Durable Principles for Real Asset Investing | Bruce J. Flatt | Talks at Google

In this talk, Bruce Flatt, CEO of Brookfield Asset Management, shares his journey, the challenges faced by Brookfield over the decades, key ideas that have shaped it's philosophy for successful investing and principles for enduring through times good and bad. Brookfield Asset management is a leading global alternative asset manager and a global value investor with a focus on the real asset sectors of real estate, renewable power and infrastructure.
Moderated by Pranesh Srinivasan.

[@MoatlessCapital]

One of the most undervalued value investors out there!

[@plank4083]

One of the most stratagic people with his investors , he says he's fund is not strategic but his relationship building skills are very good and strategic.

[@denisglushkov3696]

Shame on Google. Such a great speaker and there are only few people in the room... He shares the important knowledge free of charge and only few came to listen...

[@raffaeledesimone7417]

Really few people have listening ears.

[@batrarohit1]

That's pretty common with google talks. They have so many famous and important people come in it's just the popular

[@luizerne]

Few people in the room but over 70.000 people already saw it online :)

[@Atemi1990]

No body cares about real good investing. Great value investors like him wouldn't be billioners

[@sachinmittal5308]

What google has to do with alternative investment? Why would they listen

[@AuditorInvestor]

First, thanks to Bruce Flatt for this talk, and thanks to Google for sharing this gem! Shocked to see so few in the audience to listen to this accomplished investor. I sense this talk will ripen with age.

[@sandeepvk]

20:39 Those few people attending the talk, are a testimony to his philosophy, that most people skip the ordinary. Yet the few who carry on despite the odds, make it big one day

[@trevormacdougall9385]

Love Bruce Flatt. Highly ethical and outstanding CEO

[@janetmangano5455]

I'm sure Brookfield will make highlights available from its Annual Investors Day, tomorrow (26 September) in NYC

[@jensditrich3980]

A big gem! I watch this video again and again and again. Bruce Flatt 💪💥

[@F52xxx]

Bruce might just be the GOAT.

[@MattCommins]

Probably one of the most under valued investors in the world. More people should know who Bruce Flatt is.

[@smilingstar99]

A FANTASTIC talk by Bruce Flatt who is a Class A private equity investor. Long BAM. Great talk.

[@vb9366]

Thanks for inviting Bruce.

[@damiansanchezperez2392]

Minute 2:37; less than 15 people in the room watching an outstanding CEO. What a pitty...

[@trevormacdougall9385]

Absolutely!

[@dbndbn9279]

Just saw. Sad! (As the great, Donald J. Trump would say.)

[@gabrielkaplan]

Yes but 11.6k views and counting. KZbin is the platform that matters in this case.

[@damiansanchezperez2392]

I admire Bruce Flatt and he is a top CEO and a top speaker. I wish I could have been there to watch him live. But is a pitty that less than 15 people are watching live a 2B dollar man with so much knowledge speaking while millions of people are looking trash TV.

[@funnyguy2231]

Such a sucker, if i was the presenter i would have left.

[@fredo1772]

Hands down one of the best Talks I've seen. The amount of investment wisdom shared is unthinkable

[@GG1783]

One of the best talks !!

[@pureumkim5154]

so much wisdom in a short video- Thank you Google and Bruce Flatt!

[@motleyd]

Has many great quotes! Memorize his words no matter what you invest!

[@markvassilis9895]

Great video! Flatt is so humble and focused. Good points about paying attention to technology.

[@Pianoscript]

My dad Roger adored Bruce and was friends with him. I never met him, being the black sheep of the family. Peace.

[@wanderingdoc5075]

Means you didn't get any of the inheritance? ;)

[@dougwhiting7631]

I think I have had Brookfield stock for over 30 years back when it was Edper, Hees, Brascan, Coscan. It used to have a very complicated owner ship structure. Anyway I made money by doing what Brookfield was doing. It sold Brookfield Homes , I sold, when they starting buying I bought , when they bought the Brookfield Homes convertible pref so did I. There were so few owners of that issue it couldn't trade.

[@andreasjanen6617]

I really shooked about size of audience ....anyway ...happy of content ceo gives ...number of audience not imlortant .... Now 70.000 watched this wonderful lesson hour ...a full stadium . ..

[@ayushsharma7995]

This a master class in value investing. Thanks

[@varunjain7895]

Extremely useful and underrated...The empty seats are a missed opportunity to be face to face with an aficionado of investing.

[@calvinnixonii3108]

In this highly volatile and unpredictable market, this listening session serves as reminder to stay invested and invest within a sufficient margin of safety.

