Is your pension or annuity exposed to private equity? Former New York Fed insider Christopher Whalen tells Kitco News anchor Jeremy Szafron why he’d get that money out if you can, and why he sold his own bank stocks to lean on gold and silver.
Whalen, chairman of Whalen Global Advisors, former head of research at Kroll Bond Rating Agency and editor of The Institutional Risk Analyst, says private equity investors are “entirely beholden to the manager” for what their holdings are worth. He also says private credit funds buying up insurers should worry anyone who owns an annuity. His first question for every annuity holder is simple: what’s the insurer’s rating?
He explains why he bought puts on consumer lenders as he expects more missed payments. He also calls gold and silver an “asymmetrical trade” as central banks shift toward gold. For a retired couple, he suggests focusing on income first and holding about 5% to 10% in a gold ETF.
On the economy, Whalen explains how the AI borrowing boom helped push up bond yields, and why he thinks the Federal Reserve will have to return to QE and buy Treasuries again. He warns food prices could get “much higher” as farmers struggle to afford fertilizer, and he doesn’t expect 5% mortgage rates to come back.
This interview was recorded on Oct. 19, 2026.
Correction: At about 27:35, Jeremy says the Mortgage Bankers Association expects mortgage rates to fall about 5% in 2027. He meant mortgage lending, which the MBA expects to fall about 5% to below $2 trillion.
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CHAPTERS
00:00 Private Equity “Forever Funds” and Pension Risk
03:43 Continuation Funds: When to Ask for Your Money Back
06:06 Annuities, Insurer Ratings and Private Credit Risk
09:28 AI Circular Financing and Data Center Bottlenecks
13:25 AI Dip Buying and Wall Street Conflicts
17:19 How AI Borrowing Is Hitting the Bond Market
19:32 Fed Hikes, Food Prices and a Return to QE
22:53 Why an AI Unwind Could Pull Rates Lower
24:26 Mortgage Rates and Whalen’s Floating-Rate Strategy
27:46 Mortgage Industry Shakeout and Buyer Leverage
31:04 Deficits and Hard Assets
32:02 Why Whalen Sold His Bank Stocks
34:01 Why Whalen Is Shorting Consumer Lenders
36:45 Why Central Banks Are Shifting Toward Gold
39:03 Mining Stocks: Why Whalen Prefers ETFs
40:36 Gold as the “One Measure” of Inflation
43:58 How Much Gold Whalen Would Hold in Retirement
#PrivateEquity #Gold #KitcoNews
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41 Comments
That Riot in France is part of an Organized Revolution that Largely was getting Money from USAID and several other Revolutionary NGO's. Not Our President,He is at War with London,Wake-up
Mario at Maneco64 linked your video. 🏆
Someone tell Buggs next time he schedules a interview he needs to pass on the white lightning
Stealing the American citizens money! Thieves! Ponzey scheme! Government is bought and paid for also media.
who in the right mind would use crypto which primarily controls by US big tech bros? gold is not etherware
I want to hear more from Chris! He is very knowledgeable and reasonable.
I find it funny how idiots are worried about fuel and food prices, while at the same time ignoring how much prices will be if a nuclear bomb blows up New York…🤦🏻♂️
Humans are selfish, stupid and only care about today!
I love Chris. Sometimes I think he looks at things a bit too negatively but just a little bit. He’s pretty smart and well informed.
"Beyond our Means" but the Middle Class has been shrinking and shrinking… who's getting all those Means?
1001% true with pension funds wale up Americans demand inflation + 2% return on pension fund tax free and let govt pay $50,000 to vote Trumph . Don’t worry . Secure ur old age .
🎉I'm a retired UK teacher currently living in Canada, and I only started investing and trading about a week ago. I began with £3,000, and I'm now at over £13,780. It's been an incredible start to my journey into crypto and the stock market. I'm excited to keep learning, growing, and gaining more experience along the way.
Thank you for your valuable videos and insights -they've been incredibly helpful!
When it becomes profitable it is taken private. Also when it is deemed future profitable it is private. Risk and debt are passed onto the public. Get it? Greed is king.
It's a click bait title. Walen's message is a broader warning about financial-system risk rather than merely another gold-price prediction.
city trucks preferred?
I hoped this would be brilliant and it didn't disappoint.
ai bot
👍🏻💛
The risks around opaque private markets and circular AI financing are worth watching closely. Diversification and protecting downside risk become even more important when debt levels and economic uncertainty keep rising.
I'm looking forward to Chris' book on gold.
Read "The Russian Loan", NY Tribune Jan 4th, 1856, Wikisource re financial complexity.
Sorry to ramble, but it’s the same old story, PEOPLE PLAN MORE FOR VACATION THAN ON THERE LIFELINE TO THE FUTURE!!
I saw it through my career and it is astounding that only 10-20%, actually study and/or educate themselves. Pensioners deserve to get screwed if they don’t pay attention to their investments, AND THEY WILL!!!!
Having been in the business for 35 years, I can tell you Wall Street ALWAYS comes up with a new WRAPPER for the old products. Sounds like an 10-15 annuity that you can’t get out of without extreme penalties. The end result…. More fees for them, less work. Asset gathering tool. That’s all.
No cell no sell
You raided my families retirement
내년에 개인연금을 받을수있는 나이가 됩니다
7년전에 개인연금을 해지하고 실물 금과은을 샀습니다
주위에서 다들 미쳤다고 했죠
하지만 그 결정이 옳았다고 생각합니다
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Funny how when we hear someone like Chris Whalen speaking truth, we can recognize it as truth without having to squint our eyes and say Huh?
Too many PE funds chasing deals = poor investment strategy.
GREAT INTERVIEW !!
For the algo, Chris calls balls and strikes…TX! 🎉🎉🎉😊
Lately I’ve mostly been stacking gold since silver’s a bit outside my comfort zone right now. I’ve also put a lot into crypto, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and others, because these assets are currently outperforming and are changing the way people think about money and finance, . I have managed to grow a nest egg of around 120k to a decent 873k in the space of a few months.Thanks again Elena, Fenwick., for the regular updates
Great guest – thanks !
Excellent, insightful, articulate guest and an excellent interview. Thank you.
Hi Jeremy, Thanks for an informative interview. Best Wishes
good
Gib mir mal dein Geld wenn es schief geht Pech gehabt
“The faith is lost. All with one impulse people rush to seize the gold itself as the only reality left—not only people as individuals; banks, also, and the great banking systems and governments do it, in competition with people. This is the financial crisis.”– Garet Garrett, 1932
Lots of essential facts brought together, including very current ones. Great guest.
listening youtubers touting gold for last 3 months while it continues to drop in price. Like they are generating demand for someone to unload
🙏🏻🙏🏻
IF I was to dabble in an annuity, a mutual insurance company is the ONLY entity that I would be comfortable with. just saying.