1 00:00:03,990 --> 00:00:06,870 Jennifer Duke: Welcome to the Fear and Greed Business Interview. I'm Jennifer 2 00:00:06,870 --> 00:00:09,990 Jennifer Duke: Duke. The last few years have seen a sharp increase 3 00:00:09,990 --> 00:00:13,289 Jennifer Duke: in the number of Australians investing in shares. It really 4 00:00:13,289 --> 00:00:16,260 Jennifer Duke: started during the pandemic when a lot more everyday investors 5 00:00:16,260 --> 00:00:19,710 Jennifer Duke: joined the market. It's not surprising then that demand has 6 00:00:19,739 --> 00:00:23,340 Jennifer Duke: increased for ways to track your investment portfolio, to monitor 7 00:00:23,340 --> 00:00:27,360 Jennifer Duke: performance, track dividends, and make better decisions. One of our 8 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:30,059 Jennifer Duke: supporters here at Fear and Greed is Sharesight, which has 9 00:00:30,059 --> 00:00:32,459 Jennifer Duke: been doing all of this for more than 15 years. 10 00:00:32,880 --> 00:00:35,639 Jennifer Duke: As a result, they've also got some terrific insights into 11 00:00:35,639 --> 00:00:38,880 Jennifer Duke: what investors are buying and selling. Remember, this is general 12 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:42,030 Jennifer Duke: information only. You should always seek professional advice before making 13 00:00:42,030 --> 00:00:46,229 Jennifer Duke: investment decisions. Doug Morris is the CEO of Sharesight. Doug, 14 00:00:46,229 --> 00:00:47,249 Jennifer Duke: welcome to Fear and Greed. 15 00:00:47,639 --> 00:00:48,509 Doug Morris: Thanks for having me on, Jen. I appreciate it. 16 00:00:50,159 --> 00:00:52,559 Jennifer Duke: So I mentioned before this big influx of traders getting 17 00:00:52,559 --> 00:00:55,200 Jennifer Duke: into equities for the first time. What did the pandemic 18 00:00:55,200 --> 00:00:56,730 Jennifer Duke: mean for a business like Sharesight? 19 00:00:57,600 --> 00:01:00,540 Doug Morris: Well, very kind of rollercoastery I would say. I mean, 20 00:01:00,540 --> 00:01:03,599 Doug Morris: we were sort of wondering what it all meant when 21 00:01:03,599 --> 00:01:06,959 Doug Morris: the pandemic hit our shores down here in Australia. And 22 00:01:06,959 --> 00:01:10,049 Doug Morris: certainly we saw the market respond very negatively to where 23 00:01:10,049 --> 00:01:12,810 Doug Morris: it basically fell off a cliff in a matter of 24 00:01:12,810 --> 00:01:16,260 Doug Morris: a few weeks beginning in the US and then cascading 25 00:01:16,260 --> 00:01:18,900 Doug Morris: down here. But then all of a sudden what we 26 00:01:18,900 --> 00:01:22,500 Doug Morris: saw was something very unexpected, which was sort of the 27 00:01:22,500 --> 00:01:25,980 Doug Morris: trading volumes and the retail participation in the share market 28 00:01:25,980 --> 00:01:29,639 Doug Morris: just go through the roof. And as a result of that, 29 00:01:29,760 --> 00:01:33,089 Doug Morris: the entire digital space kind of came alive. So everything 30 00:01:33,090 --> 00:01:37,560 Doug Morris: from online brokers to research houses to applications like Sharesight, 31 00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:41,190 Doug Morris: all of a sudden this big international spotlight was shone 32 00:01:41,190 --> 00:01:43,889 Doug Morris: on what is, in the grand scheme of things, a smaller, 33 00:01:43,889 --> 00:01:44,940 Doug Morris: more niche industry. 34 00:01:46,289 --> 00:01:48,450 Jennifer Duke: It was a pretty amazing time. What do you think 35 00:01:48,450 --> 00:01:52,110 Jennifer Duke: it was about COVID that encouraged people to get more into investing? 36 00:01:52,860 --> 00:01:55,140 Doug Morris: I guess just boredom and a bit more cash in 37 00:01:55,140 --> 00:01:58,650 Doug Morris: your pocket. And it's sort of like a lethal combination 38 00:01:58,650 --> 00:02:02,909 Doug Morris: of you're locked inside, you've got the NBN and you've 39 00:02:02,910 --> 00:02:05,609 Doug Morris: got a few extra dollars from the government or from 40 00:02:05,609 --> 00:02:08,520 Doug Morris: the fact that we're not going on holidays and spending 41 00:02:08,520 --> 00:02:10,320 Doug Morris: our money at restaurants. And I think it was really 42 00:02:10,320 --> 00:02:11,490 Doug Morris: that simple, to be honest with you. 43 00:02:11,490 --> 00:02:14,669 Jennifer Duke: It's that European fund going into the stock market. Is that 44 00:02:14,669 --> 00:02:15,150 Jennifer Duke: what you're saying? 45 00:02:15,210 --> 00:02:16,948 Doug Morris: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. 46 00:02:17,429 --> 00:02:21,418 Jennifer Duke: I mean, obviously the pandemic affected everyone similarly and differently 47 00:02:21,419 --> 00:02:23,639 Jennifer Duke: depending on where you were and what kind of lockdowns 48 00:02:23,639 --> 00:02:25,290 Jennifer Duke: you were in. But do you have any thoughts on 49 00:02:25,290 --> 00:02:27,570 Jennifer Duke: the sorts of people that started investing for the first 50 00:02:27,570 --> 00:02:29,010 Jennifer Duke: time and what they were buying? 51 00:02:29,550 --> 00:02:32,460 Doug Morris: Sure. Yeah. So what we saw at Sharesight was kind of a 52 00:02:32,460 --> 00:02:37,769 Doug Morris: continuation of the customer type we've always served, which is 53 00:02:37,770 --> 00:02:42,660 Doug Morris: sort of higher end, more experienced investors, and also I 54 00:02:42,660 --> 00:02:46,650 Doug Morris: would say diligent new investors looking to kind of do 55 00:02:46,650 --> 00:02:48,960 Doug Morris: the research and get into the market for quote, unquote, 56 00:02:48,960 --> 00:02:52,829 Doug Morris: "the right reasons." But then what we saw in April 57 00:02:52,830 --> 00:02:56,909 Doug Morris: of 2020 was a surge in a new customer type, 58 00:02:56,910 --> 00:03:00,209 Doug Morris: and that was mostly younger people who were flocking to 59 00:03:00,270 --> 00:03:05,220 Doug Morris: tech stocks and crypto investments. And their sort of portfolio 60 00:03:05,220 --> 00:03:07,980 Doug Morris: sizes weren't very large because they were new investors, but 61 00:03:07,980 --> 00:03:10,169 Doug Morris: they were trading a whole heck of a lot in 62 00:03:10,169 --> 00:03:13,409 Doug Morris: comparison to our more traditional customer types. 63 00:03:13,889 --> 00:03:16,739 Jennifer Duke: And obviously with that huge amount of activity, and I'm 64 00:03:16,740 --> 00:03:20,250 Jennifer Duke: assuming they're using multiple trading platforms and crypto and it 65 00:03:20,820 --> 00:03:23,880 Jennifer Duke: can be pretty confusing, do they need somewhere to track 66 00:03:23,880 --> 00:03:26,309 Jennifer Duke: that overall position? Is that the kind of value that 67 00:03:26,309 --> 00:03:27,690 Jennifer Duke: you're adding to that experience? 68 00:03:27,990 --> 00:03:30,599 Doug Morris: Yeah, indeed. So what we do is we provide a way for 69 00:03:30,599 --> 00:03:34,469 Doug Morris: customers to aggregate all of their information because most customers 70 00:03:34,469 --> 00:03:36,900 Doug Morris: use more than one online broker. And when you do 71 00:03:36,900 --> 00:03:40,470 Doug Morris: that, your record keeping gets really, really messy. So we're 72 00:03:40,470 --> 00:03:43,440 Doug Morris: used to sort of a world that operates pretty seamlessly 73 00:03:43,440 --> 00:03:45,480 Doug Morris: on our iPhones