Three stocks from three investor letters

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. Very excited for this episode. There's so much going on in the Equity Mates world. What do we even begin?

Bryce: [00:00:38] Let's begin with the most recent, which is FinFest. It is now finished.

Alec: [00:00:42] Yes. As we record, we're about 48 hours out. Getting nervous, getting excited. 

Bryce: [00:00:47] Hopefully it was a great day.

Alec: [00:00:49] Yes.

Bryce: [00:00:50] It is what it is. 

Alec: [00:00:51] It is what it is. Nothing that we can say will have changed it because when people are listening to this, it will have already happened. Yes. So we had another big announcement this week. And no, it wasn't your wedding. It's crazy that your wedding is the third biggest thing that happened this month. 

Bryce: [00:01:04] I know it's been such a massive month, but if you didn't say it on socials, then we're going to tell you right now Equity Mates media has officially been granted an Australian financial services licence.

Alec: [00:01:15] Well, it did.

Bryce: [00:01:17] From the regulator ASC since the crackdown at the start of the year, which Ren and I took very seriously. We have been working with ASC to get the appropriate licence for Equity Mates. 

Alec: [00:01:29] Yeah, and appropriate is probably not the right word there because I think it's important that we stress that the media exemption exists for influencers in the same way that it exists for the AFA, for Livewire and for so many of those other financial media companies, the law is pretty clear. Video recordings, digital recording, sound recordings. But you know, we wanted to get a licence just to get on the right side of the noise, put the noise behind us, and we've got some future plans and we've got some content ideas that definitely needed a licence.

Bryce: [00:01:59] Yeah, it's exciting. Opens up a few doors for us. I think the important thing is it doesn't change anything majorly for us right now, but it does give us the opportunity to do some things that we otherwise haven't been able to do. Just want to reiterate as well, it is an Equity Mates media affair, so we're not operating as authorised representatives under anyone. It is our own, which is really exciting. So that's it. 

Alec: [00:02:23] That's it, you know? The important thing is it doesn't really change anything for what we're doing right now. We ironically can say more in some things, but, you know, the podcast will be the same, the emails will be the same.

Bryce: [00:02:37] And we'll be back, though.

Alec: [00:02:38] Yes. This you know, we'll probably be able to do, you know, like if people remember mastermind episodes that we use in withdrawal, that's something that we're really keen to bring back, but we haven't been able to. Yeah. So now we will be able to if Julia will still have us. But yeah, so, so it definitely gives us the ability to do a little bit more. But fundamentally Equity Mates is still Equity Mates unless crack on with the show.

Bryce: [00:03:03] Let's crack on. Will we kick off each episode with what we've learnt this week? Ren And I'm going to be honest that I've learnt a lot about events management, yes, I've learnt a lot about us as a team, so I haven't learnt a lot about the stock market this week. I've been so busy with FinFest, so I've. 

Alec: [00:03:22] Learnt a lot about supply chain issues. Yes, about regulatory, about City of Sydney permit? 

Bryce: [00:03:30] Labour shortages. Yes. The food truck.

Alec: [00:03:34] Can confirm that supply chain issues and labour shortages are not done. So there is still inflationary pressure resistant?

Bryce: [00:03:41] Not yet. Not done. Not done, yes. Look, we've learnt so much putting on film. So if you're looking for something for me this week about my portfolio or about my stocks, unfortunately I have had my eye off the ball. 

Alec: [00:03:51] That's okay. 

Bryce: [00:03:52] But what about you?

Alec: [00:03:53] Well, I may look similar to you. I have. We had your wedding. I stayed down the coast for a couple of extra days. Yeah, I came back and it's been fine first and then getting our official finals, announcing that. But the really the thing that I learnt well the thing that I was reminded of is that with all the tools available to investors nowadays, you can live a busy life and still be an investor. And my auto invest has been going off without me doing anything. Oh yeah. Whenever my paycheque hits my account on a monday, I have the auto transfer set up on the Tuesday. They go to my savings and my, you know, this fund and that and then my brokerage. And then on Wednesday my auto invest kicks in and I get a text from my broker at about 1005 saying These trades have done. And, you know, you can you can live your life. You can have a busy job. You can be down the coast celebrating your mate's wedding and the broker just doesn't work for you. The broker. This is what I learnt this week. You don't have to be an investor to be invested. 

Bryce: [00:05:01] That is the end of equity, right? 

Alec: [00:05:04] You don't you don't have to talk about stocks at a house party. You don't have to wear a Patagonia vest. You don't have to listen to this podcast. What else? 

Bryce: [00:05:14] The tropes work in finance.

Alec: [00:05:17] You don't have to wear chinos and rims. 

Bryce: [00:05:18] I do. 

Alec: [00:05:19] I am wearing Chandler's. Um, but yeah. Yeah. Like, it is just. It is never been easier to invest. Everyone's life is so busy at the moment, especially coming out of COVID. And everyone's wedding that was delayed for the last three years is now back on and people are travelling. But you can set yourself up that your money just is automated. Love it and that is so important. 

Bryce: [00:05:44] DACA baby.

Alec: [00:05:45] Yeah. And now after saying that, let's get into individual stocks. 

Bryce: [00:05:51] All right, let's crack it. And so we're going to cover of Q three investor letters that have started popping up. We've got three to get through today, and we will be sharing all three of them on our forum community dot Equity Mates dot com. So you can read along as you listen. And then we've got a new segment that we're doing and it's Am I the arsehole here? Yeah, something along those lines. So we've got a little piece to read out at the end to decide if this person is the arsehole in this situation. 

Alec: [00:06:21] But let's get to investor letters first, because it's one of the best times of years for investors that are interested in individual stocks. At the end of every quarter, we get so many investor letters from all around the world, from all different types of funds, sharing the what they're saying from a macro perspective. And then stocks, they're investing in, stocks, they're selling it. Really, it's just a great insight into where professional investors are thinking and it's all free. Love it like it is just it is such an underutilised resource for how valuable it is. So we've pulled out three investor letters from different parts of the world, one either from the US or Canada, one from Central Europe and one from Australia. Two of the three experts have appeared on the podcast. We're going to talk about, I guess, some of the companies they're writing about one company from each of them, just two letters just to keep it simple. So three companies, three investor letters just to show how valuable these are. But also, let's talk about some of the insights because they're really interesting. Let's start with an investor. There are a lot of people who have listened to Equity Mates for a while would know Andrew Brown of a 72. He has been on the show a few times.

Bryce: [00:07:34] He has been. He also did an interesting session at Fin Fest. How to make money from bad breath. Yes, we might release that at some point because everything was recorded. But look, um. Andrew is never one to tread lightly when it comes to his investor letters. 

Alec: [00:07:48] No one to mince words. Oh, not. Just investor letters. Just in general. Yes, sure. 

Bryce: [00:07:53] He he comes in pretty hot. A couple of notable quotes. 

Alec: [00:07:56] Called the recent UK tax cuts, quote, braindead fiscal policy. And then he wrote about it. Indeed, the biggest deterrent to investment is a group of global politicians, the like of which we haven't seen for numerous generations. A bunch of totalitarians opposed by a bunch of inept opponents are in some of the worst central bankers who fancy themselves as bond traders and introduce extreme volatility to perceived safe assets. And there is little wonder investors are petrified like that.

Alec: [00:08:29] You really think they're there?

Bryce: [00:08:31] But he then goes on to chat about some of his holdings and we've picked out one of his top 20 holdings, which is Manchester United. Now, Andrew's always one to pick out the interesting stocks, and there is a lot of thought that goes behind them. And it it's it's interesting to understand why Manchester United and it all really boils down to certainly. 

Alec: [00:08:51] Not their English Premier League form. 

Bryce: [00:08:53] Yes. I think he's a massive United fan. Liverpool, Chelsea. 

Alec: [00:08:57] Arsenal. Scunthorpe, Scunthorpe United. 

Bryce: [00:09:00] He loves the pre loves soccer, the Premier League, but he's chosen Manchester United based on what's going on in the inflationary environment at the moment and sort of unpacks it. And he says that owners of assets get richer and inequality rises in times of high inflation and believes that now is a good time for, quote, trophy assets. 

Alec: [00:09:23] Yeah, if you're interested in sports, investing in sports, learning about the business behind sports, this is a really good investor letter because it's about 20 pages unpacking the returns from investing in sport all around the world NBA, NFL, Premier League, a whole bunch of different sports teams because they're the ultimate trophy asset. There is probably no bigger status symbol in 2022 than owning a sports team. Yeah, maybe being king.

