Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin - What the Greatest Investors Are Investing In Right Now

Episode Date: October 30, 2025

Nicole breaks down the latest moves from three of the biggest names in investing—Bill Ackman, Cathie Wood, and Warren Buffett—and reveals what you can actually learn from watching the pros. Copying their portfolios might sound like a shortcut to success, but it’s not a cheat code—it’s homework. Nicole shows how studying their strategies can help you spot market themes, understand investor psychology, and fine-tune your own approach. From Ackman’s conviction bets to Cathie’s innovation plays to Buffett’s timeless discipline, you’ll walk away knowing how to learn from the best… while making your own money moves. This podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Always do your own research and consult a licensed financial advisor before making any financial decisions or investments. All investing involves risk. Brokerage services for US listed securities, options and bonds in a self-directed brokerage account are offered by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Not investment advice. Availability of the Investment Plans tool on Public.com is not a recommendation or endorsement of the tool. Public.com does not provide investment, tax or legal advice. For additional disclosures about Investment Plans, go to public.com/disclosures.

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I'm Nicole Lapin, the only financial expert you don't need a dictionary to understand. It's time for some money rehab. I know in this cuckoo crazy economy, it is so tempting to look at what the big investors in the game are doing because it can feel like copying their moves means getting the cheat code to the market. But here's the truth. It is not cheat code. It is just one more data point. You still need to do your own homework and your own research.

But watching the market moves of seasoned investors can be a smart way to spot themes, trends, or even just sense-check your own strategy. So today, I want to walk you through the recent moves of three heavy hitters, Warren Buffett, Bill Ackman, and Kathy Wood. Let's start with Bill Ackman, CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management and one of the more concentrated investors in the game. He runs a super tight portfolio. His top holding right now, Uber. Ackman is looking at Uber as a capital light business that finally is hitting its financial stride. Revenue from ride sharing is up more than 18% year over year, and Uber just authorized a $20 billion share buyback, which is typically a sign of a strong cash flow and management confidence.

And by the way, this isn't a tech play anymore. Uber is trading at a price to earnings ratio of around 17. And if you want to dig more into price to earnings ratios, I linked an episode. where I decode that jargon in the show notes. Agman's second biggest position, Brookfield Corporation, a diversified alternative asset manager. That might sound very boring, but here's an interesting angle. Brookfield gives you exposure to infrastructure and private markets that are tough

to get into as a retail investor. When Agman buys Brookfield, he's not just getting a typical financial stock. He's getting indirect access to markets that most retail investors can't easily get into. like private real estate. Brookfield, by the way, is one of the largest real estate investors in the world with commercial buildings, infrastructure, office towers, and data centers. Also, Brookfield is a private infrastructure player. So think toll roads, ports, power plants, and utilities. And more recently, Brookfield has been expanding into private credit markets and reinsurance, another huge growth area where institutional capital has been moving. So Ackman's angle here

seems pretty clear. Having exposure to private markets can be a major differentiator with strong earnings growth projected and its position defensively in case markets get choppy. Acman is looking at this as a solid, relatively lower risk play in a high risk environment. And in the number three spot restaurant brands international. That's the parent company of Burger King, Popeyes, and Tim Hortons. Agman's had this one for over a decade. So why is he still in it? Well, because if it's huge, margin franchise model, a 3.9% dividend yield and a new $500 million revamp for Burger King locations around the globe. Plus, in this economy, fast food could see a boost from consumers trading it down. One note, he still holds Chipotle, but the stock has been down this year

due to weaker traffic and rising protein costs. But that said, they are expanding internationally and buying back some stock as well. And then there is Kathy Wood, founder of Arc Invest. And maybe one of the most polarizing names in modern investing. She's known for making bold, concentrated bets in disruptive innovation. You've heard her on the show before because she's said not so long ago that her prediction is that Tesla would go to $2,600 by 2029. It has got a long way to go. But this year, her flagship ARC innovation ETF is up near 50%. But here is the twist. She's been trimming some of her biggest winners. She's been quietly selling shares of Roku and Tempice AI despite both stocks posting double-digit gains this year alone.

