The Retail Carry Trade That Is Making Passive Investors Look Clever

Lucas and Luna examine a quiet phenomenon in value investing: the retail carry trade. With the Fed holding rates at 3.64 percent and the Russell 2000 up 3.4 percent in five days, small-cap value stocks are delivering both income and price appreciation. Lucas breaks down how buying beaten-down regional banks and REITs on margin—using cheap broker borrowing—has become an asymmetric bet. He cites Old National Bancorp yielding 5.2 percent and a small-cap REIT like Agree Realty at a 6 percent dividend, funded by short-term financing at 4.2 percent. Luna questions the risk if rates rise again. Lucas explains why the trade works as long as the Fed stays flat, and why institutional money is too slow to capture it. A concrete, actionable framework for listeners considering the small-cap value opportunity in late May 2026. #ValueInvesting #RetailCarryTrade #SmallCapValue #OldNationalBancorp #AgreeRealty #RegionalBanks #REITs #DividendInvesting #FedRates #Russell2000 #MarginTrading #AsymmetricBet #PassiveIncome #Finance #InvestingPodcast #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #LongTermValue Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo