WEBVTT - Free Booze to Real Power: Why Shareholder Perks Matter 0:00:02.720 --> 0:00:07.200 Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio news. 0:00:07.520 --> 0:00:09.840 Hello listen, it's marenzum Zap webpr Now. 0:00:09.880 --> 0:00:12.320 I just wanted to remind you that if you are 0:00:12.400 --> 0:00:15.320 enjoying our weekly podcast, and I really hope you are, 0:00:15.720 --> 0:00:20.000 you will also probably really enjoy my weekly newsletter for 0:00:20.040 --> 0:00:21.160 Bloomberg subscribers. 0:00:21.200 --> 0:00:23.639 It hits in boxes every Saturday. 0:00:23.880 --> 0:00:26.240 This week I wrote about why investors should be very 0:00:26.280 --> 0:00:29.520 wary of AI job cuts. They might not bring companies 0:00:29.560 --> 0:00:32.080 what those companies think they will bring them. 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Welcome to Meron Talks Your Money, 0:01:07.040 --> 0:01:09.480 the personal finance edition of merin Talks Money. 0:01:09.560 --> 0:01:10.600 From these bonus. 0:01:10.240 --> 0:01:12.520 Podcasts, we talk about the best strategies for making the 0:01:12.600 --> 0:01:15.000 most of your money. I'm Merri in some set web 0:01:15.080 --> 0:01:18.040 and with me senior reporter and Money Distilled author John 0:01:18.080 --> 0:01:25.480 step Back, Hi, John, I'm in right. This week, we 0:01:25.560 --> 0:01:28.640 wanted to talk about something kind of really quite old fashioned, right, 0:01:28.640 --> 0:01:29.479 We wanted to talk. 0:01:29.360 --> 0:01:32.640 About, yeah, shareholder perks. Now. 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:37.240 I think a lot, as you know, about ownership and 0:01:37.360 --> 0:01:41.880 about how we give people a sense of ownership when 0:01:41.880 --> 0:01:45.839 they hold equities. And this is something that most people 0:01:45.959 --> 0:01:48.600 don't have, right because they hold their acts very remotely. 0:01:48.880 --> 0:01:51.800 They hold them as a giant fund through their auto enrollment, 0:01:52.120 --> 0:01:55.000 or they hold their shares in a fund on a platform, 0:01:55.040 --> 0:01:58.760 and even if they hold their shares as a single share, 0:01:59.080 --> 0:02:01.320 they still hold them on a platforms. So there isn't 0:02:01.320 --> 0:02:05.080 a certificate, there isn't something to touch. And also people 0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:07.920 don't go to agms in the way they used to 0:02:08.160 --> 0:02:11.080 in the old days, so people don't have that sense 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:16.200 of connection to the companies in which they invest. And 0:02:16.560 --> 0:02:20.000 that's as you're getting slightly worse, not better. 0:02:20.080 --> 0:02:20.320 I think. 0:02:20.360 --> 0:02:22.480 I don't know if you've seen this conversations underway at 0:02:22.520 --> 0:02:24.960 the moment too it maybe there might we might see 0:02:25.000 --> 0:02:28.040 an end to the physical agm. We might see an 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:32.880 end to the way that individuals can vote on remuneration 0:02:33.120 --> 0:02:36.040 at agms, etc. And I'm really nervous about this because 0:02:36.040 --> 0:02:38.520 I really think the physical AGM should be compulsory. I 0:02:38.520 --> 0:02:40.760 think if you should be compulsory for all companies to 0:02:40.760 --> 0:02:43.519 have physical agms, I think they should also be forced 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:45.600 to live stream them so that you can either watch 0:02:45.600 --> 0:02:47.440 them online or you can go to them. And I 0:02:47.560 --> 0:02:53.480 also absolutely believe that tea and biscuits should be compulsory 0:02:53.800 --> 0:02:56.480 at these physical agms and active I was going to 0:02:56.480 --> 0:02:59.080 go one step further and let me do that. I 0:02:59.080 --> 0:03:04.600 would say that lunch should be compulsory, Yes, lunch, and 0:03:04.639 --> 0:03:08.919 what's more, what's more, that the AGM should start at 0:03:08.919 --> 0:03:13.080 a time that allows older people to use their discounted 0:03:13.360 --> 0:03:20.440 travel documents to get there. That's maximum participation. I think 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:23.960 this really matters. You're meant to be anti regulation and 0:03:24.800 --> 0:03:28.240 have anti regulation, but I'm proved somethings improve some things. 