Community Spotlight: Sascha Kelly on Finding Investing Inspiration in Unlikely Places

Bryce: [00:00:29] Welcome to get started investing in this podcast, we cover all the basics you need to start your investing journey. Are you joining us for the very first time? Is this the very start of your investing journey? Well, before you dive into this episode with us, our feed is designed to go from the very beginning. So we strongly recommend that you scroll up and start at episode one if you're feeling brave and just want to dive in. Don't let us stop you here at GSI, we unpack all the jargon and confusing bits. We hear your investing stories with the goal of making investing less intimidating. And of course, we want to have a good time along the way. My name is Bryce and as always, I'm joined by my equity buddy Ren. How are you going? 

Alec: [00:01:04] I'm very good. Bryce very excited for this interview because we have someone who has listened to more Equity Mates than any one else I think. 

Bryce: [00:01:14] Definitely more than me. 

Alec: [00:01:16] Definitely more than you who has well and truly joined us on the journey. And for the not the first time we're seeing her in person, but for one of the first times, for the first time, we've got her in the studio and that is our head of production. 

Bryce: [00:01:32] Yes, we have Sascha, head of production here at Equity Mates, joining us in the studio up from Melbourne. Sascha, welcome. Hi. 

Sascha Kelly: [00:01:39] You make me sound like a superfan, but I want to clarify. I get paid to listen to you. 

Alec: [00:01:46] But you would do it for free 

Sascha Kelly: [00:01:47] anyway. Yeah. Okay. Well, we haven't had that test yet, have we? We haven't found out what we could slip through. 

Alec: [00:01:55] So look, 

Bryce: [00:01:55] we are really excited. Sascha, you do live in Melbourne, we're up in Sydney you do some amazing work down there, but it's great to have you up here. So we're going to take this opportunity to chat all things investing because you are also on your own investing journey. So we're going to play our true and false game, see where you're at and then what you've learnt from the Equity Mates media podcasts because you've listened to every single one of them so far. So Ren, let's start with true or 

Alec: [00:02:21] false, shall we? Let's do it. Sasha, you've heard this game before. You've edited it many times, so I don't need to explain it to you. True or false, we'll start at the very start of your investing journey. True or false? Your very first investment has been your most successful. 

Sascha Kelly: [00:02:40] I think I have to say true. I bought three stocks at the same time, and the one that I still own is the one I've made the most money from. Does that count? Yeah. 

Bryce: [00:02:52] A that sounds pretty successful, 

Sascha Kelly: [00:02:56] I know, but I bowed out of the other two. So it's kind of like from the three. One was a bull's eye and the other two were like, That's the best thing. 

Alec: [00:03:07] You don't need to hit 100 percent. 

Sascha Kelly: [00:03:09] Yeah. Tell us the stock. Yeah, it's Australian found afire. Yeah, because I was a band right before I was barefoot. Yeah, so that was that was the safe bet. Nice. Yeah. 

Bryce: [00:03:20] True or false, you had a strategy in place before you started. 

Sascha Kelly: [00:03:25] False. I did not have a strategy. Is that the right answer is no. 

Alec: [00:03:30] There's no right

Sascha Kelly: [00:03:31] answer. I had a vision of being rich and that was basically like, Well, let's just let's if that's a strategy. Nine Yeah, that was my strategy. Nice. 

Alec: [00:03:41] There you go. Investing as is as hard as you thought it would be.

Sascha Kelly: [00:03:48] No, it's way easier than I thought it would be. Yeah. 

Bryce: [00:03:51] True or false investing is like gambling. 

Sascha Kelly: [00:03:54] It's definitely not like gambling. I've always lost money gambling. I've never made any money. 

Bryce: [00:04:01] I've never. So if you've always made money on gambling, you'd be like, Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Sascha Kelly: [00:04:04] I feel like, you know, there's an equivalence there, but a guaranteed. If I go to a bet on anything, oh yeah, I'll lose. Yeah. So yeah, that's not been the case in my investing. 

Bryce: [00:04:18] So let's have a bit of a chat about your investing journey. When we met, you had already started so that that was great. How did you get started investing? What was the catalyst? 

Sascha Kelly: [00:04:27] Yeah, it's a really I was thinking about this when you guys sprung on me that I was going to be on this show. I better come out with a story. I guess I knew I grew up with the knowledge that investing is what smart people did, and my parents always talked about investing, but I know that they didn't do it. But my granddad did, and he had a big share portfolio. And I think on my 18th, I was given a five hundred bucks and told to invest it, and I didn't. I just I don't think I spent it. I just put it in my bank account and I was like, Yeah, I'm going to work out how to do that thing that I then proceeded not to do. And then when I was twenty five, I got a very, very, very small inheritance from an elderly relative who passed away. And I remember just that was when I went, well, look, I could spend it all on a massive overseas holiday or I'm pretty thrifty. So you know, I or I could pretend I didn't get the money and finally work out how to do this investing thing. And I think at the same time, barefoot was he. He hadn't written his book yet, so he is still not as famous as he is now. Like with every shop you walk into his book there. And someone said, like, Look, if you want to learn, this is the best way to go about it. And yet I just kind of. Decided on three stocks and just went, All right, let's see, let's see what happens. Put the money parked to the money, yeah, and then just kept working and it's just kind of grown along on the side. 

Bryce: [00:06:00] So that inheritance was the one that went into the EFI in the other. 

Sascha Kelly: [00:06:03] Yeah, because I just thought, well, best case scenario, I never touch it. And in 10 years, it's going to just give me some options. Or I might be a secret Warren Buffett, and I'll just go with it. I just don't like here's the chance to kind of work out whether I'm any good at it. But what actually happened is I just put the money in there and then I didn't really do anything for another four or five years. Yeah, right? Yeah, just sat there. I turned on dividend reinvestment and just kind of wish that it went out more. It kind of plateaued for a while and I went, Oh, all right. I'm not Warren Buffett, 

Alec: [00:06:41] but could still be plateaued for a while. 

Sascha Kelly: [00:06:45] Yeah, yeah, exactly. I mean, yeah, so that was kind of. But I I think I've talked about this with other people, but I I found it quite isolating when I started because podcasts weren't really big and I told a couple of people I said, Oh, you have started buying shares. And the reaction was, Oh my God, you're so brave. I would never do that. Like, I just didn't have anyone in my immediate circle who went, Oh yeah, like and started a conversation about it with me. It was just like, I was this anomaly on my own kind of going, Oh, OK, I guess I'll I'll try to work stuff out. 

Bryce: [00:07:25] Has that changed now, though? 

Sascha Kelly: [00:07:26] Yeah, definitely. Not just through working for you guys, but a lot more of my friends have started investing just coincidentally. So, yeah, I think. But I do think podcasts and YouTube and all the different avenues now you can kind of have an online community of your friends of your interests. Yeah. Yeah, that really helps. 

Bryce: [00:07:47] Yeah, absolutely. 

Alec: [00:07:48] So looking back to when you got started barefoot was obviously a big inspiration. I feel like you're you have had a habit of being early on influences early on, barefoot, early on Bryce. But what other resources helped when you were getting started? 

Sascha Kelly: [00:08:07] Um, I bought this really embarrassing book called Shopping for shares. 

Alec: [00:08:14] Oh yes, I know 

Bryce: [00:08:15] I bought that in from one of my friends at work. Yeah. She's like, You're not going to believe this for my dad's got this book at home called Shopping for shares. Bought it in about this thing. 

Sascha Kelly: [00:08:25] Yeah, and it's like, go to pink off. 

Bryce: [00:08:28] And it's all about like 

Sascha Kelly: [00:08:29] very female, super 

Bryce: [00:08:30] female,

Sascha Kelly: [00:08:31] female orientated. 

Bryce: [00:08:32] I didn't pay it. 

Alec: [00:08:33] No offence. No. I feel like you were obsessed with it for a while. 

Bryce: [00:08:36] No. No, I was slamming it. Shopping. 

Alec: [00:08:38] Yeah, this this, 

Sascha Kelly: [00:08:40] this and this book

Alec: [00:08:42] a lot. Yeah, you've you've got a memory that's like it's not quite bubbly, but I remember this was a big topic of conversation.

