Valuewalk's ValueTalks

Good morning listeners,

I have a very special guest, Niels Jensen. He is the CIO of absolute return partners which he founded back in 2002. He has over 30 years of both investment banking and investment management experience. He started in Lehman in London and later joined Goldman Sachs. He became co-head of US equity business in Europe in 1992 and then joined Oppenheimer. He then rejoined Lehman in 1999 where he was in charge of European Wealth Management. Niels is a graduate of the University of Copenhagen with Masters in Economics. In this episode we discuss his recent book, “The End of Indexing”.

I also want to note we had some connection issues and I want to apologize in advance for any inconveniences.

I encourage everyone to check out his fantastic newsletters and also his book, “The End of Indexing: Six Structural Mega-Trends That Threaten Passive Investing”.

https://harriman-house.com/endofindexing

https://www.arpinvestments.com/absolute-return-letter

1:34 – Tell me about your back ground and how you got started in finance and the investment profession?

3:21 – How would you describe your investment philosophy and strategy?

7:10 – You recently came out with your book, “The End of Indexing”, can you tell me more about the other 6 megatrends?

18:57 – How do you take advantage of these 6 structural megatrends? How should investors use this as part of their analysis?

27:14 – How do we improve productivity?

32:53 – How should we approach index investing?

34:32 – What are your favorite books?

Enjoy and thanks for the listen!

Good Morning Listeners,

Today is a very special episode with Bob Schmidt, the manager of the Brandes Institute. Bob is responsible for overseeing the project research and analysis, developing publications and presentations, and special events for Brandes Institute. Prior to this, he was the head financial writer at Nicholas-Applegate. Bob is a graduate of Duquesne University with a BA in English and a Master from California State University San Marcos. In this conversation, we discuss the research of the Brandes Institute.

1:16 – Can you tell me about your back ground and what led you to finance and investments?

2:16 – What led you to Brandes Institute and what is your current role there?

3:56 – What are the topics that the Institute researches and how do you generate ideas for researching your topics?

7:27 – Can you tell me more about the approach that Brandes Institute takes in their research process?

12:56 – For the behavior investing, are their any topics you are excited about?

17:53 – You recently wrote a white paper and you pose a question, “What are the characteristics or attributes that are required to enable an investment organization to successfully pursue long term opportunities?” Can you tell me about that?

29:26 – Can you tell me more about other research that the institute is researching?

36:36 – On a personal level, do you follow a particular investment philosophy and how would you characterize your approach?

43:45 – How would you define risk?

49:15 – What are you favorite books?

Enjoy and thanks for the listen!

Dr. Howard Schilit.

1:29 – Tell me about your background and how you got started in this profession?

4:55 – How would you define financial shenanigan? How is fraud and manipulation different?

20:35 – Can you walk me through Valeant?

31:00 – Talk about behavior of companies

44:00 – The forensic mindset

50:15 – Tell me about the time with the Enron CFO

Hello Listeners,

Today I have a very special guest, Kevin Worth the CEO of CoinDesk. Kevin held multiple executive roles in the finance and media industry. He was previously the CFO at Geller & Company and the founder and CEO of The Deal. He graduated Harvard Business School with an MBA and a BS in Finance from Lehigh University. In this episode, we discuss the landscape of cryptocurrency news and Coinbase role in providing timely quality news about blockchain and crytocurrencies.

1:11 – Tell me about your background and how you got started in the media and finance industry.

3:58 – What attracted you to the blockchain and crypto space?

6:37 – Can you tell me about your partnership with the local Korean Paper?

9:29 – How has the rise of crypto and blockchain affected the media industry?

11:28 – You also partnered with Morningstar for the Japanese market, where else do you see interest?

16:28 – What challenges do you have covering this space?

17:32 – What are your favorite books for leisure and business?

Links for CoinDesk and Consensus 2018:

https://www.coindesk.com/events/consensus-2018/

https://www.coindesk.com/

Enjoy and thanks for the listen!

Good morning listeners,

Today I have a very special guest. Anne Stevenson-Yang is the Co-founder and Research Director of J Capital Research. She cofounded J Capital back in 2007. Some of the areas she covers are solar, internet, medical devices, property, and China’s maco-economy. Before J Capital Research she cofounded Blue Bamboo Adventures, an online media business. She has worked in China for over 25 years and worked as an industry and trade advocate. In this episode we discuss her company J capital Research and investing in China.

1:16 – Can you tell me about your background and how you got started in the finance and investment industry?

2:45 – How did you guys get started in J Capital Research and what area did you specialize in?

6:45 – You guys do trips to China, Mongolia, and Australia…

8:55 – Do you have any stories on Mongolia?

11:16 – How did your firm develop their area of expertise?

12:00 – Any other countries or markets you wanted to expand into?

13:00 – What are examples of big Chinese brands in the consumer space?

15:20 – How would you characterize or describe your way of financial analysis and investigating companies?

16:35 – When you evaluate your shorts and longs for the company, how do you define and manage the risk for that company?