0:03:28.280 --> 0:03:32.520 I'm pro participation, I'm pro shareholder democracy, and I'm pro 0:03:32.600 --> 0:03:35.000 people feeling like they have a sense of ownership. And 0:03:35.040 --> 0:03:38.440 I think that we have possibly allowed companies to get 0:03:38.440 --> 0:03:41.960 away with not really treating their individual shareholders in the 0:03:41.960 --> 0:03:43.400 way that they should. You know, if you look at 0:03:43.400 --> 0:03:46.120 the look at the history of agms, right, these used 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:48.480 to be so much more fun. I wrote about this 0:03:48.560 --> 0:03:51.960 in that book. I wrote Ages Ago Share Power, about 0:03:51.960 --> 0:03:54.440 people turning up there with some very famous nuns, right, 0:03:54.600 --> 0:03:56.120 who used to turn up all the time. In fact, 0:03:56.120 --> 0:03:59.720 they probably still do and engage with companies on anything 0:03:59.760 --> 0:04:02.560 that that bothered them. And long before that, there were 0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:05.600 I wrote about these brothers, the Gilbert brothers, who made 0:04:05.600 --> 0:04:08.480 a big fortune in the Californian gold Rush, and they 0:04:08.520 --> 0:04:10.400 moved all their money out of pick axes, pots and 0:04:10.440 --> 0:04:13.240 pans eventually into stock markets. And then they went to 0:04:13.320 --> 0:04:17.880 literally every single shareholder meeting and complained about everything, and 0:04:17.880 --> 0:04:19.840 when they didn't get the answers, they wanted to stand 0:04:19.920 --> 0:04:21.880 up and show you work for me, you work for me, 0:04:22.160 --> 0:04:25.280 And I thought that was great. Great, it's activism, and 0:04:25.400 --> 0:04:28.240 you know the world needs more Gilbert. I will just say, 0:04:28.279 --> 0:04:29.800 before I get on to what we're actually supposed to 0:04:29.839 --> 0:04:31.880 be talking about, I wanted to point out an article 0:04:31.920 --> 0:04:33.800 I read in one of the newspapers this weekend about 0:04:33.839 --> 0:04:36.719 an order of nuns in West London. In fact, I've 0:04:36.720 --> 0:04:38.520 walked past this convent quite a lot now I come 0:04:38.560 --> 0:04:41.280 to think about it, and they are doing exactly the same, 0:04:41.360 --> 0:04:43.760 taking on, taking on corporate America who are doing things 0:04:43.839 --> 0:04:45.880 they don't like. They've been running a lot campaign against 0:04:46.520 --> 0:04:50.000 City Bank about a fossil fuels and impact on Indigenous rights, 0:04:50.000 --> 0:04:51.839 and how you might feel about that is not really 0:04:51.880 --> 0:04:52.320 the point here. 0:04:52.400 --> 0:04:54.839 The point is that if you're a shareholder. 0:04:54.680 --> 0:04:58.359 You get the perk, You get the perk of being 0:04:58.520 --> 0:05:01.400 able to use your vote, go to the a GM, 0:05:01.640 --> 0:05:03.320 have your cake, make your voice known. 0:05:03.360 --> 0:05:04.600 And I think that's really important. 0:05:04.800 --> 0:05:08.920 No, that is important. It's all about ownership, right, Yeah, 0:05:10.320 --> 0:05:13.440 It's one of the reasons we do have a lot 0:05:13.440 --> 0:05:15.279 of films we have at the moment is because people 0:05:15.760 --> 0:05:18.799 are either in a weird of or increasingly detached from 0:05:19.160 --> 0:05:20.279 that whole coincept. 0:05:21.080 --> 0:05:22.560 Yeah, and how do you get rid of that? 0:05:22.880 --> 0:05:25.159 How do you get rid of a distance between a 0:05:25.200 --> 0:05:26.400 person and an institution? 