Bryce: [00:09:51] I would want an NFL team over being king.

Alec: [00:09:54] I made a joke that Prince Harry would give up being Prince, being a royal to own Chelsea and it wasn't appreciated by her. I think some people in the office anyway.

Bryce: [00:10:08] So ran sports have been a great investment. A classic example is NBA. Basketball teams over the last 24 years has seen an incredible rise in the total value. According to Forbes, it's risen from 4.85 billion in 1998 to a total value of 72.9 billion in 2022.

Alec: [00:10:29] So that's all teams combined. 

Bryce: [00:10:31] All teams combined 12 credible. 

Alec: [00:10:33] 12% per annum.

Bryce: [00:10:34] Yeah.

Alec: [00:10:35] Didn't just do that. Maths sits on the paper. 

Bryce: [00:10:38] So it's no wonder Andrew is looking at it. And as I said, it has been in the media. I think NFL is similarly impressive with the returns that the owners are getting from those teams. Yeah. 

Alec: [00:10:47] And so American sports get a lot of focus. You know, the investment world tilts towards America. But as Andrew writes, quote, Over very recent years, high net worth, Americans have been discovering what wealthy Asians, the Stasi and Russian oligarchs knew years ago. For all the hoopla about US sports, one game association football is ubiquitous. So now the Americans aren't just coming, they are invading. And we are saying so that's the quote. And we are saying that like the amount of Americans that are now buying English Premier League teams. I mean, it's been happening for a while. But, you know, the Chelsea sale was to a an American. But Manchester United is the only listed English Premier League team. It's the only way for people like you and I, I guess, access the Premier League. And it's controlled by an American family as well. The Glazer. 

Bryce: [00:11:44] Family's. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's no other appeal. 

Alec: [00:11:48] To those 11 listed soccer teams. There's a bunch of other. Madison Square Garden owns a couple of them. Formula One is listed through Liberty. Brisbane Broncos are listed in Australia, yes. So there's a number of listed sports teams. But English, Premier League, Manchester United is the only one. 

Bryce: [00:12:05] Yeah, right. So Andrew, this is in his top 20. He, he says that, you know, given what you've just said, rents, the only way to participate is through these through Manchester because they're listed controlled by the Glazer family but talks about a value trap. 

Alec: [00:12:18] Yeah, because here is the rub. They've been a terrible investor. 

Bryce: [00:12:23] Yeah. Shocking. If you look at their last 12 months, it's the downward trend. 

Alec: [00:12:26] Almost as well as the on field performance.

Bryce: [00:12:28] Five years ago. I suspect if not four or five years, they're down 30%. Yeah, it's not great. So. 

Alec: [00:12:34] So what's the investment thesis then? 

Bryce: [00:12:36] Good question. Well. 

Alec: [00:12:37] Good question, Andrew. 

Bryce: [00:12:39] It's a it's a it's a trophy asset. 

Alec: [00:12:41] It's all about the sale. It's all about the sale. So Andrew writes in the letter he doesn't want to get you don't want to get stuck in Manchester. You know, you don't want to buy and hold it and put it in a coffee can and, you know, draw. He writes that the possibility of a sale from every angle is increasing. And what we see with these trophy assets is that because they're so in demand, because they're so scarce, because they so rarely come up for sale, they're what they actually get sold for is often a lot higher than, you know what Forbes is valuing them out or what the stock market is valuing them out. And we've seen that twice this year. So Chelsea, the English Premier League team, but also the NFL's Denver Broncos. Broncos both got sold at massive premiums to what they were valued at. I think the Broncos were sold at a 24% premium to their Forbes valuation. So Andrew's view is that the Glazer family might be getting a bit sick, getting a bit sick of Manchester United and apparently apparently Britain's richest man, Jim Ratcliffe. Yeah, never heard of him, is sniffing around the club and maybe thinking of buying. So that's his thesis. 

Bryce: [00:13:52] It's an interesting thesis. I can. It makes sense. But like, how long do you wait? Yeah, like. 

Alec: [00:13:58] We can actually, we literally could call out.

