The financial services industry can be one of jargon, complexity and sometimes more than a little bit of bluff. In this exciting episode, Matt Nacard interviews Investment Director, Nathan Parkin, and asks him the 15 questions you have always wanted to ask, but haven’t wanted to or haven’t been able to ask. We also include a bonus, “What’s a cap rate?” question which has been more than once quietly asked on sales desks around town. If you enjoy this episode, send us more questions to support@ethicalpartners.com.au and we will gather them up for a future episode.

15 Questions

1. Ethical Partners is a quality value manager – what does that actually mean?
2. You say that you try to buy companies cheaply but if these companies are actually good quality, then why do they sell at a discount?
3. How do you “limit the downside” when investing
4. Is risk best managed in a computer model or is there a better way?
5. Why shouldn’t I put my money in a passive index tracker or etf because the fees are so much lower.
6. Do you like a stock more or less if it falls?
7. Your investment process of - low debt, profitable companies, good management and ESG - looks a bit simple – how can they work when markets are so complicated?
8. What are the advantages of a company having a good balance sheet? Or the downside of having a poor balance sheet?
9. Why is it the case that when companies make big acquisitions they are likely to be stinkers not stonkers?
10. What does the term “trimming the flowers and watering the weeds” refer to in investment circles?
11. What is the number one thing that drives a CEO? (Incentives - can talk about STI and LTI etc)
12. What is the biggest mistake made by investment analysts?
13. Why do most IPO’s fail. What goes wrong?
14. When a stock in your portfolio falls and continues to underperform, when do you decide you’ve made a mistake and sell out?
15. When you're talking to companies about sustainability topics what do you ask them?

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