[@DavidAxelrodP]

Fantastic video. Thanks for sharing these talks with the world

[@OzFinanceMedia]

this guy is too underrated but his insights are great and very useful

[@rambo-rb]

Bruce is a very smart investor. Level headed thinking with sound principles like "BUY" when others are fleeing, etc.

[@forrestgump624]

Very sad to see my friend talking to such a small crowd. Very sad. Will monitor this closely!! Shame on you Google!

[@ShowTiimee123]

I'm surprised this crowd isn't packed. It's pretty interesting to look back and see these conversations knowing that Covid was right around the corner.

[@maneeshahooja]

Informative. Thank you. Mr. Flatt, you speak well & seem honest.

[@annasillanpaa1111]

Awesome! Really odd there are so little people.

[@The795pine]

This is gem of a talk

[@shawnchi1977]

Great CEO that definitely should have gotten more respect from Google!

[@danieljakic9320]

This is just fantastic. So undervalued investing advice to purchase something below replacement cost.

[@danieljakic9320]

@@RockyP-xw8rd eeeh, NO Thats a high beta stock competing in a monopolistic instdustry dominated by TSMC, Samsung and Intel. Sorry, not buying

[@fabianmanuel6432]

Solid session from a solid fixture in asset management.

[@rajeevbhatnagar6495]

Excellent talk. Thanks.

[@HandersonDiGenova]

what a presentation, congrats

[@bentara0]

I wonder if there is an update on these views for the post-pandemic situation.

[@andreyb.1835]

Great video! Thanks!

[@abhishekparulekar7965]

Great education for me ! Through books things are too dry for me to grasp the essence

[@PradeepKanwar]

Great guy but how does he hold on to capital when asset prices dip...no redemption requests ?!

[@MTChannelGo]

AMAZING TALK! THANKS!

[@giovanaverissimo2618]

Brilliant!

[@bongumusakowa5452]

Speechless

[@gazinger]

Best wishes to Brookfield's Westinghouse investment

[@kellylau8688]

Informative speech!

[@bechumathew8819]

Can someone clarify the below: They bought the office in Park avenue at $ 434M and sold 21 years later at $2B. That is a CAGR of 8%, which is comparable to returns from an index fund. Not to judge anything, just trying to make sure I didn't miss something here.

[@randomz324]

It's a little more complicated, they bought the property with only 140M down, renovated the property, and refinanced it multiple times pulling out significant amounts of cash. I suggest reading the section titled 245 Park Avenue in the 2017 shareholders report for the full synopsis, it's hard to calculate CAGR but it definitely exceeds 8% bam.brookfield.com/~/media/Files/B/BrookField-BAM-IR-V2/quarterly-reports/2017/f-bam-q1-2017-ltr-to-shareholders.pdf

[@Joe-jc5ol]

Now I feel like buying some BAM stock lol

[@hennysu6351]

You would have earned over 40% if you have really bought BAM about a year ago.

[@ericmancini3120]

@@hennysu6351 now's ur second chance LOL a great company to own

[@hennysu6351]

@@ericmancini3120 Just had a 2 to 3 split today. I will buy more when there's a drop.

[@ericmancini3120]

@@hennysu6351 hope you bought, i sure did

Bruce is an expert! Key take away - don't follow the herd.

[@Andrew-ss5vb]

I want to BLB - be like Bruce! Baller.

[@alphaena1]

what is the name of the picture with the sheep at the beginning?

[@frankli7848]

great speech

[@unico2162]

Total gem

[@yuehanchung1246]

World class

[@AuditorInvestor]

The one forecast Bruce Flatt made about urbanization was reversed by Covid-19 and changed work habits may put this to the test.

[@kienvu8348]

great !

[@tuzisyy]

Simple and valuable ;0

[@compounding999]

ditto to stocks! Great talk!

[@eqfira]

Great

[@mattpredictsofm.]

As much as I believe there's no blueprint to Investing as the market is dynamic and nobody knows what's gonna happen next, I know for sure the prominence of Fin advice or a opinion from a professional who's been through it all. Considering the recent global crisis, waiting would be best right?

[@joecaruso06]

Yes you’re right, there’s more to the market than technical which is why analysis are best made by or under the supervision of an expert. I’ve had significant increase following the help of a professional. Not much but enough. As for the dollar? I can’t say for fact how it will perform but that doesn’t mean there aren’t opportunities.

[@mvanwie]

@@joecaruso06 concrete understanding of a particular asset as investors is essential too because playing the market blindly or solely of technical is a big risk. I've also been quite unsure about jumping in considering current market actions. Any takes?