Bryce: [00:14:00] We should like, how long do I like if he's sniffing around the club? It's a trophy asset. You've got to convince the Glazer family to get rid of a trophy asset. You know, either it could be or it could be ages. And in a in a in a stock that hasn't performed over five years plus, you don't want to get stuck in it. It's a it's a for me feels like a low probability. 

Alec: [00:14:22] Okay. 

Bryce: [00:14:23] Yeah, that is based off no understanding of how likely it is that it's getting sold. [00:14:29][6.0]

Alec: [00:14:29] So yeah. Yeah. But it's and you have no interest in the Premier League as well. 

Bryce: [00:14:33] Yeah I've watched. I do. 

Alec: [00:14:36] Sure I'll boy haaland's doing well.

Bryce: [00:14:41] He is killing it. He's actually. Anyway. Let's, let's move on to the vat of a fund ran that we. 

Alec: [00:14:47] Were to Filatov. 

Bryce: [00:14:49] A fund run by Daniel Gwladys, who has been on the show. 

Alec: [00:14:52] Central Europe's oldest hedge fund.

Bryce: [00:14:54] Yes, yeah. Yeah. Fascinating interview. And the biggest sort of takeaway from from this investor letter and we've spoken about this on the show before, is that you don't have to find uncommon companies. Yes. To have successful investment. 

Alec: [00:15:08] Returns and many. So Daniel writes about his top eight holdings. Many of them are really well known companies. The first company on the list undermines that point, but the rest.

Bryce: [00:15:20] I've never heard of this. 

Alec: [00:15:21] Alimentation couche-tard. 

Bryce: [00:15:23] I think it is focussed on. 

Alec: [00:15:25] It's. It's Canada's biggest service station and convenience store operator like apparently just killing class. Gold standard when it comes to retail small format retail. You're a retail guy. I would have thought you had something about this. 

Bryce: [00:15:40] No, I just. It does ring a bell, but I'm completely dropped off my radar. But otherwise ran on his top eight holdings outside of that Berkshire Hathaway, BMW Savings Health, JPMorgan Chase, Lockheed Martin, Markel Corporation and the Nikkei 2 to 5. 

Alec: [00:15:59] Yeah. So Mark Hill I hadn't heard of before. And we will have a look at a bit of a look at them in a sec. But interesting that one of his top eight holdings is the Nikkei, which is Japan's stock market index.

Bryce: [00:16:09] Yeah. Does he say why?

Alec: [00:16:11] Yeah. You got to read the letter. 

Bryce: [00:16:12] I saw it.

Alec: [00:16:15] But let's talk about Markel, because that was the other one. Oh, that was the one I hadn't heard of before. When writing about Markel, he starts with an observation about Berkshire, which is that we've seen its success for, what, 60 years now and almost no one has been able to replicate it. 

Bryce: [00:16:31] What building? Buy insurance.

Alec: [00:16:34] Have you used a Float to invest? Yeah. 

Bryce: [00:16:37] Why don't we try that?

Alec: [00:16:40] But don't you find that really interesting that Buffett, just for decade after decade, has been the stock market star, has been the belle of the ball? Surely people who've been able to replicate this strategy, but they haven't.

Bryce: [00:16:55] True. Not to say no one's tried.

Alec: [00:16:58] Yeah, but definitely. 

Bryce: [00:16:59] Yeah, but it just hasn't been. Is such a success. Yeah. Yeah. So how does Markel fit into that? Well.

Alec: [00:17:07] Daniel writes that he believes that the closest company following Berkshire's footsteps off is Markel. So much like birdshot, they're founded upon an insurance that produce a float that can be invested in public equities and private companies. Daniel thinks that Markel is 30 years behind Berkshire in its development. So where Berks I was in the nineties, I guess.

Bryce: [00:17:34] Well, in terms of like their positions or just. 

Alec: [00:17:39] Just I think in terms of their size. Size. Yeah. 

Bryce: [00:17:42] Interesting. Well, I have never. 

Alec: [00:17:44] Heard of it. 

Bryce: [00:17:45] Never heard. Was it listed listed. 

Alec: [00:17:47] In New York.

Bryce: [00:17:47] Okay. Yeah. 

Alec: [00:17:48] The $15 billion market cap. So not small, but I mean, kind of small. And in the world of. 

Bryce: [00:17:54] America, founded in 1930, it's been around for a. 

