The AI Revolution's Impact on Real Estate & Stocks with Chris Ballard
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AI isn't just a software race—it's also a massive infrastructure buildout. In this episode of The Real Wealth Show, host Kathy Fetke sits down with certified financial planner Chris Ballard of Check Capital Management to unpack what the AI boom means for both investors and communities. They cover everything from data center energy demand and local pushback to the specific stocks Ballard is bullish on right now, including Alphabet, Brookfield Corporation, and Amazon.
Key Takeaways:
AI's biggest bottleneck isn't chips—it's energy. Nuclear and renewable buildouts are accelerating to meet data center power demand.
Roughly 75 of planned data centers are currently delayed due to community pushback over noise, land use, and strain on local power grids.
Brookfield Corporation has committed $25 billion to Bloom Energy for on-site fuel cell technology, letting new data centers avoid straining local power grids.
Ballard favors long-term "buy and hold" positions over chasing AI hype—Check Capital Management's top holdings include Alphabet, Berkshire Hathaway, and a recently initiated Amazon position.
Data centers tend to be built in remote or semi-rural areas (e.g., outside Buffalo, NY, and north of Phoenix, AZ), which has implications for nearby real estate values and local job creation.
Transcript
Host - Kathy Fetke
Artificial intelligence is transforming just about every industry. But while most of the headlines focus on companies like NVIDIA, OpenAI, and Google, there may be an even bigger investment story happening behind the scenes.
I'm Kathy Fetke, and welcome to The Real Wealth Show.
Introduction
You're listening to The Real Wealth Show with Kathy Fetke, the real estate investor's resource.
Host - Kathy Fetke
AI isn't just a race to the best software and to the top of the stock market.
It needs massive amounts of physical infrastructure from data centers and power plants to transmission lines, cooling systems, and industrial facilities.
And that will have massive impacts on local communities, utilities, and real estate.
So on today's show, I've got Christopher Ballard, a certified financial planner joining me.
Chris has spent more than two decades helping investors navigate changing markets.
And today, he's gonna explain why the AI infrastructure boom could reshape investing over the next decade and our lives too.
So we're gonna take a look at what long term investors should be watching from the stock market to real estate.
Chris, welcome to the Real Wealth Show.
Chris Ballard
Hey, Kathy. Thanks for having me. Happy to be here.
Chris Ballard's Background in Financial Planning
Host - Kathy Fetke
Let's just start with a little bit about your background and what you do for your investors.
Chris Ballard
Okay. Sure.
So, I'm a certified financial planner.
I've been in the industry, the investment industry for twenty-six years now.
Worked at Morgan Stanley for a couple years, Charles Schwab for seven years, went out and ran my own investment advisory business, a registered investment advisory firm I created, and then did that for a few years around the crisis time frame. And then I came and joined Steve Check here at Check Capital Management in 2012, and I've been here ever since. So half my career now has been here.
The AI Investment Opportunity: Alphabet, NVIDIA, and Playing the Long Game
Host - Kathy Fetke
Wonderful. Well, we're excited to hear what you have to say particularly about AI.
Now, unfortunately, I missed the NVIDIA boom.
Kinda staying out of AI for the most part as far as investing goes, but, that's what everybody's talking about. But what is the opportunity with AI right now?
Chris Ballard
Sure. Well, don't don't feel too left out. I actually invested in in NVIDIA in 2010 and rode it to about 2013, thought I did pretty well and got out. So Yeah. Biggest mistakes are that which you sell out of early and now just stay committed to. Right?
Host - Kathy Fetke
Sounds like my parents' Google story where they were first round of investors in Google, and they made some money. And they were like, woah. They sold it. Yep. That I would have been a trust fund kid.
Chris Ballard
Oh, yeah. I have a one client where he invested in Apple a long, long time ago and eventually sold it. And he's like, you know, on my tombstone, it's gonna read, "he sold the Apple."
Host - Kathy Fetke
Oh, man. Oh, well.
Chris Ballard
Yeah. With regards to AI, it's a really interesting story.
Obviously, there's the headline news and the know, magnificent seven and how they're participating in the arena and what could happen with that.
But there's also the underlying infrastructure story on, you know, having to build out the AI data centers as well as making sure that those data centers have access to energy and lots of it.
So there's it is really actually, at the end of day, complicated. It's kinda hard to get your hands around all of it all at once.
But, you know, I think for us as investors, we aren't as interested in being completely exposed AI across the board.
We're really selective about what our exposure would look like.
And for us, actually, right offhand, it started with Alphabet.
