ALO31: What If the Illiquidity Premium Was Never Real? ft. Richard Tomlinson

Richard Tomlinson joins Alan Dunne for a conversation shaped by experience, not theory. As CIO of LPPI, Richard is responsible for £27 billion in pension assets - but what stands out here is the clarity with which he navigates complexity. From the fading utility of labels like “illiquidity premium” and “hedge fund” to the trade-offs between cost, alignment, and control, this episode is about building portfolios that work in the real world - not just in a model. They explore inflation’s structural drivers, the quiet rise of fiscal dominance, and why some of the industry’s most comfortable assumptions no longer hold. It’s not about being contrarian - it’s about being clear-eyed. ----- 50 YEARS OF TREND FOLLOWING BOOK AND BEHIND-THE-SCENES VIDEO FOR ACCREDITED INVESTORS - CLICK HERE ----- Follow Niels on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube or via the TTU website. IT’s TRUE ? – most CIO’s read 50+ books each year – get your FREE copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here. And you can get a free copy of my latest book “Ten Reasons to Add Trend Following to Your Portfolio” here. Learn more about the Trend Barometer here. Send your questions to info@toptradersunplugged.com And please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest Rating & Review on iTunes or Spotify so more people can discover the podcast. Follow Alan on Twitter. Follow Richard on LinkedIn. Episode TimeStamps: 02:14 - Introduction to Richard Tomlinson 07:07 - What makes Tomlinson and LPPI stand out from their peers? 11:52 - Who are LPPI's clients? 13:26 - The investment philosophy behind LPPI's work 18:06 - How LPPI's allocators work together 19:05 - Getting the allocation right 21:29 - Are they worried about the decline of equities? 23:37 - Tomlinson perspective on global macro 26:55 - Public vs private markets 29:05 - Their approach to allocating domestically 31:15 - How their allocation is...