Q&A

A: Hidden gems are often found outside the sectors getting the most attention. Investors may want to look at areas like water infrastructure, industrial maintenance, aerospace suppliers, niche software and other businesses that provide essential products or services behind larger economic trends.

The key is to focus on strong fundamentals, including steady revenue, healthy cash flow, manageable debt and durable demand. A hidden gem is not simply a cheap or unknown stock—it is a quality business the broader market may be overlooking.

Welles Crowther, a 24-year-old equities trader and former volunteer firefighter, was working on the 104th floor of the South Tower when it was struck. Bandaging his face with a red bandana to filter smoke, he repeatedly navigated down to the 78th-floor sky lobby, directing disoriented survivors to emergency stairwells and carrying an injured woman down 15 flights of stairs. He went back up multiple times to assist others and is credited with saving at least 12 people before losing his life when the tower collapsed.

Q: How did a private security director save over 2,600 people in the South Tower?A: Rick Rescorla, Head of Security for Morgan Stanley, had long anticipated a potential attack on the World Trade Center and regularly forced employees to practice surprise emergency evacuation drills. When the South Tower was hit, he ignored initial PA announcements telling occupants to stay at their desks. Singing Welsh patriotic songs and shouting through a megaphone to keep calm, Rescorla successfully evacuated 2,687 Morgan Stanley employees and 250 visitors. He returned to the building to clear upper floors and died in the collapse.

Q: How did ordinary citizens execute the largest maritime evacuation in human history?A: When Lower Manhattan was cut off, hundreds of thousands of civilians were stranded at the water's edge. Responding to an emergency call issued by the U.S. Coast Guard, hundreds of civilian boat captains—operating tugboats, ferries, fishing vessels, and dinner cruise boats—rushed to the harbors. Over nine hours, this makeshift fleet evacuated over 500,000 people from Manhattan, surpassing the scale of the 1940 evacuation of Dunkirk.

Q: What extraordinary action did passengers aboard United Airlines Flight 93 take?A: After learning of the attacks on the World Trade Center via cell phone calls to loved ones, a group of passengers—including Todd Beamer, Mark Bingham, Tom Burnett, and Jeremy Glick—voted to take action against the hijackers. Using hot water, fire extinguishers, and a food cart, they stormed the cockpit to prevent the aircraft from reaching its intended target, believed to be the U.S. Capitol or the White House. Their deliberate sacrifice forced the plane down in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, saving countless lives on the ground.

Q: How did two off-duty Marines rescue trapped police officers in the rubble of Ground Zero?A: Dave Karnes and Jason Thomas, two former U.S. Marines who did not know each other prior to the event, independently put on their uniforms and headed to Ground Zero after the collapse. Armed with flashlights and an entrenching tool, they climbed over the hazardous wreckage of the fallen towers in total darkness. Hearing faint cries, they located two Port Authority police officers trapped 20 feet under the rubble, helping coordinate their rescue.

Q: What role did search-and-rescue dogs play in the aftermath?A: More than 300 trained search-and-rescue and cadaver dogs deployed to Ground Zero and the Pentagon. Canines like Trakr, a German Shepherd, successfully located the final living survivor trapped in the World Trade Center rubble 26 hours after the collapse. Other working dogs, like Bretagne and Appollo, worked 12-hour shifts across dangerous, smoldering wreckage to assist rescue crews and provide emotional support to first responders.

Q: How should investors approach the modular and panelized construction thesis?

A: Focus on companies specializing in precision-engineered Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) and panelized building systems. Early-stage ventures that integrate proprietary CAD-to-factory automation with advanced structural insulation are capturing rapid market share. By delivering pre-cut, highly insulated structural shells directly to job sites, these companies drastically shorten build cycles and mitigate skilled labor bottlenecks—giving them substantial margin expansion potential as they scale local manufacturing hubs.

Q: How should investors play the zero-carbon concrete and cement substitution thesis?