0:05:26.560 --> 0:05:27.080 In the UK? 0:05:27.520 --> 0:05:30.040 And you know the answer, and I know the answer, 0:05:30.080 --> 0:05:33.159 and I suspect that our listeners also know the answer. 0:05:33.200 --> 0:05:38.000 And the answer is discounted booze, isn't it though? 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:40.920 I mean, isn't that the answer to everything? Let's be honest, Well, 0:05:40.960 --> 0:05:41.240 in the. 0:05:41.240 --> 0:05:44.159 UK, at least, I suspect that other countries have different dynamics, 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:47.000 but here cheap booze it's the answer. 0:05:47.400 --> 0:05:49.400 And we're having this conversation. 0:05:49.000 --> 0:05:51.760 Because we noticed that Chapel Down is one of the 0:05:51.839 --> 0:05:55.200 few companies left that has a really great perk. If 0:05:55.240 --> 0:05:57.360 you're a shareholder in Chapel Down, what is it? Well, 0:05:57.400 --> 0:05:58.320 what's the discount job? 0:05:58.400 --> 0:06:00.920 Well, it's at least of when them with twenty five 0:06:00.960 --> 0:06:04.680 percent off of things what one share. 0:06:04.680 --> 0:06:07.320 Minimum shares needed one details. 0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:10.440 If you've got between one and one nine hundred and 0:06:10.520 --> 0:06:13.240 ninety nine shares, you are a silver shareholder and you 0:06:13.360 --> 0:06:15.040 got a twenty five cent diskind of you got two 0:06:15.120 --> 0:06:18.440 thousand or more shares, you're a Gold shareholder and you 0:06:18.480 --> 0:06:19.920 get discounts off all sorts of things. 0:06:21.960 --> 0:06:23.960 Under wine, there's a platinum shareholder. 0:06:25.040 --> 0:06:27.760 If you get more than ten thousand shares, you get 0:06:27.800 --> 0:06:30.760 thirty three percent of wine purchases and annual guided two 0:06:30.960 --> 0:06:36.200 vouchers for four running off at some restaurant and their shop, 0:06:36.400 --> 0:06:40.760 and various other little perks as well. So great, I mean, 0:06:40.760 --> 0:06:42.679 I actually be feeling in this neck of the woods. 0:06:42.680 --> 0:06:45.520 I actually know quite a lot of people who are 0:06:45.880 --> 0:06:49.520 fans of Chapel Down for various reasons. But barely. I 0:06:49.520 --> 0:06:51.000 mean that is the kind of thing where you would 0:06:51.000 --> 0:06:52.520 say there and you think, well, actually, if I drink 0:06:52.600 --> 0:06:54.800 any quantity of this way, and I thought, it probably 0:06:54.839 --> 0:06:57.840 is worth just owning shares purely for that. 0:06:59.320 --> 0:07:02.279 Share prices need thirty five p, right, thirty five p 0:07:02.440 --> 0:07:05.000 and you get an annual twenty five percent discount verge. 0:07:05.080 --> 0:07:07.960 I mean it's not bad, No, it's not. And I 0:07:07.960 --> 0:07:09.680 mean this, I mean, and this is the other thing 0:07:09.760 --> 0:07:12.040 that I was looking at. What is it Bloomsbury and 0:07:12.040 --> 0:07:16.160 Bloomsberry function GQ rulings publisher. I think they're still publisher. 0:07:16.560 --> 0:07:19.400 It's you get thirty five percent off the r RP 0:07:19.840 --> 0:07:24.520 of any of their books in print in one chair, 0:07:25.640 --> 0:07:28.280 which is you know, so you really think that shares 0:07:28.440 --> 0:07:30.600 like six point ten at the moment, So at the 0:07:30.640 --> 0:07:31.920 end of the day, if you don't have to buy 0:07:32.120 --> 0:07:34.560 very many hard back books to get the money off. 0:07:35.120 --> 0:07:36.400 And yes, by the way, it is the home of 0:07:36.440 --> 0:07:38.760 Harry Potter, very Potter. 0:07:39.080 --> 0:07:40.760 A lots of these things now and it used to 0:07:40.840 --> 0:07:43.200 be back in the older. Is that a lot of 0:07:43.200 --> 0:07:46.760 the discounts only came if you had an actual share 0:07:46.840 --> 0:07:48.600 typical Yeah, In fact, looking at the list, there are 0:07:48.600 --> 0:07:51.600 some that are still like that BT Group PLC discounts 0:07:51.600 --> 0:07:53.720 on a variety of products and services, but it's only 0:07:53.760 --> 0:07:56.440 avaiable to shareholders with this with a share certificate. 