Equity Mates Investing Podcast

True or false? There is an exchange traded fund called 'Global Millennials ETF (Code: MILN)' that holds companies that service millenials. True or false? There is an exchange traded fund called 'Tobacco Companies ETF (Code: SMK)' that holds the world's largest tobacco companies. Exchange Traded Funds give you the ability to access many different markets and invest in a large range of companies without the need to spend time investing in individual comapnies. This week we kick off our 3 part series on ETFs with BetaShares, and sit down with the founder, Ilan Israelstam. Ilan is Head of Strategy and Marketing at BetaShares and has vast experience in finaicla services and investing. After spending time in private equity and venture capital, Ilan worked for the world's leading strategy consulting firm The Boston Consulting Group, before spending 18 months of careful planning to launch BetaShares. BetaShares is the largest Australian provider of ETFs. This episode we discuss the history of BetaShares, Ilan's incredibly interesting background and then put his knowledge to the test with a game of exotic ETFs. Head over to our ETF 101 page for stacks of information on the ETFs BetaShares have on offer, as well as how to get started! In this episode you will learn: • How Illan went from starting his first business in university to running BetaShares • What BetaShares is • Why it's important that BetaShares is Australian • Hoe BetaShares combatted some of the world's biggest ETF comnpanies Stocks and resources discussed: • Australian 200 ETF (ASX: A200) • NASDAQ 100 ETF (ASX: NDQ) • Global Sustainability Leaders ETF (ASX: ETHI) • Australian Sustainability Leaders ETF (ASX: FAIR) • Global Cybersecurity ETF (ASX: HACK) To keep up to date with the latest in the world of investing, and get tailored articles for the Basics 101 of investing, sign-up to our weekly Thought Starters email. Knowledge is power! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode we wrap up our 3-part series 'Thinking like Warren Buffett'. We've pulled out a 9-question checklist from Buffettology, a book by Warren's daughter-in-law Mary Buffett. We've each chosen a stock and are running through the checklist and seeing if our chosen stocks pass the Buffettology test. In this episode we answer questions 7, 8 & 9. For Questions 1-4, check out episode 46. For Questions 5-6, check out episode 47. In this episode you will learn: • Why retained earnings are so important. • What good capital allocation looks like for businesses. • About share buybacks. • Why Warren prefers buybacks to dividend payments. • The importance of finding businesses that can adjust prices for inflation. • Whether the boys chosen companies passed the 9-part checklist. Stocks and Resources Discussed: • ResMed (ASX & NYSE: RMD) • Boral (ASX: BLD) • Buffettology by Mary Buffett • Equity Mates Recommended Reading Page[This episode is brought to you by Stake - The Australian investing platform offering access and free brokerage to US markets. For more information & to sign up check out: equitymates.com/stake] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We continue on our quest to try and think like the worlds greatest investor, Warren Buffett. If you missed the previous episode, it is a must listen before you continue with this one, as we begin answering 9 questions the master investor himself tries to answer when he's looking to buy a company. Mary Buffett, his daughter-in-law, has written a book called Buffettology, where she uncovers some of the practical techniques Warren uses to invest. We have both chosen a company each and we're seeing how it stacks up against the 9 key questions. Last week we looked at the power of the brand name of each of the companies, and how strong consistent the earnings were. This week we delve into what the companies do with their earnings. In this episode you will learn: • do the businesses get to retain their earnings, and what that actually means • how much the businesses spend on maintaining their current operations and why that is very important to know • what 'goodwill' means and how to watch out for it Stocks and resources discussed: • Buffettology - Mary Buffett • Resmed (ASX: RMD) • Boral (ASX: BLD)To keep up to date with the latest in the world of investing, and get tailored articles for the Basics 101 of investing, sign-up to our weekly Thought Starters email. Knowledge is power! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Warren Buffett is one of the worlds most successful investors, amassing a fortune of over $84 billion dollars! Wouldn't it be nice to be able to think like Warren Buffett? Well now you can! Warren's daughter-in-law, Mary Buffett wrote a book called 'Buffettology', which delves into the thinking of Buffett. It's a fantastic book - a must read. Towards the start of the book Mary talks through 9 key questions that Buffett will always ask when he's determining if a stock is worth buying. These are questions that anyone can answer. You don't need a degree or much knowledge in investing to have a crack at answering these yourself. This episode we each choose a company and answer the first 4 questions ourselves, to see if we've chosen a company that Buffett himself would invest in. In this episode you will learn: • If our businesses have an identifiable consumer monopoly • If the earnings of our companies are strong, and showing upward trend • If our companies are conservatively financed • If the companies of choice consistently earn high rate of return on shareholders' equity Stocks and resources discussed: • Buffettology - Mary Buffett • Resmed (ASX: RMD) • Boral (ASX: BLD)To keep up to date with the latest in the world of investing, and get tailored articles for the Basics 101 of investing, sign-up to our weekly Thought Starters email. Knowledge is power! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