A: Target early-stage ventures delivering drop-in supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) and supplementary binder technologies. Startups developing high-performance supplementary binders—such as calcined clay formulations or bio-admixtures—avoid the huge capital expenditure required to build new cement kilns. Companies that license their IP or integrate directly with existing ready-mix producers offer far better capital efficiency and faster paths to institutional adoption.

Q: Is engineered timber and bio-based construction ready for early-stage institutional backing?

A: Yes, specifically startups advancing modular mass-timber assemblies and carbon-sequestering composites. As commercial real estate developers face strict carbon-offset mandates and embodied carbon caps, engineered timber and bio-composite systems provide an immediate carbon-negative alternative to steel and concrete. Early-stage companies that secure proprietary supply chains and offer standardized, code-compliant structural components present significant upside.

The electric grid. AI data centers, reshoring of manufacturing and electrification are creating an electricity-demand surge that the existing grid wasn't designed to handle. DOE says the country has a pressing need for additional transmission infrastructure.

Q: Which companies give investors direct exposure to the grid buildout?
A: Quanta Services (PWR) is one of the most interesting. It provides infrastructure services for electric utilities, including transmission and distribution. MYR Group (MYRG) is another more specialized play in electrical transmission and distribution construction. Recent industrial-investor research specifically identifies both as beneficiaries of the data-center/grid buildout.

Q: What about companies supplying the actual electrical equipment?
A: Look at Eaton (ETN), GE Vernova (GEV) and Vertiv (VRT). They sit in different parts of the electrical infrastructure chain—from grid equipment and power generation to the power-management and cooling systems required inside data centers.

Real estate and infrastructure efficiency are massive targets. We are focusing intensely on construction technology, specifically companies pioneering Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) and panelized building systems. These physical technologies circumvent chronic skilled labor shortages, drastically reduce material waste, and accelerate project delivery times.

Q: How should investors evaluate these construction tech startups to avoid the hype?A: The key is shifting away from software-centric growth metrics. Vague concepts like broad "industry adoption" are largely irrelevant. Instead, rigorous due diligence must focus strictly on hard pipeline and cash flow indicators. You want to see strong customer deposits, a high volume of design-ready projects, and clear visibility into expected next payment dates. Startups executing on these tangible milestones are the ones commanding premium valuations.

Q: Are there non-physical early-stage sectors worth watching?A: B2B workflow automation continues to shine. While major players dominate large language models, hyper-niche startups focused on compliance tracking for financial services or supply chain logistics offer immediate, verifiable ROI, making them resilient to broader economic shocks.

This is where the real facts hide—in the revisions! Last month, the initial report showed the economy unexpectedly lost 23,000 jobs in July. Today, the Labor Department quietly revised that number upward by a massive 44,000. July wasn't a loss at all; we actually gained 21,000 jobs! June’s numbers got a nice upward bump too, shifting from 20,000 to 31,000.

Q: Who is actually doing all this hiring right now?A: The restaurant industry is carrying the team. The leisure and hospitality sector added a whopping 62,000 jobs, with food services and drinking places accounting for 59,000 of them. Local government education also had a massive showing, adding 42,000 jobs as schools geared up for the fall semester. Healthcare and construction rounded out the winning column with solid gains.

Q: Did anyone lose jobs?A: Yes, there were a few weak spots. The information industry took the biggest hit, shedding 23,000 jobs. That included cuts across computing infrastructure, data processing, and publishing. Financial activities also dropped 11,000 jobs.

Q: Does this mean the job market is back to its post-pandemic boom?A: Not quite, but it's incredibly stable. While total job creation has cooled compared to a few years ago, layoffs remain exceedingly rare. Employers fought hard to recruit staff after the pandemic and they are reluctant to let anyone go. Furthermore, the labor force participation rate actually ticked up to 61.6% in August, showing that more folks are coming off the sidelines to look for work.

