Bryce and Ren review their Stock of the Year and Bold Predictions

Bryce: [00:00:15] Welcome to another episode of Equity Mates, a podcast that follows our journey of investing, whether you're an absolute beginner or approaching Warren Buffett status. Our aim is to help break down your barriers from beginning to dividend. My name is Bryce, and as always, I'm joined by my equity buddy Ren. How are you going?

Alec: [00:00:31] I'm very good, Bryce. Great to be with you for our final recording session of the year.

Bryce: [00:00:36] 2021. What a year. 

Alec: [00:00:38] What a year. Kind of glad it's done. So looking forward to a break. Yes, we really found in our last Monday episode and I could just feel that the wheels were slowly falling off.

Bryce: [00:00:51] Well, we're going to bring a lot of gusto for this episode. Close the year out on a high by reviewing our stock of the year and our bold predictions that we put on the line at the start of the year.

Alec: [00:01:04] But we don't spend a lot of time on the stock. Yes, we do have a lot of bold predictions to get to, but before we do that, we might be taking a break. But the content train keeps on rolling. It cannot be stopped. It will push through any situation, and we have our 2021 2022 summer series back for the third instalment of our summer series.

Bryce: [00:01:27] Something like that 

Alec: [00:01:28] real fixture in the calendar. There's the Ashes, there's Christmas and the Equity Mates summer series. 

Bryce: [00:01:33] That's it. Starting next Monday, here on Equity Mates Investing podcast, we're going to be diving into 12 companies, both from here in Australia and over in the US. And in some instances we've been lucky enough to have the CEOs join us. So for the next six weeks, don't go anywhere because there's some awesome companies coming up over on Get Started Investing feed as well. We're going to be doing six episodes hearing from our community members and talking about some of their investing stories. And you're in good company are also breaking down some of the basics of investing over the summer as well, so plenty still to listen to.

Alec: [00:02:07] Yeah, and we have got some big hitting CEOs this year. I'm going to name three companies that we cover. We've got the CEO for one of them. You have to guess we're trying to do. I know we're trying to do is we've got Alessio. Yes, we've got Aria Group and we've got Airbnb and Peloton. Well, no, that's just the game was going to be one of those three companies. We've got the CEO. 

Bryce: [00:02:30] Yeah, pretty amazing. Ren. Additionally, we're giving away $12000 over summer thanks to Super Hero. So stay tuned on each episode as to how to do that. $2000 a week. So it's going to be a pretty amazing summer. It is. 

Alec: [00:02:45] It is. But let's get stuck into it or do a brief recap of Stock of the year. But there's not a lot of interesting content there. And then we got bold predictions both that we made. Then we went to the community at the start of the year, both our Facebook discussion group and then we had people write or record themselves, and we played them. So we got a lot of bold predictions to get through. So this is the time of the year that Bryce Husky looks forward to every year the most one sided competitions since, like the first round of the FA Cup, English football where you say like Manchester United playing a third right English park football team. OK, yeah, that's kind of what this competition has devolved into stock of the year. Priceless moment taken away. 

Bryce: [00:03:32] Thanks, Ren. Look, it has been an thoroughly enjoyable year watching Roblox, which was my pick at the start of the year. Absolutely shoot the lights out. You've obviously not been watching my stock because I have been watching. 

Alec: [00:03:44] I've heard all about the Metaverse, Facebook. They change their names to be more aligned with the way Robux is heading. They've been in the they've been in the zeitgeisty this year. 

Bryce: [00:03:55] They have been and look, they're up 63 per cent from where we pictured at the start of the year.

Alec: [00:04:02] Had they opened? 

Bryce: [00:04:03] No. 

Alec: [00:04:04] So I took taking them from wherever they IPO up. 

Bryce: [00:04:07] Yeah, I took the gamble and my stock of the year. Yeah, what hadn't even listed when we actually did the prediction and it had a pretty good start to the year, then sizzled for a little and then the explosion of the chart around the metaverse and also the explosion of users on the platform has really driven roadblocks to its heights of today, which is up 63 percent from its IPO price. 

Alec: [00:04:33] Yeah. Have you played it?

Bryce: [00:04:35] No, I actually 

Alec: [00:04:36] say this is the thing, you know, it's out of the year. We asked that question and you had it. Yeah, I'm

Bryce: [00:04:40] actually thinking about signing up to the sandbox, which I think is a competitor, but that's only because of this Axie Infinity stuff that's going on. But anyway, that's something else. But I definitely should. We definitely should. I will make sure over summer I sign up. How's that? 