these days, and that's kind of not 74 00:03:45,480 --> 00:03:49,290 Doug Morris: the world of share market investing. It's pretty ugly in 75 00:03:49,290 --> 00:03:51,959 Doug Morris: the backend, the plumbing, if you will. And so we 76 00:03:51,960 --> 00:03:53,940 Doug Morris: bring all that together and then we show people how 77 00:03:53,940 --> 00:03:57,780 Doug Morris: they're actually going. So we provide performance reporting, some analytical 78 00:03:57,780 --> 00:04:00,480 Doug Morris: reporting, and then we do the tax reporting as well. 79 00:04:00,630 --> 00:04:03,959 Doug Morris: And so that's our traditional use case and what we 80 00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:07,290 Doug Morris: focus on. But what happened during COVID was we had 81 00:04:07,290 --> 00:04:09,629 Doug Morris: this influx of all these new investors into the market, 82 00:04:09,690 --> 00:04:13,680 Doug Morris: and actually most of these customers were using online brokers 83 00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:15,570 Doug Morris: for the first time. And so they tended to use 84 00:04:15,570 --> 00:04:18,779 Doug Morris: one broker. And so for us it was more of 85 00:04:18,779 --> 00:04:22,498 Doug Morris: an education effort, which is to say that, look, if 86 00:04:22,500 --> 00:04:24,779 Doug Morris: you're trading on your phone, as most of these customers 87 00:04:24,779 --> 00:04:27,749 Doug Morris: were doing, you're probably going to get very basic, if 88 00:04:27,750 --> 00:04:30,690 Doug Morris: anything in terms of performance. They'll probably show you what 89 00:04:30,719 --> 00:04:33,720 Doug Morris: you purchased the investment for, they'll show you what today's 90 00:04:33,720 --> 00:04:37,710 Doug Morris: price is, and there's just a basic calculation between today's 91 00:04:37,710 --> 00:04:41,250 Doug Morris: price and what you purchased it for. And that's definitely 92 00:04:41,250 --> 00:04:44,700 Doug Morris: not performance. You need to take into account how long 93 00:04:44,700 --> 00:04:46,679 Doug Morris: you've held the investment. You need to take into account 94 00:04:46,680 --> 00:04:50,819 Doug Morris: any dividends or what's known as corporate actions, money flows 95 00:04:50,880 --> 00:04:53,640 Doug Morris: in and out of that investment. And so really for 96 00:04:53,700 --> 00:04:56,970 Doug Morris: us, it became educating these people around, " Hey, you really 97 00:04:56,970 --> 00:04:59,308 Doug Morris: need to stay on top of your performance tracking. Oh, 98 00:04:59,309 --> 00:05:02,039 Doug Morris: and also you're going to have a tax liability most 99 00:05:02,040 --> 00:05:06,209 Doug Morris: likely come 30 June of the following year." Because I 100 00:05:06,209 --> 00:05:09,299 Doug Morris: think a lot of the investors were unaware that buying 101 00:05:09,300 --> 00:05:13,230 Doug Morris: and selling creates both CGT implications and also potentially taxable 102 00:05:13,230 --> 00:05:16,318 Doug Morris: income implications on dividends and distributions as well. 103 00:05:16,710 --> 00:05:18,719 Jennifer Duke: Stay with me, Doug, we'll be back in a minute. 104 00:05:24,900 --> 00:05:29,070 Jennifer Duke: I'm speaking to Doug Morris, CEO of Sharesight. Do you 105 00:05:29,070 --> 00:05:30,630 Jennifer Duke: tend to see a bit of a spike around that 106 00:05:30,630 --> 00:05:33,030 Jennifer Duke: tax time period of people signing up to Sharesight? 