In episode 8, I have a wonderful conversation with Barry Schwartz of Baskin Wealth in Toronto. Barry's a very smart investor of high quality, stable companies. Baskin runs a core equity portfolio that holds some significant exposure in Mega Brands like Microsoft, Apple, Google, Costco, Visa, JP Morgan, Amazon, Netflix, Activision, Ferrari, Domino's Pizza, Vail Resorts, and more.  We talk about the firm's target client and running their core portfolio plus some bonds where appropriate. Barry focuses on 5 core criteria:

1. Moat businesses

2. Tailwinds for opportunities

3. Great management & culture

4. Strong history of smart capital allocation decisions and ROI

5. Attractive valuations

Portfolio focus: think like a business owner and don't sell the companies that execute. 

We talk about his selling regrets last year in the pandemic and a reminder to stick to the quality businesses even in the face of short-term adversity.

We talk about portfolio sizing and managing risk along the way while being tax sensitive.

Clients have benefitted greatly because of this strategy and have some tremendous long-term gains.

Great story on Ferrari and what got them into the position.

For more information on Baskin: https://baskinwealth.com and [email protected]

For more information on the Dynamic Brands portfolio: https://www.globalbrandsmatter.com/dynamic-portfolio

In episode 7, I talk to Leland Abrams, a  fixed income Portfolio Manager and specialist in the highly under-owned and under-appreciated Residential Mortgage Backed Securities (RMBS) market.  My conversation with the Portfolio Manager from the Catalyst Enhanced Income Strategy Fund (EIXIX) is very insightful. We talk about the bond allocation for Advisors and investors and why it's likely time to think outside the box for income and capital appreciation in the "safe" part of the portfolio. It's quite possible the part of our portfolios we have rarely worried about could become the source of angst at a part of our lives when we have less time and interest to take losses.  It's been the best of times in bond-land for 30+ years, times may be changing.  There are some very intriguing options for those willing to look outside of the plain vanilla fixed income categories. The Mortgage market is enormous in size, everyone understands a mortgage and now there's a high income strategy available to retail investors.

For more information on the Enhanced Income Strategy Fund:  https://catalystmf.com/funds/catalyst-enhanced-income-strategy-fund/

For more information on Leland & Wynkoop: http://www.wynkoopfinancial.com

Analytics: A Brands Core Equity and an Enhanced Income Strategies Fixed Income allocation compared to benchmarks:

https://tinyurl.com/kxcraf6r

For more info on investing in Mega Brands: https://www.globalbrandsmatter.com

In episode 6, I have a great conversation with Fintech & payments specialist Warren Fisher from Manole Capital. Manole runs a suite of separate accounts and a long/short hedge fund dedicated to this important and disruptive thematic. We talk about his definition of fintech, his presentation called "the death of cash", bitcoin and crypto along with the recession resistant digital payments industry. The leading fintech stocks have had extraordinary runs over the last few years but if you widen the lens this thematic is likely in inning 2 on a global basis. 

For more information on Manole, https://www.manolecapital.com

The death of cash presentation: https://www.manolecapital.com/death-of-cash

For more info on investing in Mega Brands: https://www.globalbrandsmatter.com

In episode 5 I have a great conversation with a fellow global consumer investor. We discuss how we discovered each other and why we dedicate our investments to the $44 trillion global consumption theme. Sharif manages his fund in Dubai and runs a concentrated portfolio of the teams best consumer ideas. We talk Canada goose, Spotify, RH, Visa, MasterCard, American Express, travel stocks and where we see important spending trends headed in 2021. Virtually every investor is underweight the global consumer stocks and the travel stocks in particular at a time when the momentum factor will highlight their strength which brings in more buyers strictly looking for momentum ideas.  

