The NAVigator

Hosted by Active Investment Company Alliance

Business Investing

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Episodes

300

Latest episode

Aug 2026

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About the show

The NAVigator, from the Active Investment Company Alliance (AICA), talks all-weather investing and "excellence beyond indexing" through the use of closed-end funds (CEFs) & business-development companies (BDCs). AICA – a new organization that includes a diverse constituency that runs from investors through fund sponsors – aims to help investors & advisors plot a new and different course to financial success, via the tactical use of securities that mix active management within listed & non-listed structures. Subscribe now to get regular updates on everything you need to know to succeed with CEFs & BDCs.

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60 recent

August 21, 202613 min

How rising Treasury rates (and relief) impact closed-end investors

Treasury rates hit their highest level in nearly 20 years this week; in response, the Treasury announced it was doubling its long-end buyback capacity. John Cole Scott, President of CEF Advisors , discusses what it all means for fixed-income markets and how it is impacting closed-end funds and their investors. The two actions at the center of the action call for a barbell approach, says Scott, who serves as chairman of the Active Investment Company Alliance ; for the time being, however, it, noting that at least for the time being it is more about portfolio tilts and mild changes than an overhaul or a big buying opportunity.

August 14, 202613 min

John Cole Scott breaks down recent media recommendations on CEFs

When closed-end funds catch mentions in the mainstream media, the recommendations often focus on yield without digging deeper. In this episode of The NAVigator, John Cole Scott, President of CEF Advisors , looks at some recent closed-end fund recommendations from articles on Forbes and Seeking Alpha, and breaks down how those funds do through the "trifecta analysis" his firm uses to select funds, pointing out the shortcomings of using a rigid criteria or focusing on partial information to make decisions. Scott, who also is the chairman of the Active Investment Company Alliance , offers suggestions for what he would use in portfolios in place of the media recommendations.

August 7, 202614 min

How the market's recent rally created 'a good widening' of closed-end discounts

Discount-capture investor Rob Shaker, Portfolio Manager at Shaker Financial Services , says that while closed-end fund discounts have widened through a strong season of earnings and a market returning to flirt with new highs, much of that action has been "good widenings," where a fund's net asset value goes up more than the price of the closed-end fund itself. With the market "snapping around" with heightened volatility, Shaker says that the indexes have been pulling up faster than closed-end funds can move, creating attractive buying opportunities. While liking that potential for gains, Shaker says that closed-end funds generally "have been pretty laid back," without much fear but also without much optimism, even as the market has resumed its climb higher.

July 31, 202616 min

Nuveen's Caraher on why senior loans are in a sweet spot now

Scott Caraher, Head of Senior Loans at Nuveen , says that the higher-for-longer interest rate environment has created "one of the most interesting and dynamic times" he has seen for senior loans in his 25-year career. Caraher, who manages Nuveen Floating Rate Income in both its closed-end and open-end forms, says that because senior loans don't face interest-rate risk, they are a powerful play in a market where Federal Reserve policy on rate direction is uncertain, noting that it's possible to create strong portfolios yielding about 7 percent, which he called "incredibly attractive ... on both an absolute and relative basis."

July 24, 202615 min

John Cole Scott on Q2 and the rest of '26 for closed-end funds, BDCs

John Cole Scott, President of CEF Advisors , provides takeaways from the second quarter for closed-end funds and business-development companies, noting that the trend was for investors to make most of their money on net asset values rather than narrowing discounts, which creates potential for a strong second half of 2026 if there is an uptick in investor sentiment. Scott, the chairman of the Active Investment Company Alliance , brought forward data from his firm's quarterly outlook presentation this week, noting that it shows that while headline risks have hurt BDC prices, underlying strength should make for a strong rebound later in the year, particularly as the actions of the Federal Reserve become more clear.

July 17, 202614 min

XA's DiBernardo on why worried investors should consider covered calls now

Ray DiBernardo, Portfolio Manager for the XAI Madison Equity Premium Income fund, says he's concerned about the market's valuation levels — noting that it "has been expensive for quite some time" — and while he is not expecting "dark clouds and a horrible environment," there's more downside risk, which could lead to market compression that puts covered-call strategies back into the spotlight as a defensive play. DiBernardo, an analyst at Madison Investments, says the proliferation of options strategies should make investors more diligent about exploring strategies, and he discusses single-stock options versus index options and the risk-reward picture with each. DiBernardo notes that covered-call strategies aren't right for people "who believe the market will keep going straight up from here," but he notes that for nervous investors, the options strategy acts like portfolio insurance and the discount on a closed-end fund can help to make up for the upside potential that the strategy trades for that protection.

July 10, 202616 min

Gold fund manager Merk on ASA's fight with activist investors

Axel Merk, President and Chief Investment Officer at Merk Investments , discusses Saba Capital's activist campaign that got him ousted as portfolio manager and president of ASA Gold and Precious Metals Ltd. , a closed-end fund that was up nearly 200% last year but that still was branded with the label of being a "poor performer." Merk, who took over the closed end fund in 2016 and helped to nearly quadruple its assets in the last decade, says new management has no experience running a gold fund, and is only interested in narrowing the discount and generating fees for itself. He filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and made other efforts to save the fund , but says any form of salvation is unlikely at this point. He also discusses prospects for the gold market, which has cooled significantly this year.

July 2, 202613 min

Gabelli's Dreyer on why sports and value picks are an antidote to A.I. obsession

Kevin Dreyer, Co-Chief Investment Officer for value at Gabelli Asset Management , says that there are plenty of values left in a market that has returned to record levels, particularly when valuing stocks based on "what an informed industrialist or buyer would pay to buy the whole business." Dreyer, part of the team running Gabelli Equity Trust and some of the firm's other closed-end funds, says that finding businesses that are "A.I. resilient" and able to withstand and/or benefit from the development of artificial intelligence is important now, and he noted that sports teams are a big draw in that regard because " You can't have an algorithm or chatbot replicate the New York Knicks … but you and I can go out and buy MSGS, which owns the Knicks."

June 26, 202613 min

CEF Data's Scott on the takeaways from Dechert's Private Credit Summit

John Cole Scott, President of CEF Advisors , attended the Private Credit Summit hosted this week in New York City by Dechert LLP, and came away with a sense that private-credit markets have not yet gotten to the overheated levels that could turn investor fears of a blow-up into a financial reality. Scott, also the chairman of the Active Investment Company Alliance , discusses "stress tests" that Fitch Ratings did on some large perpetual business development companies to see how they would perform if market conditions changed dramatically, and found that the BDCs did not break under severe conditions. He also discusses how insurance companies putting money into the private credit and BDC industries is changing underwriting standards, adding a measure of safety that he says all private credit investors are likely to benefit from. Plus, he discusses his sense of where the market is in its current cycle, based on what he heard from institutional investors who were in attendance.

June 18, 202616 min

Landmark Supreme Court decision is a game-changer for investor activism

Ken Burdon, Partner in the registered fund practice at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett , discusses the Supreme Court's recent ruling against activist investor Saba Capital , a decision that could have a chilling effect on shareholder activism in the future. Burdon says the decision removes a key path based on the Investment Company Act of 1940 that activists took in pursuing cases over fund fees and structure. It doesn't stop the activists from pursuing cases, but makes it harder to do so, forcing them into state courts. Critics of activism have long held that professional arbitrageurs used federal courts to pressure closed-end funds into transactions that benefit activists' short term profit agenda at the expense of the long-term returns and investment objectives that the majority of investors pursued when buying into a specific closed-end fund.