In episode 254 we welcome our guest, Ken Nguyen, co-founder and CEO of Republic. In today’s episode, we’re talking startups, and how to make private investing widespread and available to everyone.
Traditionally, investment minimums have been high, but in grappling with their mission to bring startup investing to the masses, Republic has brought investment minimums down to twenty and even ten dollars in some cases. We get into Republic’s investor friendly model, and some of the advantages companies may gain from fund-raising on the platform.
We cover some background on laws that shaped who can invest in private companies and discuss recent developments that have brought about some welcome change to accredited investor rules. As we wind down, you definitely don’t want to miss the innovative approach Republic has taken to offer yet another iteration on startup investing through the Republic Note.
What is the dominant guiding principle of western societies today?
At the risk of sounding crass, let me suggest that it is the “cover your ass” or CYA principle. This principle has always been fairly prominent in participative democracies. But now it has gone into hyper-drive - so much so, that the CYA principle is also now an important driving force even in financial markets.
Now that every policy choice is reviewed and debated in real time by millions of people around the world, CYA has become all-important. Politicians have to put policies in place to hedge against the wildest tail risks imaginable. At the same time, the first instinct of policymakers (and of investors—but more on this later) is to avoid doing anything that diverges too far from the pack. Any policymaker anywhere looking at the opprobrium heaped on Sweden will surely agree with John Kenneth Galbraith’s observation that “it is far, far safer to be wrong with the majority than to be right alone”.
Erik Townsend and guest co-host Kevin Muir welcome Mike Alkin & Guy Keller to MacroVoices. Erik, Mike and Guy discuss:
Future of nuclear power industry
How big is the Uranium mining industry post-Fukushima
Collapse of market capitalization of Uranium mining
How Uranium market works
Investment opportunities in Uranium market
In episode 255 we welcome our guest, Matt Peterson, Managing Partner of Peterson Capital Management. In today’s episode, we’re getting into concentrated, deep-value investing. We get into Matt’s long-term value based framework and a truly concentrated portfolio of about 12 names right now.
We cover his position entry strategy of writing cash-secured puts, which has helped the fund during periods of heightened volatility like we’ve experienced recently. We explore some interesting insights on Charlie Munger’s Daily Journal Corporation, and jumping on the opportunity to purchase Berkshire class B shares by writing puts as shares came down in price earlier in the year.
We get into some high level thoughts on the economy, the risk of holding cash and bonds, and the need to be prepared for some inflation down the road.
The very strong investment fundamentals for gold and gold mining shares are based on what has been a slow irreversible drift towards significant U.S. dollar (USD) devaluation.
In simple mathematical terms, the gold market could not clear at current prices if 1% of the $100 trillion4 or so of institutional assets under management were to move into the physical metal. Record year-to-date inflows into gold-backed ETFs have exceeded any previous year. But in dollar terms, this amounts to a paltry $51.2 billion requiring the acquisition of 936.2 metric tonnes of gold (according to Meridian Macro Research). By contrast, a $1 trillion inflow into gold bullion would require 18,000-19,000 tonnes, equal to roughly six years of annual world gold production. A shift of this magnitude by asset allocators would require a bullion price of $5,000-$10,000 an ounce.
You could say that natural resources run in Leigh Goering’s blood. The son of two oil and gas engineers, Leigh has spent nearly his entire life studying markets and investments related to commodities. Over the past 30 years, he has become one of the most brilliant and passionate analysts and money managers in the industry. In this conversation, Leigh shares the details of his macro and micro research process and how he applies them to investing in natural resource stocks. He also details the case for a coming energy crisis and why energy stocks present investors with a generational opportunity today. Below are several notes and links related to this episode:
