CONKERS' CORNER

Welcome to the 35th CONKERS’ CORNER recorded on 21st November 2016. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with @timfprice Tim Price the awarding winning Fund Manager, Author and co-founder/Director of PFP Wealth Management. This business is a UK-based investment and financial advisory practice which advises on and manages £1.5 billion in client assets and is designed to provide investors with global exposure to managers pursuing value investment strategies. Tim is also a columnist for MoneyWeek magazine where he runs an investment advisory service, The Price Report gives individual investors the chance to hear the very latest views, insights and specific tips from top-level City investors and professional managers.

Tim graduated with a BA in English language and literature from Christ Church, Oxford University in 1991. He “fully intended to pursue a job in Media” but sadly found that there were not that many jobs suitable for him. The first job that he could find was that of a Fixed Income Salesman in the Bond Markets in what was then a Japanese Bank. It later became Paribas Capital Markets and later Merrill Lynch. Tim helped to set up an award-winning investment management department at Ansbacher & Co. in 2001. He then moved to Union Bancaire Privée (UBP) in London where he was the Chief Investment Officer, global strategies, helping to manage over $1 billion in an absolute return programme for institutional clients.

Tim Price has now worked in the capital markets for more than 25 years, his accumulated knowledge, insights and experience led to him being approached by Harriman House to write a book. The result is his first book: “Investing Through The Looking Glass: A Rational Guide to Irrational Financial Markets” for Harriman House https://harriman-house.com/search/results?res=tim+price&x=0&y=0 In his book Tim identifies and questions several investment myths and misconceptions. He questions whether stock markets inevitably rise over the longer term, whether bonds continue to be relevant as a fail safe low-risk asset and whether professional fund managers represent “smart money”. Having identified the problems besetting today’s investor, the focus then moves on to practical guidance to help investors preserve and grow their capital in this age of inflationary and deflationary uncertainty. Jim Mellon, Investor and Chairman, Burnbrae Ltd emphatically states:

Listen now to gain insights into how Tim presents a route map for navigating one of the most challenging financial environments that anyone has ever seen. Learn from the lessons in his successful, insightful investing journey.

Welcome to the 34th CONKERS’ CORNER. Recorded 25th October 2016. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with @themarketsniper Francis D Hunt, Blogger, Trader, Technical Analyst, Coach and Teacher of Trading.

After his time in the Army, he went on to try several jobs before investigating as many trading methods that he could get access to. He then stripped everything back and put together his own winning formula: the Hunt Volatility Funnel Trading Theory (HVF). He has been successfully running his Market Sniper business since 2009, leading him to become a highly sought after trader, technical analyst and commentator globally. Francis is known for making several notable calls correctly including:

Francis emphasises the need to capture profits and advises that one should have both an investing and a trading plan. http://www.themarketsniper.com/#sthash.De3uPMpX.dpbs

Welcome to the 33rd CONKERS’ CORNER recorded 14th October 2016. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with @Mark_Rogers88 Mark Rogers the current Managing Director of Motley Fool. Mark is also an Analyst and the Chief Investment Advisor of ‘Motley Fool Hidden Winners’ where he and his team write select one high-conviction small-cap share recommendation every month, plus up-to-date coverage for every single active Hidden Winners recommendation.

Mark grew up in Lancashire, and went to school in Merseyside. A self taught Private Investor, Mark’s introduction to stocks and shares came from his Dad, who was a stock market enthusiast. When Mark was around ten years of age, his parents purchased a Windows 95 Computer and he became the designated computer person to input prices onto a spreadsheet from those his Dad called out from the Financial Times. He became hooked after that.

Mark eventually began investing when he was 13 years old, after he had saved up enough pocket money to enable him to make his first stock purchase, under the supervision of his Dad. This continued and Mark’s love of numbers led to him attending Birmingham University where he studied Economics. Having studied the stock market from all sorts of angles and growing up around a family firm, he has been around businesses all of his life. He has tried and experienced all sorts strategies, including day trading, Ichimoku cloud analysis and top down macro investing, indicators. However the more he experienced, the more he learned the value of simplicity. Nowadays you won’t find any charts, or flashing indicators or complex algorithms on Mark’s screens. To quote Mark “sometimes you’ve got to be a fool before you become a Fool…!”