Extremely. In 2025, 71.7% of Canada's merchandise exports went to the United States. That's down from 75.9% in 2024, but it still means roughly $7 of every $10 of Canadian goods exports goes south.

2. Does America depend on Canada as much as Canada depends on America?

No—not economically. The relationship is enormous for both countries, but the exposure is asymmetric. U.S. goods and services trade with Canada totaled about $872.3 billion in 2025, while the U.S. economy is vastly larger and has a much broader range of domestic and international suppliers.

3. Does Canada actually make money from its trade with America?

Yes. Canada had an $81.6 billion merchandise trade surplus with the United States in 2025. But here's the fascinating part: Canada had a $112.9 billion merchandise trade deficit with the rest of the world.

Integrated energy majors like Chevron (CVX) are heavily favored. They offer fortress-like balance sheets, consistent dividend growth, and direct leverage to the current supply constraints and geopolitical friction keeping oil prices elevated. They act as a natural hedge against the exact inflation that is pressuring the rest of the market.

Q: Healthcare is traditionally defensive, but where is the most resilience right now?A: Diversified healthcare leaders and medical device manufacturers are standing out. A company like Medtronic (MDT) provides stability regardless of the macroeconomic weather. Their revenues are largely decoupled from consumer discretionary spending, supported by an aging population and essential medical needs.

Q: If construction tech and real assets are a bright spot, who is leading in the public markets?A: Builders FirstSource (BLDR) is a highly relevant player here. As the construction industry increasingly shifts toward efficiency and tech—such as prefabricated structural components, roof trusses, and paneled systems—companies supplying these value-add, margin-expanding products are uniquely positioned. They offer a way to play the structural housing shortage while benefiting from the push toward modern building efficiencies.

Q: With the tech sector selling off, are there any "babies being thrown out with the bathwater"?A: Yes, particularly in enterprise software with high switching costs. Microsoft (MSFT) remains a cash-generating fortress. While its valuation was stretched earlier in the year, any significant dip offers a chance to own a company with massive pricing power, sticky recurring revenue, and unparalleled exposure to enterprise cloud migration and AI infrastructure.

Not necessarily. The better question is why the return is high. If you're being paid for taking speculative risk, that's one thing. If you're being paid because you've provided capital in an inefficient market, with collateral, short duration and diversification, that's a very different proposition.

Q: What's the biggest advantage of these "boring" investments?
A: Cash flow and capital recycling. When your money comes back in months instead of years, you have the opportunity to put it back to work again and again.

Q: What's the one question every investor should ask?
A: "What is actually generating the return?" If the answer is simply that someone hopes the investment will be worth more later, you're betting on appreciation. If the return comes from an asset producing income or a borrower contractually repaying capital, you're looking at a fundamentally different investment.

With the labor market cooling, how critical is Friday's employment data?A: It is the undisputed heavyweight catalyst of the week. We are currently looking at a 4.1% unemployment rate. If the August numbers show further deterioration, it significantly increases the pressure on the Federal Reserve to pause ahead of their mid-September meeting. Conversely, a highly resilient labor market gives them the green light to maintain a hawkish stance. Clever investors are positioning for immediate rate-expectation shifts the moment the data drops.

2. How Do Spiking Yields and Geopolitics Impact Strategy?

Q: Oil is surging amid Middle East tensions, and the 10-year Treasury is hitting 4.75%. How do we navigate this?A: This combination is building a classic "wall of worry." Geopolitical instability and jumping retail gasoline prices have a nasty habit of keeping inflation incredibly sticky. This dynamic directly fuels rising bond yields, placing immense pressure on growth multiples and companies reliant on floating-rate debt. The strategic move right now is to stress-test your holdings against a strict "higher for longer" rate environment and rotate toward businesses with unshakeable balance sheets and real pricing power.

