FinTech TV Host: Welcome to FinTech TV. Retail investors and active traders are navigating one of the most dynamic market cycles in decades as markets swing between high conviction thematic rallies, AI innovation, and elevated Treasury yields. Bridging the gap between tactical daily trading and long-term wealth management is more critical than ever. Well, Douglas Boneparth has built one of the most trusted voices and personal. Finance by combining sharp financial planning with relatable real talk for millennial and Gen Z investors. Well, joining us here at Stocktoberfest is Douglas Boneparth, president of Bone Fide Wealth. Great to have you here. Thank you so much for joining us.
Douglas Boneparth: Thanks for having me.
FinTech TV Host: Well, it's quite the crowd here at Stocktoberfest, and it is quite different from other conferences. So give us a sense of what you're hearing from the crowd.
Douglas Boneparth: Absolutely. You know, In this type of crowd you have folks who are so dialed into what's going on online, like the real, you know, internet side of things being fused with a lot of traditional finance themes like stock trading has been going on forever, but to be able to tap into the type of information that flows on social media and turn that into strategies and into portfolios is, is something that you know is all about where we're at today and it's hard to ignore, right? This is the. The golden age of financial technology and information, and I think it's happening right here.
FinTech TV Host: Yeah, and speaking of which, when it comes to long term wealth management and planning, it differs from this instant gratification expectation that we find on communities such as Stockwood. So how do you find that balance? And when we're talking about Gen Z, Gen Alpha versus, say, Gen X, or even the boomer generation, what do you see?
Douglas Boneparth: Happening, yeah, so I think it's probably harder today than ever before. So some actually I'll walk it back. There's some competing things going on here. If we're talking about Gen Z, right, and the youngest generation capable of going on and trading and investing, they are, they have been given these gifts of technology and information and are probably more financially literate than any other generation out there, right? But it's a double-edged sword. They have access to the least amount of friction ever when it comes. To actually putting ideas into, you know, bets or into plays, so, um, you know, that could be very difficult to balance those two things. That's why I come into play, how do we balance these? So I see how difficult it can be there. You go to, you know, millennials who've been marred by the Great Recession and raising kids during a pandemic, right? You see a little bit of a distance from, you know, this, uh, attitude from Gen Z, and you keep doing that and you see, you know, more wisdom, more time in, and more patience. Those generations. So while it's the most exciting time ever to be investing, if you're a young investor, I think it's maybe the most dangerous time to be doing that as well. So finding that balance is more critical than ever before.
FinTech TV Host: Yes, and speaking of which, I'm going to ask you about artificial intelligence because here at Stocktoberfest we're not just talking about AI as an investment theme or even the technology itself. We're talking about the role of agentic AI when it comes to investing. So what's your take on agentic?
Douglas Boneparth: Yeah, so as far as like. Using AI to facilitate an actual trade or put together a portfolio, I think it can be very effective when organizing information and thoughts, right? AI is basically leveled the playing field with knowledge. It's now become cheap and free and ubiquitous, you know, it can't then take that knowledge and put that very human decision in there to go make that trade, right? So that part is still there, but wow, what a tool to be able to take all. Things that are swimming around in your head as an idea and be able to do your due diligence and research and give you the conviction you might be looking for to actually put dollars to play. So that's really cool from, hey, how do we find someone who wants to actively trade and and leverage AI to do that. Uh, from my perspective, it's, it's radically different, right? How can I use this to save time, to provide greater organization in our operations and the administration of the business that we run. And then from the client's perspective, how can they come to the meetings more informed with that knowledge so we can go deeper into the conversations that have, you know, that are applicable to their lives, right? Ultimately it's not, are we making decisions around how we should allocate our portfolios? Absolutely, like there'll be some of that, but it's really about the decisions we need to make. Our lives, that job, that kid, that family member, we lost the real human component. So I'm getting a big lift from AI as far as compressing my time and being able to dive more deeply into the planning topics that we cover with our clients.
