The Rules of Investing

This week on The Rules of Investing podcast, we've got a special episode featuring three guests from Future Generation (ASX:FGX & ASX:FGG). The Future Generation companies are set up to provide charities with an annual stream of donations, with providing shareholders with exposure to the best fund managers without fees. The first guest is Louise Walsh, CEO of both Future Generation companies, she'll talk about some of the company's achievements, both on the charitable and investment fronts. Then Jun Bei Liu from Tribeca Investment Partners and Tony Waters from QVG join us for a special panel discussion discussing some of the key issues facing Australian investors today.

Guest: Tim Hillier, Allan Gray Contrarians can be a lot like teenagers: they think they’re all different but end up looking the same. This however, is not true of this week’s guest, Tim Hillier from Allan Gray. Case in point: when asked what stock he’d own if the market were to close for five years, Tim spent longer explaining the issues with his stock of choice than the positives. At Allan Gray, their contrarian streak even extends beyond their investment decisions to their hiring policies; as a rule, most of their hires come from outside the funds management industry. In this week’s episode of The Rules of Investing podcast, he tells us how financial statements tell a story, he explains the dynamics of a changing Australian media landscape, and he shares his thesis on two truly contrarian stock ideas among Australian large caps.

Regular readers of Livewire will know Matthew Kidman from his role as ‘anchorman’ for the popular Buy Hold Sell video series. He has also played a critical role in expertly moderating panel sessions at the annual Livewire Live investor event. Matthew is a highly accomplished investor with an impressive track record. Following 13 years at Wilson Asset Management where Kidman established his own firm Centennial Asset Management. A common request we receive at Livewire is to hear Matthew’s views on investing and markets. Today, we’re delighted to bring you an in-depth discussion covering Matthew’s investment philosophy, his current views on equity markets, two small cap ideas that meet his criteria, one investment lesson that keeps coming back to bite him and plenty more... Guest host: James Marlay, co-founder and Executive Director at Livewire Markets.

Two small cap ideas with years of growth ahead by Livewire Markets

Guest: Tim Slattery, CEO, APN Property Group With all the focus on residential property, investors could be forgiven for forgetting that other property classes exist. But between office, industrial, retail, and healthcare, there's a whole world of property out there that remains unexplored for many investors. With this in mind, this week's guest on The Rules of Investing is Tim Slattery, CEO of APN Property Group, who's led over $8 billion worth of property deals in Australia and Europe. Tim's experience covers everything from retail and office, through to healthcare and industrial. This in-depth interview covers some of the risks and opportunities in Australian property today, how the GFC changed the face (and balance sheet) of the AREIT industry, and how ecommerce is transforming industrial property today.

This week’s guest on The Rules of Investing (ROI) is Ben McGarry, founder and Portfolio Manager at Totus Capital, and an expert in short selling. Ben started his career at an accountant at PWC, allowing him to gain skills that would be invaluable later as he searched for frauds, fads, and failures on the short-side of his fund’s portfolio. Tune in below to hear about the accounting tricks companies use to mask their true performance, his public short on a household name, and why it took a public short-report from Glaucus to bring attention to the issues at Quintis and Blue Sky.

Guest: Michael Thawley, AO,Vice Chairman of Capital Group International. Whether you're investing in equities, debt, or alternatives, uncertainty is an inescapable part of the game. But Michael Thawley, AO, Vice Chairman of Capital Group International, says this current period of political uncertainty is unique; "I've never been more unsure about what the future holds than I am now." And he should know, having spent 46 years in foreign affairs, diplomacy, and politics. His appointments have been wide ranging, including International Advisor to John Howard, Australian Ambassador to the USA, and Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister. Now, having left political life, he advises Capital Group, the world’s largest active fund manager, on important geopolitical issues. In this week’s episode of The Rules of Investing, we discuss the US-China trade war, Australia's relationship with China, and we'll hear about the time he was personally invited to the Whitehouse by President George W Bush.