Like many investors, reading Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letters was a revelation to Mark. For many years now, his focus has been on investing for the long-term in high-calibre businesses listed on the stock market. Mark joined the Motley Fool investing team in 2013, and in January 2016 took over as Managing Director. His Team at Motley Fool offer a range of premium investing services to match the needs of a broad range of temperaments and timelines, interests and investing attitudes http://www.fool.co.uk/help/which-motley-fool-service-is-right-for-me/ . Mark’s portfolio has “personal skin in the game” with regards to a large percentage of his holdings being those stocks selected for Motley Fool premium client services. Mark looks to hold shares for years and years when we finds the right ones.

Mark’s and Motley Fool’s mission is to “Help The World Invest Better, and to avoid being bamboozled by the jargon and nonsense which is so prevalent in the investing world”. Mark states “I love what we set out to do at The Fool, and I love the challenges of both running a business and running a stock-picking service (as well as my own portfolio). We still have a long way to go and a lot of work to do — and like all good investors, I hope to never stop learning!”

Listen now to gain insights into how Mark invests and learn from the lessons in his successful, insightful investing journey.

Welcome to the 32nd CONKERS’ CORNER. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with @NicTrades Nicola Duke. Nic works for a Fund is also highly sought after for her trading and technical analysis expertise, covering up to 36 markets, including Oil, FX, Metals and grains.

Nic is from an Army family and so moved around a lot. Her Mum was always interested in stocks and shares and when Nic was 15 years of age, her Mum opened a sub investing account for her. At this stage she tended to followed recommendations given to her by her Mum and these tended to be Blue Chips.

Nic’s journey to becoming a professional trader took a few diversions and learning as many strategies as possible. Before she went to work at BD Capital in March 2008 as a Trader and Technical Analyst. She remained with BD Capital for seven year and that was followed by a short time as a Commodity derivatives and currency trader, Technical Analyst at FuturesTechs Ltd.

Nic currently works for a Fund and is a regular guest contributor when media outlets seek a professional trader with charting expertise. Nic is a huge fan of Fibonacci levels, charting patterns especially Heikin Aashi candles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candlestick_chart and believer in sticking to your strategy and to be patient.

Nic’s Technical Analysis based trading strategy is sought after globally as she is a recognised technical charting specialist. Listen now to gain insights into how Nic trades and learn from the lessons in her successful, insightful investing and trading journey. Plus the benefits of charting as a purely Technical trader and finding a simple strategy using Technical Analysis, trading Indices, Stocks and FX.

Welcome to the 31st CONKERS’ CORNER. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with the award winning journalist and broadcaster @RobinJPowell Robin Powell. Robin is also an active campaigner for positive change in the investing industry.

Robin Powell was a TV reporter, producer and presenter for more than 20 years, working for Sky News, ITV and for The Sunday Politics on BBC 1. He reported from locations including Baghdad, Soweto and Guantanamo Bay, and made award-winning documentaries on the Holocaust and on Britain’s Romany Gypsy community.

Robin is a member of the Chartered Institute of Journalists and was a Visiting Media Fellow at Duke University in North Carolina. A former intern on Capitol Hill, Robin has supported a number of lost political causes over the years, and a few sporting ones, including Aston Villa Football Club and the England cricket team.

Robin’s evidenced based research is sought after globally as he is a recognised specialist on the subject. Listen now to gain insights into how Robin’s invests and learn from the lessons in his successful, insightful investing journey and the benefits of evidence-based investing.

Welcome to the 30th CONKERS’ CORNER. In this interview, I have the pleasure of speaking with @tamzinpiworld Tamzin Freeman a private investor, co-founder of 2TF: a video production company for investors and public relations and PI WORLD, which publishes the videos recorded at Mello, ShareSoc, company presentations and other investor events.

As a toddler Tamzin learnt essential components with regard to investing from her highchair, as her parents ran a global concern manufacturing CornishWare. She heard talk of Forex exchange rates, investments required to run a business and how businesses coped when things went wrong. This early initiation led Tamzin into a career in Sales and Marketing, with the majority of time in advertising. She also attained a Diploma in marketing, from The Chartered Institute of Marketing.

