're facing day to day. And so the best way for us to do that is to be far more engaged. So we are continuing to try to do that. And I know, our ventures team continues to look at what's interesting out in the marketplace to try to, again, continue to fill that out. 

Ric Edelman: Is there a target advisor that you have in mind in the creation of these products and services and tools? 

Jillian DelSignore: No, not really. I think we really are serving all advisors. Whether you're, focused on mom and pop, whether you're focused on institutions, whether you're just getting started, whether you're not, been in the business forever. I think the research we're producing, the tools that we make available, the service that's provided, the Nasdaq Dorsey Wright team, I can't emphasize enough is so white glove. If you were to sign up for the research platform, they're at your beck and call. They have analysts that are on the phone with advisors every single day helping build portfolios, screen products, do analysis. So we really are here to try to better engage with this community. And that's really having called on advisors for over 20 years, they brought me in here to try to help accentuate that, that engagement. 

Ric Edelman: Is there a particular style of portfolio management that advisors use that would make them more inclined to benefit from what you do? 

Jillian DelSignore: Within the Nasdaq Dorsey Wright portfolio, because Nasdaq does offer products. We do have investment products that you can buy. Randall will be more than happy, I'm sure, to tell you all about, the SMAs and UMAs that we make available, but we also have created ETFs based on technical analysis. That's what they've been embedded in doing for 30 years. They would be active index based, but not beta. So some of you may know FV or PDP, some of these products have been around for 10 years. That Nasdaq Dorsey Wright did in partnership with a First Trust or an Invesco. So those types of products and research associated with those would be very heavily, leaning into the technical analysis. But generally speaking, the research platform itself and the other research we're producing is not at all tilted towards a particular investment style. 

Ric Edelman: You're relatively new in this role at Nasdaq. What has been the receptivity from the Nasdaq team. Are you a distraction for them or are you a welcome participant? Because you know what it's like being the new kid on the block. 

Jillian DelSignore: I do and I think shake it up a little bit, right? But no, I think it's I think it's very welcome. The issuers in particular have really enjoyed the conversation because everybody wants to be in front of all of you, right? And so if Nasdaq can thoughtfully harness all of its resources to become a value added partner to all of you, that makes us more valuable, right? So I think the broader business does understand what we're trying to do. I would say the feedback from advisors has actually been incredibly positive. But folks were very willing to join in on the advisor council. They want to be involved in helping shape the product that's coming out. They want to be involved in the innovation. They want to be involved in helping us develop new digital properties, which I'm working on. If I were to come back a year from now, even six months from now, we do plan to have a brand new advisor facing web property. That would pull together some of what I've talked about today. Data, analytics, Nasdaq, Dorsey Wright, our issuer partners. So think about it as a one stop shop, not just for Nasdaq, but Nasdaq partners, like Invesco, like First Trust, et cetera. So that is a huge part of what I'm focused on, and that's a big part of what the Advisor Council's helping us with right now, is to say, when you're going to a website, what are you using? What sorts of tools do you want to utilize? And so in real time, trying to bring that to life, for a better interface. 

Ric Edelman: I'm not sure if it's a chicken and egg question or a cart and horse question, but you've got the investment product itself. 

Jillian DelSignore: Correct. 

Ric Edelman: You also have the investment strategy itself, which is that you're building first, or which one is more important? 

Jillian DelSignore: So we have a product development team that is building the index, and we are then going out, unlike other index providers who you could go to them and say, this is my great idea, will you calculate it for me? It's not really how we work, but we will develop a whole host of different indexes, thousands and thousands of indexes that we have. Some that are really interesting, that are up and coming. Immortality technology, brand AI, very innovative as you would expect from Nasdaq. And then we're taking that idea to our partners, asset managers and saying, this is the product. This is my role, this is why we think it'd be relevant in the advisor market and retail. 

Ric Edelman: You'll go to Invesco and launch it with them. 

Jillian DelSignore: Correct. Nasdaq minus the Nasdaq Dorsey Wright ETFs that are associated with an issuer. We do not launch our own ETF product. But we will go to the ETF issuers and, it's an iterative process, right? They, most of them have very large sales teams themselves and they're getting feedback from advisors on what might be valuable. So yeah, it's index development. 

Ric Edelman: We talked in the earlier session about, the emergence of vaults. And in terms of the increasingly large portion of the allocation and the incredible diversity within that definition of alts. If an advisor wanted to get creative or their firm wanted to and create a product that fit within whatever category they wanted, could they turn to you to say, I need X, would you build it for me? 

Jillian DelSignore: Yes. We don't tend to only take inbound, right? If it's an idea that we also believe in, believe there's viability for, absolutely our product development team will do that. 

Ric Edelman: Fundamental question is, will it generate assets for us? 