Alec: [00:04:57] Well, you wait and see what you say, what the deal is. Bryce. If you if people have listened to our interview with, I think it was. Yeah, well, or maybe it was with Yeah, yeah, yeah. Bryce made a joke about only doing four minutes of due diligence before investing, and it did not land. I think it landed. I thought, Wow, this is this is another example. But look, the numbers speak for themselves. You up 63 percent full credit. 

Bryce: [00:05:25] Thank you. The numbers for Roblox as well. This is just from their third quarter reporting, but it's pretty amazing. Average daily active users, 47 million daily active users. So we spoke about it at the start of the year, and that's up 31 percent. So, yeah, keen to see how it pans out next year. But Ren 10-cent yeah. 

Alec: [00:05:46] So I picked Tencent, the Chinese internet giant owners of WeChat amongst and everything else, the platform upon which so much of the Chinese internet is built, with some massive companies built on top of it, Pinduoduo, but also the venture capital powerhouse that owns stakes in over 700 companies, including Tesla, Spotify, Afterpay, roadblocks and a bunch of others. I thought I've lost Stock of the Year two years before this. This is a tech stock that is trading at a decent valuation and is just everywhere. And then the Chinese government steps in and says, Hold my beer. And so 10 cents, down 22 percent, not as bad as Alibaba is down over 50 percent. Yeah, it

Bryce: [00:06:40] has been worse for 10 cent this year. 

Alec: [00:06:42] Yeah. Well, it started. It started well, but yeah, it's since sort of February. China has been on the downtrend. So three years in a row, I lose this game. I'm going to pick something super vanilla next year like S&P 500 Index. 

Bryce: [00:07:00] All right. Well, we've got the summer to think about it, but I'm happy to take the win again. My moment will come where I don't and you'll be basking in the glory. So let's let's think about it over summer. But Ren, let's turn to our bold predictions because we made a lot. Yeah, so there's there's a lot to get through here. Some, some panned out, many didn't. And then we've also got some of the bold predictions from the Equity Mates Facebook group, as we said. So Ren, you predicted that the Fed's balance sheet would increase to over 10 trillion dollars and I took that bet.

Alec: [00:07:31] You did, and it increased. It increased to eight point seven trillion. And honestly, what's one point three trillion between mates? [00:07:40][8.8]

Bryce: [00:07:41] Yeah, not a lot. So I win that. [00:07:44][2.4]

Alec: [00:07:44] You win an increase, but not that much. Yes, you made the very specific bold prediction. We should start and we should proceed with a caution side. Was that a prediction? Yeah, it's in quotes. And then surely [00:07:58][14.2]

Bryce: [00:07:59] that wasn't a prediction. That was just, I'm going to throw this out as a way to couch this conversation. [00:08:03][4.8]

Alec: [00:08:04] But I just find it funny that that's the first point in quotation marks starting the year with the proceed with caution sign. Then the next line is the S&P 500, and the ASX 200 will both be up over 15 percent. Yeah, I read a lot of caution. [00:08:18][14.0]

Bryce: [00:08:19] I read through a lot of my predictions and they do contradict. [00:08:21][1.7]

Alec: [00:08:22] Yeah, that's the best way to play this game, because then something will be, yeah, yeah. So that's one hundred here. But did you take that? [00:08:29][7.3]

Bryce: [00:08:29] Like, is that even a? [00:08:30][0.8]

Alec: [00:08:30] Yeah, I took it. Yeah, S&P 500 is up twenty seven percent so well over the 15 percent. But one of your recent gripes in the office is how boring the ASX 200 is. I know so boring. Pretty late to that party, but it's something I'm just reminding everyone. [00:08:45][14.9]

Bryce: [00:08:45] I'm reminding everyone who's forgotten Afterpay. [00:08:47][1.9]

Alec: [00:08:48] And in the spirit of the ASX 200 being boring, it's only up 11 percent. So it didn't hit the 15 percent, but also [00:08:57][8.3]

Bryce: [00:08:57] it's playing to average. [00:08:58][0.9]

Alec: [00:08:59] Yeah, you'd be very happy if you got 11 percent a year [00:09:01][2.3]

