Jan 12, 2026 · 1h 4m · capital-allocators
Ashby Monk – Total Portfolio Approach and the Future of Asset Owners (EP.480)
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gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
Dr. Ashby Monk joins Ted Seides to discuss the Total Portfolio Approach (TPA), the transformative impact of artificial intelligence and InvestTech on institutional asset allocators, and structural innovations reshaping sovereign wealth and public pension funds.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Ted holds 19.1% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Ted as informed peer 4.7 Guest teaching 6.2 Guest disagreement 1.3 Ted pushing back 1.7
speaking balance: gold is Ted, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 44:45 Ashby reframing co-investment turnaround speed
Ashby forcefully challenges pension funds that boast about fast co-investment turnarounds, pointing out that speed is just bureaucratic efficiency rather than genuine innovation.
Hardest push from Ted ▶ 18:56 Ted challenging TPA compatibility with private marketsTed presses Ashby on the core tension between TPA flexibility and private equity commitments, noting that illiquid assets have historically driven most pension performance.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 9:23 Ashby explaining the reality of factor translation and TPAAshby walks through the history of Joe Deere at CalPERS trying to bridge factor-based investing into asset classes, illustrating why previous attempts failed without modern technology.
Ted holds their own ▶ 16:05 Ted defining the shift in the allocator unit of workTed demonstrates his deep institutional expertise by isolating the fundamental conceptual challenge of TPA: transitioning from discrete bucket-filling deals to dynamic cross-portfolio decisions.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Ted as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Ted pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Strategic Importance of Global Asset Owners | 4 | 5 | 1 | 1 | Ted opens the interview warmly and asks Ashby to explain his enduring focus on large institutional asset owners. Ashby outlines why sovereign wealth and pension funds are the central pillars of modern capitalism and social welfare, framing his shift toward tech enablement. | |
| Defining the Total Portfolio Approach (TPA) | 5 | 7 | 2 | 2 | Ted brings up the rise of Total Portfolio Approach (TPA) and recent industry moves like Stephen Gilmore joining CalPERS. Ashby provides an extensive breakdown of TPA as an investor identity project rather than just an asset allocation tweak, detailing historical attempts and the difficulty of real-time private asset valuations. | |
| TPA Mechanics: Compensation, Positioning, and Governance | 6 | 6 | 1 | 3 | Ted presses Ashby on the practical differences between running a sophisticated strategic asset allocation (SAA) and a genuine TPA model. Ashby explains the deep operational hurdles, including rebuilding incentive compensation and creating a portfolio positioning system. | |
| Shifting from Deal Work to Knowledge Work | 6 | 6 | 1 | 2 | Ted asks how the fundamental unit of work differs between bucket-filling SAA and TPA. Ashby articulates how decision-making shifts from deal deployment to cross-asset knowledge work and countercyclical tactical adjustments. | |
| Integrating Private Markets and Illiquidity within TPA | 6 | 6 | 2 | 3 | Ted challenges Ashby on how TPA reconciles long-term illiquid private market commitments that have historically driven pension outperformance. Ashby acknowledges the tension and proposes hybrid models where illiquidity costs are dynamically weighed against total portfolio optionality. | |
| AI in Asset Management: Moving from Speed to Insight | 4 | 7 | 2 | 1 | Ted directs the discussion to practical AI applications in the investment office. Ashby critiques pure head-count automation, using AlphaGo move 37 to explain the critical transition from speed-based automation to non-obvious insight and simulation. | |
| Portfolio Navigation: Applying the Google Maps Analogy to Allocators | 5 | 7 | 1 | 2 | Ted asks how AI models can transition from portfolio risk accounting to forward-looking CIO judgment. Ashby uses the Google Maps navigation metaphor to show how clean data and customized constraints allow AI to optimize routes to specific cash outflow destinations. | |