Tamzin is a successful private investor, who has invested in shares for the last 30 years. Over this period, Tamzin has refined and improved her investment strategies with the goal of having a significant nest egg for retirement. In 2015, Tamzin decided to combine her private investor insights with her husband Tim’s 30 years of experience in the broadcast television and video industry. They have set up their own video production business: 2tf.co.uk and Private Investor site: PIWorld.co.uk . If you have attended a recent ShareSoc, Mello or Investor related event, you are likely to have seen the formidable duo, Tamzin and Tim, as the camera crew.

Listen now to gain insights into how Tamzin invests and learn from the lessons in her successful and insightful investing journey.

Welcome to the 29th CONKERS’ CORNER. In this interview I have the privilege of speaking with award winning Investment Fund Manager @gervais_mam Gervais Williams. He is currently the Managing Director of Miton Group Plc, where he and the team monitor the market trend changes beyond the credit boom, and aim to set up funds with investment strategies harnessing forthcoming investment trends.

Gervais grew up in Abergavenny in Monmouthshire; a county in South East Wales. As the son of a Farmer, he had always liked business but did not know how he was going to get into it. He attended the University of Liverpool where he attained an Engineering Degree and went onto become a Chartered Engineer. It was in 1985 that Gervais made the switch into the Investment industry, after successfully applying for a Trainee Fund Manager role at the Throgmorton Investment Trust. He started analysing small companies, did his industry exams and remained with the group for five years.

Gervais first “dabbled a bit” in stocks and shares during the Thatcher revolution and the Conservative government’s de-nationalisation policy of utilities and services. He participated in some of the privatisations, however he admits that he has never really invested that much of his own personal account, preferring instead to invest in the funds he worked for. He states that when he started analysing small companies they were in fashion and were central to all portfolios His criteria then was to look for small companies which generated good earnings growth, with lowish PEs and limited downside risk. Gervais says that there were a lot of bankruptcies at that time and you had to be mindful of their accounting policy issues.

Gervais became an Investment Manager in UK & Irish Small Cap Stocks at Thornton Investment Management (now part of Dresdner Bank) in July 1990. It was during this time that he worked with Peter Webb, managing the Thornton UK Smaller Companies Unit Trust.

In March 1993 Gervais was appointed as a Fund Manager with Gartmore Asset Management. There he gained an extensive experience of investing in quoted stocks in the UK and Ireland, with a particular interest in companies with smaller market capitalisations. He headed up the UK Small Cap Desk for many years running portfolios such as UK & Irish Smaller Companies, Gartmore Growth plc, Gartmore Irish Growth Trust plc and Gartmore Fledgling Trust plc.During this period of success the team collected many investment awards. The humble Gervais once said that he joined Gartmore at “a fortuitous time as it coincided with a major shift in the markets after a prolonged period of recession”. He remained with Gartmore for nearly eighteen years.

When Gervais decided to leave Gartmore he did so with the intention of looking at all the opportunities available to him before choosing to the best in join Miton Group in March 2011. To build up the assets under management and was able to offer investors opportunities to invest new strategies and funds. Since 2011 Miton have established four new funds that Gervais has managed along with Martin Turner, and taken on the mandate for The Investment Company plc. These funds have genuinely active investment strategies. The funds are: the Diverse Income Trust Investment Trust, the CF Miton UK Multi Cap Income OEIC, the CF Miton UK Smaller Companies OEIC and the Miton UK Microcap Trust.

On a professional level Gervais has remained focused on small stocks throughout his career. So much so that his experience and passion for that niche led to him writing his book “The Future is Small” http://www.thefutureissmall.com/ explaining the unique characteristics of the UK’s AIM market for smaller, growing companies. When Gervais joined Miton they issued their Full Year results in April 2011 with Funds under Management of £1.7 Billion. Last month Miton http://www.mitongroup.com/ published their Interim results which showed they had £2.542 Billion in Assets under Management.

Listen now to gain insights into how Gervais invests and learn from the lessons in his successful and insightful investing journey.

Welcome to the 28th CONKERS’ CORNER. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with the co-founder and Director of Private Clients at Investment Quorum, @PetronellaW Petronella West. Investment Quorum is an award winning independent boutique Wealth management service.

Petronella started her journey in Financial Services at the age of 18 years opting not to finish her A levels as she had a passion to get into the world of work. Having started off in Administration, Petronella spent ten years at the Halifax Independent Financial Advisers where she completed all Financial Planning exams and achieved great success. She went self-employed in 1997 and co-founded Investment Quorum

Investment Quorum is a deliberately sized boutique wealth management firm delivering high quality financial planning and investment solutions to private clients, trusts and charities. Petronella has channelled her passion, energy and ability to build and maintain client relationships. She is extremely focused on providing personalised financial planning strategies and excellent investment solutions. Petronella’s ethos for Investment Quorum is to support clients that are enlightened and informed about the valued added benefits of great financial planning. She is passionate about maintaining integrity, having your clients at the core of everything and believes that the client always comes first.

Petronella first started investing into her pension in her twenties and then got involved in the property market. She describes herself as a “very high risk investor”. Her principles are aligned with one of her investment gurus Warren Buffett, in that one should “know exactly what you are getting involved in”. Therefore she is firm believer in a long-term equity only, invest and hold strategy, seeking long-term value to have capital for retirement and long term goals. She stresses that one should never get emotionally attached to a Fund Manager and be prepared to leave those funds that are not performing.

Listen now to gain insights into how Petronella invests and learn from the lessons in her successful and insightful investing journey.

Welcome to the 27th CONKERS’ CORNER recorded on the 5th August 2016. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with @PaulJKavanagh1 Paul Kavanagh the CEO and founder of Patronus Partner: a discerning, accessible investment management and stockbroking service that provides a comprehensive approach to investment management.

Paul grew up in Shenfield in Essex where, as a young boy doing his paper round he shrewdly noticed, “big houses took the Financial Times”. This married to his love of maths led to him being very keen to leave school without even pursuing A levels, which he was more than capable of doing. He instead took an opportunistic leap into the City of London as a sixteen year old, taking his first job with Extel Financial (EXTEL), where he started off with administration tasks. However within eight months Paul alongside colleagues in the U.S, were tasked with building a Mergers & Acquisitions (MNA) database. Having successfully put the database together his bosses tasked the then eighteen year old Paul, with selling the database and service to all the major institutions in the City of London. This led to Paul holding meetings with all the major partners in the City in the late 80’s and early 90’s. To put this into context, it would be the equivalent of a teenager holding court with a combination of the today’s Anthony Bolton, Neil Woodford and Gervais Williams and many others, on a daily basis!

Through his work with the EXTEL MNA research database, Paul ended up providing due diligence on potential acquisition opportunities. It was through this connection that he met Paul Killik and Matthew Orr, the founders of Killik & Co. He joined that firm in 1993, becoming Partner shortly after and enjoying 21 years there. During that time, the firm grew significantly and spawned other businesses including 7 Investment Management, Raymond James Investment Services and Killik Employee Share Services. Paul’s role at the firm included managing clients and assisting the build of Killik Capital, leading the research offering and providing media presence.

On a personal level Paul is a high conviction and high risk investor who prefers to invest in AIM stocks. He is often looking for special situations and trading opportunities which will provide him with significant returns.

Listen now to gain insights into how Paul invests and learn from the lessons in his successful and insightful investing journey.

Welcome to the 26th CONKERS’ CORNER recorded on the 5th August 2016. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with @NewchangeFX Andy Woolmer the CEO and founder of the groundbreaking financial technology company New Change FX (NCFX), which provides an independent live streaming mid-rate for foreign exchange.

Andy grew up in Gloucestershire and went onto King’s College London where he studied French and German. It was during his studies that Andy first gained an interest in investing and FX. He first began investing with a long-term view by making investments into funds for his pension in the 1990’s. He has always been a conservative investor and continues to be so.

He enjoyed this role for two years before moving to Prudential Financial in 2000 where he took the role of Director of Currency Products. After a further successful period at Prudential, Andy went to work for SEB Asset Management as a Portfolio Manager for the SEB Multi-Manager Currency Funds. In 2012, Andy decided to branch out on his own and that was when he founded New Change FX http://www.newchangefx.com/ , which enables you to measure your FX costs accurately by gathering data directly from the Institutional FX markets.

Listen now to gain insights into how Andy invests and learn from the lessons in his successful and insightful FX journey.