Chris Brycki – Evidence

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On this episode:

Chris Brycki is the founder of Stockspot, Australia’s largest robo investment adviser. Chris is a very intelligent, evidence-based investor. He’s a big advocate for investing via index funds and ETFs, and keeping costs low inside and outside of Super.

Chris is a member of the Cancer Council’s investment committee and ASIC’s board for digital innovation.

I could have chatted to Chris for hours because I really enjoyed his candour and insights about portfolio management. I think every investor, beginner to advanced, should consider his insights in developing robust portfolio management strategies of their own.

To begin, Chris and I discuss a tense investing conversation he had live on television.

Timestamps:

• 0:45: Intro to Chris
• 1:30 – A tense conversation
• 2:40 – Chris’ journey to investing and a $1,000 challenge
• 6:00 – Tips for getting children excited in investing and finance (explain what shares represent, how you can own a business, sharemarket games, etc.)
• 8:45 – Joining UBS and getting an all expenses paid trip to London to have cavier on the London Eye
• 11:30 – Chris is made redundant during the GFC
• 13:30 – Why Chris felt the time was right to start StockSpot
• 15:30 – What is StockSpot and why is it called StockSpot?
• 18:30 – Is a Chris a tech guy?
• 21:00 – What the heck is “robo advice” and is StockSpot one of those?
• 24:30 – Why does StockSpot use ETFs and why did Chris stop ‘picking’ individual shares?
• 27:30 – Is “risk” just volatility or is it the chance of losing money?
• 33:00 – Why does Chris own gold and how does he get that exposure?
• 36:30 – What Chris looks for in ETFs: Physically backed ETFs, cost, liquidity and slippage/spreads. (ETF research paper)
• 43:30 – What is a ‘Smart Beta’ or ‘Factor ETF’?
• 49:00 – Fat Cats of the Super industry
• 54:00 – Why and how the biggest Super funds could be hiding more risk in ‘balanced strategies’
• 57:30 – 3 Ways Chris would fix the Super system
• 1:01:30 – Active fund managers with 0% management fees
• 1:04:30 – Chris’ good podcasts, books and resources

Quote: “incentives of people providing the money aren’t aligned with people managing the money”

Further Reading:

• What is an ETF? (with video)
• What is an index fund? (with video)
• Smart Beta and Factor ETFs Explained (with video)
• Stockspot ETF Report
• Stockspot Fat Cat Funds Report
• PODCAST: Masters In Business
• Books:
  • Thinking Fast and Slow
  • Nudge
  • The little book of commonsense investing

Learn more about Chris: 

• Stockspot website
• Chris on Twitter
• Chris on LinkedIn