Bryce: [00:08:48] Yeah, yeah, I had it on it. Did you? Yeah, yeah. I was like, This is the messaging is wrong. Like, it's it's sex. It's like, it's not. It's equating buying a handbag to buying Amazon like it was just personally, I don't know what you think, Sasha, but that's great. 

Sascha Kelly: [00:09:08] I just remember it was the first book because barefoot kind of was about sorting out your money. And I was a freelancer and I was kind of earning nothing in my day job and doing lots of other stuff. And so his was more like that whole mantra of like looking at your individual cash flow as percentages of your bills was the thing that really blew my mind. I kind of went like, Oh, I can, you know, that was sorting my money out. And then this was the first book that I read. That's like, This is it had a really dodgy valuation thing that I was like, Oh, I see kind of how the maths could work to value stuff now, like, you know, it's taken me years and then work out growth stocks where everyone is now and you can do all the maths you want. But if something's you know, that's been a whole other learning journey. But yeah, I think I kind of just stumbled around in the in the wilderness page. So just reading stuff and kind of thinking again, eventually, I'll be brave enough to dip my toe in again and buy some more variety of things. I think, yeah, 

Alec: [00:10:15] I asked, has that between stumbling around in the wilderness and editing finance podcasts for a living? Were there any other resources on that journey that you found that helped? No, no, it was real binary. Yeah. 

Sascha Kelly: [00:10:31] And and you know, it was a real like the first three months of working with you guys. I was like, I have to slow down, like I have stopped buying or getting excited about things and just being like, Oh, I'll buy that. So, yeah, I've come full circle now. That's going to like controlled.

Bryce: [00:10:50] Well, that's good. Let's not bring up your purchase broader purchasing habits. 

Alec: [00:10:55] Yeah, exactly. I mean. 

Bryce: [00:10:56] So one of the exciting moments for us when over the last couple of days when you've been in the offices, we've all been chatting about some of our favourite investors of all time. 

Alec: [00:11:06] Riveting conversation in the Equity Mates column. 

Bryce: [00:11:10] And, you know, Bill Ackman. But one of your inspirations in the investing world is Paris Hilton. Can you explain this? 

Sascha Kelly: [00:11:20] Oh, sure. I mean, I'm going to go back to Alex point that I'm really early on trends. Yes, I think Paris is just more ahead of the game than we give her credit for. 

Alec: [00:11:32] Are you going to have to unpack? 

Bryce: [00:11:33] Yes, real seriousness. There are some pretty well, yeah, let's yeah. 

Sascha Kelly: [00:11:37] Yeah, well, I was just reading. I found it just before it's in the Guardian and it's about the NFT world, which I'm still trying to get my head around just because we've launched crypto curious and I'm trying to read and understand as much about it as possible. But she in it just randomly starts talking about how she made friends with the founders of Ethereum and has like invested in one hundred and fifty NFTs and. But what I find really interesting about her is how much she leverages her own kind of image. Yeah, and does interesting things with it. I mean, it does help that she's probably got a nice cushion of wealth to kind of play around in the outer regions of like, you know, trying this new, these new frontiers of how to make money. I don't think she's going to be ending up in a studio flat anytime soon because she's like but are an inheritance, but she's got one hundred and fifty NFTs and and then also, like, create her own with other digital artist.

Bryce: [00:12:39] Yeah, she launched a couple earlier this year, I'm pretty sure. 

Sascha Kelly: [00:12:42] Yeah. And I just think anyone who's brave enough to kind of go, Yeah, what the hell? Let's give it a go. You know, we 

Bryce: [00:12:48] could do it. 

Alec: [00:12:50] Well, I feel like anyone who's got the celebrity status to get the founder of the area on the phone or email him in person. It would be a weird meeting, though, so if you've seen videos of him, he is a good. He's an incredibly smart guy, but probably socially awkward. I'd love to see him in Paris Hilton. I love to say a simple life or a boat with him and Paris Hilton. 

Sascha Kelly: [00:13:12] I mean, it's a bit like, have you seen the cooking show with Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg? 