Bryce: [00:09:01] for a while, not this year, if you could've got 28 percent. [00:09:04][3.2]

Alec: [00:09:09] OK. Anyway, so you took that, I took that, so [00:09:11][2.7]

Bryce: [00:09:12] that's a that's a win for you. All right. Ren you then came in to say that Netflix share price will finish the year down. Yeah. [00:09:19][8.0]

Alec: [00:09:20] Very bold. [00:09:20][0.2]

Bryce: [00:09:21] I was on the fence. I said Apple might come up with an overarching service. And I remember, you know, there was talk of oversaturation in the market. And you really you really took that bet at the wrong time because Netflix was up 17 percent the night before. Yes, we recorded that episode, so that didn't count. [00:09:40][20.0]

Alec: [00:09:41] It didn't count. So that maybe that was the the last throes of a true true. I mean, it wasn't. [00:09:47][6.0]

Bryce: [00:09:47] No. So unfortunately, Netflix is up 6.7 per cent for the year. [00:09:53][5.2]

Alec: [00:09:53] But but American inflation is running hot. So inflation adjusted, you would say that Netflix is fluff. [00:10:00][7.0]

Bryce: [00:10:01] Yes, I'm not down. So still, [00:10:02][1.0]

Alec: [00:10:03] I might actually say inflation is about seven percent. So say it's down. [00:10:07][4.4]

Bryce: [00:10:09] But close, close, but no cigar. Sorry, Ren. [00:10:11][2.1]

Alec: [00:10:11] OK. I don't really know how we're keeping score here because you didn't even take that prediction you just started talking about. [00:10:16][4.9]

Bryce: [00:10:16] I sat on the fence. Well, I'm going to highlight that is orange. [00:10:19][2.2]

Alec: [00:10:19] Let's just say, who cares? Let's just go on taking Scott. But you don't get a point for that. No. OK. All right. Yeah. Oh, it's a Bryce feeling confident. Next one from you. This was such a bold prediction. Bryce predicts a central bank will form its own crypto currency. I then explained that it already has happened, and then [00:10:44][24.4]

Bryce: [00:10:44] I excluded China. [00:10:45][0.6]

Alec: [00:10:45] Yeah, and I'm pretty confident it. This happened in China as well. And since since then, it's obviously happened. Well, there's a lot of talk about it all around the world. [00:10:53][8.3]

Bryce: [00:10:54] We even had our Frydenberg most recently come out and say that Australia are going to dip their toes in the [00:10:58][4.0]

Alec: [00:10:58] digital central bank digital currencies. Yeah. [00:11:00][2.2]

Bryce: [00:11:01] Can't give it. [00:11:02][0.5]

Alec: [00:11:02] I think it's pretty loose. Let's call it a push. [00:11:03][1.4]

Bryce: [00:11:04] So Ren, I like this one. You said Macquarie Group will break into the big four bank territory in terms of market cap. As much as I love Macquarie, I took this bet. Macquarie At the time, it was valued at around 50 billion. Smallest of the banks at the time was ANZ at 70 billion, so it needed to make up about $20 billion in market cap as of the 7th of December. Macquarie was valued at seventy five point six, ANZ 77 and Westpac seventy six billion. So just missed out. [00:11:37][32.4]

Alec: [00:11:37] No, no, I said into the territory, dude, come on. [00:11:43][6.2]

Bryce: [00:11:46] Okay. Okay, okay. I mean, if we're playing that game, it did make it into Big Four bank territory. I took it as it would replace one of the four. [00:11:57][11.3]

Alec: [00:11:58] No, no. You're right, it comes on the five. [00:12:00][2.3]

Bryce: [00:12:01] It's yeah. Okay. So they need to start talking about the big five. [00:12:03][2.6]

Alec: [00:12:04] Yeah, okay. I mean, they probably won't. But yeah. Okay, fair. [00:12:07][3.1]

Bryce: [00:12:07] Call. I'll give that to you on the wording on [00:12:10][2.5]

Alec: [00:12:10] it a lot, right? But that one I feel I nailed. I also think I could probably go back over the last few months and find a point where Macquarie was above one of them. [00:12:20][9.5]

Bryce: [00:12:20] Potentially, yeah. Yeah, it's just been going gangbusters. [00:12:22][2.1]