Alec: [00:17:57] While. Been around well, not for longer than Berkshire, but longer than Buffett's own. Berkshire. 

Bryce: [00:18:03] But, you know, two years behind, Buffett's just the king.

Alec: [00:18:06] But I don't know if they would do it. I think they started in 1930.

Bryce: [00:18:13] Good, good takeaways. I love the takeaway that you don't have to find those uncommon, uncommon companies to be a successful investor. I think when we started out when I started out, particularly those that urged to try and uncover something that no one has ever found, and sometimes the best investments are just literally right in front of you. And there's a reason that these investors are buying these companies time and time again. Hmm. So great reminder.

Alec: [00:18:38] So for those playing along at home, we should have said before Manchester United stock ticker is and you listed in New York menu and then Markel's stock ticker is Michael also listed in New York? I just looked at that five year chart, only up 5% in the past five years or not, but up 13,000% since 86. 

Bryce: [00:19:03] Okay. Well, Buffett, for the last five years, Berkshire's 42%. So. Okay, outperforming. 

Alec: [00:19:10] Well, yeah. Love it. 

Bryce: [00:19:12] Ah, and we'll we've got one more stock to do and then closing out with a new section. So before we jump into that, we're just going to take a quick break to hear from our sponsors. So the final investor letter is from right tail capital. Jeremy Kokumo. We haven't had him on the show, but he has spoken about one of Wren's absolute favourite companies. This segment could go for a while. Wren's also probably going to have a crack at Canadian brokers, I think, or BlackRock.

Alec: [00:19:42] Lack thereof.

Bryce: [00:19:44] Yes. I imagine you have. 

Alec: [00:19:46] Read my mind.

Bryce: [00:19:48] So Let's crack into it.

Alec: [00:19:48] Before we before we talk about the Canada of it all. Jeremy starts his investor letter with a bit of a game that I want to play with you. Okay, so he makes the point that Buffett is timeless in his investing wisdom.

Bryce: [00:20:06] Okay.

Alec: [00:20:07] And he says, I joke that I can never identify the year of annual meetings just by listening to the audio. It could be 1999, 2009 or 2019. So I'm going to. And then he has an excerpt. Okay. So I'm going to read the excerpt. And you tell me what year it's from. Okay. From a buffet annual general meeting, a Berkshire annual general meeting. 

Bryce: [00:20:29] When was the first?

Alec: [00:20:31] I'll give you from 1980 to today. 

Bryce: [00:20:35] Do. 

Alec: [00:20:36] Okay. Deal. All right. Question with the historical returns on common stocks dating back to the 1800s coming in at about 7%. Do you not think that we're in a very dangerous period? BUFFETT The answer is we never know in terms of what markets will do, whether valuations are too high. Gets back to the question we talked about earlier. If businesses in aggregate, they keep earning very high returns on equity and interest rates stay where they are, we are not in an overvalued period. If it turns out these returns are not sustainable or interest rates go higher, we will look back and say it was the high point, at least for a while. We have no notion on that and we really don't think about it because we don't know. Our job is to focus on things that we can know and that make a difference. And if something can't make a difference or we can't know it, then we write that one off.

Bryce: [00:21:28] James I mean, it, it recency bias is telling me that it's probably around the last ten years with interest rates. Comments. I wish I knew more historical information about interest rates. So I'm going to say within the last decade, I'm going to say 2018. 

Alec: [00:21:47] 2018, 1997.

Bryce: [00:21:49] Wow.

Alec: [00:21:50] Yeah. But he makes the point that everything Buffett is talking about there about like if interest rates stay low and earnings are sustainable, then look good. If interest rates go up and earnings prove not to be sustainable, then they might be overvalued. Like timeless.

Bryce: [00:22:03] I was thinking the dot com.

Alec: [00:22:05] Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Bryce: [00:22:06] Okay. 

Alec: [00:22:06] So anyway, that if a guy.

Bryce: [00:22:08] Any. 

Alec: [00:22:08] Others not just want to want me to write a whole other buffet out, I felt like I was. 

Bryce: [00:22:15] Wait till we get out last segment.

Alec: [00:22:15] We could do that as a game. 

Bryce: [00:22:17] It's a good game. Yeah, yeah, I like it. All right, well, let's pick that up for next week, perhaps. 

