Quiet Contrarian. Ep 1: The Outsider Investor.
So I’ve been doing this for 6 or so years now, and I’ve learned a lot in that time, I finally feel like I know what I’m doing… Kind of… At the very least, I’ve committed to the process of learning and discipline that seem to be the lynchpin of investing. I do feel like I need to step up my game. Make myself accountable, and try to share a bit about what I’ve learned. That’s what my personal blog is going to be about.
I am originally from a Sciences background (behavioural ecology and complex systems), so I have a tendency to skew a little technical. I’m not Australian, but Brisbane is my home, though sometimes I miss other countries I’ve lived in (the curse of growing up as a TCK). I’m not a financial advisor, I can’t give anyone advice about their financial situation, I’m not part of the finance system machinery. The name for this series comes from my hope of being strange enough, and having a perspective that’s different enough, that I can leverage to beat the market. Though I’m aware this also means a higher risk of being strange and underperforming the market. (I also want to acknowledge Jotham’s role in driving the blog setup, and the title of this post is a nod to his Amateur Investor theme.)
My start to investing followed from a family tragedy, and a whole bunch of changes in circumstance. Whilst most people tend to start slowly, using investing as a proxy for savings and slowly building their positions over time, I jumped in whole hog. This is not a great way to do this. The first two years were brutal. I learnt a lot of lessons the hard way, and made a lot of mistakes. But necessity is the mother of invention. Having burnt all my bridges I committed fully to investing. I slowly improved my process and my mistakes dwindled.
A chance meeting led to regular meetings with Bill and Nicho, where we drank beer and discussed companies, the economy, and investment ideas. Nothing helps you to improve your own ideas more than a safe place to batter them around. Though ultimately, everyone takes responsibility for their own ideas, and the investments that they’re comfortable with. Mockingbird was formed!
In terms of investing style, I began as many people do by becoming a bit obsessed with Warren Buffett. His folksy wisdom seemed incredibly simple and accessible. But as pretty much everyone that goes down this route learns:
- It ain’t that easy.
- You ain’t no Warren Buffett.
My first lessons in valuation and investment came from somewhere more local: Roger Montgomery, an Australian fund manager and author of the book Value.Able. His method is strongly influenced by Buffett’s, and provided me with the foundations to understand and value companies worthy of investing in.
My main impetus to keep this blog is to put down a diary of my investment ideas and decisions for review. To open them up to scrutiny, and make myself accountable for my decisions. I’m not convinced that anyone will ever read it, but if you do, and found it useful. Please drop me a line.
General facts:
- I tend to prefer stocks in the “Quality at a fair price” bracket, but have also bought Value and Growth. I primarily invest in the Australian market, though I have a few holdings in the US.
- I am trying to beat the market (i.e. seeking ɑ), I try and manage my portfolio to my 10-15 best companies/investment ideas. I strive to be contrarian, though I’m not sure how well I achieve this.
- I tend to hold stocks in Tech, Retail, and Travel. I’m slowly learning more and branching into Mining, Education, and Healthcare.
- I use CommSec for my trades.
- I have used a number of software platforms, at the moment I am using a custom spreadsheet (using financial data from CommSec), and Simply Wall St for valuations.
- My name is pronounced “Schwan” like the pens, but I will use Shaun if I’m ordering takeaway because I don’t want to have to explain it all the time.
Next time on the QC: How have I done? Part 1: The ASX.