3. Can Tech Earnings Support Sky-High Valuations?

Q: Broadcom, Dell, and Snowflake report this week. What is the real gauge of success?A: With the S&P 500's CAPE ratio sitting comfortably above 41, expectations are aggressively high, leaving virtually no room for error. We are watching closely to see if enterprise IT spending is genuinely expanding—particularly around AI infrastructure—or if macroeconomic fears are quietly causing budget contractions. If corporate execution falters, or if the broader AI growth narrative shifts, we could see sharp, unforgiving multiple compression.

While big industries like auto and steel dominate the headlines, the U.S. slapped a 50% tariff on some incredibly specific and obscure Canadian goods.

• The White House's list of targeted imports includes horsehair, tortoise shells, tulip bulbs, and even "articles for Christmas festivities".

• Canada's retaliatory list hits everyday American goods, targeting items like cosmetics, seafood, and toilet paper with duties up to 50%.

What is the official justification for the "Lake America" name?

• Beyond claiming Canada is ripping the U.S. off, one administration official defended the renaming by pointing out a geographical technicality: the absolute deepest part of Lake Ontario is located in U.S. territory.

• Diplomatic formalities have also been tossed out the window, with President Trump recently insulting Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney by referring to him as "Governor Carney".

You don't need to fund the hardware race to see exponential returns. The smart capital is flowing into the software and infrastructure layers. We look at companies building the control software, the quantum-classical bridging algorithms, and the new encryption standards. You want to invest in the companies whose software will be required regardless of whether IBM, Google, or a startup builds the winning hardware.

Q: With 10-year timelines, how do these startups survive the "valley of death" before they have revenue?A: Hybrid business models and non-dilutive capital. A robotics or space-tech company shouldn't just wait a decade to sell a final product. We look for companies that secure Joint Development Agreements (JDAs), early licensing revenue, or leverage government grants and Department of Energy funding to bridge the gap between the lab and commercial scale.

Q: How do you evaluate a company if the technology is still in the lab?A: You focus on the pathway to scalability and the intellectual property moat. A technology might work flawlessly in a beaker, but if it requires exotic materials that are impossible to source at commercial scale, it is a bad investment. We look for tangible proof points, pilot customers, and patents that are defensible on a global scale.

Q: Isn't investing in things like gene editing or nuclear power heavily restricted by regulations?A: Yes, and that is actually the competitive moat. Regulatory compliance is incredibly difficult. Once a startup secures FDA approval for a new bio-therapeutic or NRC approval for a reactor design, it is nearly impossible for a competitor to quickly replicate their success. We view complex regulations as a filter that keeps out undisciplined capital.

A: One of the biggest unwritten rules is that the market doesn’t always reward being right—it often rewards being prepared. You can correctly identify a great company, a major trend, or even where the economy is headed and still lose money if your timing, position size, or risk management is wrong.

Experienced investors understand that protecting capital matters just as much as finding the next winner. They think about what happens if they’re wrong before they think about how much they could make if they’re right. That means avoiding oversized bets, keeping enough liquidity to take advantage of opportunities, and knowing when the original reason for owning an investment has changed.

The hidden lesson is simple: successful investing isn’t just about predicting what happens next. It’s about building a strategy that can survive when what happens next isn’t what you expected.

In the United States, navigating the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is the industry's most rigorous hurdle. The process revolves around two massive milestones: 

1. Standard Design Approval (SDA): The NRC heavily scrutinizes the core reactor design, engineering calculations, and safety systems. NuScale made history by securing the first SDA for an SMR in 2020, and recently achieved a major milestone in May 2025 with the approval of an uprated 250-MW module. 

2. Combined Operating License (COL): Once a design is approved, the buyer (a utility or tech company) must apply for a COL. This evaluates the specific construction site, environmental impact, and the operator's capabilities. Only after a COL is granted can physical construction begin. 

Q: What is a realistic timeline for commercial SMR deployment?