Alec: [00:13:18] No, no. But I know they're friends. 

Sascha Kelly: [00:13:20] Yeah, I imagine it would be a similar kind of vibe, but that's a really good cooking show. It's like they they have to they get a meal and they have to compete to hear he's going to make the best terrible Martha Stewart. And it's just really strange. 

Bryce: [00:13:34] Well, before we have a chat about some of the things that you've learnt here at Equity Mates from being head of production of seven shows, we're just going to take a quick break to hear from our sponsors. So, Sasha, you have launched seven shows here at Equity Mates. Congratulations, thank you. And that the latest being crypto curious. So if you are curious about crypto, head over and listen to that. We have a couple more in the pipeline. So stay tuned. But what have been some of the key takeaways that you've learnt from editing and producing stable of finance podcasts? 

Sascha Kelly: [00:14:10] I mean, that's pretty broad based question. I think, you know, the reason I started investing is because, I mean, you guys know this, but I was working in like the arts and the non for profit space before that, and you do not make a lot of money. You know, from your day job working in that space, but that's definitely, you know, storytelling and being creative, as always, been my passion and I couldn't really, you know, I wasn't going to be a doctor. I finally decided blogged like, you know, those things that I was like, I'm never going to make huge money off my day job. So investing was kind of a way of making sure that I could build wealth and build security for myself while still making sure that I wasn't sacrificing on my day job passion or like whatever gets me out of bed in the morning to go to work. But I think, like what I've learnt from working at Equity Mates is that there's no wrong reason to invest. You know, that was always a little bit of a I felt like a bit weird about the fact that I had different rationale from probably the standard finance media for being interested in it. So that's kind of probably a personal lesson. And then I think also just the professionals get it wrong as well. So why am I beating myself up for picking something that, you know, it doesn't necessarily make a huge amount of money, like it's just you got to be in the game kind of thing? 

Bryce: [00:15:37] Yeah, definitely. Yeah, I think that's a good one. So many people feel like they need to get it right from the get go, and it's just not the case, and you don't need to get everything right to be successful investor. 

Sascha Kelly: [00:15:47] Yeah, and you don't need to. And whatever reason you decide to invest is a good enough reason. You know, that's the other thing, I think is that especially, you know, when I think about when I first started and people going, Oh, you're so brave or you, why are you doing that? Or you must know something? And I don't. I just I just feel that, you know, earning 50 grand as a receptionist can be, you owe me my future. Like, yeah, yeah. So I think, yeah, it's just the best to get and getting started is the best thing. But I think also what I love about working at Equity Mates not to do a little bit of a brand plug for a second, but it's just the fact that now I've got seven. We've applied like this lens of, you know what? What people want, what a Gen Y Gen X millennials need. That hasn't been made yet and what what part of the conversation. And it's just really fun, you know, sitting with talk money to me and they're just, you know, just spout out facts and figures and I go, Oh my gosh, I've never even thought about that. And then to, you're in good company, you know, who are very much representative of where I think I am in the learning curve. So, you know,

Bryce: [00:17:00] yeah, yeah. The young generation, the Gen X. I spoke to an 11 year old the other day yesterday, Bryce. 

Alec: [00:17:07] Is that hunting talent? Oh yeah. 

Bryce: [00:17:11] And this guy was switched on. I went in there expecting to do the whole What's the star baba blah? And he's just come in bang. Like, here's my list of top ten companies. There's a supply chain shortage in semiconductors I love and video and I'm just like, Oh, wow! And you know, he had his YouTube channels. He had his podcast that he was listening to, and I was just like, Wow, so this this young. And he had his super hero account and he's just ready to rock. And I was like, Wow, there's a young generation of people that are ready to go that we should get a podcast for. Oh my gosh, 

Sascha Kelly: [00:17:41] got 11 

Bryce: [00:17:43] 11, and I was like, Matt, you are, you're sorted. But he was still caught up on the whole. Oh, it's gone up 50 percent in the last two weeks. I'm going to I'm going to sell because I've made $7, you know? 

