ALO07: CIOs on the Edge of Finance ft. Katherine Molnar & Andrew Spellar

In today’s episode, Alan Dunne is joined by Katherine Molnar, CIO of Fairfax County Police Officers Retirement System, and Andrew Spellar, CIO of Fairfax County Employees Retirement System, to discuss how asset allocation is handled by one of the best performing public pension funds, how they manage risk and balance their portfolio through diversification, how the current instability in the markets has shaped their investment strategy, expectations of returns for different investment strategies, running portfolios using a risk parity framework, moving into digital assets, manager selection and much more.

-----

50 YEARS OF TREND FOLLOWING BOOK AND BEHIND-THE-SCENES VIDEO FOR ACCREDITED INVESTORS - CLICK HERE

In this episode, we discuss:

• How asset allocation is handled in a successful public pension fund like Fairfax County Retirement System
• How they manage risk and create balance in their portfolios
• How instability in the markets has shaped their strategy
• How they look at return expectations
• The (brave) move into digital assets
• Manager selection
• Skills and challenges of being a CIO

-----

Follow Niels on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube or via the TTU website.

IT’s TRUE ? – most CIO’s read 50+ books each year – get your FREE copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here.

And you can get a free copy of my latest book “Ten Reasons to Add Trend Following to Your Portfolio” here.

Learn more about the Trend Barometer here.

Send your questions to info@toptradersunplugged.com

And please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest Rating & Review on iTunes or Spotify so more people can discover the podcast.

Follow Alan on Twitter.

Follow Katherine on LinkedIn.

Follow Andrew on LinkedIn.

Episode TimeStamps:

00:00 - Intro

03:05 - Overview of Fairfax County’s asset allocation strategy

14:27 - How has the current market affected their strategy?

19:35 - The growth of risk mitigation strategies

28:42 - Setting return expectations

37:02 - What scenario keeps Molnar and Spellar awake at night?

39:38 - Digital assets in a public pension plan

51:05 - Manager selection...the insight scoop

58:00 - Skills and challenges of being a CIO

01:04:30 - Advice on becoming a better allocator

01:08:08 - Thanks for listening

Copyright © 2025 – CMC AG – All Rights Reserved

----

PLUS: Whenever you're ready... here are 3 ways I can help you in your investment Journey:

1. eBooks that cover key topics that you need to know about

In my eBooks, I put together some key discoveries and things I have learnt during the more than 3 decades I have worked in the Trend Following industry, which I hope you will find useful. Click Here

2. Daily Trend Barometer and Market Score

One of the things I’m really proud of, is the fact that I have managed to published the Trend Barometer and Market Score each day for more than a decade...as these tools are really good at describing the environment for trend following managers as well as giving insights into the general positioning of a trend following strategy! Click Here

3. Other Resources that can help you

And if you are hungry for more useful resources from the trend following world...check out some precious resources that I have found over the years to be really valuable. Click Here

Privacy Policy

Disclaimer