An investor walked onto the trading floor and asked "What's the difference between $300k and $4.3 million?"... "Fees!" yelled a savvy investor. "Haha what a joke, the answer is my boat!" yelled a fund manager. Both are right, but warning this is NOT a joke. Last week Bryce found a tweet that sparked conversation with Alec. We both know that avoiding fees is one of the golden rules to successful investing but when we saw the HUGE difference it can make. Here is the tweet: Fees stop your money from growing, and as a beginner, the better understanding you have of the impact of fees, the better. Over a lifetime, fees can be the difference between early retirement and a struggling portfolio. This episode we discuss investing fees - what they are and how to avoid them. In this episode you will learn: • What to look for in investment fees • Transaction fees • Expense ratio • Investment management fees • Ways to avoid paying fees Stocks and resources discussed: • ASX Exchange Traded Fund tracking the US Top 500 Companies: IVV • ASX Exchange Traded Fund tracking the US Top 500 Companies: SPY • Cheapest ETF tracking the ASX Top 200 companies: A200 • Free brokerage platform to trade stocks in the US: StakeCheck out our Thought Starters email for all the news articles Ren spoke about. Until next week! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Graham Cooke is the Insights Manager at comparison website Finder.com.au. We spoke to him to gain the benefit of his work at Finder and to better understand how we can maximise our savings and capitalise on the new wave of investing apps and platforms that are coming to Australia. In this episode you will learn: • Why understanding the RBA cash rate is critical to achieving your savings goals • Where you can find the best interest rate for your savings • About Peer-to-Peer (P2P) lending and why it offers a higher interest rate than traditional banks • The generational divide in market participation • Why only 25% of Australians have invested outside of superannuation • The different services offering brokerage free transactions in Australia • Services available to people who don't think they have the money to invest • A platform designed to open up the property market to Australians Stocks & Resources Discussed: • Finder.com.au homepage • Finder.com.au's bitcoin mining article • ME Bank • Rate Setter • Robin Hood • Whaley • Stake - Equity Mates landing page • Raiz Invest (formerly Acorns Australia) • Brick X • Business Insider's article on Brick X Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With so much going on in the financial world, we couldn't fit all of our catch-up into one episode. So for this episode we bring you part two of our catch up. In this episode you will learn: • Some of the major findings coming out of the Banking Royal Commission • Why Tesla has halted production of their mass-market car, the Model 3 • About China's recent tariff on Sorghum (and how we predicted this in our Trade War episode) • Why the major tech companies are looking to build their own microchips • The books the boys have read recently Stocks and Resources Discussed: • Banking Royal Commission • $200 million paid by customers for services they didn't receive • AMP mislead the regulator • CBA continued giving credit to a known gambling addict • HSBC money laundering story • Tesla • Halted production of Model 3 • Sorghum & The Trade War • China impose 179% tariff on US sorghum • $216m fleet of sorghum heading towards China diverted • Wondering why this little known crop was the target of Chinese tariffs? • Microchips • Amazon is following Google & Apple into making their own chips • Facebook looking to build team to design own chips • Books we're reading • Buffettology - Mary Buffett • One up on Wall Street - Peter Lynch • Secrets for profiting in bull and bear markets - Stan Weinstein • Trade like a stock market wizard - Mark Minervini • Lords of Finance: The bankers who broke the world - Liaquat Ahamed Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With a lot going on and things moving very quickly we took the opportunity to sit down and catch-up on a few things that have piqued our interest over the last couple of weeks. In this episode you will learn: • About the battle for Flipkart in India, between Walmart and Amazon • Why Alec would buy Walmart, but Bryce would buy Amazon • How the markets have performed since December - are we up, down or flat? We've teamed up with Stake, who offer the easiest way to trade stocks in the US. They offer free brokerage, and now if you sign-up and fund an account they'll top up your account with $25! Free brokerage and $25 to get your trading journey in the US started. Sign up here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There's a new player in town and they're offering free brokerage if you want to buy stocks in the United States! And I mean, who doesn't? With some of the world's biggest companies, largest markets and exciting new technologies, the States offers a fantastic opportunity for Australian investors. But how do you get into the markets in the US, I hear you ask? Gone are the days of paying hefty brokerage fees through your local broker for international shares, because now you can buy through STAKE - a fantastic new Australian company offering all Australians the ability to buy stocks on the markets in America, with no brokerage! And there's no catch! Stake was the brain child of CEO Matt Leibowitz, an energetic, and incredibly experienced, trader. Matt is one with the markets. He lives and breathes them. Having spent time trading with Optiver over in the States, Matt realised that Australians were missing out, so on returning home, he set about creating Stake. In our interview with Matt discuss everything from his early days as a lawyer, and the transition to trader, through to his current views on volatility, and his hot buy/hold/sells. In this episode you will learn: • What Stake is, and why it's shaking up the industry in Australia • The best time to use a stop loss • Strategies for protecting your portfolio in a downturn • How Matt has gone from trader to businessman • Matt's biggest learning after trading through the GFC • Matt's 'must reads' to become a better investor The best part? Stake is offering to help start your journey. If you create and fund a trading account (it takes 2 minutes), they'll put $20 bucks in. Considering you can buy partial shares with them, that's 1.6% of an Amazon share, for free! Click here to redeem How it works: Set up a funded Stake account and they'll top up your account in USD. You'll get an email when the $20 top-up has arrived! If you don't receive the the top-up within a week of sign-up, then shoot them an email. It's that easy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

'Shorting' is an investing technique to make money if the price of a stock/asset/commodity goes down. For those familiar with the movie The Big Short - that is how investors made money betting on the collapse of the US Housing Market. We thought it was a good time to do an episode on short selling because we've just seen a not-so-big short grab headlines in Australia. Blue Sky Alternative Investments has been targeted by American short sellers, and we're taking the opportunity to discuss this case. In this episode you will learn: • What short selling is, and the two main ways it is done • The rise of activist short sellers and some of their tactics • Why American investors are targeting the Australian company Blue Sky • What the response from Blue Sky was and how the market reacted Stocks and Resources Discussed: • Blue Sky Alternative Investments (ASX: BLA) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.