Sascha Kelly: [00:17:57] Yeah, I think the other thing that I found amazing is, you know, it sounds so stupid, but like this idea of what you use, you can buy. I mean, that's so like I pay a Spotify subscription. So I bought Spotify stock because I was like, Well, if if they've got me, they've got a free version. And I love it so much that I'm paying to use it, then it's probably a company I back. And I think like just I remember when I started working for you guys and I use Adobe editing software, there's lots of different versions out there that you can use, but that's the one I I've been trained in. So that's what I use. And then I was like, I wonder if, like, I went back because I started using it in 2010, and I think, Oh, I wonder how much it was worth then if I like, bought the premium, bought the subscription at the same time that I bought Shad and I would have made some nice money. 

Alec: [00:18:50] You can't do that like their Instagram accounts that live on the whole. If you bought a Tesla in 2010 for 200 Grand, this is what you could have had if you bought the stock instead. And it's just like, 

Bryce: [00:19:03] it's like it doesn't achieve. Yeah, it'd be like saying, I remember when I signed up to Netflix, which was maybe the third or fourth year of uni, what would have that been 2015, but thereabouts when it was trading around? I'm having a look now, trading around about 100 bucks. It's now six hundred and fifty. So yeah, 

Alec: [00:19:24] yeah, yeah. Well, even today, like my I. What actually call out home, someone that we're mates with for the over the Apple headphones? Eight hundred and fifty bucks. Just a stupid amount of money for headphones. Most expensive consumer headphones on the market. Really? Well, yeah. Then you get into like the Pro. Sure. Yeah. Yeah, like the stuff that you guys are wearing. If you're watching on YouTube, I don't think there's I don't think that's fair. Well, you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. But then I was just doing the maths and I was like, That's five shades of Apple, Apple's iPhone 50 us. Like, you know, I just buy the shit. So I didn't say that, but I was just in my head. I was like, there's an 

Bryce: [00:20:11] 800 compound at 10 percent. What else do you own that you bought? What else do you own based off what you do? 

Sascha Kelly: [00:20:19] You own Netflix? No, I don't. I own Airbnb. Nice. Nice. Because there's some. I've got a list, I'm OK, sorry. 

Bryce: [00:20:30] You mean you've got a portfolio? 

Sascha Kelly: [00:20:32] I haven't bought them yet because I had to slow down because I was going crazy. But the the other one I've been thinking of, and I'm going to give you a really strange backstory for this. OK, but is Nike and that's because I've become obsessed with that app. Nike Run Club. And it's like, they're just so good. And I remember who did we talk to, who was or I listen to an interview. Ben Crowe was hired as like one of their mentors and coaches, and he talked about how the fact that Nike is invests a lot of money and time into storytelling and like this idea of, like every everyone is an athlete. And I just think as someone who spends like my life in my day job talking about, like, how are we going to tell a story? How are we going to create the the narrative? Like, what are we trying to get people to believe in and then to hear one of their ex employees talk about? That's basically all he did at Nike. And then I downloaded this app and it's just changed, not changed my life, but I get really obsessed with things, and I was like, and it's just so it's just become an essential part of my exercise routine. So I can't imagine running without it now. And so I was like, You know, definitely next time I go buy shoes, it'll probably be Nike because I'll it's just like creating that kind of awareness in my own consumption. So I think I give a brand, is that good at the cut through? 

Bryce: [00:22:03] Then they just go, Yeah, they're good at aspiration. That's what it's all about. It's about making us people aspire to what the brand is going to give them. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Alec: [00:22:13] But I think you know that that is a perfectly fine way to invest and I think. You know, valuation matters, but at the end of the day, companies that people love the companies that are going to keep well. 

Sascha Kelly: [00:22:26] Yeah, it means I'm definitely a risk of scammers. If someone's going to come and tell if you fall in love with the scammer, check that. 

Bryce: [00:22:35] So we've just come off the back of what we've actually just come off the back of ASX week. But prior to that, we did a three part series on building a thesis. Do you write anything down? 

