Investing guru Byron Wien built a legendary career by growing other people's money. Here's where he would invest $50,000 today.
- Byron Wien has spent his career advising investors at some of Wall Street's top firms including Blackstone and Morgan Stanley, where he was chief US investment strategist for 21 years.
- In an interview with the TD Ameritrade Network, Wien broke down how a 40-year old should be investing their money right now.
Byron Wien is no stranger to Wall Street.
The 86-year-old vice chairman of Blackstone's private wealth solutions group has built his career advising other investors at some of Wall Street's biggest firms, including Morgan Stanley. He's also well known for his annual list of 10 predictions for the markets.
And so, if you have $50,000 that's just waiting to be put to work in financial markets, Wien has some great ideas on how best to go about it.
The advise below was given during an interview with the TD Ameritrade Network, which specifically asked how a 40-year-old should invest that amount of money.
Without further ado, here are Wien's recommendations:
- 40% long only as follows: 5% in global multinationals, 15% in US stocks, 10% in emerging markets, 5% in Europe, and 5% in Japan.
- 30% in alternative assets.
- 15% in equity-like fixed income: mortgages, leveraged loans, mezzanine financing, emerging-market debt and high-yield debt.
- 15% (the remainder) in cash.
- No Treasurys or high-quality corporates.
As for specific stocks, Wien declined to talk about individual companies, but said: "some of the FANG stocks, in the correction of the fourth quarter, came down to attractive prices."
He expects the ongoing rebound to continue and earn the S&P 500 a 15% return this year - a reversal of its first annual decline since the financial crisis.
Wien is also betting that the economy will remain conducive enough to support company earnings. In a recent interview with Business Insider, he said he didn't expect the next recession to arrive before 2021.
However, when it inevitably arrives, the traditional fiscal and monetary tools that were used to fight previous recessions may not be as effective, Wien said.