Alec: [00:12:23] All right. Next one from you. Bryce are this is this has caused a bit of consternation. Off Mike before. But Bryce predicts the technology sector will be bumped from the number one performing sector and will be replaced by industrials, including construction, transportation, business services, waste management within that airport, consulting staff and employment services, etc.. JS yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So basically you were banking on the reopening trade like the post-COVID rebound in industrials and you were expecting technology to be cool a bit. Yeah. And I think the spirit of that trade is definitely right. Like we've seen all of those second tier technology stocks fall off in the US and will sign a reopening trade sort of happen, maybe not to the strength that some people expected, but it's sort of happened. So I think I think in the spirit of it, you were right, but then you said you weren't actually talking about us tech. Are you talking about Australian tech? [00:13:26][62.6]

Bryce: [00:13:26] And then you was talking about Australian, not just blanket. [00:13:30][4.0]

Alec: [00:13:31] Yeah. And then you pulled out a bunch of different numbers here. And the long and short of it is you've kind of played yourself because you said, basically, industrials had to get to number one for you to win the bet. And consumer discretionary has [00:13:46][14.9]

Bryce: [00:13:47] absolutely shot the lights out, and the industrials and tech actually ended up pretty even. So look, yeah, it's consumer shot the lights out, financials still a lot better, but I wasn't fully correct on it becoming the number one performing sector. However, it wasn't the tech sector, so. I don't know how you want to what that Ren. [00:14:07][20.1]

Alec: [00:14:07] Well, I get the point because it wasn't number one, but I think that's that's a lesson in the phrasing of the bold prediction is important. [00:14:14][7.0]

Bryce: [00:14:15] Yeah. Well, I didn't anticipate was the reopening would then lead to so many consumers going crazy. Twenty four per cent growth in the consumers and consumer discretionary. So Ren you you predicted that in 2021, China's Big Five numbers will outperform the US Big Six in tech. Now you had 10 cent bold prediction that started, you know, [00:14:39][23.8]

Alec: [00:14:39] stock of the stock of the year [00:14:40][0.9]

Bryce: [00:14:41] on. You were really big on China. I took that prediction. [00:14:44][3.2]

Alec: [00:14:45] So just so people understand when I was talking about the Big Six in US tech, that was Fan Mag, which was Facebook, Apple, Netflix, Microsoft, Amazon, Google. Yes, and then the big five in China, Tencent, Alibaba, JD.com, Pinduoduo and Meituan. Yes. The Chinese Big Five all got smashed to different degrees. So these to anyone don't even need to work in numbers. So Fan Mag is now outdated because the companies have changed a little bit like Netflix needs to get the flick. It's like a three. It's a $300 billion market cap company, and everything else is like a trillion. Yeah. Tesla needs to come in. Yeah. Nvidia needs to come in. It's about 800 bill and it is just shooting the lights out. We need to come up with a new acronym. The letters that we have to play with are three ways to MS an entity. So it's like 10, mama, yeah, tan, mama. And mama and mama [00:15:44][59.6]

Bryce: [00:15:46] and mama, mama, mama and me, I heard it here first. [00:15:49][3.0]

Alec: [00:15:50] If anyone can think of a good acronym, waking at Mama's Good, Oh, we can really clean is the the Equity Mates acronym. [00:15:56][6.2]

Bryce: [00:15:57] Let's coined it at, Mama. All right, nice. All right. So that's a point to you, Ren. No, no, no. I'm sorry. Just a point to me because I took that. What's next? [00:16:05][8.5]

Alec: [00:16:06] Next one from you, I think, is one you got right. Bryce predicts house prices in Sydney will exceed 12 percent. Yeah, that's some crazy double. And you would have been right. Yeah. [00:16:16][9.4]

Bryce: [00:16:17] So then that's a point. Did you take that? [00:16:19][2.1]

Alec: [00:16:19] I think I took it in the spirit of the game. The note here is Ren takes the prediction with quote No view on property. OK, so I probably really wanted to sit on the fence. [00:16:28][8.7]

Bryce: [00:16:29] Okay. All right. Well, you had a sub prediction to this. China's big five outperforming [00:16:33][4.0]

Alec: [00:16:34] some predictions don't count. Yes, they do. [00:16:36][2.3]

Bryce: [00:16:36] You said that Tencent, currently valued at 100 billion, will be China's first trillion dollar, publicly traded company, and I did not take this bet. [00:16:45][8.1]