| Sovereign Wealth Innovation: Saudi Arabia's PIF and New Mexico SIC | 4 | 7 | 1 | 1 | Ted asks for concrete institutional examples of innovation in the allocator ecosystem. Ashby highlights Saudi Arabia's PIF and New Mexico SIC as leading development-oriented sovereign investors combining impact mandates with high performance targets. | |
| Sponsor Break: Ridgeline AI Platform | 4 | 5 | 1 | 2 | Following a sponsor break, Ted drills into New Mexico SIC's high-performance objectives given its surge in mineral wealth. Ashby describes their talent recruitment advantages in Santa Fe and tech leapfrogging opportunities. | |
| Global Innovators: Aussie Super, Maple Eight, and PGGM's 3D TPA | 4 | 7 | 1 | 1 | Ted asks about other global innovators and startups in Ashby's venture fund portfolio. Ashby covers Australian supers, PGGM's 3D TPA model, and internal intelligence tools like Shelton AI, GrowthSphere, and Hoopit. | |
| Allocator Organizational Design, Weaknesses, and Tech Governance | 5 | 7 | 2 | 2 | Ted asks where allocators remain hopelessly behind or structurally weak. Ashby lays out his categorical versus cultivated framework, noting bureaucratic friction and the urgent need for technologists on pension governing boards. | |
| Genuine GP-LP Partnerships and Seeding Fund One Managers | 5 | 6 | 1 | 2 | Ted queries how asset owners should manage the GP-LP dynamic as innovation accelerates. Ashby defines true partnership as value created outside legal contracts and argues that allocators should actively back Fund One managers rather than overpaying for Fund Three. | |
| Attracting Top Undergraduate Talent: The CalPERS Fellowship | 4 | 6 | 1 | 1 | Ted asks about Ashby's initiatives to develop young allocator talent. Ashby explains the design of the Stanford-CalPERS fellowship, modeled after Teach for America, to redirect elite university graduates into public pensions. | |
| Bridging Academia and Industry through Podcasting | 4 | 5 | 1 | 1 | Ted asks Ashby about his podcasting endeavors at Stanford. Ashby explains why academic research needs modern media distribution like Don't Get Fired and The Technologized Investor to reach practitioners and founders. | |
| Upcoming Research: ESG Financials, Neurodiversity, and Innovation Triggers | 4 | 6 | 1 | 1 | Ted asks about Ashby's pipeline of upcoming research papers. Ashby outlines his contrarian paper on financial returns in ESG, research on neurodiversity as an investment superpower, and institutional triggers for innovation. |
Statements from this episode (26)
Monk: Large Asset Owners Are the World's Most Important Organizations
“They have quietly become the most important organizations in the world, and I don't put a caveat on that one. They are the cornerstone of our modern social welfare state. They are integrated into so much policymaking from Saudi Arabia to United States to Austr…”
Monk: No pension plans today are good at valuing private assets
“I don't know any plans today that are really good at valuing their private assets. It's incredibly difficult to bring real-time valuation into venture capital, private equity.”
Monk: Adopting Total Portfolio Approach requires completely changing fund organizational structure
“If you're going to go from a strategic asset allocation to a total portfolio approach, that's a shift in asset allocation. Can't do that in a vacuum. You're going to have to completely change your organization and how you're implementing it, and that's the par…”
Monk: Total Portfolio Approach will be obvious standard in 22 years
“It's the future. 22 years from now, we'll be like total portfolio approach. That's so funny. We weren't doing that.”
Monk: NZ Super Fund eliminated individual asset-class compensation links
“I can remember the New Zealand Superfund, which is one of the best total portfolio investors having to scrub out all of the individual portfolio links to their compensation. It was total fund, qualitative metrics for compensation.”
Monk: TPA shifts the institutional unit of work to knowledge analysis
“The unit of work becomes knowledge work instead of deal work. The unit of work is different. It's not capital deployment. It's not bucket filling. It's something else moving you towards your objective, intelligent understanding of additionality in your portfol…”
Monk: TPA infrastructure enables rapid counter-cyclical investing
“Once you have these systems in place, you could pivot around beliefs, assumptions. It also allows you to be counter-cyclical very quickly. If markets move quickly, you're going to be able to buy low, and if you feel like things are inflated, you can sell high.”
