Jim Paulsen heads to The Leuthhold Group

Jim Paulsen, the former chief investment strategist with the huge asset-management group of Wells Fargo, has joined investment-research boutique The Leuthold Group.
Paulsen, 59, who retired from Wells Capital Management in May after 20 years, said he looked forward to working for a smaller, independent shop.
Paulsen, a plain-talk economist from a small town in Iowa, had a national following for his monthly economic-and-markets commentary, and regular appearances on business-cable channels CNBC and Bloomberg Television.
Paulsen, who has an aw-shucks demeanor, went cautiously bullish on the stock market, amid skepticism, near the bottom of the Great Recession in 2009. He helped investors profitsas the market soared to record levels. Paulsen saw federal intervention to bolster the financial system and a low-interest money policy by the Federal Reserve as confidence builders early in the slow recovery of the U.S. economy that continues.
San Francisco-based Wells Capital has a global clientele of more than 300 customers and manages assets in excess of $300 billion.
Paulsen, based in Minneapolis, said he was looking forward to less travel and more thinking and writing.
"Joining Leuthold allows me to work with people I have admired for years, allows me to work at the corporate headquarters, allows me to travel less and continue to do what I do," Paulsen said. "Think, write and strategize about the economic and market outlooks. I am not ready for retirement. I still enjoy much of what I do. But, it is nice to do it in my own backyard with some really great and talented people!"
Paulsen is reunited with employee-owned Leuthold's chief investment officer, Doug Ramsey, who worked with Paulsen in the 1980s in Iowa.
"We've known Jim for many years as a cross-town rival and friend, and we can't think of any better place for him to take up his pen than Leuthold Group," Ramsey said.
Prior to serving with Wells Capital in Minneapolis, Paulsen was senior managing director and chief investment strategist for Investors Management Group in Des Moines, Iowa; and president of SCI Capital Management in Cedar Rapids Iowa. He holds a doctorate from Iowa State University.
Leuthold Group was founded in 1981 by industry veteran Steve Leuthold, who retired years ago.