Sascha Kelly: [00:22:46] No, I should. I think that's kind of been part of my full circle moment is that I kind of made a few decisions based off pure emotion and then was like, why aren't? Why did I do that? So I came I moved back from London last year and obviously off the back of Covid and I was living in Brisbane with my parents. And the conversation was all about like, What are you going to invest in? That's going on. You're going to jump back up after the, you know, the Covid recovery. And I just like bought Flight Centre shares. And, you know, I just don't ever use flights and I don't like the last time I used them was like 15 years ago or I don't I wasn't travelling anyway. I like there wasn't anything, except I was like, Yeah, they used to be $45, and now they're 16, just like. And so they they have bounced back. But like six months later, after I bought them, I was just like, why? Why did I make that choice? You know, it was just such an emotional decision, and there were so many other options, especially in the Equity Mates community at the time. You know, people are talking about Sydney Airport like Webjet and, you know, like in hindsight, that I just could have made so many other choices. 

Bryce: [00:24:11] Yeah, I don't think the the broader thesis of getting these stocks when they're down was is wrong. It was just probably you're right, it's like a Flight Centre was the first one that came to mind. You're right. You had Qantas, you had Sydney Airport, you had New Zealand Airlines, you had what's the Auckland airport? You know, plenty of other options. 

Sascha Kelly: [00:24:35] And it was also like, you know, and then I'll probably say, I bought it. And so then I was being sent, you know, when they do their reports and that comes out and they own 99 bikes. And that made heaps of money last year. And I was like, I don't even know, but 

Bryce: [00:24:49] suddenly, you know, they own 

Sascha Kelly: [00:24:51] 99. Yes, Flight Centre. Yeah, I'm sure it's one of them, but it's his son, Graeme Tennyson, and they they own it. So, you know, then afterwards I went, Oh, a few because I suddenly started going, I'm not sure they're going to get through Covid downturn, but then I went, Oh, I didn't realise that they had so much diversity, but that that is definitely something that I should have researched before I put the check. 

Alec: [00:25:20] The other thing to note is that with Flight Centre, they raised a whole bunch of money, and so $20 is the new $40 in terms of the the share price. 

Sascha Kelly: [00:25:30] Yeah, which I learnt editing one of your episodes, and that's when I went. I really I really just like when I went in blind on this one. Yeah, I mean, I don't I don't think it's thankfully it hasn't been the worst story for me, but I just thought it was interesting. 

Alec: [00:25:47] Yeah, we were chatting to someone on one of the podcasts recently who was saying that Flight Centre is going to be great. No, it was on Obi's, I think, saying that Flight Centre is going to be a great investment because travel is going to be a lot harder now with like vaccine requirements and all this stuff. It's like Flight Centre are just going to go and be like, we'll do all of that stuff for you. Whereas like if you just book on like Google flights, you're going to have to deal with every country yourself and all of that. So you could be okay. 

Sascha Kelly: [00:26:14] I know, and I've got to say, like again, I didn't have this much foresight when I bought them, but I had that experience. Coming back from London was like just the changing systems between, you know, you can't fly direct, you can do the Perth Dreamliner to London, but you have to stop over somewhere. And just like with COVID testing, the complexities of like being able to prove that you've got a vaccination, being able to prove that you've tested negative, like I think as Australians, especially because we're always like two legs away from it, a lot of countries, that's a complexity we haven't thought about yet. 

Alec: [00:26:51] So Sasha, you always have some wild and crazy questions out there in the Equity Mates office or in an Equity Mates town meeting. And we figured now that we were on this Get Started Investing feed. So it would give you the chance to just ask really whatever investing questions you have, you know, you've had in the past ones about like the leverage and stuff like that. So if you got any questions, now's now's the opportunity to get them off your plate. 

Sascha Kelly: [00:27:21] Oh my gosh. Well, I feel like you. You're always you're setting me up to say that I do lots of wild questions, but you also always really polite about them at the time and do your best to answer. 

Alec: [00:27:33] So I should say that never the questions never out there. It's always the context in which you're asking them why in the middle of a team meeting? 

Sascha Kelly: [00:27:39] Yeah, that's true. I definitely need to work on my professional. No, I wasn't going to. So much about investing, but I was like from your perspectives because we were out for dinner the other night and you got stop, you know, recognised at the restaurant about, you know, and people come up and thank you, like, what is the thing that you're most proud of? Since starting Equity Mates? 