Monk: Recruiting senior talent into pure TPA structures is difficult
“By the way, that's going to help you to recruit and retain human beings. It's hard to recruit and do a TPA. You recruit people into private equity jobs, real estate jobs, because we demand, especially at the senior levels, a certain level of expertise and netw…”
Monk: 15-year private asset commitments restrict dynamic TPA portfolio adjustments
“If you're a big private equity infrastructure investor, you're probably a little nervous about the TPA push. It's hard to do TPA when you're making a 15 year commitment. You're planting seeds that are going to take a long time to grow. It's harder to move arou…”
Monk: Asset Owners Should Value AI by Alpha Over Headcount Automation
“I don't love that framing. I love thinking about how technology unlocks additional basis points of return. It gives permission to pension funds to spend more money. Especially on the initial setup cost of getting your data right.”
Monk: AI Inference Will Primarily Benefit Long-Term Pension Allocators
“That's what I'm mostly excited about, and that inference is gonna benefit the long-term pension fund investors. They're the ones that are managing assets over longer horizons, where inference, insight, have enough time to get priced.”
Monk: Investment Professionals Will Become Co-Pilots to AI
“The human beings in these organizations will become the co-pilot to the AI, rather than the AI being the co-pilot to the human beings, because they're gonna have all the data, and they're gonna have that customization available.”
Monk: Saudi Arabia's PIF has founded over 100 companies
“The PIF, trillion dollar-ish organization, Started over a hundred companies.”
Monk: New Mexico SIC will soon surpass Alaska as largest US sovereign fund
“Because of the scale of that organization, they're gonna add 20 to thirty billion dollars. They will soon be the biggest sovereign fund in America, passing Alaska.”
Monk: Development funds must generate high returns to become industry role models
“Very few pensions are going to copy a development fund that is delivering two percent return. But if there's a development fund like a Tomasek that is out there driving really high performance, then all of a sudden they could become a role model that gets copi…”
Monk: UC Investments' Jagdeep Bachher Is Attempting to Buy College Leagues
“Our friend Jag Deep is trying to buy college leagues.”
Monk: Australian super funds lead in real-time private market valuation
“There's now the big eight Australian super funds. They're doing a lot on private market real time valuation because you can move from one super fund to another super fund in real time.”
Monk: PGGM is launching 3D TPA across risk, return, and impact
“PGGM in the Netherlands, so they're about to launch their version of TPA, which is exciting because PGGM has what they call three D TPA, three dimensions, risk, return, and impact. Every deal gets analyzed in terms of those three dimensions.”
Monk: Fast co-investment turnaround is efficiency, not institutional innovation
“Oftentimes a pension fund will say, oh, we're really innovative. We're an amazing partner to our funds. They bring us a co-investment and we respond in 15 days. I have to remind them, what you've just described is speed and efficiency. It's the opposite of inn…”
Monk: Large funds need technologists and data infrastructure experts on boards
“Just as we're sort of achieving that, I'm going to turn around and go back to them and say, we need technologists, people who've built data infrastructure. We need the right skills on these boards. If you're going to make a hundred million dollar investment in…”
Ashby Monk: True GP-LP partnerships drive uncompensated value for allocators
“The sign of a good partnership is you help drive a change in your partner's portfolio that you don't get paid for.”
Monk: Allocators who only back Fund III overpay for managers
“If you only invest in fund three, you've decided you're going to overpay for managers because they don't need your money.”
Monk: Most pension fund innovation requires leaders risking their jobs
“Much of the innovation in pension funds is courage-based. Some leaders fed up, and they're willing to put their job on the line.”
Monk: Pension funds fail to explain their operations to technologists
“I don't think we do a great job of explaining to technologists what we do as pension funds.”