Alec: [00:16:45] Hold on. Yeah, but I didn't put a time limit on it. [00:16:48][2.7]

Bryce: [00:16:48] Well, we know it's this. [00:16:49][0.8]

Alec: [00:16:49] You know, it still could be China's first [00:16:51][2.2]

Bryce: [00:16:52] trillion dollar company. Yes, but in the spirit of the game, it was for these 12 months. I didn't take the bet, though. Good news for you, so I'll just keep pushing on then DoorDash for you, Ren. And this is something that we were talking a lot about at the start of year and didn't really pick it up at DoorDash will have a higher market cap than Uber. Yeah, I took this prediction. [00:17:11][19.0]

Alec: [00:17:12] So at the time, DoorDash was a $60 billion company. Uber was $108 billion company. You on this one? I was wrong, but they did start to converge, which, yeah, I just thought they would actually converge. So around the time of recording or a couple of days ago when we pulled those numbers. Uber has fallen from 108 billion to seventy five. And then DoorDash has fallen a little bit, but not as much from 60 billion to 55 billion. So the gap has massively shrunk. And obviously, all of these unprofitable tech companies are getting whacked. So for DoorDash to only be down five, you know, that's okay. The problem is that just no one can get this business model to work profitably. The net at the Hearts and Minds Conference pitched delivery hero, which I thought was incredibly brave because, again, last mile delivery of food. 

Bryce: [00:18:07] Well, have you seen the explosion here in Australia and Sydney have thought this 

Alec: [00:18:11] 15 minutes delivered, so no milk run and stuff like that? Yeah, but there's like

Bryce: [00:18:14] every day on Instagram, there's a new 

Alec: [00:18:16] Yeah, yeah, it's unbelievable. So DoorDash have announced over in the states that they're getting into that milk run 15 minutes. There are others other than milk run, but that's the only one I know. The interesting thing there is because the model is so tight in terms of time. So the beauty of the, well, the promise of these delivery platforms is a true side of marketplace incredibly capital lite because it's restaurants that they don't own and riders that they don't employ, and they just use that platform to coordinate. That's the promise of these platforms. But DoorDash, in trying to move to the 15 minute model, are employing all their riders. So now all of a sudden becomes are in your warehouse or in your inventory, employ your riders. It now just becomes like a retail delivery business employee or riders. Yeah, you 

Bryce: [00:19:09] just want to employ absolute weapons on the bike. 

Alec: [00:19:11] Yeah, yeah. You could get a job over that. Well, I 

Bryce: [00:19:15] could. Yeah. All right. Well, I feel like this is a watch this space. Yeah, pretty exciting. Now, Ren. Before we move on, let's just take a really quick break to hear from our sponsors. 

Alec: [00:19:26] I Bryce, so we are about halfway through our bold predictions. I have no idea what the score is up to. You seem to want to keep track, so maybe you can give us an update at some point. But your next one and this is one that you've absolutely nailed. Bryce predicts zoom bombs and underperforms finishing the year lower and finish the year lower. It did, down 48 percent year to date. 

Bryce: [00:19:54] Nice one. But I think that's also in line with a lot of the other second tier tech stocks that we're seeing as well. Absolutely bombing out, but I'd 

Alec: [00:20:03] love to say it. Yeah, it's been right in the middle of the second tier, tech stocks are falling and the reopening trade and people going back to work. But it's still a pretty interesting business. Like I just don't say the competitive advantage for Zoom over Microsoft Teams or Google made or anything like that when when your core product that you need to monetise is something that your bigger competitors can just throw out for free. That's a tough business decision, but apparently it's cash flow positive. It's not profitable, but it's got a heap of cash on the balance sheet, and I think it's got some good talent. So you never know. The story of the founder is pretty epic. When he quit one of those big like Intel or IBM or whatever to start Zoom like his whole division or like most of his division that worked for him, quit to join it. Oh wow. That's why you're working for him so much. Yeah. 

Bryce: [00:20:53] Follow the leader. Yeah. Yeah. Nice. All right. Ren Were you predicted that in 2021, it will be a good year for the UK? The UK stock market will actually outperform all major European markets. Unfortunately, I did not take this prediction. 

Alec: [00:21:09] I mean, the UK was pretty good up like 11 percent, which is pretty good for England. 