So we own our company at Check Capital Management owns about 15 businesses at any given point in time. And we invested into Alphabet being Google some seven or eight years ago.
And it wasn't in regards to AI, but as the AI story developed, we felt we were in a very good place.
And, you know, as that unfolded, actually, initially, Alphabet was seen to be kinda like the worst person in the room with regards to where they should be, with AI, and that everybody else was gonna end up eating their lunch, and Alphabet was gonna go out of business.
And then as of late, that is over the last year and two, Alphabet has been shown to be in a very good place and a good player.
So we've continued to hold that position. So we really have benefited from it in that regard.
But yeah. So with it, there we've had to really learn along the way as everybody else has.
Betting on America: Why the U.S. Leads the AI Race
Host - Kathy Fetke
It does seem to be the future, and it but it's the beginning of the race. And so it's really hard to tell who's gonna win. Right?
Who's gonna be in the top three? Or, you know, is it gonna be China? Is it gonna be The US? And if so, which companies?
So what do you look for?
Big question.
Chris Ballard
Yeah. Right. I think The US is in a great position. Of course, we have some of the best businesses in the world that is, you know, in Google, in Oracle, in Amazon, in Meta, in Alphabet, all these businesses that are investing tremendous amounts of capital.
We're talking about $800,000,000,000 this year likely in investments, but very well positioned for, I guess, our country and those businesses to do very well.
China, and others do have some good plays as well, in the industry, but I wouldn't I wouldn't count us out offhand.
As far as betting on a winner, I don't think you need to bet on the winner.
It's fun to take the ride with a good investment that you would make in the industry, but now we're talking all the news is really out there about what is happening.
And so you really wanna think about this as an investor always, whether it's real estate or the stock investments is a very long term investment as long as cliche as that might sound, you wanna make sure that you're thinking about it five and ten years out.
Not just, hey This build out this rapid build out is going to be happening visibly and even, with a lot of announcements for the next three to five years.
But what does it look like after that? And not just necessarily ride the wave?
You have a lot of businesses we think that are quite overvalued right now. It's the value, you know, you have to put a price on evaluation on something.
So when you're looking at price, you need to put it next to either earnings or revenues or book value. You can't just ignore that sort of a thing. And if you do look at it, these valuations are pretty extreme, expecting big big growth, and the big growth does look like it's going to continue.
But at some point, it could slow down.
So you wanna think all the way through that and know that if you're putting money into, let's say, stocks that are in this area, that you could see a drawdown as pretty significant and be prepared for that as well.
Host - Kathy Fetke
Yeah. I mean, I I ask it partly because I wonder what would have helped my parents know to stay in Google.
Right? You know, they they did make money, and then they thought that was it.
But, you know, how do you how do you see so far in the future?
Chris Ballard
It's tough. Yeah. Sometimes it's best for us as investors to just let it ride. Right?
If you make a decision initially, let it go.
Like, if I'm gonna talk about a real estate a little bit since your audience likes it, but if you buy a piece of real estate, you're most likely not gonna sell it in the next few years. Of course, there's a whole flipping thing, and that works out for some, and some people really like doing that. It takes a lot of energy.
Stocks should be the same way.
If you've made a decision pretty thoroughly about why you're going to invest in something,I would probably let yourself continue to have that exposure.
And maybe at some point, the growth of that investment gets so high, you feel uncomfortable about it.
That's fine. Maybe trim around it, but it doesn't mean just get out of the whole thing.
Why Communities Are Pushing Back Against Data Centers
Host - Kathy Fetke
Yeah. Yeah. I agree. That's wise.
Okay.
Let's come back to real estate then in terms of AI, and you mentioned data centers. And wow. There's a lot of pushback, you know, for is…
Let's talk about that first, the pushback.
Do you think that communities are going to allow all the data centers that are gonna be needed?
Chris Ballard
Well, this is this is interesting.
You know, we have definitely been hearing a lot about the pushback. And, timely enough, you know, I have a subscription to Barron's, and last weekend, they came out with an article about the pushback.
So in essence, like, maybe the next rebellion in America will be the pushback. And it's something like 75 of these data centers are currently, delayed in their build out because of the pushback within the communities.
And I like that a couple of CEOs are mentioning, hey. They need to actually kind of approach these communities up front, tell them what they're doing, why they're doing it, rather than just put their money there, and they don't even know these communities and expect to just reap the rewards.
And maybe, you know, drain the energy of that community, which, of course, is what they don't want or create a lot of noise, with these data centers if that's gonna be the case.
So, yeah, I think at this point, because there has indeed been pushback.