Jillian DelSignore: And survive long term. Not dissimilar from your experience with XT, right? So is this commercially viable? Is it something that's not just flash in the pan? We definitely want to have that dialogue. And the advisor council is actually serving as that sounding board right now. We just had a meeting last week with a client who was being shared an idea that our team had and providing that feedback. So when we're definitely diving into alts, or things like capturing farmland. Assets that you would not think historically as liquid. How do you find proxies for and really push the needle on what we're bringing out to the marketplace? 

Ric Edelman: So I guess the real message is think about what you would like to have in the portfolio, not sure where to go find it, you can probably provide that answer, and if you can find it, you may be willing to assist in the creation of it. 

Jillian DelSignore: Absolutely. And I would say, think about Nasdaq as a partner to advisors. Whether it's our index business and Nasdaq Dorsey Wright, the analytics business, our data business, we have the research, the analytics, the tools to help you and your businesses every day and help you engage with your clients. 

Ric Edelman: That's Jill DelSignore of Nasdaq, the Nasdaq you don't know. Give Jill a round of applause.  

Jillian DelSignore: Thank you.  

Ric Edelman: Stay tuned coming up next here on the podcast. One of the questions that I got from a listener here to the podcast. 

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Ric Edelman: I got a question from Leila of New Jersey. Here's what she wrote. 

“At 68 years old, my husband has retired, while I, seven years younger, remain in the workforce. Recent discussions within our community highlighted the significance of supporting Israel by investing in Israeli bonds. I am deeply concerned about securing a comfortable retirement for both of us. I would like to know what you think about the potential benefits of investing in Israeli bonds at this stage in our lives.”  

Leila, what you need to recognize is that buying Israeli bonds is primarily an act of support for Israel, and by extension for Jews worldwide. There is no question that the Israelis are fighting for their lives. This is an existential threat foisted on them by Hamas back in October, and we need to recognize that the Israelis are doing everything they need to do for their own survival. If Israel is destroyed, God forbid, the bonds would be worthless because it is the Israeli government that is guaranteeing that the bonds will pay interest and principal at maturity. So if the Israeli government no longer exists, the bonds will become worthless.  

So, I'd love the idea that you are seeking to demonstrate support for Israel in this way, there are lots of ways to demonstrate support for Israel and it's fight for its life, supporting the Israeli defense force by donating money, for example, to the Friends of the Israeli Defense Force. FIDF is a very common way people are donating money to support the Jewish and Israeli cause. There are a lot of other ways you can do it as well. You can, for example, buy these Israeli bonds, earning interest on your money while providing funds that Israel needs to pay for its fight against Hamas and other terrorists. 

The thing you need to recognize is that at the end of the day, while I am very confident and quite hopeful that Israel will succeed in its efforts. I don't know that I would invest my entire bond allocation in Israeli bonds. I don't know that I would do that in any single country at all, other than the United States government, because our government is considered worldwide to be the safest, most secure government in the world and therefore US treasuries are considered the safest investment in the world. I don't know that I could say that at the end of the day about Israel. So if you do want to support Israel in this way, by buying Israeli bonds, I would limit the exposure to that asset class category. 

You can send me your question as well, just send it to Ask Ric at TheTruthAYF.com. The link is in the show notes.   

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Ric Edelman: Hey, next Wednesday is our exclusive webinar, The New Ethereum ETFs: Answers to the Big Questions, featuring Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan. Join us on July 24 at 2:00pm ET as we’ll explain exactly what Ethereum is and how it differs from bitcoin. You’ll also learn how to select from the eight available Ethereum ETFs, their expected market impact, and their tax implications. Plus, don’t miss the chance to get your questions answered live. Register now at DACFP.com and earn 1 CE credit. The link is in the show notes.  

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Ric Edelman: On Monday's show, the newest employee benefit for pregnant workers. 

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Ric Edelman: If you like what you're hearing, be sure to follow and subscribe to the show, wherever you get your podcasts, Apple, Spotify, YouTube – and remember leave a review on Apple podcasts. I read them all! Never miss an episode of The Truth About Your Future. Follow and subscribe on your favorite podcast app. I’ll see you next week. 

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Links from today’s show: 

The New Ethereum ETFs: Answers to the Big Questions (7/24 Bitwise Webinar – Register Now!): https://dacfp.com/webinar-the-new-ethereum-etfs-answers-to-the-big-questions/   

Wealth Management Convergence 2024: https://www.thetayf.com/pages/convergence  

WPP boss targeted by deepfake scammers using voice clone (Financial Times article): https://www.ft.com/content/308c42af-2bf8-47e4-a360-517d5391b0b0  

Friends of the Israeli Defense Force (FIDF): https://www.fidf.org/  

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