Investors Have Forgotten This Power

[@MakingMoneyPodcast]

Hello! We’ve put something together for you - a free guide for beginners that shows 80% of what you need to know about personal finance on 2 pages. You can get it here: makingmoney.email/80-guide-video

[@matthewpye6186]

What a lovely lady! I enjoyed the fact that I was hearing new things, a different perspective than I usually hear on repeat. One again lads, nailed it

[@MakingMoneyPodcast]

When discussing active investing Merryn wants to clarify that she meant active investors are more likely to outperform outside the US, rather than they usually do. If closet trackers (of which there are still a lot) are removed from the data, she says, there is evidence that real active has outperformed passive in some periods in the past.

[@george6977]

I have never come across an ETF with max risk 7. Are there any?

[@Leebobs1983]

After 15 minutes... I bought Merryn's book on Audible.

[@rossmacintosh5652]

Still watching but I'm really enjoying the insights of Ms. Somerset Webb. What a great guest! When I started investing in the 1980's it quickly changed my relationship with capitalism. I came to realise what shares I bought and sold was effectively a vote on my support of a company & its management. While I might not have voted in the shareholder meetings, I showed my support or distain simply through the market. The same happens when I vote in a political election. I also note I believe that if there's a political issue I'm interested in I know I can contact my member of parliament and voice my concerns. I actually think when a voter does that they actually can be very influential. Reality is, our politicians don't hear from voters day-to-day as much as they should. Getting elected can be support of a mandate but individual communications can simply be more influential. I think it's the same thing with corporations. As a shareholder I do have permission to express my opinion to the board or management. Because so few actually do, I think active investors can actually be influential.

[@kevinu.k.7042]

Together you guys do a great interview. Thanks to both of you. I get a lot from these interview videos. They do throw up a lot of questions and that can't be bad. Great stuff, again. Cheers

[@Luke-xl7mw]

Loads of great takeaways from this episode, nice one as always! Would challenge some of the more ideologically driven statements Merryn made though - specifically capitalism always being self-correcting (what about monopolies/anti-trust/anything that requires government regulation? Or war/revolution/plague unfortunately being some of the main systems by which capitalism-generated wealth inequality is addressed?) and capitalism being the only system that is natural to humans (plenty of human nature is about sharing and altruism rather than private ownership and purely mutually-beneficial exchange)... but understandably not the focus of this episode!

[@Gemok1980]

Great episode and nice to hear a differing opinion on going all in on the normal index funds.

[@AlexSavage]

Love this woman! It's amazing how many words she actually spat out 😊 impressive..

[@lachlanbursle]

There needs to be a little challenge posed to interviewees when they make sweeping claims, particularly when they have an interest in the outcome. What evidence does she use to say that active investors out perform in markets other than the US? What evidence does she use to say that closed ended investment trusts outperform index funds? And is this due to the leverage within the fund or the return of the fund itself?

[@MakingMoneyPodcast]

We do always need to challenge, you are right. Merryn has clarified that she meant active investors are more likely to outperform outside the US, rather than they usually do.

[@george6977]

​@@MakingMoneyPodcast Some active fund managers have outperformed some of the time, but most have underperformed most of the time.

[@mrspoon6742]

There is no way on Earth that ESG came from popular demand or consumer sentiment.

[@ceciliabrown3301]

Glad you're back 😊 Looking forward to more interesting new episodes.

[@jamesc328]

Thanks for introducing to another great guest. Damien I think you did an video early in your KZbin career, talking about Vanguard UK introducing more funds and what your audience would like to see. It just reminded me with Merryn mentioning Growth and Value Funds, are Vanguard still looking into porting there range of funds to the UK ?

[@GixxerZilla]

Please invite her back!

[@Abdul_Rahman86]

This is definitely thought provoking. I’m maybe going to start looking into British company

[@johntinker7112]

Fantastic podcast..what a great guest speaker

[@UKGeezer]

Another great episode, this guest was so interesting I was totally glued throughout the whole podcast. Looking forward to the next one.

[@MakingMoneyPodcast]

Thank you!

[@third7715]

If you invest into the s and p 500 or a world tracker you’ll own atleast 500 potentially thousands of shares in companies-why would anyone want voting rights in a company they know nothing about-not me thanks. Take my money and grow it that’s all I care about from a fund provider.

[@george6977]

If only ETF investors could get Blackrock, Vanguard, and State Street to vote against ridiculously expensive CEO salaries/compensation packages.

[@henghistbluetooth7882]

Socialism has been shown to be flawed in all circumstances? Apart from all the socialist countries that work better than the UK which we'll conveniently ignore (Scandinavia, Germany, France). Capitalism is self-correcting. Apart from when it isn't - such as acquisition of private data, constant creation of monopolies, massive media conglomerates controlling all media etc., corporations funding the likes of Citizens United and taking over legislative processes to ensure there is no self-correction. And 'ca[italism is the natural state of people'. What a horrible world view. Capitalism is a legal framework we invented to store labour in a form that enables us to transfer the value of that effort. That's it. It didn't exist until we invented money, and even the modern form has existed for only a few hundred years. And 'interest rates have been consistently falling' - since when? Most people didn't have access to easy capital for most of the existence of capitalism so how can we even say we have data? Banks used to lend based on assets, then they loaned based on income, how they can loan based on speculation - how can we compare rates based on different criteria? Remind me never to subscribe to Bloomberg. Makes the Econmist look like a bunch of lunatic fringe lefties. I had no idea we were living in a utopia.

