AI Investor, Wall Street Rebel: Michelle Connell Says You’re Looking at the Wrong Risk

The latest episode of AInvest’s flagship podcast, Capital & Power, features a guest who might just be the most interesting CFA in America — Portia Capital Management’s founder and CIO, Michelle Connell . She’s one of the only women in the Dallas–Fort Worth region to own her own registered investment firm, an institutional-grade investor who still teaches finance to college kids, and a private-market insider who evaluates AI deals for a living. She’s also writing a book packed with stories that prove she’s survived every version of Wall Street — from the inspirational to the absurd. In short: this is an episode you don’t want to miss.

And yes, she once solved a workplace harassment problem by turning a colleague’s holiday open house into a condom-themed art installation. (“It worked,” she says dryly.) She also once surprised Steve Jobs — or, more accurately, he surprised her — when he strolled into the Pixar IPO meeting in his black turtleneck, pitching the company personally to a room of stunned analysts. Connell was the only one who asked a real question because she was the only one who had actually read the prospectus. These two stories alone justify listening… but the real power of this episode is what Connell says about markets now.

Connell’s investing philosophy is what happens when deep institutional experience meets real-world practicality. She still operates in the private markets — including AI, tech, and venture deals — but she applies that same analytical discipline to the portfolios of everyday investors. As she puts it, “Because I can break apart those investments, I can break apart any investment, including publicly traded.” For clients who aren’t eligible for private placements, she builds smart, diversified portfolios using ETFs and active managers who can actually add value. No hype. No shortcuts. Just competence.

Her biggest worry heading into 2026? Not the Magnificent Seven. Not Nvidia’s monster run. No — Connell’s radar is aimed at private credit and real estate. “What worries me are the private markets, the credit that we've talked about earlier,” she tells host Adam Shapiro, pointing out that she’s already seeing “bleeding around the edges” in areas of the country previously assumed to be insulated. And retirees chasing 12% yields in BDCs? She has one word: leverage — and it’s not a compliment. “At the end of the day, it’s all about cash,” she reminds investors. A simple rule, rarely followed.

On the equity side, Connell isn’t calling an AI bubble, but she’s not sugarcoating the narrow leadership either. Even as a longtime semiconductor investor — and someone who owns private AI exposure as well — she thinks many people are blindly chasing the same names without understanding their risk posture. Her take: trim winners, rotate intelligently, and don’t fall in love with a narrative. “Do I think it's a bubble? No… but I think you can make more money in other places.”

One of the episode’s most compelling through-lines is how Connell’s personal history shaped her approach to money. She went from supporting her mother and sister as a teenager — yes, at a McDonald's that required two bus transfers — to earning an accounting degree, an MBA, and eventually the CFA charter. That perspective fuels her passion for financial literacy and her work with foundations, including one that recently built an 8,000-square-foot youth center. For Connell, markets aren’t an abstract puzzle; they’re a tool that can expand opportunity if used wisely.

She’s also refreshingly blunt about AI’s coming disruption. As a private investor in Anthropic, she sides with the people building the technology, not the spectators downplaying it. She expects job displacement, new demands for skilled labor, and a generational shift in what “career” even means. But she also sees enormous growth ahead in biotech, medicine, and industrial innovation. In her view, the next decade will reward investors who pay attention — and punish those who don’t.

The episode closes with a warning every 401(k) participant should hear: the push to jam private credit and alternatives into retirement plans could end badly if regulators and fiduciaries don’t get ahead of the risks. “I have a lot of concern there,” she says. And she’s right to. One credit hiccup in a poorly monitored 401(k) sleeve could upend millions of households who never understood what they owned.

Funny, sharp, experienced, and unflinchingly honest, Michelle Connell is the rare guest who can make you laugh with a Steve Jobs anecdote and then immediately explain the structural fragilities of private debt markets. That’s what makes this Capital & Power episode so good — and why investors, students, and anyone trying to navigate the AI era should listen.