Forward Guidance · Wednesday, September 16, 2026
Dean Curnutt reflected on the 2008 financial crisis, noting that many investors were unprepared for how the housing bubble's collapse manifested in options premiums and credit spreads. He founded Makoresk Advisors in 2008, seeing an opportunity to provide independent advice amidst the market turmoil.
“When the financial crisis hit, I just had this opportunity to start my own company, Makoresk Advisors. And it was really a, I think it was a couple of things. One is, folks were so blindsided by the financial crisis. We talk about the big short and Michael Burry and Greg Lippman. So yeah, a couple of people saw it. There was widespread discussion of the housing bubble. But with regard to how the cracking of that bubble manifested itself in terms of option premiums and, you know, the surge in metrics like the VIX, credit spreads and so forth. The likes of which we'd never seen before. I felt like investors were really unprepared for it.”
“And by mid 2007, I was very convinced that they were seeing a world view that the equity market had no idea was really happening.”
“And so to be able to, you know, really speak independently. I felt like was a big advantage at that point. And that led to the creation of Makoresk Advisors and independent broker dealer, focused on risk management and options.”