Bryce: [00:21:15] The UK market's not far behind the ASX. In my eyes have it's got some great companies, but man, it just doesn't seem to kick it as much as the US. 

Alec: [00:21:24] But look at the DAX, the German is up about 14, so

Bryce: [00:21:28] luckily I didn't take that. 

Alec: [00:21:29] Yeah. 

Bryce: [00:21:30] All right. Only a couple to go. 

Alec: [00:21:32] Wait. No, not lucky that you didn't take it because I was wrong. 

Bryce: [00:21:36] I'm not sure I should have taken of.

Alec: [00:21:38] This game can be confusing. Oh my goodness. Bryce predicts Airbnb. It will be larger than the top five global hotel chains. Yeah, and we listed them Marriott Las Vegas Sands, Hilton Intercontinental and who has Wimp 2 Warrior. So at the start of the year, Airbnb's market cap was ninety seven billion. It had a bit of chasing to do combined. I think those five remember memory were in the high 100s, leisure hundreds like it was. Yeah, so it had a lot of a lot of work to do. Now Airbnb, one hundred and fourteen billion, those five Hotel Group's market cap combined one hundred and forty one. Okay, so close, but didn't make nights ago. 

Bryce: [00:22:24] Yeah, nice. I was planning on a very bullish year for Airbnb, and it didn't 

Alec: [00:22:30] quite pan out. Yeah, Delta really threw a spanner in the works. Yeah. All right. What have you got for me? 

Bryce: [00:22:36] So Ren, you have predicted that the best IPO of 2021 would be one of our favourite companies, and that is Stripe.

Alec: [00:22:46] Honestly, I reckon I get this because even though it didn't IPO, the amount of hype that the potential IPO gets still bigger than any other. 

Bryce: [00:22:56] By introducing a new rule, you're allowed one carry over prediction Is this going to be competitive? So yeah, 

Alec: [00:23:02] you can't take and you have to Typekit.

Bryce: [00:23:06] I did not take the bet, which I should have. Yeah, because it did not appear. Yeah, so it didn't IPO, and we're keen to see what happens with it in 2022. 

Alec: [00:23:17] Yeah. All right. Next one. Apple Bryce predicted Apple will reach three trillion dollar valuation was 2.2 trillion. Apparently, I took it without question, which I'm yeah. There you go. So at the time of recording, Apple is two point eighty seven trillion close. How close, but no. Wow. 

Bryce: [00:23:39] So we're going to see that next year. I would imagine 

Alec: [00:23:42] put you on the spot. Bold prediction Apple is two point eighty seven 

Bryce: [00:23:46] and it never hits it. No, no, it's three next year. 

Alec: [00:23:49] Oh wow. I was about to say Apple is two point seven and I just was going to look at Microsoft, and I was going to say which one hits three trillion first. Apple Microsoft's come off its two point five. It's cheap. Soft. So where are they? All right, let's look at ripping through. All right. 

Bryce: [00:24:07] Well, Ren, this is your last one.

Alec: [00:24:09] Oh, what? You got three to go. 

Bryce: [00:24:10] Oh, well, do you want to rip through a couple of those? I only have one more 

Alec: [00:24:13] classic classic Bryce getting more prediction. 

Bryce: [00:24:17] Just choose a couple, 

Alec: [00:24:18] then not on a list of all that good road blocks will be the best performing IPO of 2021. I don't know if you were right about this, but I didn't take it, so let's not worry about it. This is the big one, and this is the one that you really pinned a lot of your hopes and dreams to. Bryce predicts bitcoin to reach ninety thousand eighty US dollars by the end of the year. Who talks about crypto in a new day? You got it, President USA Yeah, and you did not get there. There was time throughout the year where we thought it was going to happen. If you went on bitcoin, Twitter, they thought it was going to happen. Hmm. 

Bryce: [00:24:56] I'm going to carry that. No, I'm not. No, no, no, no. 

Alec: [00:24:58] Those of you guys I know, I'm just. No, no, no. I reckon you are. You should carry over your AFL prediction. 

Bryce: [00:25:04] We're at two up to AFL stage, the final predictions of the year for us. And I predicted that. Sorry. You predicted Ren at the Gold Coast. Suns will win a final for the first time. They battled throughout the year. There was a lot of pressure on them and on their chairman, their coach, some of the senior players, and unfortunately they did not even make the finals. 