107 00:05:33,809 --> 00:05:36,809 Doug Morris: Yeah, we do. So June, July, August, all the way 108 00:05:36,809 --> 00:05:39,750 Doug Morris: up to the filing deadline in October is a very 109 00:05:39,750 --> 00:05:43,500 Doug Morris: busy season for us here in Australia. It's interesting because 110 00:05:44,220 --> 00:05:48,390 Doug Morris: it doesn't necessarily spur more investment decision making, although it 111 00:05:48,390 --> 00:05:51,900 Doug Morris: can right around that 30 June/ 1 July period if people 112 00:05:51,900 --> 00:05:55,650 Doug Morris: are looking to take advantage of any tax losses, for 113 00:05:55,650 --> 00:05:58,739 Doug Morris: example. But the nature of a subscription business like we 114 00:05:58,740 --> 00:06:01,470 Doug Morris: are is that you get those kind of patterns baked 115 00:06:01,470 --> 00:06:04,440 Doug Morris: into our business. And so every year we kind of 116 00:06:04,440 --> 00:06:06,420 Doug Morris: repeat that pattern through time. 117 00:06:07,620 --> 00:06:09,420 Jennifer Duke: And I think it's sort of interesting because a lot 118 00:06:09,420 --> 00:06:12,178 Jennifer Duke: of people don't tend to think about tax right up 119 00:06:12,178 --> 00:06:14,880 Jennifer Duke: until they start getting the alerts from the ATO. If 120 00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:17,940 Jennifer Duke: you sort of sign up later, does that include all 121 00:06:17,940 --> 00:06:19,770 Jennifer Duke: the data from across the years and how does that 122 00:06:19,770 --> 00:06:22,710 Jennifer Duke: work on the backend? Are you sort of collecting information 123 00:06:22,710 --> 00:06:24,240 Jennifer Duke: from all the main brokers here and around the world 124 00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:25,229 Jennifer Duke: and importing the data? 125 00:06:26,190 --> 00:06:29,730 Doug Morris: Yeah, so we support hundreds of brokers now. So what 126 00:06:29,730 --> 00:06:32,130 Doug Morris: that basically means is you can join Sharesight at any 127 00:06:32,130 --> 00:06:36,929 Doug Morris: time and you can go, in the case of the ASX, back to 1998 in terms 128 00:06:36,930 --> 00:06:39,750 Doug Morris: of the data we have. So if you have trades 129 00:06:39,750 --> 00:06:45,000 Doug Morris: sitting on a platform, say, CommSec or whomever from, say, the mid 2000s, 130 00:06:45,300 --> 00:06:48,178 Doug Morris: you can pull those into our software and then we'll 131 00:06:48,178 --> 00:06:50,609 Doug Morris: track all your ongoing trades as well. And you can 132 00:06:50,610 --> 00:06:52,979 Doug Morris: do that with up to as many brokers as you'd like. 133 00:06:53,100 --> 00:06:54,900 Doug Morris: And we try to make our system pretty flexible. You 134 00:06:55,890 --> 00:06:57,659 Doug Morris: can sign up for free, give it a go, you 135 00:06:57,660 --> 00:07:00,719 Doug Morris: can add some trades, you can delete the portfolio, give 136 00:07:00,720 --> 00:07:02,339 Doug Morris: it another crack if you'd like. You can really kick 137 00:07:02,339 --> 00:07:04,439 Doug Morris: the tires to kind of see how it works. But yeah, 138 00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:07,650 Doug Morris: we sort of operate in, I guess, a time-shifted world 139 00:07:07,650 --> 00:07:10,230 Doug Morris: you might say, where you can go back in time 140 00:07:10,289 --> 00:07:13,530 Doug Morris: and recreate your portfolio. You can see how you performed, 141 00:07:13,650 --> 00:07:16,440 Doug Morris: you can see what your tax implications might have been 142 00:07:16,710 --> 00:07:18,990 Doug Morris: or you can start fresh from today as well. 143 00:07:19,500 --> 00:07:21,059 Jennifer Duke: There might be some people that don't want to look 144 00:07:21,059 --> 00:07:24,330 Jennifer Duke: backwards at their performance for some of the recent periods. 