Safehouse's website is www.safehousecap.com @Shariffarha

For more info about investing in mega brands: https://www.globalbrandsmatter.com

In this episode of Mega Brands I caught up with fellow investor and friend, Sean Avory. Sean is the CIO of Avory & Co in Miami and the firm manages $300 million for large institutions and high net worth families. Sean and his team run a highly concentrated portfolio if innovators and transition stories. Some names you will recognize and others you will not. That's what's cool about their portfolio. We hold a few names in common and we both have outperformed the market handily but accomplish it in very different ways.  Sean also holds cash and sells puts to collect premium while waiting for their favorite stocks to fall to levels where they want to own the stocks. Sean is a strong outside the box thinker and connects the dots better than most I follow.  I love talking to him about markets and the themes that will drive strong innovation into the future. I absolutely love that he's not just another momentum investor, the world is littered with those who just buy the best momentum stocks and use no process for stock selection.  We talk about a theme he really likes today which he calls "social commerce" and also the "freelance economy" $FB $SQ $PYPL $PLNT $OMCL $FIVR.  Sean can be reached at https://www.avory.xyz/ and their portfolios are available at $500k minimums.

In this episode of Mega Brands I chatted with veteran tech investor, Paul Meeks. Paul has been a dedicated tech investor for over 30 years. He currently is the Portfolio Manager for the Wireless Fund, WIREX which he took over 11/2018 with very successful results. The fund is very concentrated and is dedicated to technology investing across a variety of industries and thematics driving technology adoption here and abroad. We talked about the stocks we own in common (Brands fund and Wireless Fund) and some of his favorite tech stocks now and for the long-term. We also talked about the tech industry currently given its recent pullback and the sentiment shift away from tech and into value and cyclicals. This is a great conversation for a very important part of the market.

Episode 2 of Mega Brands we talk about 3 things:

1. The new Brands Index after our December re-constitution. I unveil the new consumer and B2B brands that were added. Our goal is to track the important mega themes serving global consumerism over a lifetime of spending. From pampers to starting a family, buying that first house, saving for college and getting your hips replaced, the consumption theme never stops making it the largest investment theme available to investors. We talk about the addition to the genomics revolution, artificial intelligence, digitization, and the consumption supply chain brands helping consumer companies serve their customers better.

2. How to implement an allocation to the global consumer in a portfolio, what a reasonable weight in the portfolio might be and how it can help enhance returns and add  some "know what you own and why" logic.

3. The new Top 30 brands using the Brand Relevancy scoring system in aggregate and using the Mega Brands screen which is a sub-segment of the >40 factors I assess.

This is the kick-off episode of the Mega-Brands Podcast Series where we discuss the $44 trillion global consumption investment opportunity with particular emphasis on the Brands that are resonating with global customers. I explain our proprietary Brand Relevance Scoring System, why it was created and what qualitative and quantitative factors are utilized. I'll list the highest ranked 25 Brands from the 2019 Brands Index and talk about the portfolio value these names would have added looking backward. Using some return assumptions going forward, I talk about when some of these great brands could reach the $1 trillion market cap club.  Our goal is to invest in the Mega-Trends happening around the world through an allocation in the most relevant brands serving consumers and businesses.  We focus on lifetime spending categories and the brands that appear best positioned to benefit from these Mega-Trends. Our goal is to produce strong investment returns primarily by investing in a well recognized, "know what you own" portfolio. 

In the inaugural Brands Matter podcast I talk about the importance of having a dedicated allocation to the $30 trillion consumerism theme, where I stand on the growth versus value debate, and what I'm seeing currently where equity sentiment is concerned. I will tackle important consumer topics each episode and occasionally have guests to talk about the great brands we all spend our money on.

This is a short 4 minute clip from a recent investing & brand relevancy podcast interview. If you have not spent any time on Restorationhardware.com or walked through one of their amazing stores or had a cup of coffee and a snack on the roof-top deck, I urge you to explore this one-of-a-kind business model. There is nothing else like this in physical retail. Sit in the Cloud Couch, you'll want one immediately!