Alec: [00:25:29] Maybe I'll carry it over. The Hobart Suns will win will win. 

Bryce: [00:25:34] So I didn't take that bet. I must have been a bit delirious by the end of recording this season 

Alec: [00:25:38] because remember, like there was a lot of hope for Gold Coast Madewell, Stewie Jr. 

Bryce: [00:25:43] Anyway, I'm very disappointed in myself, just as I am in the prediction that you're about to say to 

Alec: [00:25:48] yourself. Bryce. The apparently mad Essendon Bombers fan had a picture of a poster of James Hird on his on his wall growing up as a kid or a seltzer, as opposed to James Hird as a coach on his All the Mad Bombers fan predicts the bombers would win the wooden spoon appositive would come last in the competition. Pathetic. 

Bryce: [00:26:14] I was going in with low expectations, a little fight and we made the finals so good. 

Alec: [00:26:19] How good? So I get a point for that. You get a point for that. You get a lifetime of shame

Bryce: [00:26:25] some really interesting predictions there to close out the year Ren. I think it would be pretty. Even maybe you came out just on top. I would. I think I think I got about four of yours and then kicked myself. I shot myself in the foot by not taking a few of the ones at the end where I would have come home with some. But I think, yeah, I think you took the took the beers. 

Alec: [00:26:47] Yeah, maybe we do a social post about it. Yeah. So if you want, if you haven't been keeping track of the scores, I will throw something up on Instagram when this episode really starts it. And if we don't throw something up on Instagram, it's because we're on holiday. No hard feelings. Yeah. All right. Let's sort of throw it because we have mobile predictions to go. We went to the Equity Mates Facebook group and asked them some questions, so let's say if they if the crowd was right or wrong, and if you want to jump in to the Facebook group and keep the conversation going on going over summer, head across, there's a lot of great conversation going on there. First question. Dunno why we ask. This is the first question. It feels like a pretty. 

Bryce: [00:27:28] It's because we just come off the back of Andrew Brown.

Alec: [00:27:31] I think. OK, will politics play a big part in markets in 2021? Yes. Trust me, they get better. Bold prediction number two in 2021. Do you think you'll get better returns from the Australian market or the US market? The Equity Mates community on a almost over two to one basis, about 70 percent, said the US and the crowd was right. As Bryce continues to gripe, the Australian market's boring. 

Bryce: [00:27:59] The Australian market is boring. 

Alec: [00:28:01] Yes. Number three What was number three? 

Bryce: [00:28:03] Number three will tech be the star performing sector again in Australia and two to one? The Equity Mates community were in favour of this, but we know that that is not the case. 

Alec: [00:28:16] Yeah, consumer discretionary. And then finally, we asked who will win this year's stock of the year? Will Ren finally get a win on the board? About 75 percent of respondents said I would get the win. I love rookie support. I am sorry to let you down, but just wait until 2022. The S&P 500 pick is going to rip 

Bryce: [00:28:44] so Ren that that brings us to the final episode for 2021. Some great, bold predictions there from the community or some answers there from the community, and a really fun way to finish what has been a really fun year for Equity Mates, a massive year for Equity Mates network, and we just want to thank our Equity Mates community, you guys out there listening to us week in and week out and supporting us. We certainly could not be doing this without you. And you know, we're still amazed at the fact that we have so many of you tuning in each week. It's it's incredibly humbling and we really look forward to hopefully providing you even more value inspiration and empower you to take the next step on your investing journey in 2022. 

Alec: [00:29:30] It's been a great year, it's been a big year. We've done a lot and the Equity Mates community has really made it all possible. New shows book Terrible Stock Picks over all is possible because people listen to us for some reason that we don't quite understand why. So really appreciate it. I hope everyone has a good summer. I hope everyone can get a break and then we come back ready to go in twenty. There's a lot happening in markets and we're excited to keep following it, keep learning about it and keep sharing it.

Bryce: [00:30:07] That's it. So stick around. Over summer, we do have the summer series, 12 episodes, 12 companies, seven CEOs and also the opportunity to win twelve thousand dollars over the summer period thanks to Superhero. Tune in to our Instagram page and also each of our episodes to find out how you can do that. But Ren it's been an absolute pleasure. I've loved every moment of it and looking forward to putting our feet up and re energising and coming back even better in 2020 to Thomas.