In this episode, Jeff Malec sits down with John McArthur of Krilogy to trace his path from backup quarterback at Mizzou and Northwestern to CIO of a nearly $6 billion independent wealth management firm. John talks about how college football shaped his views on timing, opportunity, and accountability, then connects those lessons to building a planning-first advisory culture outside the wirehouse world of AG Edwards and Morgan Stanley. The conversation dives into how Krilogy builds portfolios using a mix of active and passive tools, daily-liquid alts, private markets, and fixed income, with a particular focus on left-tail risk, crisis alpha, and why diversification still matters in a market dominated by mega-cap tech and AI narratives. John explains how the firm thinks about private equity, private credit, secondaries, and interval funds, emphasizing liquidity trade-offs, client education, and realistic expectations around distributions in a higher-rate world. Jeff and John also tackle the economic and market implications of AI, both as a powerful productivity engine and a potential source of labor disruption and how that overlays with client fears about geopolitics, inflation, interest rates, and elections. They wrap by getting practical on college savings strategy when markets are at all-time highs, the behavioral side of advising (part therapist, part portfolio architect), and close on a lighter note with John’s football roots and his personal Mount Rushmore of gridiron stories, including a nod to Bo Jackson’s legendary 30 for 30. SEND IT!
Chapters:
00:00-01:20= Intro
01:21-05:25= NIL Millions, Teenagers, and the Trouble With “New Money”
05:26-14:26= From Backup Quarterback to CIO: Building Krilogy and Planning for the Next Left-Tail Shock
14:27–24:47 = Beyond “Alts”: Private Markets, Secondaries, and Whether AI Fuels Boom or Bust
24:48–33:08 = Buffered Notes, Interval Funds, and De-Risking College at Market Highs
33:09–43:17 = Fear, Euphoria, and the CIO as Therapist: Coaching Clients Through the Next Shock
43:18–51:45 = Bo, Ball, and Balancing Risk: From Two-Sport Legends to Two-Sided Portfolios
51:46–54:32 = Bo, Bars, and Bill Simmons: McArthur’s Mount Rushmore of Football Flicks
From the Episode:
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Follow along with John and Krilogy on LinkedIn, and be sure to check out krilogy.com to learn more about what they are up to.
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