Roku is still a top holding for ARC, but the repeated sales makes it seem like Kathy is exercising some risk management here, or maybe even the beginning of a broader rotation, something to keep an eye on. At the same time, she's been buying shares of Alibaba and Baidu, Chinese tech companies that have been under pressure due to regulatory issues and, of course, geopolitical risk. That is a bold move, especially since ARC hasn't historic. leaned into China exposure. She is still going hard on biotech, which is part of her brand like

CRISPR therapeutics and Beam therapeutics. They're getting a lot of love in her portfolios, reinforcing her longstanding bet that gene editing and personalized medicine are the next big frontier in healthcare innovation. If you're not familiar with CRISPR, here's the TLTR. It's a gene editing technology that allows scientists to precisely cut and modify DNA. So think of it like molecular scissors for your genetic code. This tech brings us closer to being able to correct the actual source of genetic diseases, everything from sickle cell anemia to certain forms of cancer. CRISPR therapeutics is at the forefront of tech, with therapies already in clinical trials,

and even one, Kaskervi, has been approved in some regions for treating sickle cell disease and others. Beam therapeutics, on the other hand, is focused on a next-gen version called Base editing, which could offer even more precision. So Kathy has been betting on companies not just for their science, but for their scalability. She sees gene editing as one of the five major innovation platforms right alongside AI and robotics. And if she is right, this could potentially be the healthcare equivalent of investing in the internet in the early 2000s. So what's the takeaway from Kathy here? Volatility is part of the package, but she's not afraid to take profits,

even on her highest conviction names and pivot where she sees opportunity. You know, I can't talk about the pros without talking about Warren Buffett, so let's catch up with him next. In Q2 of this year, Berkshire Hathaway made headlines when it scooped up more than 5 million shares of United Healthcare Group worth about $1.6 billion. This is fascinating for a few reasons. Of course, there was the tragic killing of its CEO Brian Thompson this year. such a literal attack on its leadership really scared investors, understandably.

And that coupled with regulatory scrutiny has driven the stock down more than 30% since the beginning of the year. But Buffett has a long history of betting on companies when everybody else is scared. And even though he's historically been cautious about the insurance industry, this move suggests he believes in United Health Care's long-term fundamentals, especially its opt-in business, which includes data analytics and pharmacy service. I should say Buffett has also done some selling this quarter. He completely exited his stake in BYD. That's a Chinese electric vehicle company that he's held since 2008. BYD has been one of Berkshire Hathaway's most profitable investments ever, at one point up nearly 4,000 percent. But as the EV space gets even more competitive and geopolitics gets even more messy, Buffett decided to lock in his gains and simply walk away. This is classic. Buffett, by the way. Buy when others are fearful, sell when others are greedy, rinse, repeat. So what should you do with all this? Well, it depends on your own goals, risk tolerance,

and timeline. Just because Warren Buffett buys United Healthcare doesn't mean that it's right for you. Just because Kathy Wood trims Roku doesn't mean that you should sell. These moves are fascinating, dressed me, I love them, and sometimes very informative, but they're not gospel. investing is not a copy and paste situation. It's a choose your own adventure. But if you are going to take inspiration from the pros, learn how they think, not just what they're buying. Akman goes concentrated. Buffett waits for fear. Kathy Wood bets big on trends that are still years from mass adoption. That's strategy, not luck. And remember, you can borrow someone's framework for sure, but you still have to write your own playbook. And if you want to take a peek at these trades yourself,

the 13F filings are public, and I will link them for you in the show notes. For today's tip, you can take straight to the bank. I hope you're listening to this conversation and getting especially stoked about investing, and now you want to take action. I love that for you. Let's do it. But you want to make sure you don't forget your motivation when this episode ends, and that's where automating your investments come in.

If you want an easy solution for automating your money moves, check out the investment plans offered on Public. Public's investment plans are a collection of assets that you, you can automatically contribute to on a recurring basis. You can create your own plan from scratch with up to 20 stocks, ETFs, and more. Or you can choose from their list of plans. If you want some inspo, they have something for everyone. They have a plan that invests in the MAG 7, a plan that's focused on stocks that pay dividends, plans by industry like AI, real estate, tech, or health care. They also have a bond ETF plan and different geographic options like a plan that focuses on

Europe. So truly something for everyone. An investment plan can help you take the emotion and the mental load out of investing and help you focus on your long-term financial goals. It has never been easier than now to spread your investment strategy out across multiple asset classes, regions, and industries. So check out public.com slash money rehab to get started. Paid for by public investing. Full disclosures in podcast description. Thank you.