The WealthStack Podcast

The WealthStack Podcast


The WealthStack Podcast: Bridging the Gap Between Asset Management and Financial Planning with Martin Tarlie

December 15, 2023

Nebo, which stands for needs based optimization, was born after nearly a decade of GMO research focused on solving for optimal portfolio construction that seeks to minimize shortfall risk. Nebo has already passed $1B in platform assets, after launching in 2022, and the brilliant minds at the firm are on a mission to bridge the gap between asset management and financial planning. Spoiler alert: Advisors are using Nebo to construct institutional quality, dynamic, real-time model portfolios that are personalized to each client, in a fraction of the time previously required.


In this episode, Shannon Rosic, director of WealthStack content and solutions, speaks with Martin Tarlie, Nebo’s product lead, about how Nebo is not just a portfolio construction engine, it is a paradigm shift in risk assessment, redefining risk as ‘not having what you need, when you need it.’


Shannon and Martin discuss:


  • Why advisors are lacking confidence that their clients are in the right portfolios
  • How Nebo has alleviated complications that come with the portfolio optimization process
  • The next frontier in customized portfolio construction
  • How advisors are using Nebo

Connect with Shannon Rosic:


Connect with Alan Gurung:


About Our Guest:


Dr. Tarlie is a member of GMO’s Asset Allocation team and serves as the Nebo product lead. Prior to re-joining GMO in 2018, he was a managing director at QMA. He previously worked on GMO’s Global Equity team from 2007 to 2014. Prior to that he worked at Breakwater Trading and at Marlin Capital Corp as a fundamental equity analyst and the director of research. Dr. Tarlie earned his bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Michigan, his PhD in theoretical condensed matter physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and his MBA from the University of Chicago. He was also a postdoctoral research fellow at the James Franck Institute at the University of Chicago and is a CFA charterholder.