Alec: [00:22:22] Or maybe even we.

Bryce: [00:22:24] Shoehorn it in a fantasy. Yeah. 

Alec: [00:22:26] But let's talk about we're doing one company from each of these investor letters, and the company that right tail capital write about is one that we've probably spoken about.

Bryce: [00:22:35] And you did a deep dive on it, right? 

Alec: [00:22:37] Love it. Yeah. Constellation Software. 

Bryce: [00:22:40] I'm pretty sure it wasn't your stock of the year. I don't think it was. Was that easy? 

Alec: [00:22:46] Yeah, that was to into interactive. 

Bryce: [00:22:48] But you have spoken about this with a lot of gusto. Canadian company Constellation Software, founded in 1995 by Mark Leonard. Yes. And it is a roll up business. 

Alec: [00:22:59] If really the core of investing like the the the gold standard of investing is finding those once in a generation entrepreneurs and backing them. Yeah, this has been one of those companies. He's 65, so maybe will continue to be. But since 1995. Sorry, sorry. Since it listed on the stock market in 2006, it's up 10,000%. It was $18 one it listed. It's now $800 a share.

Bryce: [00:23:28] He's killed it.

Alec: [00:23:29] Yeah. And so the business it's CSU is the ticker listed in Canada and we'll get to that in a second. Yeah, but as you said, it rolls up nation software businesses. It's made over 500 acquisitions since being founded. And roll ups are often fraught companies. You know, they start acquiring other companies and maybe the CEO starts trying to build a bit of an empire rather than trying to build a sustainable business or they borrow too much money or they issue too many shares. And all of a sudden the returns on some of those acquisitions aren't great. That is not the story with Constellation Software. The returns have been incredible. Even as they roll up all these companies, they've done it without issuing any additional shares. 

Bryce: [00:24:14] Wow. 

Alec: [00:24:15] Since listing and they've done it, they have taken some debt but not a whole lot. They just funded acquisitions out of cashflow. Traditionally they were really small companies like. The acquisition size was like less than $5 million. Recently they've made some bigger acquisitions, but it's just all these super niche software businesses and rolling them into the company is fast. It's a fascinating business model. It's now worth over $34 billion. It's just been a slow and consistent grind upwards. 

Bryce: [00:24:42] Do they ever exit them? I don't like 500 acquisitions. It's now just either they've not turned out and you shut the business down. Yeah. Or they're within the business. But the idea is he doesn't then go on. So no. 

Alec: [00:24:55] I don't think it's like you restructure them and sell them to someone else. I think he is he just they just add to the free cash flow.

Bryce: [00:25:02] Yeah. 

Alec: [00:25:03] And so in the past ten years, revenue has grown at a 20% compound annual growth rate and free cash flow has grown at a 25% compound annual growth rate. I love that. It's just an incredible company. It is unlike that isn't to say that its best days are ahead of it. Maybe its best days are behind it. Maybe it's overvalued at the moment.

Bryce: [00:25:22] So when it comes harder and harder to find, yeah. Appropriate acquisition. 

Alec: [00:25:26] So that is a really important point and that's a point that they write about in the letter that's in the nineties and the early 2000 had free reign. You know, there weren't a lot of exits for super niche software businesses that didn't have a massive total addressable market. But that's not the case anymore. There's micro private equity, there's hedge funds, there's a whole bunch of players playing in this like nation software roll up space. Yeah. So that's yeah, that's a good point. But I just love these stories. 

Bryce: [00:25:57] Well, the issue is when it's a Canadian company listed in Canada. 

Alec: [00:26:02] Yeah. 

Bryce: [00:26:03] So I'm going to give you 30 seconds to give us a grasp. 

Alec: [00:26:06] Brokers give us access to Canada. It's a developed liquid market right on the doorstep of the US. It doesn't make sense that you can't plug in whatever you need to do. I understand there's complexities that you need custodians, you need broker dealers, you need all that stuff, but you can do it.

Bryce: [00:26:29] Yeah. 