0:07:56.520 --> 0:07:57.480 But most of. 0:07:57.400 --> 0:07:59.880 Them now, if you get in touch with your platform, 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:01.720 they're going to arrange for you to have proof of 0:08:02.040 --> 0:08:04.200 ownership so you can receive the perk. 0:08:04.880 --> 0:08:07.040 Well, yeah, and I mean I think I think that's 0:08:07.080 --> 0:08:09.440 one reason why, and I mean the promised Actually, I 0:08:09.480 --> 0:08:11.840 was just looking at some research and this, and the 0:08:11.920 --> 0:08:17.680 one thing that I couldn't really find out was I 0:08:17.720 --> 0:08:20.720 don't think there's an easy way to measure whether perks 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:25.640 have gone down in either popularity or the number companies 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:28.040 offering them. There's certainly a sense that they have, and 0:08:28.080 --> 0:08:30.360 I think if that's the case, it is partly because 0:08:30.360 --> 0:08:34.920 we had this transition from paper shares to you know, 0:08:35.080 --> 0:08:37.720 kind of like once well through nominee accounts, so it 0:08:37.760 --> 0:08:40.760 became much much harder and for the same reason sort 0:08:40.800 --> 0:08:43.959 of like people going to agms, actually in voting probably 0:08:44.040 --> 0:08:47.440 went down somewhat as well, because suddenly there was this 0:08:47.559 --> 0:08:51.360 kind of middle person between you and your shares. Where 0:08:51.400 --> 0:08:53.160 I think things have changed now though, has been with 0:08:53.280 --> 0:08:56.280 technology it's like I mean, for example, I have an 0:08:56.320 --> 0:08:58.400 account with one of the big platforms, and it's very 0:08:58.400 --> 0:09:01.480 good at nagging me you in the e GM when 0:09:01.480 --> 0:09:04.200 it's coming up, and so you think the trans feril 0:09:04.280 --> 0:09:10.120 mechanism new for for perks, I think is much much easier. Also, 0:09:10.120 --> 0:09:11.800 I think to be feeling the BT boys, I think 0:09:11.840 --> 0:09:14.880 those authors do going. I don't think it's just the 0:09:14.920 --> 0:09:18.760 certificated people, because I think that would be extremely old fashioned. 0:09:18.960 --> 0:09:21.600 Well that says on the Hardbridge Landstone website, which is 0:09:21.600 --> 0:09:22.680 where I just checked. 0:09:23.080 --> 0:09:27.120 I'd be surprised if that isn't a we put it there. 0:09:27.320 --> 0:09:30.199 Okay, all right now the best, the best ones. I'm 0:09:30.200 --> 0:09:32.160 looking down the list right, and the best ones seemed 0:09:32.200 --> 0:09:34.720 to be all about things that the Brits really like. 0:09:34.800 --> 0:09:35.680 Booze and holidays. 0:09:35.800 --> 0:09:38.040 Your boos and holidays, Reny. 0:09:38.120 --> 0:09:40.480 Sure you get discounts on package holidays books with the 0:09:40.480 --> 0:09:42.280 company's subsidiary, which in travel. 0:09:42.480 --> 0:09:45.199 Yes, that's the funniest one. That's going to be one 0:09:45.240 --> 0:09:50.000 of the funniest. It's like NI shows like this engineering 0:09:50.240 --> 0:09:53.680 group and you can get a discout in a package. 0:09:54.520 --> 0:09:58.200 Yeah, Norwegian Cruise Line on board credit that maybe people 0:09:58.240 --> 0:10:02.440 aren't thinking about cruis right now, Mitchell and Butler's twenty 0:10:02.480 --> 0:10:03.560 percent of total bill. 0:10:04.280 --> 0:10:06.560 Gosh, yes, no it is. It's basically all about It's 0:10:06.600 --> 0:10:07.480 all about. 0:10:08.960 --> 0:10:12.600 Smiths in turn a shareholder indulgent cord giving food to 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:16.239 percent of food to drink, ten percent discount in the hotels, Carnival. 0:10:16.360 --> 0:10:18.120 What do you get on Carnival? I think you get 0:10:18.160 --> 0:10:20.400 some one of your cruise sorts of things. Yeah. 0:10:20.840 --> 0:10:21.240 Interesting. 