[@maryalchester]

​ @Jon Van Wie I agree, my profit has been consistent despite the assets direction. I take loses too but they’re calculated. Got into the stocks precisely 2019 and having lost multiple ptf, I knew I had to learn or earn passively. Considering age and I time, I picked the later. 7 quarters later with my current Portfolio manager, Yvonne Annette Lively, I hold a $827k ptf averaging 15% month roi. Also gained over $178k on just my IRA account following proper guidance. Financial security is achieved through diligent savings, strategy, discipline and diligent Investments.

[@tommyfisher277]

@@maryalchester How trustworthy are these fin advisors? And how do I get a hold of your coach? Could I like look her up? I mean Yvonne Annette Lively

[@bradsandler3526]

@@maryalchester It's possible to statistically measure whether some decisions are wise. In the real world, it’s a lot more harder. We prefer faster gains or simple stories, which can be easily manipulated in other for you to like what you hear but often devilishly misleading. Right now there is little volatility which makes prediction harder & losing capital easier.

[@syncmeandroid]

@16:54 the building in Manhattan bought for 432M$ in 1996 and sold for 2200M$ in 2017, that's exactly an 8% a year CAGR (Compounded Annual Growth Rate) over a 21 years period. The Dow Jones in the same period did 9% CAGR (dividend reinvested) dqydj.com/dow-jones-return-calculator/ So I don't know why he glorifies an investment that did worse than the equity market as a whole. And thank God he says they bought it in a stressed period and it was located in Park Avenue.

[@frankyg6906]

You’re not taking rent roll into account

[@warmpi]

rental income probably favorable tax treatment as well also need to take into account risk, i.e. returns on a risk adjusted basis

[@jaromejordan7943]

They were able to refinance there money out In full plus extra making the returns infinite over the 10 year period before they sold it

[@Andrew-md1to]

he doesn't invest in bitcoin because its speculation. The holy grail of investing is cashflow. How can you finance a bitcoin purchase? you don't. Crypto speculators don't understand finance/cashflow

[@FRC4fly]

The individual

[@AnandGeorges]

How does an amount doubling in about 8 years make the growth exponent.. just over 10% pa

[@curianaiiijosuem.7569]

If the Softbank CEO have this kind of investment strategy, the company might be more profitable and probably avoid losing Billions of dollars during this pandemic. Softbank CEO blew more than $70 Billion because of worthless investments. 🤦‍♂🤦‍♂🤦‍♂

[@BrianLangis]

If you guys are looking for a copy of the PDF there's one on my blog. brianlangis.wordpress.com/2018/09/13/durable-principles-for-real-asset-investing/

[@rafaelbawono8437]

C'mon... Empty seats? Really?

[@pn4960]

speed x1,5

[@yhuangaa]

Such a PR talk…

[@joseccorahua7121]

Soy el único comentario en español? lol

[@easterntechartists]

his primary thesis is wrong - asset centered is not the future, the future is asset-light, non-real asset businesses that produce profits.

[@codypeck9125]

Alex He has put up 20% returns for three decades. What about you?

[@clintjosephshaji3618]

I agree with Alex. Also, asset light doesn't make sense if they have no cash flow and there is a lot of competition. The idea is cash flow generation and great barriers to entry.

[@deeeeeeps]

48:53 This girl is probably rich AF right now ....His graphtech company has dropped 20x in value....He hyped up retail and commercial building- which are doing terrible now. Says California is great when people are moving from there to Texas.....Said inflation rates will remain low and they went up at a record pace. Hahaha basically everything he said was wrong.

[@clintjosephshaji3618]

Corona virus might have ruined his plans

[@pikaso6586]

Most of his principles are from Warren Buffet, he should have referenced him ....

[@FS-wd3hu]

Kinda sounds like advertisement

[@CNHabs]

Do you really know what BAM does and its historical return? This gent doesn't need to advertize and only takes in big institutional investors not individuals.

[@FS-wd3hu]

like google?

[@christopherbrookfield7493]

He is a thief, a fake, and took advantage of a situation and scored off my grandparents. And took advantage of people who trusted him in 2004. i cant prove it without a document stole from me by power of attorney of estate. But great name and he is very smart. i have forgave but cant forget. But this is closure cause my grand mother who was in his corner would say have faith and dont let past destroy your future. God Bless Bruce Flatt and i wish you the best.

[@funnyguy2231]

What a seller. You value investor suckers beware of these presentations.

[@robertrask7781]

Seller? He literally does like 2 public appearances per year, except for their investor day. He is one of the least promotional CEOs out there.

[@welovelibraries4556]

Hard to listen to, very dry and boring

[@jensditrich3980]

lol