19:20 – In terms of the idea being actionable, do you try to do it within a year?

22:36 – Can you tell me about your idea generation process?

25:29 – What are your views on investing in China and Asia in general?

31:44 – Can you tell me about the retail investor market in China?

33:00 – What opportunities do you see for managers investing in China and challenges they face?

39:27 – What are your views on the trade war?

41:30 – Your views on bitcoin and cryptocurrency in China and how they are dealing with that?

44:37 – What are your favorite books?

52:05 – If people want to visit China, when is the best time?

53:03 – Who are your mentors?

Enjoy and thanks for the listen!

Good Morning Listeners,

Today is a very special episode with Evan Sohn, the cofounder and vice president of the Sohn Conference Foundation. The Sohn Conference foundation was started by Evan, his mother, Judith Sohn, and Ira Sohn’s friends, Douglas Hirsch, Lance Laifer ,and Daniel Nir back in honor of Ira Sohn. The conference brings the best and brightest of Wall Street to present their innovative ideas and stock picks. Money is raised to support medical research and treatment for childhood cancer and pediatric diseases. This is considered the Superbowl of Investment Conferences and it will begin April 23rd at the Lincoln Center in New York City.

1:00 – How did the Sohn Conference get started?

2:25 – Tell me about your brother. What was he like? What was his role in the Hackensack treatment?

4:03 – Can you tell me about what he meant to his community particularly Jamaica Estates?

5:27 – What were the early days like?

9:16 – Is there any particular breakthroughs that are exiting you?

15:33 – Can you share some reflections

17:51 – What are your favorite books

I encourage everyone to be part of one of the most exciting days in finance. You will find more information on registration and details of the conference at http://www.sohnconference.org/.

Enjoy and thanks for the listen!

Good morning Listeners,

Today I have a very special guest, Roger Fan, the Chief Investment Officer and founder of RF Capital Management, llc. He graduated University of California, Davis with a Bachelor’s of Science in Psychology, Biology Emphasis and he earned his JD from Texas Tech University School of Law. Roger just launched his fund this past year in 2017 with a focus on investing in Asian and North American Equities. His fund adheres to the value investment principles. In this conversation we cover a wide range of investment topics from his investment philosophy, definition of risk, value traps, and being a fund manager and entrepreneur.

Below is an excerpt from our conversation.

RP: “What are your thoughts on value traps and how do you avoid them?”

Roger Fan: “With value traps, it really goes back to doing the proper investment analysis. Value traps happen because there were gaps in your analysis and there were things that you missed. You did not do the proper valuation work. So I think intellectual honesty is a very important thing. You have to know what you know and know what you don’t know. You also have to realize there is a possibility that you don’t know what you don’t know. It is very important to be intellectually honest during the investment research process. I think I don’t agree with the term value trap; I think there are just investing mistakes. So it goes back to reading everything you can, being curious, doing the right work, doing the right valuation work. If you do everything right, you should have a really high batting average and your going to make mistakes but the beauty of this business is that you can be right about 2/3rds of the time and your still going to have an amazing track record. If you are right on your high conviction ideas. If you are right on all your 25 percent position ideas, your 20 percent ideas; your going to do well over the long term. So that is I would say how you avoid investing mistakes.”

1:06 – Tell me about your background and how you got started in investing?

7:02 – What is your overall investment philosophy? What attracted you to it and why?

9:21 – What are the investment strategies that you implement like shorts, options, special situations?

16:59 – Is there a particular industry or sector you specialize in or you just go where the opportunity is?

23:53 – How do you measure and define intrinsic value?

26:27 – How do you measure growth and is growth included in you intrinsic value calculation?

27:57 – How would you define and measure risk?

31:41 – What are your thoughts on value traps and how to avoid them?

33:28 – You recently launched your fund, can you tell me about that experience and what you have learned so far?

38:25 – Are there any lessons you learned being and entrepreneur and running a business on your own?

40:21 – Can you tell me about your daily activities and what you enjoy the most about running your own fund?

44:37 – Did you have any mentors and who did you look up to?

46:11 – Do you have any general favorite books?

48:30 – Closing thoughts

Enjoy and thanks for the listen!

Good morning listeners,

Today is a very special episode with Simon Lack, managing partner at SL Advisors. Prior to SL Advisors, Simon worked at JP Morgan for 23 years and was part of a committee responsible for allocating over 1 billion dollars to hedge funds. He authored “The Hedge Fund Mirage: The Illusion of Big Money and Why It Is Too Good To Be True”, “Bonds Are Not Forever: The Crisis Facing Fixed Income Investors”, and “Wall Street Potholes: Insights from Top Money Managers on Avoiding Dangerous Products”. In this episode we discuss the energy industry, MLPs, tax implications, and the shale revolution. He shares why there is no better time to be in America to take advantage of the shale revolution and MLPs.