145 00:07:24,780 --> 00:07:26,759 Doug Morris: That is true. It's quite interesting actually, Jen. I mean 146 00:07:28,170 --> 00:07:32,640 Doug Morris: we've been around officially since 2008. We've been in Australia 147 00:07:33,330 --> 00:07:37,710 Doug Morris: for a bit shorter than that, 2011, 2012 or so. But 148 00:07:38,040 --> 00:07:41,010 Doug Morris: in that time, if you actually map the performance of 149 00:07:41,010 --> 00:07:47,129 Doug Morris: the ASX 200 or the S&P 500, I mean Sharesight's essentially lived in a bull market for its 150 00:07:47,129 --> 00:07:52,410 Doug Morris: entire existence up until recently. And what we're seeing really 151 00:07:52,410 --> 00:07:57,239 Doug Morris: is that people are sticking around because there's more volatility, 152 00:07:57,270 --> 00:07:59,580 Doug Morris: there's a lot more uncertainty than there ever has been, 153 00:07:59,580 --> 00:08:02,369 Doug Morris: at least in our lifetime as a business. And I 154 00:08:02,370 --> 00:08:06,720 Doug Morris: think we provide that assurance and provide that real-time look 155 00:08:06,720 --> 00:08:09,630 Doug Morris: as to how you're going, which not only has implications 156 00:08:09,630 --> 00:08:11,340 Doug Morris: for whether or not you're going to make any money 157 00:08:11,340 --> 00:08:13,590 Doug Morris: or not, but also for tax time as well. 158 00:08:14,580 --> 00:08:17,160 Jennifer Duke: That's a really good point. We are entering this sort 159 00:08:17,160 --> 00:08:19,620 Jennifer Duke: of unusual period that a lot of investors won't have 160 00:08:19,620 --> 00:08:22,230 Jennifer Duke: experienced before. Do you have any thoughts on what the 161 00:08:22,230 --> 00:08:25,049 Jennifer Duke: big investment trends might be over the next year or so? 162 00:08:26,490 --> 00:08:29,460 Doug Morris: I really don't. I honestly feel, and this is my 163 00:08:29,460 --> 00:08:31,950 Doug Morris: own personal take, I feel quite uncertain as to what's 164 00:08:32,040 --> 00:08:36,419 Doug Morris: about to happen around the corner. It just feels a 165 00:08:36,420 --> 00:08:38,369 Doug Morris: little too quiet out there. I mean, there's been some 166 00:08:38,370 --> 00:08:42,029 Doug Morris: interesting analysis done around the fact that, yes, the market 167 00:08:42,029 --> 00:08:45,690 Doug Morris: is performing better and it's sort of the usual suspects 168 00:08:45,690 --> 00:08:47,970 Doug Morris: that are driving that performance, the big tech companies in 169 00:08:47,970 --> 00:08:51,630 Doug Morris: the States. I think it's like seven companies in the S&P 170 00:08:51,630 --> 00:08:57,659 Doug Morris: 500 are driving like 60 or 70% of the performance, which is the definition 171 00:08:57,809 --> 00:09:01,108 Doug Morris: of concentration risk, I suppose. So I don't know. I 172 00:09:01,110 --> 00:09:02,939 Doug Morris: mean there's a lot of enthusiasm at the moment about 173 00:09:02,940 --> 00:09:06,510 Doug Morris: AI and the chip makers supporting the AI boom, but 174 00:09:06,510 --> 00:09:09,270 Doug Morris: there's still a lot of macroeconomic uncertainty. There's a lot 175 00:09:09,270 --> 00:09:11,279 Doug Morris: of uncertainty still around what the heck's going to happen 176 00:09:11,280 --> 00:09:13,860 Doug Morris: with interest rates, what's going to happen with geopolitics, the 177 00:09:13,860 --> 00:09:17,518 Doug Morris: US election. And there's this interesting analysis done around the 178 00:09:17,520 --> 00:09:21,690 Doug Morris: fact that, yeah, markets are doing better, but there's real 179 00:09:21,690 --> 00:09:25,410 Doug Morris: tightening spreads in the day-to-day performance. And so the market 180 00:09:25,410 --> 00:09:28,259 Doug Morris: might go up or down, but the volatility has actually 181 00:09:28,650 --> 00:09:30,270 Doug Morris: kind of been taken out of the market. And a 182 00:09:30,270 --> 00:09:33,689 Doug Morris: lot of retail investors, mom and dad investors are sitting 183 00:09:33,690 --> 00:09:37,019 Doug Morris: on the sidelines and what they think is happening, they 184 00:09:37,020 --> 00:09:40,199 Doug Morris: being people who track this stuff, is that actually it's 185 00:09:40,200 --> 00:09:43,468 Doug Morris: a lot of the large pension, superannuation and quantitative funds 186 00:09:43,470 --> 00:09:46,109 Doug Morris: out there whose algorithms are just kind of doing their 187 00:09:46,110 --> 00:09:48,599 Doug Morris: normal thing and rebalancing and so forth, kind of keeping 188 00:09:48,599 --> 00:09:53,100 Doug Morris: the market on a steady course. I wish I had 189 00:09:53,160 --> 00:09:55,890 Doug Morris: a crystal ball to answer that, but I really just 190 00:09:55,890 --> 00:09:56,700 Doug Morris: don't know. 191 00:09:57,210 --> 00:09:58,950 Jennifer Duke: It's fascinating, isn't it? I mean, none of us would 192 00:09:58,950 --> 00:10:01,260 Jennifer Duke: be in full-time, I think, if we knew what the 193 00:10:01,260 --> 00:10:02,429 Jennifer Duke: market was going to do tomorrow. 194 00:10:02,730 --> 00:10:08,699 Doug Morris: That's right. I will say, I mean we do publish top 20 trades by region and 195 00:10:08,700 --> 00:10:12,059 Doug Morris: by stock market, and we are seeing very, very, very 196 00:10:12,059 --> 00:10:16,228 Doug Morris: heavy buying. So we track buys versus sales, and we're 197 00:10:16,230 --> 00:10:20,550 Doug Morris: seeing very, very, very heavy buying across some of the 198 00:10:20,550 --> 00:10:23,849 Doug Morris: bigger name ETFs in addition to those tech stocks that 199 00:10:23,849 --> 00:10:24,330 Doug Morris: I mentioned. 200 00:10:25,049 --> 00:10:28,170 Jennifer Duke: That's very interesting. I did notice in the statistics, we 201 00:10:28,170 --> 00:10:32,040 Jennifer Duke: saw some info from Sharesight ahead of this chat, and 202 00:10:32,100 --> 00:10:34,740 Jennifer Duke: in those stats there was a lot of index investing 203 00:10:34,740 --> 00:10:36,900 Jennifer Duke: going on. And I was curious if that's sort of 204 00:10:36,900 --> 00:10:40,830 Jennifer Duke: the financial independence retire early crowd creeping in a little more 205 00:10:40,830 --> 00:10:43,590 Jennifer Duke: or who might be kind of driving the indexing at 206 00:10:43,590 --> 00:10:43,980 Jennifer Duke: the moment? 207 00:10:44,760 --> 00:10:50,280 Doug Morris: Yeah, so ETFs are fascinating. Essentially, when I joined Sharesight 208 00:10:50,550 --> 00:10:53,939 Doug Morris: 10 years ago, ETFs were, I don't know, 3%, 4% 209 00:10:54,420 --> 00:10:57,809 Doug Morris: of the trades by sheer volume on our system. So 210 00:10:57,809 --> 00:11:02,009 Doug Morris: the trades that we processed, we tracked. Now they're about 20% 211 00:11:02,340 --> 00:11:05,909 Doug Morris: across the user base and we see two camps in 212 00:11:05,910 --> 00:11:09,600 Doug Morris: terms of use cases. We see, as you mentioned, that FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) 213 00:11:09,600 --> 00:11:13,920 Doug Morris: crowd or the newer investors, we see them using ETFs 214 00:11:13,920 --> 00:11:16,108 Doug Morris: as a way to get started in the market. That's 215 00:11:16,110 --> 00:11:18,120 Doug Morris: something that I tell people to do like, look, if 216 00:11:18,120 --> 00:11:20,549 Doug Morris: you want to get started and you're not sort of 217 00:11:20,549 --> 00:11:23,609 Doug Morris: intimately familiar with any kind of company or industry, consider 218 00:11:23,609 --> 00:11:25,830 Doug Morris: an ETF because it's a great way to get going 219 00:11:26,250 --> 00:11:30,088 Doug Morris: and obviously it is a more diversified and, you might argue, 220 00:11:30,090 --> 00:11:33,780 Doug Morris: a safer approach. But where we've always seen ETFs used 221 00:11:33,780 --> 00:11:37,470 Doug Morris: amongst our more experienced base is in that core satellite approach. 