Bryce: [00:28:04] Wow, that is a big question I'm most proud of. I look it Ren and I sit in the studio for almost five hours a week and look at each other and chat to each other. And I don't think that feeling has ever changed over the last five years, and we just love talking about what we do, and it's it's hard to know who we're talking to. So I think when we get feedback on the episodes and, you know, broader feedback about how Equity Mates has genuinely changed people's lives and helps them, you know, improve their financial situations, that's always a really pleasing aspect to hear because at the end of the day, we never started this to make money. We never started this as a full time career. It was always just about making content that would help other people and, you know, content that's relatable. And it's it's great to say I'm really proud about that, and I don't think we have to touch wood diverted too much from that either. So, yeah, 

Alec: [00:29:04] yeah, yeah, I think that's a really good one. I think the fact that we can now employ people is something that is pretty. It's both daunting and something to be proud of. But I think for me, especially this year, the thing that I think we we the three of us, Emily and Darcy and all of our other host should be really proud of is how many big finance brands ignored us. And now the following us or, you know, really want to be a part of the Equity Mates journey. I think that that says something about the effect that the Equity Mates community, like the people, everyone listening to these podcasts, like how it's changing the way that big finance brands try and deal with their customers. And, you know, every, every finance brand from the ASX themselves to Magellan to all of the big four banks to the brokers have all started of podcast because they all are trying to speak directly to their audience, people that would ignore our emails and ignore our calls. And they are, you know, inviting us to lunch and trying to get on the show and all this stuff. And I think it just shows that there's this whole community of retail investors that for probably a generation have been funnelled into financial advisors. And we saw the effect that advisors had, you know, in the royal commission, we saw that there was a real bad element to that. And part of the advisor community. And these retail investors are finally waking up and realising that like this is something that they can do. And you know, they're holding financial institutions accountable and asking hard questions. And I think that we can be part of that is pretty exciting. 

Bryce: [00:30:43] Yeah. And if you if you are brand out there that you can ignore us when we're now ignoring you. 

Sascha Kelly: [00:30:52] And what would you say is like the worse? The thing that's taking you by surprise the most 

Alec: [00:30:57] are the people getting to be like, seriously, it is weird that people listen to us, but what do we have to say? 

Bryce: [00:31:06] I think I think getting to this point has taken me by surprise. If that makes sense, like we quit last year, quit our jobs last year, you came on board as employee number one. That was like surprised, like, okay, we've now hired someone 

Sascha Kelly: [00:31:21] really surprised that I took the job. 

Bryce: [00:31:24] But then and then we raised and the people and the investors that have supported us as part of that race was certainly something that I think we would have dreamt of what we did dream of, but really surprised that it came the way it did. So, yeah, every week kind of is just like, Yeah, that's right. 

Alec: [00:31:47] Yeah. Surprise, surprise this level of maturity. You saw him at uni. You wouldn't expect to say it like this. Yeah, no, no, that's it. I. Oh yeah. Every everything has been surprising. And I think it will continue well. Hopefully it will continue to be. If it stops being surprising and gets very boring, then we're probably doing something. 

Bryce: [00:32:08] Did you think you'd be doing this? 

Sascha Kelly: [00:32:10] No, no way. But I think like I've got, I've always had a certain attitude of like, Yes, I am so fine. Let's give it a go, which comes back to the like. That's why I invest, because career wise, it's always been, you know, investing gave me a pool of money that meant that when I hated my job in Melbourne, I went and walked into work one day and when I quit. And like and then when my boss said, Why what are you going to do? I want, Oh, I'm going to go travelling. And I had no plans, and I literally just said that in the moment. And then what? All right. Well, guess, I guess I better leave the country. She's going to be suspicious about things closely. 

Alec: [00:32:52] If I don't lose access is still in the country.

