Equity Mates Investing Podcast

"The best advice is boring.." - this is episode is anything but boring, AND is full of great advice. Today we're excited to bring you an interview with Chris Brykci. Chris is the CEO of StockSpot - Australia's first ever digital investment adviser. Chris has over 21 years of investment experience and spent most of his career as a Portfolio Manager at UBS. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting/Finance Co-op Scholarship) from the UNSW and is a member of the ASIC Digital Advisory Committee. Chris is a pioneer in the investment advice and personal finance space. He started Stockspot when he was 28 when he realised consumers were being taken advantage of by unfair fees and biased advice when they invest. He saw the opportunity to use technology to help more Australians access honest advice and low fee investing. He now sits on two ASIC financial advice and technology committees. He's also famous for winning the ASX high school share trading game three times as a teenager. In this episode we discuss a variety of investment topics, from investing 101 and creating a great portfolio to why it might not be the best idea for Bryce to be sitting in cash! We learnt a lot from Chris, so we hope you do as well. In this episode you will learn: • How Chris chose his first stock, at 10 years old • Why losing money is the best way to learn to invest • The strategies used to win 3 ASX School Sharemarket Games • The concept of 'buying straw hats in winter' and how you can apply it today • That 'the best advice is boring' • What separates StockSpot from every other robo-adviser • The defensive strategies StockSpot use to protect investors money Stocks and resources discussed: • Reminiscences of a Stock Operator - Edwin Lefèvre • Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness - Richard Thaler • Thinking, Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahneman Some housekeeping: Follow us on Instagram - It's not just memes, we're actually using it as a platform to provide you with some inspiration and new concepts - each week we do a Pardon the Jargon (key terms you need to know as an investor), Company in the Spotlight (an introduction to a new Australian company), News and Thought Starters Essential Learnings - we've collated all of our Basics 101 episodes into a series, so you can refer back to them, or use them as a starting point. They're all essential episodes to learn to invest. Ask Us Anything - if you want to ask us a question, head over to our forum, and ask us! If we can't answer, we'll get one of our Experts to. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kerr Neilson is one of Australia's greatest investors. He is someone a lot of our listeners won't be familiar with, but hopefully after this episode you will be. In a new series - Meet the Investor - we have picked out some clips from Kerr's interviews that we'll play and discuss. The purpose of this episode, and episodes like it, is to introduce some of Australia's greatest investors to our listeners. For while everyone knows Warren Buffett, other great investors aren't too well known, especially those from outside America. We think that is a shame - as there is a lot of knowledge and experience we can all learn from if we know where to look. So we hope you enjoy the first of our Meet the Investor series. Please let us know if there is a particular investor you want us to profile in the future. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Millennial investing - Cypto, Snapchat, Tesla and pot stocks. While at Equity Mates we are strongly against this portfolio construction, it has been an interesting few weeks for the millennial portfolio. In particular, Tesla and Elon Musk have had a tough couple of weeks while Pot Stocks have had a cracking few months. In this episode we break down some of these key developments for the millennial portfolio In this episode you will learn: • Why Elon Musk and Tesla was sued by the SEC • What the settlement with the SEC entails • Why some Marijuana stocks have more than doubled in price in the past couple of months • The companies that have recently been investing heavily into the Marijuana industry • The three ways Alec's thinks about investing in the Marijuana boom • One big call about a company that Alec thinks will be investing in the marijuana industry Stocks and Resources Discussed: • Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) • Canopy Growth (TSE: WEED) • Aurora Cannabis (TSE: ACB) • Cronos Group (TSE: CRON) • Tilray (NASDAQ: TLRY) • Aleafia (CVE: ALEF) • MMJ Phytotech Ltd (ASX: MMJ) • Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ) • Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) • Philip Morris (NYSE: PM) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

'Ask Us Anything' is a new segment we're kicking off this week. On the last episode of each month, we are going to answer all the questions that come in from our listeners via the 'Ask Us Anything' forum on our website. We start this week with some crackers. Michael, Sasha, Brendon, Jayson and Jeremy all wrote in asking us questions ranging from the current state of the crypto market through to choosing ETFs based on the current stage of the business cycle. In this episode you will learn (heaps!): • How we feel about the current state of the crypto market • If crypto is the future of currency • The phases of technology adoption • About the Australian Derivatives market and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange • How to access derivatives if you want to dabble in that type of investing • How ETFs pay dividends - why some do, and some don't • The four stages of the business cycle and the impact each have on the stock market • Which sectors of the market perform the best in each stage of the business cycle • Where we currently are in the business cycle and what that means for investors • Why developing an investing thesis is important in helping you choose your next ETF Stocks and resources discussed: • Technology Revolutions and Financial Capital Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As promised in our last episode, episode 75 is titled Bryce Surprises Ren. In this episode we each have something to discuss we think will surprise the other. For Ren, it is to do with a new investing idea he's been thinking about. For Bryce, it is a test of investing instincts. Hopefully this episode can surprise (and maybe help) a few listeners as well. In this episode you will learn: • Who the boys are backing in the AFL Grand