The companies are becoming more aware of how they should approach their communities, and they're realizing they can't just build wherever they wanna build for the sake of it.
Host - Kathy Fetke
Yeah. Right.
You know, it's gonna bring up all kinds of issues about who gets the energy in the town. Yeah.
Chris Ballard
Yeah. You know, but this is it is an infrastructure play. Right?
This is what is happening. This is the new infrastructure play of sorts.
It's just like building railroads or highways that have taken place over the last hundred plus years.
Since AI is here to stay, it is not going away. It's hard for some people to accept that because it's still so new.
Yeah. But it is going to be a part of our lives one way or another. So it's happening, and so it's a matter of how that infrastructure play should play out.
Like, nobody wanted to lose their land and have a highway be built through it or, you know, a railway be able to be built through it.
But then the greater community of The United States as a whole, of course, have benefited through that interstate highway system and everything else.
So it's hard to see it when it is in your backyard. I completely understand it. I wouldn't want something right in my backyard either, and I might personally fight it depending on how it was approached.
But it should end up help helping us as a nation as a whole.
And, yeah, it should be I don't know.
It's a tough balance between what the local people think about what's going on, how the how the community should be approached by these big businesses and the tens of billions of dollars that they're throwing into these, you know, infrastructures, and then and then what sort of what sort of gain and value is coming out of it for you as maybe a community member, but then as a nation as a whole as well?
Solving the Energy Bottleneck: Brookfield's Fuel Cell Strategy
Host - Kathy Fetke
Yeah. I just the big question is how is there going to be enough energy for all of this?
Chris Ballard
Right. So that's the that's the bottleneck, right, is the energy.
The energy needs to be built out.
You know, there's nuclear is coming online.
New nuclear is coming online for the first time in decades right now, and that's a direct result of what's going on with the need for power right now.
You also have a more, you know, renewable type of approaches to it as well, which is great.
So one business I'll bring up right now and that I like we like and we own.
It's I think what our third biggest business right now is Brookfield Corporation.
And so that definitely is real estate oriented in in a big way.
So they're helping with these build-outs. And when they do help with the build outs of the AI infrastructure, they're basically doing it in a renewable way.
So they've partnered with Bloom Energy,with a $25,000,000,000 commitment to, like, to deploy this fuel cell technology at the data center site so that they're not having to tap into the grid.
But, you know, so, historically, Brookfield has kinda, you know, built a building, and then whoever they hand the keys over are gonna have to figure out how to get the energy on-site themselves.
But now they're building the buildings, for these data centers. They're creating the fuel cell technology necessary as well as, I guess, hydrogen and natural gas as well.
So that's kind of like it's all it's sustaining itself and not having to tap into local industry.
We like that. We like Brookfield's management, Bruce Flatt, who is the CEO, and Connor Teske, who is the CEO of Brookfield Asset Management, which deploys a lot of these investments.
They're very thoughtful about how they go about this and what is needed right now. And they their renewables, you know, they have over, like I think it's, like, 40 or 50 gigawatts of installed, like, capacity right now with plans to build out as much as 200 gigawatts of energy over the next, like, decade or so.
So yeah. If you're going to invest in these things, you gotta know the nuts and bolts of how it works.
But owning something like Brookfield, you own the building. You're the landlord. You own the fuel cells, so you're just gonna be reaping the benefits over that, over a very long period of time and in a pretty sustainable way, that we think the market will like.
Host - Kathy Fetke
Wow.
That makes me feel just slightly better.
Because my theory is that there's gonna be a day when it's the robots versus the humans, and both want the energy.
So I was like, let's wipe out the humans so we could have all the energy.
Chris Ballard
Oh my gosh.
Host - Kathy Fetke
That's my sci fi story. Yeah.
Chris Ballard
Oh, boy.
Do Data Centers Benefit Local Communities?
Host - Kathy Fetke
Okay. So are there any ways that these data centers could benefit communities?
Chris Ballard
Well, the benefit would probably simply be the tax revenue that they're generating. Right?
So it kinda boils down to that.
There's no other way I think that they could benefit them in the sense that they're taking land away from what the use could go into other uses, but maybe hasn't done so yet.
But, yeah, the revenues that they're going to generate could probably be shared in the way of either county or city, tax revenues.
And, you know, it's possible you could think outside the box and figure out ways to have some sort of profit share.
I'm kinda, like, thinking outside the box. I'm not speaking for any of these corporations.
I don't think they're doing anything like that right now. But the it's think it's basically about money, and money would talk.
Some people, it isn't about the money.
They just don't want this infrastructure near them.