Sascha Kelly: [00:32:56] Sorry, sorry. That's it. Like I went and did six weeks in Italy, and then I went to London for three years and then and then, you know, investing was what? And then I talked about this on your own good company. But you know, when COVID hit and I was thinking, Oh, maybe I'll do another year in London, maybe I'll come home. And then, you know, Covid happened and I suddenly went like, I've got to go home like, I'm so homesick. And then flights were $14000, and I was like, How the hell am I going to pay to get on a plane because I need to get home? And thankfully I had like other resources. But that's why, like, I think like being in charge of your finances is so important because it gave me that freedom in that moment of a literal like global disaster to just go, Yeah, yeah, I can afford to get out. Yeah. And then, yeah, and then coming back and kind of going like, Well, I have no job, what am I going to do? And then and the arts, which I had worked in was pretty standstill for the last two years. And then, like you guys came along and like the radio experience kind of made sense. And I just went, Why don't I invest? This seems interesting. You guys were like, I felt like we had the same kind of identity when it came or same kind of mindset when it came to making content and telling stories and so on. Yeah, seems fun. 

Bryce: [00:34:23] Well, it's been awesome. Sasha, you've done an awesome job. A reminder to the community that Get Started Investing feed is not our only show. We've got Equity Mates, which is our flagship flagship. But then, as Sasha just mentioned, you're in good company is another great one. Comedian v economists talk money to me, mate pay love crypto. Curious have I forgotten any? 

Alec: [00:34:42] I don't think so. I was. I was really hoping I'll be able to catch you out there. I think he's got plenty of 

Bryce: [00:34:48] plenty of shows. Yeah, I think he's got that title. 

Alec: [00:34:52] It's a concern. 

Bryce: [00:34:54] All got so plenty of content in the Equity Mates media stable for anyone on their investing journey, no matter where you are. And now, if you are looking to deputising into the crypto space, as well as the crypto curious, 

Sascha Kelly: [00:35:07] that's going to be Paris Hilton with your NFT. 

Bryce: [00:35:09] Exactly. Exactly. One thing I forgot to mention at the top before we wrap this up is the Equity Mates Awards. There's going to be more info in the show notes or over on the Equity Mates investing Instagram page, but we're going to be highlighting some of the amazing things that we've done this year. There's five categories we've got Expert Investor of the Year. We've got CEO, Business Leader of the Year, Community Member of the Year, ETF of the Year and Product of the Year. So nominations are open. 

Alec: [00:35:39] Platform Sorry, 

Bryce: [00:35:40] Platform of the year. Yeah, so nominations are open. We want our community across all the shows to nominate based on the content that we've been doing this year in each of those categories. And then we'll come up with a list of finalists and award them with what is now the most coveted finance award. 

Alec: [00:35:56] That's it. That's where I was speaking earlier about the power of the Equity Mates community, the uprising of the retail investor. Let's now start using that weight and awarding, you know, product issuers and platform providers and, you know, make them realise that this is this big retail investor community that they got a service. That's it. This is going to be the most coveted award out there. So get your nominations in 

Sascha Kelly: [00:36:21] loving, loving Covid in that we just decided that everyone wants it. 

Alec: [00:36:26] Yeah, everyone don't want it. 

Bryce: [00:36:28] They will want this award. 

Sascha Kelly: [00:36:30] Scarcity does count for something. So yeah, you know what 

Alec: [00:36:33] the thing is, especially those ETF providers, you know, they are in big competition with each other and they're not going to want the other ones to win. So that will Covid it as like a defensive. We don't want anyone else to get it right for that. Well, I know. I reckon we'll be getting some. Yes. 

Bryce: [00:36:49] So head over, put some nominations in based on the content, not only on this podcast but across the entire Equity 

Alec: [00:36:55] Mates ETF and platform is just like whatever's out there. It doesn't have to have been on any of our shows. Just what do you think's good? Yeah, yeah. As a retail investor, there's so many people trying to get you to put your money in things or to use things. Tell us what you think is worth it. Tell us what you think is good. We should do worst of the year as well. Maybe we should put off yet another 2020.

Bryce: [00:37:16] But Sascha, it's been an absolute pleasure stoked to have you up here in the studio in April. So thanks for your time. 

Sascha Kelly: [00:37:23] Thanks, guys.