Bitesize: Why time is the most important variable – Tom Piotrowski

Alec: [00:00:07] Welcome to Bitesize and get started investing. In this series, we feature some of our favourite lessons, quotes and moments from the podcast. If you'd like to listen to the full episode, we've included the link in the show notes. 

Bryce: [00:00:22] Obviously, equity is all about the investing journey, particularly with a focus on the start. And you know, you've got years of experience in the industry having spoken to many, many different people as well, and we'd love to get your thoughts on what you think is some of the key pillars to building an investment portfolio again. 

Tom: [00:00:40] When you hear people talking about the financial markets or particularly the stock market, you know, there's that element of gambling about the conversation. I mean, like if you had a conversation on the barbecue, you know, inevitably someone say, oh, you know, it's just a horse race and that type of thing. And so it really comes back to trying to exact as much control as you can over a set of very fluid variables. And so, like I said before, you know, the most important variable is time, okay? And that is fundamental to all investments and everything that we do. So when you give yourself the greatest timeframe, that is when you'll be in a good position. So that's why it's important to start early in the investment journey. Any number of companies that are extremely valuable now that were just a fraction of that value 10 or 15 or 20 years ago. But it's a matter of finding those brilliant companies and trying to understand what impression that they're going to make over the course of the longer term. So be it a bank, a biotech like CSL, you know, Woolworths. They're the sorts of organisations that important, I think at the start of an investment journey, ones that you can trust for the long term. Okay, to have them as the foundation of your portfolio might be, you know, might be boring. But these are, you know, I mean everyone's got a Warren Buffett quote, but one of the things I suppose is applicable to me or not, but, you know, Warren Buffett used to be a very famous investor in Gillette, and he used to say, you know, I love to go to sleep at night knowing that every American male in the country is growing his whiskers at night and he's going to shave them.

Bryce: [00:02:35] Yeah, well, you don't Yeah. 

Alec: [00:02:36] You really let him down. 

Tom: [00:02:38] And believe I did that. That's I don't know why that just came to mind, but it did. But I suppose within that quirky quote is extraordinary wisdom. Right. It's you know, organisations that rely on that repetitive aspect of human nature is very fundamental to the way that we live. If that is an organisation that is well-run, that has the right people in charge of it and has the right philosophy in terms of rewarding investors for their support of the shares, you know, your wealth will grow over the longer term. It's easy to kind of just follow your nose at the age of wisdom, if you know what I mean. But it becomes a cliche for a reason, right? Because I suppose it works. So that's the thing that I would encourage people who are new to the share market is that, you know, as important as anything else, is your psychology and your mental approach to things, your expectations. You know, if you can get a reign on those and look out over the course of the longer term and don't treat these markets as a gambling device, then you'll be well served, you know, be consistent over the years, put away the money, invest in the right cow in those high quality companies over the space of, you know, ten or 15 years. You'll be really pleased with the outcome. You'll really be satisfied in terms of what you've been able to achieve, in terms of the growth of your finances. 

Bryce: [00:04:11] I suppose if you enjoyed that Bitesize, you'll find a link to the full episode in the show notes.