They're worried about what maybe the Sound waves will bring or other elements for how they can pollute their local community, and so they just don't want them there.
That fight will look different.
So I but I think if and when the businesses are more willing to share some of the revenue, it's going to be helpful to their plight.
Host - Kathy Fetke
And maybe as AI grows up and gets smarter, it will find ways to be quieter and creating these data centers and, you know, use less energy.
We'll see.
Chris Ballard
For sure. Both of that.
And I've heard about already with the sound of it that they're figuring out ways to make it a lot quieter at this moment in time.
Will AI Data Centers Create Jobs?
Host - Kathy Fetke
Will those data centers create jobs, or is it just all kinda automated?
Chris Ballard
They're gonna create jobs.
I mean, probably not like jobs, like a, you know, like an auto building line Ford or something like that. You don't need the same sort of resources at that point, but you still need some human being overlooking this.
And as far as a local community, it'd probably just be simple, like, a cleanup, monitoring, security, and possibly taking care of on-site.
Now some of those people might be coming from out of town.
Maybe they're, you know, Harvard graduates taking care of the more sophisticated aspects of these AI data centers.
But surely, there will be some jobs that come out of it.
It might not just be on the, like, the scale, something like auto or other union-oriented businesses.
Where Are Data Centers Being Built? Real Estate Implications
Host - Kathy Fetke
You know, it's funny. I'm always looking for where new technology is going, where new businesses are going so that we could buy real estate around it and, you know, enjoy the growth of the area.
This is one of those situations where I think I wanna know where these are going and then get the heck out of town.
You know, sell my real estate, make sure I don't buy it there.
I don't know if I'm off. But if if I'm if I'm correct, what are some of the areas where it really looks like these data centers are headed?
Specifically, cities specifically, if you know them.
Chris Ballard
They seem to be they seem to be remote areas.
The Barron's article that I brought up earlier here was talking about sort of remote Western,
New York. So, sort of outside Buffalo by, like, half of an hour.
You know?
But I wouldn't move out of Buffalo for that reason.
And, you know, where they're being built and that this is, like, the site Taiwan Semiconductor partnership is being built North of Phoenix off the 17. I've seen that one myself.
It is amazing when you see it, how big they are, and people seem to be actually quite excited in the area that something like that is going to be in existence.
So, you know, it is a matter of mentality when you're building something in a rural community that wants something that's much quieter and low-key.
They might not be as excited as one of these is being built out, not too far outside of a big metropolis like Phoenix, where there seems to be an element of pride from the people that live nearby.
And, actually, real estate, I know that there are some real estate owners that are building somewhat nearby because in that specific case, in Phoenix, it is generating jobs.
And I don't know if it's just simply with the build out because, of course, they need people living there to build this thing.
But then also maybe long term, it is generating jobs that I couldn't even quite speak to.
The Long View: AI's Impact Over the Next Decade
Host - Kathy Fetke
Okay.
Well, like you said, it's here to stay.
Would you say that we're just, like, teenagers in this arena or even, you know, grade school?
Like, how are we just at the very, very beginning of something that's going to change our lives forever?
Chris Ballard
Yeah. I think we are. We're at the infancy of it. You know?
Host - Kathy Fetke
Infancy.
Okay.
Chris Ballard
Probably the first or second inning,
Maybe.
It does have a long sled run ahead of it.
Back to Brookfield, Bruce Flatt has commented on his plans over the next decade and more for the build-out to continue and to be able to help sovereign entities and communities worldwide for a very long period of time.
It's not something that they're just trying to get in front of for the next year and two, but it definitely is a very long-term play at this point in time.
So, yeah, if we're leaning into it, you really kind of want to think of what life could look like.
And I'm an optimist, so you kinda wanna think of what it's gonna look like in a positive way, how it's gonna affect your life in a very positive way.
I know, you know, you get scared about taking our jobs and all of this, but it can also leverage your time, Kathy. Right? You can leverage your time in various ways that maybe it already is, and you're seeing some benefits to it.
And so I think it'll be sort of incremental over time.
And as we as human beings get better and better at utilizing it, I think it will leverage our time and our productivity what I think it will be a very good way.
Host - Kathy Fetke
I like it. I like it. I mean, when you look back and think that, you know, you just look at animals today, they spend their entire day just looking for food, and that's really what humans were right?
That's what humans were doing.
And then, you know, that got easier.
And then it was like, oh, you know, at least for women, there was a lot of time just spent doing laundry and preparing meals and so forth.
And that has gotten easier along with all kinds of ways that life has gotten easier because of technology.
