The Richards Report

Preview of an upcoming episode where I speak with former senior member of the World Bank, Mark Nicholson. Mark has lived in New York and Washington managing billions of dollars over multiple asset classes. He has experience investing in both bull and bear markets and shares with listeners some of the lessons/advice he has learnt over the years. Mark now sits on the investment advisory committee of Six Park. www.sixpark.com.au

Have you heard of the FIRE movement before? Well, it's exploding in popularity all over the world, and the Aussie Firebug is on a mission here in Australia. The Aussie Firebug is all about achieving FIRE. This "FIRE" is actually an acronym for financial independence, retire early. At a time when people are people are holding off their retirement in to their late 60s or 70s and working much longer than they would have liked to, there’s a growing community of people that are doing the opposite. They’re aiming to retire in the 40s, maybe even their 30s. And it’s no pipedream… they’re on a mission to make it happen, and putting things in place to make it a reality. This is no small group of people doing this either. This is growing in popularity and getting bigger and bigger each year. The philosophy is all about how much money you save, not how much money you make, so don’t think it’s only wealthy people that can have such a goal if life to retire in their 30s. In this episode I speak with the Aussie Firebug about what he is doing to become financially independent. This episode is brought to you by Six Park, Australia's leading online investment manager. www.sixpark.com.au

Preview of upcoming episode with the Aussie Firebug

This episode I’m speaking with Hugh Van Cuylenburg from The Resilience Project. The name might not be familiar to you but he has had a huge impact on some of the most famous names in Australia. From Australian cricketer Steve Smith, to Brownlow medallist Dusty Martin to Australian netball captain, Caitlin Bassett. I’m also excited for this episode because Hugh has actually had an impact on my life too. The origins of The Resilience Project begun when Hugh was volunteering in India after a cricket tour over there. He volunteered at a school for a couple of weeks that didn’t even have running water, but he noticed that the people were the happiest that he ever met despite having relatively little. Unknowingly this would lead him onto a journey to find out where real happiness comes from. What did he find out? They practice gratitude, empathy and mindfulness every day; Gratitude: The ability to pay attention to what you’ve got, not what you don’t have. It’s not waiting to be happy when you have the next best thing (be it some new shoes, or a new car). Empathy: The ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. The more empathetic you are, the more likely you are to do something kind. Hugh says the older we get the more we actually move away from looking out for others. Mindfulness: Can be a buzzword in society these days but mindfulness is the ability to be calm and present. Often it’s sitting still, and potentially using an app like Headspace, Calm, Buddhify or The Resilience Project’s app to help calm your body. After India, Hugh went onto do a Masters to look into where happiness comes from. He started doing presentations for free at schools about what he learnt and the ripples of Hugh’s message started to spread. It has spread to schools, businesses and professional sporting teams all over Australia. It has grown so much that as of mid January 2019 he is already booked up for the whole of the year. If you would like to book Hugh to come speak at your school, workplace or sporting club then unfortunately you’ll have to book in 2020. However, you can still buy tickets to some of his larger events throughout the year. (See show notes available on the Six Park website) This episode is powered by Six Park, Australia's number 1 online investment manager www.sixpark.com.au

Ed is a real “slashie”. He’s a former Australian cricketer/an ABC cricket commentator/investor/entrepreneur. Ed prepared for the transition from cricket to finance by completing a Bachelor of Commerce and a Masters in Applied Finance whilst he was still playing cricket. (So as you’ve probably picked up by now he’s certainly very driven). We discuss a business he co-founded called Tripod Coffee that makes compostable Nespresso coffee pods. We also discuss his role at TDM Growth Partners, a fund that invests in private and public companies. This episode is powered by Six Park, Australia's leading online investment manager www.sixpark.com.au For show notes visit www.sixpark.com.au

Bonus Episode - January 2019

This episode I'm speaking with Pat Garrett, the CEO of Six Park. We review and discuss what we saw in 2018 from an investing point of view. Topics discussed; The return of volatility in the market Trump Brexit Emerging markets performance The royal commission Bitcoin Hero's and villains in 2018 Six Park's portfolios This episode is brought to you by Six Park, Australia's leading online investment manager. www.sixpark.com.au

This bonus episode I discuss 5 upcoming all new episodes; - A 4 episode mini-series on Behavioural Economics where I speak with lecturers from Harvard Business School and - A review of 2018 speaking with Pat Garrett, CEO of Six Park Subscribe to automatically receive all new episodes

The field of Behavioural Economics is so important because, when it comes to investing and managing our money, our emotions have the ability to lead us astray - so much so we could become our own worst enemies. Of course, decisions like a portfolios’ asset allocation are crucially important in investing, but ultimately decisions like these are wasted if investors make irrational decisions at the worst possible time. The reality is, biases affect our decisions and we need to be aware of them so they’re not in control. I completed a course on behavioural economics earlier this year at Harvard Business School to learn more about the processes we all use to make financial decisions. During the program I was fortunate to learn from some of the best professors in the world on the topic of Behavioural Economics, and I found it so interesting that I thought, why not have a chat with them on the Richards Report? This episode is the final episode of a four part series that I've put together. This episode I speak with Michael Norton, the Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, and a member of Harvard’s Behavioral Insights Group. He co-wrote Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending. He has also given a famous Ted Talk on money and happiness that has been watched more than 5 million times (links available in the show notes on the Six Park website). Topics Covered include; Investing in time The Ikea effect Can money buy happiness? This podcast is brought to you by Six Park, Australia's leading online investment manager. Visit www.sixpark.com.au

