🏋️ Investor Bootcamp | 10 weekends to become a better investor

Welcome to the Investor Bootcamp mini-series on The Australian Investors Podcast.

Document: Analyst Bootcamp Training Manual - https://bit.ly/rask-analyst

Over the coming 10 weekends, I’m going to take you on a journey to become a better investor. Every Saturday, 7 am, starting next week, I’m going to be joined by one or more expert guests you will know from the series thus far.

I’ve carefully selected these guests and the topics we’ll be covering. Also as part of the episodes, I’ll share with you the best resources I’ve come across for accelerating your learning.

So why are we doing this 10-part series?

I think that now, more than at any time in the past 20 years, direct stock investors will need to understand valuation at a more technical level.

As Morgan Housel said:

“The most underrated investing skills are controlling your emotions and having your career coincide with a 30-year decline in interest rates.”

With interest rates finally on the way back up, the valuation of businesses, bonds and real assets will become more important.

But as Warren Buffett once said, “It's only when the tide goes out that you learn who has been swimming naked.”

For many investors, it finally feels like the tide is going out. Easy returns driven by falling rates on speculative assets like crypto, venture capital, technology stocks, highly geared companies, property and even bonds.

Some people might say that value investing can now finally have its time to shine. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is back to catching up to famed investors like Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF as momentum and growth investors wonder about a recovery.

So where does this leave investors who are wearing big losses in innovative but richly valued businesses?

For many, we’re questioning our growth-first strategies. Are tech stocks really worth what I thought? Is it time to diversify my portfolio across industrial companies trading at lower valuations?

After all, you can construct an all-weather diversified long-term portfolio from richly valued, high-quality companies. Or you can build a portfolio from lower-quality companies at lesser valuations.

Lately, many investors seem to be opting for the deeper value style companies and portfolios.

However, there’s one big problem with this approach: you need to have a strong grip on valuation. You need to understand how securities or investments are valued and then adjust your models to the current macro environment.

According to Harvard Business Review:

“Imposter syndrome is loosely defined as doubting your abilities and feeling like a fraud. It disproportionately affects high-achieving people, who find it difficult to accept their accomplishments. Many question whether they’re deserving of accolades.”

I believe that over the past 10 years we have seen many talented investors enter the market and begin their investing journey. Indeed, around 70% of Rask members have been investing for less than 10 years.

However, during that time we’ve experienced a massive bull market. Now, with markets becoming more volatile, it leads me to believe that many of our fellow listeners could be doubting their conviction in their abilities to find, research and model companies.

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