[@LouisF10]

Brilliant podcast once again! Just bought the book 🙂With a Directorship in a Blackrock Trust, she really is quite credible!

[@Nova2Yung]

this is why I love Vanguard, its owned by the people who invest in their assets and i get regular updates from them , loving the episode so far !

[@george6977]

It's only owned by people in US.

[@Nova2Yung]

@@george6977 they’re in UK too :) , been using them a while now , been fine for me

[@mattwilmshurst8456]

Making shareholders 'feel' like they have a say and actually having a say are two completely different things.

[@matthewfifield3961]

Thanks for this excellent content. For me, the most important and influential guest interview so far. Challenges some of my existing understanding, beliefs and behaviours. I now need to do some validation research and review my investment strategy. Great interview. Quality keeps getting better, which is more valuable to me than quantity. I’m going to speak to my colleagues at VMO2 Business about leveraging our Fidelity workplace pension funds shareholder voting rights and ESG influence as part of our corporate social responsibility strategy. Our Public Sector, Local Authority customers want to see innovation in key supplier social responsibility. This could be a major differentiator for VMO2 Business vs our competition.

[@MakingMoneyPodcast]

Really glad you enjoyed it and appreciated the challenge. We want to have guests that have a wide range of perspectives.

[@rickb4384]

Great to see MSW, listened to her podcast for a long time, very knowledgable.

[@Mat_Senger]

Let’s go for another great episode!

[@robbiekerry4500]

Loving the channel. Can I ask please - in a global fund, regions are typically described as "US / North America" "UK" "Developed Europe ex-UK" "Japan" "Developed Asia-Pacific ex-Japan" "Emerging Markets" and "Rest of World". I cannot work out what is in "rest of world" that isn't covered in the other categories. Can you help? Thanks!

[@gavinchauhan6320]

Wicked episode and an amazing guest as usual. But Damo, please don't get a wealth manager. Had one for 3 years, and just underperformed the market.. and you're paying them for the privilege. Eventually just moved my SIPP back into my DIY brokerage account.

[@thepropertyflipper]

Excellent content as usual. Interesting the default "One man in control"....or woman?

[@johnristheanswer]

Yeah , I`ve seen that film too .Haha.

[@johnristheanswer]

Good stuff. A good video for the future . ESG investing - is it worth it ?

[@garethgazz9332]

Her brain works so quickly, it's like watching on 1.5 speed 😂 Yet still has a way of explaining things so clearly

[@jimleitch9576]

Damo, great vid BUT is it right active managers outside of US are successful? Please educate us

[@MakingMoneyPodcast]

Merryn has clarified that she meant active investors are more likely to outperform outside the US, rather than they usually do. If closet trackers (of which there are still a lot) are removed from the data, she says, there is evidence that real active has outperformed passive in some periods in the past.

[@DanRobards]

The trouble with ESG funds is that while I may be fully behind 25-50% of the causes that they claim to support. They're often directly opposed to some other causes 😂 It's impossible to please everyone.

[@kinggeoffrey3801]

They are more expensive as well. Unfortunately a lot of work place pensions are linked to ESG funds.

[@mrspoon6742]

​@kinggeoffrey3801 exactly expensive, questionable ethichs and forced on you.

[@davidandhelen4657]

The votes of one two idiots are more important than the vote of one wise man. That's democracy, but to date, that's the best system we have. Indeed the same conclusion can be drawn with capitalism. A flawed system that still seems to be the best option we have.

[@tomroguk]

Really valuable conversation and detail about how the markets work and the current drivers/levers being used by PE and funds. Adding the book to my reading list

[@markwilliams4312]

Merry Somerset Webb is a very impressive speaker.

[@RogueDonut87]

Okay let’s discuss fossil fuels in a more nuanced way here guys. They are not the basis for all human advancement. Are they a major part of our development yes, are they the main reason for climate change, also yes, so the question needs to be how little can we produce for needed products while not burning them which is wasteful and harmful to the environment. So in this discussion maybe we should own those stocks and push the companies to change and stop burning fossil fuels.

[@splottcardiff3993]

Very interesting episode. Guest is a little too academic for my personal taste. I am assuming she a lecturer of some kind? The section where you refer to Global index as diversity portfolio option, guest couldn’t really argue. Finally, getting shareholders to have a voice on say a Global index (even the FTSE 100) is a completely unworkable suggestion - I do have a life😂 🤦‍♂️

[@robkyle2008]

Just brilliant.*****

[@robkyle2008]

I put 5 stars, but only 3 came out.

[@stefanos9882]

So the inequality increase from the pandemic is not an issue for her?

[@superfab6438]

She doesn’t get Bitcoin though. Staggering lack of insight into that.