Invest in what you know, avoid what you don’t: Lessons from a Hall of Fame fund manager

Despite all of his success, Morry Waked has remained relatively under the radar. He’s not one to boast of his achievements, and he’s very rarely fronted the media.

At Livewire, we dedicate ourselves to finding the best fund managers in Australia - and in a testament to how underground Morry is, he hadn’t even popped up on our radar.

Last week, however, Morry found himself thrust into the spotlight and was inducted into the Australian Fund Manager Hall of Fame - joining a now 22-name strong list of the country's most recognisable fund managers such as Kerr Neilson, Chris Cuffe, Anton Tagliaferro, Catherine Allfrey, Phil King and many more.

What’s unique, is that all 21 other names on this list are fundamental investors. This is the first time that someone who employs a quantitative, or systematic approach to investing, as Morry describes it, has been added to the Hall of Fame.

In this episode, Morry sits down with Livewire's Ally Selby for a look at his remarkable career, a deep dive into quantitative investing, as well as some of the insights that Morry's models have identified today. 

Note: This interview was recorded on Thursday 26 October 2023. 

https://www.livewiremarkets.com/wires/invest-in-what-you-know-avoid-what-you-don-t-lessons-from-a-hall-of-fame-fund-manager/ 

Timecodes: 

• 0:00 - Intro 
• 2:59 - Fate and purpose: How Morry fell into funds management
• 3:59 - On trying to educate investors on his quantitative/systematic strategy
• 5:45 - Morry's career journey 
• 7:02 - The greatest lessons from Morry's career so far 
• 8:50 - Markets and models change, but Morry's philosophy doesn't
• 10:35 - On using Artificial Intelligence in investing 
• 11:16 - A beginner's guide to quantitative/systematic investing 
• 12:58 - Common misconceptions 
• 13:56 - The importance of remaining unemotional when investing 
• 15:05 - Where we are in the cycle today 
• 17:43 - Where Morry and the Vinva team see opportunity both locally and abroad 
• 19:07 - Why these models give Vinva a leg up on the competition
• 22:17 - ROI's common questions: What the market is getting wrong and lessons from wins and losses from Morry's career