Alec: [00:26:29] It is within your ability to offer Canada to Australian investors. Yeah. And I know I think CMC do. I think interactive brokers do. I don't really want a fifth brokerage account just for like one or two Canadian investments. If I have to do it, I have to. I think I'll have to do it. But there are some pretty incredible companies coming out of Canada. So mining isn't our thing. We don't talk about it a lot, but Australians love mining. We love it with a passion. We love digging stuff out of the ground. You know who else loves digging stuff out of the ground? Canada, the fourth biggest oil producer in the world, one of the biggest gold producers in the world, that is Canada. But they also have a heap of good non-mining and resource businesses. They have Constellation, which we've spoken about. They have alimentation couche-tard. Though we spoke about the retailer Brookfield Asset Management. You've probably heard of them. They're buying stuff everywhere. They partnered with Mike Cannon-Brookes to try and buy AGL earlier this year. Restaurant Brands, International Canada, now they own like Burger King, a bunch of fast food restaurants. Bill Ackman seems to always be buying and holding them. Shopify heard of them. 

Bryce: [00:27:44] I have thought they were listed in the US. 

Alec: [00:27:46] Yeah. So that is the important point and that is probably why how brokers would argue back to me if we gave them a right of reply. 

Bryce: [00:27:54] Not, not for two of them though. 

Alec: [00:27:55] So Brookfield Restaurant Brands and Shopify are all listed as well. But still. 

Bryce: [00:28:01] Maybe we need to get, maybe we need to harness the collective power of Equity Mates and petition some of the local ETF providers to give us single stock ETF access to Canadian listed companies listed on the. 

Alec: [00:28:20] ASX. Okay. Do we do that track track of shots? But I think the thing is like we know where the world is going. Yeah, we know that in ten years brokers will offer. 

Bryce: [00:28:31] Old blockchain something. 

Alec: [00:28:33] So no, I don't even think it will be. It would just be like just everything. Forget blockchain and web3 and all that. Just web two. Like the world is becoming more interconnected, stock markets are becoming more globalised. I have zero doubt in my mind that in ten years we will have access to more than 100 markets. Maybe not everything, like 196 countries in the world, probably not all of them, but most of them.

Bryce: [00:28:57] The main ones. 

Alec: [00:28:57] Definitely all of like the G20. Okay. Yeah, no doubt in my mind. I'll bet my future has. 

Bryce: [00:29:03] Well, the thing is, you don't want to have to wait that long to get access to see as you. 

Alec: [00:29:07] Yes. 

Bryce: [00:29:09] But anyway, there's three investor leaders, as we said at the top, we will have all of the links to those in our forum, which we've just launched about a month ago. It's absolutely buzzing in there. If you haven't yet signed up, head to. Community. Dot Equity Mates dot com. It's much better than our Facebook community in terms of the ability to engage in conversations more meaningfully in groups that you're interested in. Not in one long face. 

Alec: [00:29:36] Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Bryce: [00:29:37] Head on over and and sign up and renew Chuck in the links to these investor letters, if you'd like to, to read them in more detail. But let's close out with a new session Ren section. Am I the ahole here? It's a subreddit on Reddit. Subreddit account on Reddit. Where someone will come in and give us the situation and ask the community if they're the arsehole in the situation. 

Alec: [00:30:03] Yeah. So we figured it'd be a bit of fun to talk about this because this is very investing related. And give our $0.02. 

Bryce: [00:30:13] Give our. 

Alec: [00:30:13] $0.02 to do on a read it out. It's pretty long. 

Bryce: [00:30:17] It's quite long, but we can read it out. So this person goes on to say, My buddy makes about twice as much as me, but I know the market better than him anyway. I've given him investment advice on short term option plays that have been successful. He has more disposable income to put into these plays, so he makes more than me on these trades that are my idea. I probably wouldn't normally be too bothered by this, except that simultaneously my long term portfolio has been hit hard by the drop in growth stock valuations. He's my friend and I want him to do well, but I find myself growing some level of resentment towards him as I'm his free financial advisor and he gets to put profit off my work to a greater degree because he has more money to invest than me. Anyway, it goes on to say that long. He's saying I've always wanted to see my friends do well, I still do, and I take pride in helping him. But I feel horribly guilty about this resentment. 

Alec: [00:31:11] I keep writing. 

Bryce: [00:31:12] It's your turn to take. 