222 00:11:37,530 --> 00:11:40,919 Doug Morris: And so people might build a portfolio that is comprised 223 00:11:40,920 --> 00:11:43,740 Doug Morris: of sort of half of the assets in ETFs in 224 00:11:43,740 --> 00:11:46,468 Doug Morris: sort of a bedrock style. And then the other half 225 00:11:46,470 --> 00:11:49,230 Doug Morris: of the portfolio is individual stock picks. And that's something 226 00:11:49,230 --> 00:11:51,059 Doug Morris: that I do, for example, myself where I kind of 227 00:11:51,059 --> 00:11:56,309 Doug Morris: keep around half of my assets sort of autopilot ETF program, 228 00:11:56,429 --> 00:11:59,699 Doug Morris: and then I make individual investment selections above and beyond 229 00:11:59,699 --> 00:12:04,679 Doug Morris: that. And I got to say, something I've noticed is my 230 00:12:04,679 --> 00:12:07,500 Doug Morris: portfolio is rather tech heavy. I am the CEO of 231 00:12:07,500 --> 00:12:10,350 Doug Morris: a tech SaaS (Software as a Service) company. So I guess that comes with the territory, 232 00:12:10,380 --> 00:12:12,870 Doug Morris: got to eat my own cooking, so to speak. But 233 00:12:13,920 --> 00:12:17,669 Doug Morris: I did quite well. I outperformed certainly over the past 234 00:12:17,879 --> 00:12:21,630 Doug Morris: eight or 10 years, but my benchmark that I apply 235 00:12:21,630 --> 00:12:25,679 Doug Morris: in Sharesight is a diversified ETF from Vanguard. So it's 236 00:12:25,679 --> 00:12:29,580 Doug Morris: essentially a balanced fund in the form of an ETF and 237 00:12:29,580 --> 00:12:32,939 Doug Morris: what I've seen, if you compare those two lines, my 238 00:12:32,940 --> 00:12:35,279 Doug Morris: portfolio is certainly outperforming for a long time and it's 239 00:12:35,279 --> 00:12:40,800 Doug Morris: really receded back and it's tracking right along that diversified ETF 240 00:12:40,800 --> 00:12:43,588 Doug Morris: in terms of a benchmark at the moment. So it 241 00:12:43,590 --> 00:12:45,299 Doug Morris: kind of goes to show you that sort of reversion 242 00:12:45,300 --> 00:12:45,841 Doug Morris: to the mean is well and truly aligned in the share locking business. 243 00:12:45,841 --> 00:12:54,240 Jennifer Duke: It's a real thing. That is very true. Look, Doug, that's all we have time 244 00:12:54,240 --> 00:12:56,400 Jennifer Duke: for, but thank you so much for speaking to Fear 245 00:12:56,400 --> 00:12:56,940 Jennifer Duke: and Greed. 246 00:12:57,360 --> 00:12:57,720 Doug Morris: Thanks so much, Jen. I enjoyed being here. 247 00:12:59,250 --> 00:13:02,010 Jennifer Duke: That was Doug Morris, CEO of Sharesight, a supporter of 248 00:13:02,010 --> 00:13:04,290 Jennifer Duke: Fear and Greed. This is the Fear and Greed Business 249 00:13:04,290 --> 00:13:07,588 Jennifer Duke: Interview. Remember, this is general information only and you should 250 00:13:07,590 --> 00:13:11,608 Jennifer Duke: seek professional advice before making investment decisions. Join us every 251 00:13:11,609 --> 00:13:14,250 Jennifer Duke: morning for the full episode of Fear and Greed, Australia's 252 00:13:14,250 --> 00:13:18,330 Jennifer Duke: best business podcast. I'm Jennifer Duke, Economics Correspondent for Capital 253 00:13:18,330 --> 00:13:20,700 Jennifer Duke: Brief, filling in for Sean Aylmer. Enjoy your day.