Chris Ballard
Besides Brookfield, huge fan of Berkshire Hathaway and Warren Buffett. Yeah. And his late friend Charlie Munger and all the things that they've taught me over the years.
But we're a big shareholder of them as well.
It's been our largest holding for over twenty years with Alphabet just passing it just because the investment has done so well, but they're basically neck and neck.
But, yeah, he talks about quite often looking back a hundred years ago.
And a hundred years ago, I think it was over 90% of the workers were working in farms in the fields.
That's what they did. That was the norm.
And a hundred years ago, like, the older we get, the more you realize that wasn't that long ago. Right?
Host - Kathy Fetke
It's like not very long ago in the whole scope of things. Right?
Chris Ballard
Across the fifty-year mark. So that was, like, two of my lifetimes ago.
It's not that long.
And I'm happy that I don't have to, you know, work in the fields as a farmer and that I still can go to the grocery store and get the food that I want.
Host - Kathy Fetke
It's right there. Ready for you.
It's amazing.
And every time I tell my husband I wanna start a garden, he's like, why? You can just go to the store.
Chris Ballard
There's a benefit to it. I like being in the garden as well, actually.
And I have lost a lot of time. I used to have more time.
I used to have gardens.
Currently, I don't even have one, and I wanna get back to it because there's something nice about watching it grow and then plucking it yourself.
It tastes better. You know?
Host - Kathy Fetke
Yeah. Oh, it it certainly does, but the squirrels think so too. That's where I gave up.
Okay.
Alright.
So if we were to just fast forward ten years of ten years from now, what would we say looking back at this moment in time?
Chris Ballard
Oh, boy.
I don't know.
We would say there was a lot of excitement about a brand new resource and tool that we had to make our lives better.
The excitement was founded.
The investment was probably so fast that there were some mistakes that were made as there always is with a new technology and and tool and a piece of infrastructure.
But, ultimately, our lives ended up getting better just like it did with the Internet and with cell phones.
But it was a very entertaining time to live and a very interesting time to live in, and there were indeed mistakes made as any infant will make in their infancy.
Host - Kathy Fetke
Yep. Lots of lots of trying to to walk and falling down. Yep.
Chris Ballard
Yeah. I like that.
Stock Picks: Alphabet, Berkshire Hathaway, Amazon, and Disney
Host - Kathy Fetke
Alright.
And then so you mentioned last question.
You mentioned Brookfield.
What are some other companies that you're bullish on right now?
Chris Ballard
Yeah. So, I mean, just just companies that we own in general, you
know, our Brookfield, our Alphabet, which I've also mentioned.
Mhmm. Which is, you know, Berkshire Hathaway.
So other than that, there's not too much in the way of exposure directly to, artificial intelligence.
You know, we like some businesses that have been around for a long time,
companies that might not be as well known, but we like banks.
So we like, like, First Citizens Bank out of North Carolina.
We actually I should say there is one other AI oriented business, and we've been following Amazon for a very long period of time.
And we finally took a position in it when it went under $200 a share earlier this year.
So we think we think it's also very well positioned over the long haul at this point.
It's trading for evaluation close to as low as it's been in the last twenty years, and we think it has a strong, you know, sled run ahead of it where where most of the AI oriented businesses right now are trading for loftier valuations.
We like Amazon's valuation, but they are also making a lot of investments.
They're being very aggressive, which they always have because it's always day one for Amazon. That's their mantra.
But then we also like Hershey's.
We like some chocolate.
Host - Kathy Fetke
Love some chocolate.
Chris Ballard
Yeah. Love ourselves some chocolate.
We actually like Disney right now as well.
So we think it's trading quite undervalued as Bob Eiger's tenure as CEO is shifting.
So there's maybe even some pressure on the price of it partly for that reason because they're wondering if the new CEO is gonna end up, you know, taking the helm and doing well, or is it gonna be a failure, like, you know, when Bob Chepak ended up came coming in?
So, yeah, there's quite a few businesses out there that we think are quite undervalued in this environment, not just the some of the other ones we talked about in the AI area.
Host - Kathy Fetke
So good. Wow. Chris, thank you for spilling so much tea.
Really appreciate all that detail.
Thank you for joining me here on The Real Wealth Show. It was really a pleasure.
Chris Ballard
Thank you for having me, Kathy.
Really appreciate it.
Host - Kathy Fetke
And thank you for joining me here on The Real Wealth Show.
I hope you found this very informative.
I sure did.
Be sure to tune in to the next episodes because we've got a lot more good stuff coming.
I'm Kathy Fetke. Thanks again for joining me on The Real Wealth Show.
We'll see you soon.
Outro
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