Final • How Alec is thinking about investing late in the business cycle • The difference between active management and passive investing • The different ways you can invest in active managers • A quiz to test your 'investing instincts' • Some of the new investing ideas Bryce is looking at Stocks and Resources discussed: • Hedgefun Managers website • 10 question 'investing instincts' quiz • List of Vanguard investment products Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Right back at the start of 2018 we sat down and made a few bold predictions about what we thought might happen during the year. One of those predictions was very bold indeed. Very specific. Very pessimistic. Bryce bet that on September 15th 2018, 10 years on from the Global Financial Crisis, we would experience a drop in the US market of greater than 20%. Silly, we know. Or was it... Fortunately (well, depending which side of the bet you were on), this wasn't the case, and the world continued as normal. This week we look back on the bet, and the 10 year anniversary of the GFC, as well as give an update on the progress of our portfolios in the ASX Sharemarket game. In this episode you will learn: • Why Bryce's prediction technically could never have happened • If Bryce doubled down on his prediction • Equity Mates' outlook, going forward • Who is up and who is down in the ASX Sharemarket game • Which stocks have been star performers for the boys • And which have been their biggest losers • Bryce is a poet • Alec has a surprise lined up To keep up to date with everything Equity Mates are looking at each week, and what's catching their attention, make sure you sign up to their weekly Thoughts Starters email. Every Monday you'll get the latest in news, thought-provoking articles and some secret investing ideas. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With our live shows done, we wanted to discuss a theme that came up over and over again in our listener Q&A and conversations afterwards. It's a question both of us had when we started investing and it is one that can lead a lot of people to put investing in the 'too hard' basket. That question is - how do I pick the perfect stock? It's a question that professional investors struggle to answer - even Warren Buffett had his IBM moment. Importantly, it is one that can get new investors lost in a sea of jargon, ratios and charts. So in this episode we explain why new investors should forget stock picking and explain how achieving market average returns over a long time period is all you need. In this episode you will learn: • Why stock picking is the wrong focus for new investors • The three things that investors should focus on instead - reducing the costs you can control, diversifying and asset allocation • How both of us think about stock picking v market average returns Stocks and Resources Discussed: • The Economist - Fund managers rarely outperform the market for long • Slater and Gordon (ASX: SGH) • A2 Milk (ASX: A2M) • Bellamy's (ASX: BAL) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One of the reasons we started Equity Mates Investing Podcast was to track our journey of learning the ins-and-outs of investing, and more importantly, to get others on the journey with us! As more and more Equity Mates have joined the journey with us, we've been receiving a wide range of questions, which we love. In this episode we've chosen a few of them to answer. In this episode you will learn: • What happens to companies like Spaceship and Raiz, and the underlying assets, when the market tanks • What we think of Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P), the 'little brother' of Afterpay • Some of our favourite, and highly recommended, finance documentaries and movies • The best way to listen to this podcast If you want to contact us you can do so through our social media - Facebook, Instagram or Twitter - or email us at equitymates@gmail.com. We've got a new Equity Mates forum on our website, called 'Ask Us Anything' - so do it, and ask us anything! Stocks and resources discussed: • Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) • Dirty Money • I.O.U.S.A • Betting On Zero • Inside Job • Smartest Guys In The Room • Wall Street Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previously on the show (Ep #39) we've discussed IPO, or Initial Public Offerings. You might otherwise know them as a 'float'. IPOs are when a private company lists on a stock exchange to raise funds by selling shares to investors, including members of the public. Companies use IPOs to raise money that can then be reinvested to help grow the business.IPOs give investors an opportunity to buy shares at a determined price before it opens on the stock market, with the hope that over time the share price will go up. This week, we review a list of upcoming IPOs on the Australian Stock Exchange. Most of them are standard mining companies, but one really stood out to us as being quite different. In this episode you will learn: • What an IPO is and why companies do them • Which company stood out as a rather unusual offer • The trend that's taking place in venture capital • Why the big billion dollar companies of the world are staying private Stocks and resources discussed: • Uber • Lift • NiceVend (ASX: NVD) • ASX List of Upcoming Floats and Listings Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Australia has a new Prime Minister. That fact was inescapable last week as the two Liberal Party leadership spills were plastered across news headlines. We aren't interested in adding to the political commentary, but instead are interested in the effect these leadership changes have on the Australian market. So that is the question we set out to answer in this episode and accompanying blog post (link below). In this episode you will learn: • How Scott Morrison's victory affected markets. • The different reasons why leadership change may affect markets • How leadership changes of years gone by (Gillard, Rudd, Abbott, Turnbull etc.) have affected the Australian market • What has happened to the Australian market over this period of 6 Prime Ministers • How you should think about news and politics affecting markets more generally Stocks and Resources Discussed: • Equity Mates Blog Post - Do Leadership Spills Move Markets? • Ben Carlson - Why Doesn't the Stock Market care about news? (includes Bank of America chart discussed in episode) • Melbourne Live Show - Wednesday 5 September • Sydney Live Show - Thursday 13 September Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.