
Julie Olsen, CFA, MBA
AREAS OF EXPERTISE
• Publicly-Registered Investments
• Non-Traded REITs
• BDC Market Research
• Ongoing Coverage
• Private Placements
Before joining FactRight in 2021, Julie Olsen spent over a decade providing due diligence to small independent broker-dealers, primarily focusing on non-traded REITs, non-traded BDCs, and Reg D private placements. She brings the broker-dealer long-term perspective along with her analytical, innovative, and continuous improvement mindset to drive quality.
Julie’s financial services career spans a wide variety of experiences that support due diligence and consulting. She gained foundational accounting, tax, and audit knowledge at a top 100 CPA firm, commercial credit analysis skills at a regional bank, and due diligence expertise at the Alliance of Independent Broker-Dealers. At Foothill Securities, she managed the alternative investment product platform, including screening, reviewing, and ongoing monitoring. When Foothill was acquired by Securities America, Julie led communications to support the financial professionals’ transition. She continued in a similar project management role at Advisor Group, leading the communication workstream for several acquisitions and providing executive reporting for the Enterprise Program Management Office.
Julie became a CFA charterholder in 2009 and earned her MBA from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2020.
- M.B.A. Strategic Innovation/Business Analytics, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- B.A. Business, Dordt College
- CFA Charterholder
- Member – CFA Institute and CFA Society San Francisco
Recent Blogs from FactRight
- What a High Home Prices-to-Income Ratio Could Mean for Residential Real Estate Programsby steve.s@factright.com (Steve Sims) on January 26, 2023 at 7:18 pm
Over the past several years, FactRighthas seen a trend in increased demand for residential real estate investment programs (e.g., multifamily, build-to-rent, single family residences).While our offering-level reports provide a market overview at the MSA-level, I wanted to goa few levels higher to the national scale. This blog primarily looks at the relationship of single-family home prices and income in the United States to answer the following question:What are the implications for residentialreal estate programs if housing is overpriced relative to historic norms?
- Lapses in Due Diligence and the Collapse of FTX: How Could so Many Have Missed so Much?by Jeff.B@factright.com (Jeff Baumgartner) on December 13, 2022 at 9:16 pm
By now, you may be generally familiar with the recent collapse of FTX, and some of the reasons for its failures are obvious. But by examining FTX side-by-side with perhaps the most infamous investment fraud ever perpetrated, we can discover some keys as to why lapses in due diligence may never be a thing of the past. These two epic failures bear little factual resemblance to one another at first glance, but this post will look more closely at the more transcendent lessons they hold.
- All Preferred Shares Not Created Equal – Why FactRight Incorporates Scenario Analysis in our Analysis of Preferred Securitiesby kevin@factright.com (Kevin Kirkeby) on November 30, 2022 at 9:21 pm
It should come as no surprise that the old investment adage about getting what you pay for holds true for preferred stock, too. Despite often being pitched as a bond alternative, especially lately, there are multiple factors beyond dividend yield to consider. Among the features, an investor needs to understand are the liquidity provisions, dividend policy, and preferred shareholder rights. Sponsors tend to get irritable when FactRight stress tests their pro forma model or highlights weak investor protections, dismissing the concerns as implicating scenarios highly unlikely to ever occur. However, sometimes the unlikely or improbable does occur. This post will focus on a real scenario involving several preferred securities that underscores the need for due diligence in these areas.
- How to Assess Affiliated Transactions in Private Placement Programsby kemp@factright.com (Kemp H. Hanley) on October 19, 2022 at 5:37 pm
Affiliated transactions can be thorny. They raise conflicts of interest and create additional governance challenges and risks. The relative fiduciary duties (or lack thereof) that the manager owes to each side of the transaction complicates the picture. Investors are understandably apprehensive about the conflicts in such deals because there is a higher likelihood that value is being shifted to the affiliated party inappropriately.
- The 1031 Show Features FactRight's Brandon Raatikkaby brandon@factright.com (Brandon Raatikka) on September 28, 2022 at 5:00 pm
One of the most prominent products in the alternative investment space in recent years have been DSTs/1031 Exchanges, which has grown to become an annual $8 billion to $10 billion industry. However, with recent trends in rising interest rates and cap rate compression for many asset classes, due diligence on DST programs in the market has never been more important. With that in mind, FactRight’s chief operating officer (and resident DST expert) Brandon Raatikka joined Ridgegate Financial’s Wallace Smith on the 1031 Show to discuss the importance of 1031 due diligence. The podcast, which you can check out below, covers several topics that broker-dealers and RIAs should consider when evaluating the 1031 space, including the following: The benefits of a third-party due diligence report Trends in the 1031 space An overview of DSTs and key benefits of DST investments Key differences between TICs and DSTs, including the Seven Deadly Sins A primer on 721 UPREITs Areas of focus for evaluating a DST sponsor