FinTech TV Host: And I think one important thing to remember is that all investors are human. And when it comes to investing, especially when it Comes to making some of those hard decisions in terms of long term investing, AI may help because humans are all about emotions sometimes when it comes to investing. But there's this saying this time it's different. And when we look at the macro environment right now, we have a lot to contend with. We see high inflation and that is on. Both sides of the K-shaped economy and at the same time higher borrowing costs and higher interest rates, at least for now. So what does that mean for investors out there in terms of long term planning?
Douglas Boneparth: Absolutely, it's a reminder that consistency and discipline is what ultimately wins the day when taking a long term focus, you know, you got to. A good friend in Morgan Housell who wrote a whole book about, you know, the same as ever is the title of one of his books, and, and what he's getting at there is like history repeats itself, right? These, these, sure, high inflation today, whatever the trends may be, we'll find ourselves back to environments that we saw, whether it be 1020, 30 years ago, and the survivors of those environments are the ones that were actually quite boring about what they did. They had cash reserves, they mined their risk, their liquidity. They look for those opportunities and the reason they took advantage of dips in the market is because of consistency and discipline that they had around their own behaviors, not necessarily because they had an edge with knowledge or had the inside track, uh, it was around their ability to stay the course and be calm when everybody else is freaking out, right? So that right there, you've heard all that before, saying it is easy, doing it incredibly hard because you gotta put in the reps. In order to actually have the capability of doing the things that are very hard.
FinTech TV Host: And finally, Douglas, one key word you mentioned is discipline. So I want to ask you about discipline and the role that it plays when we're talking about compounding wealth.
Douglas Boneparth: Yeah, it's everything, right? And I think whether you're trading or have an opportunity portfolio or just hanging on to buy and hold, you know, mainstay indices through ETFs, um, your ability to win is based on your ability to stay invested, right? You've heard this one before, that time in the market beats timing the market, and again back to what I just said, that is hard. I posted on my account, you know, just yesterday, uh, we had all-time highs, it seems like almost every other week this year we hit all-time highs, but I posted a chart of the S&P 500 and I said congratulations to all the investors who did absolutely nothing. And right, it's tongue in cheek because doing nothing and enjoying the compounding of your investments is actually the hardest thing to do. Right, and in the case of the, you hear this one, the investors who say, if I had only invested in Apple or Amazon for the last 35 years, right, I wouldn't need to work today. Well, you also would have needed to survive 3 and 2, 90+% drawdowns respectively, which meant you probably would have thrown up all over yourself and curled up in a ball in the corner. No, you would have sold more than likely. So think about the type of discipline that would be required to truthfully tell someone, I would have helped. You know, in those very extreme examples, so most people wouldn't dare, and honestly most people don't even when we're talking about, you know, the market, the S&P. So that's why discipline is so important and you get that again by putting in the reps.
FinTech TV Host: And finally, before I let you go, Douglas, one thing that I thought about, especially when you mentioned some of the emotions that come with investing and obviously things are easier said than done. So what do you think the role of Digital assets or alts are when it comes to a portfolio.
Douglas Boneparth: Yes, absolutely. I love that question because I'm actually an early adopter of Bitcoin. My wife and I bought a minor over a decade ago in the early 0s, you know, of Bitcoin specifically. So you know it's not every day you see the birth of a new asset class, right? In this case, digital currencies and crypto. The alt space, which is a big umbrella for a lot of stuff, is always expanding here, and I think There's always room, you know, for something like that in a client's portfolio, in your portfolio, this again is about risk management and understanding what your objectives are and your goals are. So when I say crypto, I, I probably more specifically mean Bitcoin, and when I say alts, I'm looking at a lot of stuff there. I mean that really covers everything from real estate over to private equity. You will continue, continue to always see the financialization of technology and you're getting a really good look at that with some of the things that you've mentioned.
FinTech TV Host: Well, Douglas, I appreciate your time. Thank you so much for joining us here at Stocktoberfest. Hopefully we'll have you back at the New York Stock Exchange on FinTech TV.
Douglas Boneparth: I would love that. Thank you so much.