0:10:21.360 --> 0:10:22.800 You know I was looking this up, John, because I 0:10:22.800 --> 0:10:25.480 was wondering when this all started. When did this idea 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:28.960 come that you should give people some sense of excitement 0:10:29.000 --> 0:10:31.840 and something extra from holding shares. And do you know 0:10:31.880 --> 0:10:34.240 when you think back about the first thing that one 0:10:34.280 --> 0:10:36.600 of the first things that retail investors really went for. 0:10:36.640 --> 0:10:40.640 I always think of Foreign colonial the investment trust, right, 0:10:41.160 --> 0:10:46.080 And they had this great system back in the eighteen 0:10:46.240 --> 0:10:50.120 seventies where when you bought a certificate because we're not 0:10:50.120 --> 0:10:53.400 reading when shares and certificates that you bought it a 0:10:53.400 --> 0:10:55.880 account and then redeemed it past. You'd buy one for 0:10:55.920 --> 0:10:58.160 eighty five p and then when redemption date came along, 0:10:58.160 --> 0:10:59.720 you get one hundred backs. It were more like a 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:03.479 bond than a share. But nonetheless, they had this lottery component, 0:11:04.160 --> 0:11:06.800 so all the certificates would be out there, and then 0:11:06.960 --> 0:11:10.000 every year they would have a random draw of the 0:11:10.000 --> 0:11:13.760 certificates and if you won, you got your money early, 0:11:14.400 --> 0:11:18.840 so you've effectively made your capital gain ages before anybody else, 0:11:18.840 --> 0:11:19.960 and then you could reinvest. 0:11:20.600 --> 0:11:23.040 I like that as well, because it's a bit of 0:11:23.040 --> 0:11:27.400 elaborate financial engineering and throwing that lottery element, and people 0:11:27.559 --> 0:11:30.520 just will pay for the lottery. 0:11:30.960 --> 0:11:31.160 Yeah. 0:11:31.360 --> 0:11:35.040 I don't actually understand why. I just put regulator reason, 0:11:35.320 --> 0:11:39.080 but I don't understand what companies should somehow figure it 0:11:39.120 --> 0:11:41.679 a way to make that gambling instinct. What can the 0:11:41.840 --> 0:11:46.200 cost of capital favor? Again? I feel, but not, I mean, 0:11:46.280 --> 0:11:49.200 it's it's it's very interesting. The other big one that 0:11:49.320 --> 0:11:53.880 I remember, there was legendaries that it was Eurotunnel. God, yes, 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:56.439 when that first listed, I think if you were among 0:11:56.520 --> 0:12:01.079 the original shareholders, you basically got something like next to 0:12:01.200 --> 0:12:04.640 free travel on the euro on the Channel Tunnel, like 0:12:05.320 --> 0:12:07.680 for life. I think you did, and they did try. 0:12:07.720 --> 0:12:09.319 I think they tried to take it away, but it 0:12:09.360 --> 0:12:11.840 was legally challenged because obviously that went through a load 0:12:11.880 --> 0:12:15.360 of restructures and etcetera, et cetera. And I think the 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:19.040 original shareolders still have that perk. I mean, I could 0:12:19.080 --> 0:12:22.199 be wrong, but I don't think. I think you had 0:12:22.240 --> 0:12:24.040 to be in the original batch. 0:12:24.120 --> 0:12:25.480 But anybody out. 0:12:25.320 --> 0:12:28.360 There who still has that, do write in and let 0:12:28.480 --> 0:12:30.560 us know. That will be fascinating. We'd also like to know, 0:12:30.600 --> 0:12:32.920 if you do have it, how often. 0:12:32.640 --> 0:12:37.679 You've used it. I remember working with some guys in 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:41.320 the early two thousands who who had who had got it, 0:12:41.400 --> 0:12:44.120 and they were still using it, so it was it 0:12:44.160 --> 0:12:46.760 was sort of still legendary up until up until then 0:12:46.800 --> 0:12:47.559 at least. 0:12:56.400 --> 0:12:58.920 Oh we forgot to mention Melbury, we forgot to mention 0:12:59.040 --> 0:13:02.360 Margery exactly good. Yeah, Now you get a twenty percent discount. 