The field of Behavioural Economics is so important because, when it comes to investing and managing our money, our emotions have the ability to lead us astray - so much so we could become our own worst enemies. Of course, decisions like a portfolios’ asset allocation are crucially important in investing, but ultimately decisions like these are wasted if investors make irrational decisions at the worst possible time. The reality is, biases affect our decisions and we need to be aware of them so they’re not in control. I completed a course on behavioural economics earlier this year at Harvard Business School to learn more about the processes we all use to make financial decisions. During the program I was fortunate to learn from some of the best professors in the world on the topic of Behavioural Economics, and I found it so interesting that I thought, why not have a chat with them on the Richards Report? This episode is the third episode of a four part series that I've put together. This is the last episode that i'm speaking with John Beshears, an Associate Professor of Business Administration in the Negotiation, Organizations & Markets Unit. Before joining HBS, he was an assistant professor of finance at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. His recent work includes studying participation in retirement savings plans, household investment decisions, and health-care choices. Topics covered include; Recency bias Present bias New Year resolutions This podcast is brought to you by Six Park, Australia's leading online investment manager. Visit www.sixpark.com.au

The field of Behavioural Economics is so important because, when it comes to investing and managing our money, our emotions have the ability to lead us astray - so much so we could become our own worst enemies. Of course, decisions like a portfolios’ asset allocation are crucially important in investing, but ultimately decisions like these are wasted if investors make irrational decisions at the worst possible time. The reality is, biases affect our decisions and we need to be aware of them so they’re not in control. I completed a course on behavioural economics earlier this year at Harvard Business School to learn more about the processes we all use to make financial decisions. During the program I was fortunate to learn from some of the best professors in the world on the topic of Behavioural Economics, and I found it so interesting that I thought, why not have a chat with them on the Richards Report? This episode is the second episode of a four part series that I've put together. I'm speaking again with John Beshears, an Associate Professor of Business Administration in the Negotiation, Organizations & Markets Unit. Before joining HBS, he was an assistant professor of finance at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. His recent work includes studying participation in retirement savings plans, household investment decisions, and health-care choices. Topics covered include; Why do we overweight small probabilities happening (e.g.lotteries) Projection bias Confirmation bias This podcast is brought to you by Six Park, Australia's leading online investment manager. Visit www.sixpark.com.au

The field of Behavioural Economics is so important because, when it comes to investing and managing our money, our emotions have the ability to lead us astray - so much so we could become our own worst enemies. Of course, decisions like a portfolios’ asset allocation are crucially important in investing, but ultimately decisions like these are wasted if investors make irrational decisions at the worst possible time. The reality is, biases affect our decisions and we need to be aware of them so they’re not in control. I completed a course on behavioural economics earlier this year at Harvard Business School to learn more about the processes we all use to make financial decisions. During the program I was fortunate to learn from some of the best professors in the world on the topic of Behavioural Economics, and I found it so interesting that I thought, why not have a chat with them on the Richards Report? This episode is part one of a four part series that I've put together. I speak with John Beshears, an Associate Professor of Business Administration in the Negotiation, Organizations & Markets Unit. Before joining HBS, he was an assistant professor of finance at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. His recent work includes studying participation in retirement savings plans, household investment decisions, and health-care choices. Topics covered include; Why do we have biases? The foundations of system 1 and system 2 thinking Loss aversion Status quo bias Heuristics and availability bias This podcast is brought to you by Six Park, Australia's leading online investment manager. Visit www.sixpark.com.au

I’m speaking with Michael Schwimer, the CEO Big League Advance. Big League Advance is like a venture capital fund, but instead of investing in emerging businesses, they invest in minor league baseball players. They do so by buying a percentage of the players future earning capacity. When I first heard Michael describe his story and his business I was that excited to find out more. It’s certainly not an investment strategy for everyone as it’s high risk/high reward, but it’s a really interesting concept. Big League Advance continues to receive recognition around the world, and be approached from other sports wanting to improve in their analytics and data analysis. They've been approached by soccer federations wanting to better prepare for the next world cup and NBA teams looking for an edge over competitors. This episode is bought to you by Six Park, Australia's leading online investment management provider. www.sixpark.com.au

Here is a preview of an upcoming episode with Michael Schwimer, the CEO of Big League Advance.

This episode we’re chatting ‘Moneyball’. What about it? Well, in baseball they talk about the “intangibles” that players may or may not have. He or she has the "it" factor. It's a gut feel that has usually been accepted and often embraced by recruiters and teams. But Moneyball, in particular Billy Beane and his team at the Oakland A’s questioned this widely accepted “gut feel” and how accurate it really is. As we know he and his analytics team famously went out on a limb at the time and used data to make baseball recruiting decisions, not on this gut instinct or the “it” factor. The idea of an algorithm or computer supporting important sporting recruiting decisions was initially laughed at. But since the Moneyball story became well known it’s now not only accepted, but embraced. This approach has quickly spread into other sports too. This episode I’m joined by Chris Keane, the senior recruiting analyst at the Sydney Swans who, as you may have guessed it, has an analytics background, not a football background. New approaches to traditional ways we go about things can sometimes be perceived as wrong, when in fact they may may in fact improve the decision we’re trying to make. Whether it’s recruiting the next best AFL player, or making the your next investment. We’re increasingly seeing data being embraced as a way to improve our decision making. For show notes please visit www.sixpark.com.au/news/the-richards-report This episode is bought to you by Six Park, Australia's leading robo-advisor. www.sixpark.com.au