The Rules of Investing

The Rules of Investing: Feast and Famine with Allan Gray

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.

The Rules of Investing: How Alex Waislitz uncovers hidden gems

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.

The Rules of Investing: Is Value Dead?

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.

The Rules of Investing: Geoff Wilson and his love affair with LICs

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.

The Rules of Investing: The Age of Longevity

This week's guest is Jim Mellon, billionaire investor, speaker, and co-author of Juvenescence: Investing in the Age of Longevity.
We discuss:
* His 2005 book that predicted the oncoming storm of the GFC
* The coming bear market in tech stocks and why he’s short Facebook
* The new developments in the treatment of cancer, heart disease, lung disease, and diabetes that could significantly improve survivability
* The changes in lifestyle that are already extending our lifespans
Medications that could dramatically extend lifespans and healthspans
* The winners, losers, and economic effects of longer lives

The Rules of Investing: Peter Cooper’s next big idea

Peter Cooper is the founder and Chief Investment Officer of Cooper Investors, one of Australia’s leading boutique investment firms. His success is probably best conveyed by the incredible performance of the CI Brunswick fund, which he manages personally. This fund has outperformed the ASX200 Accumulation Index by a cumulative 537%, or 8.3% p.a. since inception in 2004.
In this week’s podcast, we discuss:
• Two exciting ‘clusters’ of investment opportunities that have him excited today, including his ‘big idea’ for the next 30 years
• The two different types of value (value creators and reversionary value) and why you need to think about them differently
• Two ASX small caps floats that he’s participated in over the last year, and why he likes the companies so much
• A personal story of some of the philanthropic work that CI have undertaken
• Which ASX stock he’d want to own if the market were to close for five years.

The Rules of Investing: Investing in a world of rising rates

This week's guest is Giselle Roux, Chief Investment Officer at Escala Partners. We discuss where we are in the interest rate cycle, how to invest as rates rise, and whether the Fed can manage a rate-hike cycle without causing a recession.

The Rules of Investing: The Dividend Dilemma

Dr Don Hamson from Plato Investment Management discusses some common mistakes that investors make, how to avoid a dividend trap, and heard his views on the suggested changes to dividends.