Key Takeaways
- • DBi Managing Member Andrew Beer, a hedge fund veteran of more than three decades, told CNBC's "ETF Edge" that markets are moving more than normal and that investors should "prepare for the worst."
- • Beer said the market's ability to forecast the state of the world is "deeply wrong," citing more geopolitical risks "stacked on top of each other" and more economic risk factors than he recalls at any point in his career.
- • Beer urged investors to consider how they would act in a 2008- or 2022-style downturn, and warned that 2025's broad gains across stocks and bonds will not repeat.
- • Beer flagged possible strain in private credit and insurance company portfolios as areas where stress could spread.
- • NovaDius Wealth Management president Nate Geraci pointed to managed futures ETFs as portfolio insurance for scenarios where stocks and bonds fall together.
Summary
DBi Managing Member Andrew Beer warned investors to prepare for a difficult market period, telling CNBC's "ETF Edge" that stocks are swinging amid rising geopolitical tensions and that the market's forecasting ability is in question. "It's not normal for big markets to move as much as they are right now," Beer said. "Something is deeply wrong in the market's ability to forecast the state of the world." He added that investors can only plan and prepare for the worst while hoping for the best.
Beer, who has spent more than three decades in the hedge fund industry, said it is remarkable that the stresses on the financial system over the past 12 to 18 months have not led to a broader breakdown. He cited a larger number of geopolitical risks stacked on top of one another, along with more economic risk factors than he remembers at any time in his career. He urged investors to consider how they would respond to a downturn similar to 2008 or 2022, emphasizing that financial assets are also what people rely on to live on and retire.
Beer said investors who stayed passive in 2025 were rewarded, but that conditions will not continue that way and a more difficult period lies ahead. He noted that recent sharp moves in gold, silver, bitcoin and crude oil make it hard to calibrate portfolios, saying "No one has a playbook for that." He is also monitoring private credit, insurance company portfolios and other areas where unusual stress could spread.
NovaDius Wealth Management president Nate Geraci, speaking in the same CNBC interview, highlighted exchange-traded funds designed to offer portfolio protection, particularly managed futures ETFs. He described them as a longer-term allocation and "portfolio insurance" for periods when stocks and bonds decline together.
Beer, who has spent more than three decades in the hedge fund industry, said it is remarkable that the stresses on the financial system over the past 12 to 18 months have not led to a broader breakdown. He cited a larger number of geopolitical risks stacked on top of one another, along with more economic risk factors than he remembers at any time in his career. He urged investors to consider how they would respond to a downturn similar to 2008 or 2022, emphasizing that financial assets are also what people rely on to live on and retire.
Beer said investors who stayed passive in 2025 were rewarded, but that conditions will not continue that way and a more difficult period lies ahead. He noted that recent sharp moves in gold, silver, bitcoin and crude oil make it hard to calibrate portfolios, saying "No one has a playbook for that." He is also monitoring private credit, insurance company portfolios and other areas where unusual stress could spread.
NovaDius Wealth Management president Nate Geraci, speaking in the same CNBC interview, highlighted exchange-traded funds designed to offer portfolio protection, particularly managed futures ETFs. He described them as a longer-term allocation and "portfolio insurance" for periods when stocks and bonds decline together.
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