Guest: Kevin Beck, Paradice Investment Management After a chance meeting with legendary stock picker, David Paradice, today’s guest joined Paradice IM to head up their successful Global Small Mid Cap Fund in 2010. Shunning the traditional labels of ‘value’ and ‘growth’, their approach follows the ‘Growth at a Reasonable Price’ philosophy that draws from both schools of thought. “If you’re paying 30 times earnings, you’re effectively discounting a 3% IRR (internal rate of return). So, you either need to believe that business is growing very quickly for a long period of time, and the multiple holds, or you believe that somebody pays you a higher multiple as some point.” Tune in to hear about what he learned from his mentors, how he remains objective, and where he’s seeing opportunities today.

When a young Charlie Jamieson arrived at work in London on September 11th, 2001, little did he know how much that day would affect his views on markets. At the time, he was trading US Dollar bonds from Merrill Lynch’s London office, having just left the New York office three weeks earlier. It was a harrowing time, but it wouldn’t be the last time that he faced a major catastrophe as an investor. Years later, he found himself managing Euro portfolios throughout the GFC and the Euro Crisis. While many investors would remember the equity sell-offs that follow, these crises were often centred around debt markets. But it’s not just times of crisis that rates matter, in the full podcast, Charlie explains why interest rates are the virus that affects all assets.

Guest: Nick Griffin, Chief Investment Officer at Munro Partners. For decades, traditional wisdom has held that value investing is the only way to outperform, and with good reason. Until the GFC, value had outperformed growth in all but a few brief periods, and those periods immediately preceded a major bear market. But for nearly a decade now, growth has produced superior returns. While some may argue that zero interest rates and quantitative easing are to blame/thank (depending on your positions), a look at the top 10 companies in the world tells a different story. As the world exited the worst of the GFC, the top 10 companies in the world were all traditional businesses – oil, supermarkets, banks, and telcos. 10 years later, the list is dominated by digital businesses.

Paul Moore, founder & CIO of PM Capital, discusses his big picture views, characteristics of investments to own and avoid, examples of current pricing anomalies and one major risk being caused by investor crowding.

This week's guest is Simon Mawhinney, Chief Investment Officer of Allan Gray. We learn about the ‘feast and famine' nature of contrarian investing, why a long-term approach is essential to success, and then finish with Simon’s contrarian case for Telstra.

In the ‘go-go 80s’, a young Alex Waislitz worked for the legendary Australian entrepreneur, Robert Holmes á Court. Holmes á Court was Australia’s first billionaire, though he lost much of his fortune in the ’87 crash – a valuable lesson for the young Waislitz. Some 30 years later, Waislitz has built a fortune of his own, primarily through investing well. In an exclusive interview with Livewire, Waislitz explains one of the key lessons he learned working for Holmes á Court: "I learned from him to look for hidden value that others may have overlooked… He was a master at identifying value that others seemed to disregard. I'm always looking for the jewels - what is there in the company that hasn't been noticed?" In our latest podcast, we take a dive into the process that’s allowed him to achieve outstanding returns, including his top reasons to walk away from a potential investment.

Today's guest is Kurt Winrich, Co-CEO and Portfolio Manager at WCM Investment Management, and he’s got a very different take on what a great long-term investment looks like. When Warren Buffett first started buying businesses with ‘moats’ in the 80s, such as Coca Cola, his disciples thought he was crazy. More than 30 years later, buying businesses with a moat is accepted wisdom. Morningstar even offers a 'moat rating' on thousands of stocks from around the world. WCM is a staff-owned firm in Laguna Beach in California that manages over AU$36B for clients globally. They act as the investment advisor for Contango's Global Growth LIC, and will shortly be launching an Exchange Traded Managed Fund on the ASX. In today’s podcast, we discuss the importance of culture, why the size of your moat doesn’t matter, and where the world’s biggest opportunities will come from in the coming years.

Geoff Wilson, Founder and Chairman of Wilson Asset Management, discusses how he identifies outstanding fund managers, buying a dollar for eighty cents, and how he and Matthew Kidman worked together to identify when it was time to sell ABC Learning... before it all blew up.