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New York City can look unstoppable right up until incentives flip. We sit down with Fraser Rice to take the temperature inside the “belly of the beast” near Grand Central and talk about what a tax-the-rich political wave means for the business community, Wall Street, and anyone trying to build wealth in a high-cost, high-tax city. Ranked choice voting, media-savvy leadership, and symbolic fights with billionaires create headlines, but we keep pulling the thread that matters to investors: how quickly confidence and capital can move when people feel targeted instead of valued.

We also get practical about the city’s real pressure points. Housing supply, zoning reform, rent regulation, and homelessness aren’t abstract policy debates, they shape whether New York stays livable for the talent and industries it depends on. Fraser shares why Class A commercial real estate can thrive even while affordability worsens, and why public safety “cover” can mask deeper leadership tests that show up later. The Ken Griffin and second-home tax conversation becomes a case study in how politics and economics collide when major employers can quietly reallocate jobs and investment across states.

Then we widen the lens to the markets and what Fraser’s ultra high net worth clients are wrestling with: AI boom valuations that echo past bubbles, energy prices that pinch consumers, and interest rate uncertainty that can reprice everything. We walk through a margin-of-safety mindset, stress testing drawdowns, and bucketing risk over multi-year horizons. Finally, we dig into private credit: why the expected returns can be attractive, why illiquidity is the real cost, and why the rush to put private credit into 401(k)s should make long-term investors ask harder questions. If you found this useful, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review. What’s the biggest risk you’re positioning for right now?

Straight Talk for All - Nonsense for None

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Disclaimer - These podcasts are not intended as investment advice. Individuals please consult your own investment, tax and legal advisors. They provide these insights for educational purposes only.