Below is an excerpt from our conversation:

“I think most energy infrastructure ETFs focus just on MLPs and they miss on Canadian companies. We include Canadian companies in our fund because the pipeline network crosses back and forth the US Canada border in many places and big infrastructure Canadian companies own substantial assets in the United States. So there is not a great distinction from an Economic standpoint between the two countries in terms of energy infrastructure and they sort of link up. So they will miss out Canadian companies as well. I think that not enough people focus this huge positive story that is American energy independence that the shale revolution is bringing about. It is a thematic story and it will be with us for many years. We are going to keep seeing record output in crude oil and natural gas. In fact we are seeing record output now in March 2018.”

1:34 – How did you get started in finance and the investment industry?

4:20 – Can you tell me more about your work and the issues in the field?

7:26 – How would you characterize your investment style and do you follow a particular investment philosophy?

8:55 – How do you define risk and how do you manage it?

14:42 – Can you tell me how your fund is set up to take advantage of the shale revolution?

19:12 – How is US oil and gas producers exhibiting financial discipline by focusing on sustainability and production of growth?

21:09 – Why are most energy ETFs missing out on the shale revolution?

30:11 – Can you tell me more about the trend of energy infrastructure and the change from mlp to c corp?

34:14 – Where are the growth opportunities in the energy sector today?

39:26 – What are your favorite books?

41:35 – Who are your mentors?

Enjoy and thanks for the listen!

Good Morning Listeners,

Today is a very special episode. I have Travis Briggs, CEO of Robo Global, and Jeremie Capron, head of Research at Robo Global. They are the first to create an index that tracks robotics, automation, and artificial intelligence. We discuss what comprises the ROBO Global ETF and the team behind it.

Below is an excerpt from our conversation:

“The original idea came from one of our partners who runs a macro research firm out of Hong Kong. He had written a book called “Too Close for Comfort” and a large component of that was where robotics and automation was headed. The other part of the team of ROBO Global came from the financial background side and thought it would be really interesting and great long term growth opportunity potentially for investors. We looked around and there was no investment products out there that addressed this. So four and a half years ago we created the first index that tracks the publicly traded global world companies that are directly involved with robotics, automation, and artificial intelligence and really try to capture that value chain for investors.”

1:35 – Tell me about your background and what led you to the finance industry and ETFs?

2:40 – What was the inspiration behind robotics, automation, and artificial intelligence?

3:53 – What is the ROBO Global ETF?

7:15 – Can you talk about the 12 subsectors and how you classify this industry?

9:23 – Where are key and emerging markets for this industry and what countries surprised you with a strong Robotics, Automation, and Artificial Intelligence?

12:10 – Which companies and which technologies excite you?

18:12 – If the bull market slows down, how much of this industry will be affected or will it continue to outperform?

20:48 – Is there a particular investment style that you follow?

23:18 – What are your favorite books?

Enjoy and thanks for the listen!

Good morning listeners,

Today is a very special episode with Tamas Vincze. He authored 18 and Cancer which tells his story about his journey, what he learned and how he dealt with the experience. Tamas is an investment professional at Quantum Pacific and graduated the University of Bath with a BBA in Finance. It this episode we talk about his journey and what he learned during that experience.

Below is an excerpt from our conversation about what led him to write 18 and Cancer.

"I always enjoyed journaling and keeping notes in general. I really find the whole process of having thoughts crystallized on paper very valuable and I have been doing it for a long time. I kept stacks of notes in different places and a lot about what cancer meant to me. To be honest it has been getting a bit out of control keeping track of it all and trying to organize it. So writing a book seemed like a good way to summarize everything. During the early part of 2016, I read a book by a gentleman named Peter Barton, “Not Fade Away”. The book details his story. He retired in 1997 when he was 46 years old from the world of media. He actually worked for Joe Malone in the cable business. He wanted to spend more time with his family but unfortunately he passed away 4 or 5 years later with a battle with stomach cancer. It is really a gem about the shortness of life and it had really inspired me to think my own story with cancer and how I might tell and share it.”

You can find more information on Tamas:

- Website: http://tamasvincze.com

- Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Eighteen-Cancer-When-Growing-Optional/dp/1549925105

- Blog: http://tamasvincze.com/journal/

- Recent interview I did: http://www.valueinvestingworld.com/2017/10/an-interview-with-tamas-vincze-author.html

1:07 – Tell me about your background

1:37 – How would you characterize your investment style

2:24 – What led you to write 18 and Cancer and can you share your story?

3:45 – Tell me about that moment when your mother broke the news to you and what you felt as an 18 year old in that moment

4:54 – Tell me about the time when your attitude and mindset shifted to why not me?

7:23 – How did you develop your mindfulness?

11:27 – How important is it to develop a new routine and focus on the things that you can control?

12:25 – You have a chapter on loving yourself, can you tell me more about that?

14:38 – One of your bonus chapters is so what, can you tell me about your experience during those times and how you would address the question of so what?

15:57 – What is the most important lesson you learned and that you actively practice today?

18:21 – Do you have any advice for anyone going through a similar situation?

19:36 – How was that experience for your family?

20:49 – What are your favorite books?

22:18 – Who are your mentors?

Enjoy and thanks for the listen!