A: While design approvals and zero-power lab tests are happening now, full commercial deployment is still years away. Current industry roadmaps project that the earliest pioneer deployments will likely come online between 2026 and 2030. However, broader commercial scalability—where SMRs are reliably rolling off factory floors to power the grid or massive AI data centers—is projected to scale throughout the 2030s and into the 2040s. 

Q: Why is the "First-of-a-Kind" (FOAK) milestone so critical to investors?

A: The FOAK deployment is the bridge between theoretical spreadsheets and commercial reality. SMRs are designed to leverage "economies of multiples," meaning their costs only drop when they are mass-produced in factories. The FOAK milestone proves that the prototype can actually be built, successfully licensed, and integrated into a power grid. Until the first few commercial reactors are operating, investors cannot verify if SMRs will actually reach price parity with traditional energy sources like natural gas or renewables. 

Q: What financial milestones are currently driving the industry forward?

A: Because initial SMR projects carry massive capital risk, early financial milestones are largely driven by government backing. In March 2025, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) launched a $900 million solicitation to jumpstart the industry. Significant milestones were reached in late 2025 and mid-2026 when the DOE awarded $400 million each to the Tennessee Valley Authority (for a GE Vernova reactor project) and Holtec International. These funds are designed specifically to de-risk the initial licensing, site preparation, and supply chain creation that has historically hindered the domestic nuclear industry. 

No. It is more likely to radically restructure it. Software will probably become cheaper to create, while the value shifts toward data, distribution, customers, integration, trust and specialized applications.

Q: Should investors avoid traditional software companies?

Not necessarily. Some established companies have tremendous customer relationships, proprietary data and deeply embedded systems. Those can be powerful defenses. The key is determining whether the company's moat is real or simply expensive-to-replace software.

Q: What is the biggest risk for AI investors?

Paying enormous valuations for future productivity that hasn't yet translated into profits. Technology can be revolutionary while an individual investment is still a terrible price.

Q: What is the biggest opportunity?

Look beyond the companies selling AI. Find businesses that can use AI to dramatically increase revenue per employee, reduce costs, accelerate product development and expand margins.

Q: What's the rule I would remember?

AI doesn't automatically create shareholder value. Productivity does.

And the investors who learn to tell the difference may have a significant advantage over the next decade.

Absolutely not. Public markets should remain an important part of a diversified portfolio. The point is to recognize that public stocks aren't the only place where opportunities exist.

Q: What's the biggest advantage a small investor has?

Flexibility. You can invest smaller amounts, investigate niche opportunities and make decisions without a giant investment committee.

Q: Why consider MCA investing?

MCA can provide exposure to a specialized form of private credit tied to small-business receivables. But the investment is only as good as the underwriting, diversification and management behind it.

Q: Is Salvare Fund available to everyone?

No. Salvare Fund currently describes its investment opportunity as being for accredited investors.

Q: Is private investing automatically better than public investing?

No. Private investments can be illiquid, speculative and difficult to value. The advantage comes from finding opportunities where your knowledge gives you an edge—not from simply investing privately.

Q: What's the biggest mistake small investors make?

Chasing what is already popular. By the time an opportunity is on every financial television program, the easy money may already have been made.

The smartest investor in the room isn't always the one with the most money. Sometimes it's the one looking in a place nobody else bothered to look.

It can be an excellent tool.

Rollover equity can align the seller with the future performance of the platform and reduce the amount of cash required at closing.

It can also give sellers a second economic opportunity when the larger platform exits.

But the structure needs to be clear: valuation, dilution, governance, vesting, future acquisitions, distributions and exit rights should all be understood before the transaction closes.

Q: What's one metric sophisticated buyers will examine closely?

A: Customer concentration.

A company producing $10 million of EBITDA can be less attractive if 40% of its revenue comes from one customer.

Diversifying revenue can increase the quality—and potentially the valuation—of the EBITDA you're building.

Q: What is the best way to create multiple arbitrage?