Alec: [00:31:14] I don't want to cut or anything like that. But it would be nice if he paid for a dinner or two or some extra drinks now and then. But asking for that would be ridiculous and it would ruin the gesture itself. So I haven't confronted him, but I find myself growing angry that he hasn't made some type of meaningful gesture of gratitude other than saying thanks. This leaves me in a position where I either continue to be angry, find a way to raise my consciousness to a higher level where it doesn't bother me or I mention it to him. And at that point I feel like I'm asking for a gift and the gift loses its value because I had to request it. This guy's overthinking this. I could stop giving him tits, but I don't want to punish him in a way that negatively impacts him financially. And if I did that, eventually he would ask What's up? And we'd be back in that situation where I'm basically asking for a gift. The point is, I feel like I've helped him out a lot and it would be nice to have it really acknowledged without having to demand it. So in that sense I feel justified. Anyway, you get the point. So Bryce the reason this caught our attention is because you constantly ask me for stock tips. What do you reckon?

Bryce: [00:32:19] I think he needs to get over it. And there's this. There should be really no feeling of resentment if you're giving him tips and he's doing well, do it yourself.

Alec: [00:32:28] Yeah. Like, well, he is. Yeah, but he just doesn't have as much money.

Bryce: [00:32:31] But that, that's, that's a silly mindset for me. So it's like if you percentage returns are the same, there's like, sure, yeah, he might have more to be putting in, but if you're, if he's getting 80% and you're getting 80%, great.

Alec: [00:32:47] It's just, it is a classic comparison. It is the thief of joy point and investing is, is full of it, but it's like. It's kind of pathetic.

Bryce: [00:32:59] Yeah, it is.

Alec: [00:33:00] Don't. Don't be angry at your friend because you gave them a stock tip that worked. 

Bryce: [00:33:04] Yeah, yeah, I've done that plenty of time. 

Alec: [00:33:06] You get angry at the friend? 

Bryce: [00:33:07] No. I have given out plenty of stock tips that I've never done that have turned out to go well for us. Or I've been given stock tips that have done well and I didn't act on. Yeah. I don't feel a sense of resentment towards that person because they didn't tell me. Tell tell me hard enough to buy into it. 

Alec: [00:33:27] The pathetic thing is like if he told his friend only put the same amount of money on the trade that I'm putting on, then he wouldn't be resentful.

Bryce: [00:33:36] Yeah. Yeah. It's just that he has more money. Yeah, I think that. I think that's the resentment part.

Alec: [00:33:42] Yeah. It's like you're trading successfully, you're going to have more money than you would have. That's the point. 

Bryce: [00:33:50] Yeah, I don't think.

Alec: [00:33:50] There's a lot to talk about.

Bryce: [00:33:53] So trying.

Alec: [00:33:55] To draw some Reddit threads. 

Bryce: [00:33:58] The answer is yes. He is the arsehole, I think, for feeling this level of risk. 

Alec: [00:34:02] Yeah. I like how you're switching between arsehole and I. Oh. 

Bryce: [00:34:08] I realise that as well. Anyway, we're going to keep an eye on the thread to see what else comes from a finance point of view. It's not all finance in that's in that in that. It's just everything, every situation, if anything pops up. 

Alec: [00:34:19] What advice? If we were speaking to him right now, what would you tell him?

Bryce: [00:34:24] Increase your income. 

Alec: [00:34:27] Bet. Find that. 

Bryce: [00:34:30] What's within your control?

Alec: [00:34:32] Find a stock. Define less successful friends is. 

Bryce: [00:34:35] Yes. Is your friendship more important? Yeah. If so, start giving him tips?

Alec: [00:34:41] No, don't start giving him tips. Just blow it yourself. 

Bryce: [00:34:43] It just all boils down to the fact he's giving in tips and it's going well. Start giving him tips. Yeah, it's that easy.

Alec: [00:34:48] Yeah. 

Bryce: [00:34:49] Just be like, Sorry, mate, I'm out of tips. Next question anyway. Ren. It's it's been a good episode. We'll be back next week. If you have enjoyed the show or to appreciate and take value from what we do it. Equity Mates If you could write and review on iTunes and on Spotify, that would be greatly appreciated. Five stars if you want to leave us a comment. Otherwise, that's not five. You can email us directly at contact@equitymates.com. It does go a long way to always be found in Australia and on charts overseas, so we would appreciate it. If that's it, then we'll pick it up next week.

Alec: [00:35:25] Sounds good.