What happens when three professional interviewers sit down and distil the very best ideas from more than a thousand conversations with the world’s top investors? In this special episode of Equity Mates, Bryce, Ren and Livewire’s Alli Selby do exactly that. Below is a concise, actionable summary of the nine lessons they regard as the most valuable for anyone managing their own capital.
Lesson 1 – Treat every holding as a new decision
Two separate fund managers offered the same discipline: “If I did not already own this stock, would I buy it today with everything I now know?” If the honest answer is “no”, sell. Alli admits she has ignored this rule and watched positions such as ZIP and Mineral Resources slide. The takeaway is simple: review your portfolio at least quarterly and be willing to jettison anything that no longer meets your buy criteria.
Lesson 2 – The best investors are “relentlessly boring”
High turnover is usually the enemy of compounding. Managers such as Chris Wheldon (Mellin), the Fairlight team and TDM repeatedly emphasise that they may study a company for five years, make only two or three trades a year and still outperform. Patience, deep research and low activity beat adrenaline every time.
Lesson 3 – There is no single “right” way to make money
Early in their journey, Bryce and Ren believed investing was a debate with one correct answer—value versus growth, property versus equities, trader versus long-term holder. Hundreds of interviews later, they realised that every approach can work if executed with discipline. The danger lies in flip-flopping between styles rather than mastering one.
Lesson 4 – Conviction is a muscle built by process
Buffett, the Fairlight partners and countless others credit repeatable process—not gut feel—for their conviction. Len Yen Liao once spent 4,000 hours on a single name before investing. The message: document your thesis, set clear milestones and review them dispassionately. Over time, the process itself becomes the source of confidence.
Lesson 5 – Trends last longer than you think
Spotify, Shopify, Amazon and Nvidia were all “obvious” stories years ago, yet each kept doubling. Ren’s insight: you do not need undiscovered gems; you need high-quality companies with long runways and the discipline to hold them. Professional investors often trim winners for liquidity or mandate reasons—retail investors can simply let them run.
Lesson 6 – Map and manage your behavioural biases
FOMO, loss aversion and thesis drift afflict professionals and amateurs alike. Minotaur Capital now uses AI to generate “thesis validation” reports every time a company releases results, forcing the team to confront disconfirming evidence. Retail investors can replicate the spirit by writing down the bull and bear case before buying and revisiting it at each result.
Lesson 7 – Be alert to sponsored content
Alli’s move from journalism to fund marketing revealed how much “research” is actually paid placement—interviews, conferences and even “best of” lists can be bought for AUD 15–60 k. The antidote is to triangulate: read widely, demand access to managers and cross-check any glowing endorsement.
Lesson 8 – Exploit the constraints that bind professionals
Fund managers face mandates, liquidity limits, quarterly benchmarks and maximum position sizes. Retail investors do not. That means you can:
- Let winners grow beyond 5 %, 10 % or even 20 % of your portfolio.
- Hold for decades, not seven-year “long-term” windows.
- Buy small-caps that will eventually graduate to mid-cap indices and are therefore off-limits to many funds.
This “time-horizon arbitrage” is one of the few structural edges still available to individuals.
Lesson 9 – Anyone can succeed, but time is non-negotiable
There is no secret sauce—only sustained curiosity. If you enjoy the process, build a concentrated watchlist, read annual reports and keep refining your checklist. If you do not, low-cost index funds remain the most reliable path to wealth. Both choices are rational; the error is pretending you can outsource the work and still beat the market.
Putting it into practice
- Schedule a quarterly “fresh-eyes” review. Open your spreadsheet and ask the brutal question: would I buy each holding today?
- Write a one-page investment case for every new position. Include key risks, valuation anchors and the milestones that would invalidate the thesis.
- Automate the grunt work. Use free tools such as Google Alerts, Simply Wall St or even a custom ChatGPT prompt to summarise results and flag thesis drift.
- Audit your information diet. Distinguish between independent analysis and sponsored content; favour primary sources (ASX filings, investor calls) wherever possible.
- Exploit your edge. If you have a genuine 10- to 20-year horizon, ignore short-term volatility and let exceptional companies compound.
Master these nine lessons and you will have distilled the very best thinking from the world’s most successful investors—without paying a cent in management fees.