A: Don't simply hope for it.

Create the characteristics that justify it.

Acquire smaller businesses at sensible valuations, integrate them into a stronger platform, improve margins, diversify customers and geography, build management depth and create predictable reporting.

Then multiple expansion becomes a consequence of reduced risk and increased scale rather than a bet.

Q: How early should we start preparing for the exit?

A: The day you make the first acquisition.

If your anticipated exit is three to five years away, you don't have three to five years to prepare.

You have three to five years to prove the investment thesis.

The buyer will want to see a history of growth, integration and improving performance—not a frantic cleanup during the final six months.

Q: What's the ultimate insider rule?

A: Build the company you want to sell before you start selling it.

The best roll-up isn't the company that bought the most businesses.

It is the company that transformed fragmented businesses into a scalable, profitable and strategically valuable platform.

That's what creates the exit.

And that's where the real investor return is created.

Usually, that's a question that deserves a very high level of scrutiny. Annuities can be excellent for a portion of retirement assets, particularly when the objective is guaranteed income. But liquidity, inflation protection, growth and legacy objectives still matter.

Q: What's more important—the interest rate or the insurance company's financial strength?

A: Both matter. A slightly higher rate isn't necessarily worth taking substantially more insurer or contract risk. Compare financial strength, contract guarantees, fees, surrender terms and actual benefits—not just the headline rate.

Q: Should I choose a fixed indexed annuity because the market can't go down?

A: Be careful with that statement. An FIA may protect the contract from direct index-related market losses under its terms, but that doesn't mean you can never lose money economically. Surrender charges, withdrawals, fees, inflation and contract-specific rules can affect your outcome. Indexed annuities can also limit upside through caps, participation rates and other crediting mechanics.

Q: How many annuities should I compare?

A: At least three is a reasonable starting point. For a substantial investment, comparing five or more proposals can be worthwhile. The important thing is to compare equivalent products and assumptions.

Q: Should I buy an annuity from the company offering the highest rate?

A: Not automatically. Look at the entire contract. A high rate accompanied by restrictive terms may be inferior to a slightly lower rate with better liquidity, stronger guarantees or lower costs.

Q: Is an annuity better than investing in the stock market?

A: That's the wrong comparison. They solve different problems. Stocks are primarily a growth tool. Annuities are primarily insurance contracts that can provide guarantees and income. A retirement portfolio can potentially use both.

Q: Should I exchange an old annuity for a new one?

A: Only after doing a detailed side-by-side analysis. You need to account for surrender charges, new surrender periods, lost benefits, new fees and the actual improvement in guarantees. FINRA specifically identifies these issues as important considerations when evaluating annuity exchanges.

Q: What's the smartest annuity practice of all?

A: Know exactly what you're buying before you sign.

If you can't explain the annuity's guarantee, fees, surrender period, income provisions, downside risk and beneficiary provisions to another investor in plain English, you're probably not ready to buy it.

And remember the golden rule of investing:

If the product is complicated, slow down.

Complexity isn't automatically bad—but it should never be used to hide the economics.

Absolutely not. If anything, this is when valuations come back down to earth. During a bull run, every pitch deck looks like a unicorn, and founders ask for the moon. Right now, you can find gritty, capital-efficient teams building real solutions without the inflated price tags.

Q: What makes an investment "good" when the public markets are unpredictable?

It comes down to utility and insulation. I look for businesses that aren't overly reliant on fragile global supply chains or international regulatory approvals. Give me a solid SaaS product, a well-structured application that solves a real workflow problem, or a tangible domestic business over a globally exposed moonshot any day of the week.

Q: How do I avoid catching a "falling knife" in the current tech market?

Look strictly at the revenue models. We are entering an era where AI and software tools actually have to justify their operational costs. If a company's entire business model relies on cheap capital and endless compute without a clear path to profitability, pass on it. A good deal right now is one where the unit economics make sense today, not three years from now.