0:13:02.360 --> 0:13:03.640 I think you have to have a certain number of 0:13:03.720 --> 0:13:06.040 shares for that. I don't think that comes easy, that one, 0:13:06.160 --> 0:13:08.600 because obviously the shares are quite high in absolute terms, 0:13:09.040 --> 0:13:11.760 well not that high, but here over a pound, and 0:13:11.800 --> 0:13:13.720 I think I can't remember how many you have to have, 0:13:13.800 --> 0:13:14.800 but slightly more than others. 0:13:14.840 --> 0:13:17.520 But then you get a twenty percent discount, which is 0:13:17.640 --> 0:13:18.520 surely worth. 0:13:18.320 --> 0:13:20.040 It if you any of your design the handbags. 0:13:20.200 --> 0:13:23.160 Yeah, yeah, And you know I think that when I 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:25.280 think about perks, I think to myself, it's not really 0:13:25.280 --> 0:13:27.640 about the money, right, It's about the sense that you're 0:13:27.800 --> 0:13:30.920 part of a group that it sort of leaves you 0:13:31.000 --> 0:13:33.400 to the company and it gives you a great degree 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:36.280 of corporate loyalty. But then I remember that whenever anyone 0:13:36.280 --> 0:13:38.240 says it's not about the money, it's about the principle. 0:13:38.280 --> 0:13:39.760 It's always about the money. 0:13:40.040 --> 0:13:41.480 And I guess if I was a big buyer of 0:13:41.559 --> 0:13:43.680 Mulberry handbags and I was a shelter, it would definitely 0:13:43.679 --> 0:13:44.440 be about the money. 0:13:44.880 --> 0:13:46.920 Well, yeah, And the thing that's a good point because 0:13:46.920 --> 0:13:49.520 I was. I was certainly I was sort of like thinking, well, 0:13:49.600 --> 0:13:52.400 you know, especially you shouldn't late the text, do all 0:13:52.440 --> 0:13:55.360 wag the investment dog. But actually, if you can be 0:13:55.440 --> 0:13:57.640 bothered then and a lot of people can be bothered 0:13:57.720 --> 0:14:00.840 to other sort of you know, money saving expert type 0:14:00.880 --> 0:14:03.800 menu shy. So if you if you do go to 0:14:04.080 --> 0:14:06.680 a certain pub a lot and you can buy one 0:14:06.720 --> 0:14:09.719 share and get ten percent of all your bills, then 0:14:09.760 --> 0:14:11.720 I say, well, why wouldn't you do it? It's not 0:14:11.880 --> 0:14:14.080 as if you know you're going to recoup your initial 0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:15.280 investment very quickly. 0:14:15.520 --> 0:14:18.080 Well absolutely, I mean got a family wedding coming up 0:14:18.120 --> 0:14:20.160 at the end of this end of this year or 0:14:20.200 --> 0:14:22.400 over the summer hab some chapel down shares. I mean, 0:14:22.440 --> 0:14:25.040 it's very compelling and I'm a big approval of this, John. 0:14:25.360 --> 0:14:27.920 What would you buy? What would you buy for the perks? 0:14:28.600 --> 0:14:31.360 I mean for the perks, I think give me as 0:14:31.400 --> 0:14:31.920 a cruiser. 0:14:31.920 --> 0:14:33.080 I wouldn't say you want to know, we. 0:14:33.200 --> 0:14:36.520 Just cruise totally. The women in my family quite often 0:14:36.600 --> 0:14:40.840 shop next for stuff, So it's just you know, I 0:14:40.880 --> 0:14:43.920 think you get twenty five percent off once a year 0:14:43.960 --> 0:14:46.600 if you have enough shares. There links one hundred shares, 0:14:48.120 --> 0:14:50.800 and I mean, I know that's not terribly exciting, but 0:14:50.920 --> 0:14:53.920 the I think some of the smaller companies haven't looked 0:14:53.960 --> 0:14:57.280 into this properly. But some one of our correspondents on 0:14:57.280 --> 0:15:01.760 Twitter was mentioning a kind of a booze company on 0:15:01.920 --> 0:15:05.960 Aim that had entered at least I think it was 0:15:06.000 --> 0:15:08.760 perhaps maybe this was a one off thing, but basically 0:15:08.800 --> 0:15:10.320 got a bottle of twenty one year old whiskey as 0:15:10.320 --> 0:15:11.760 long as you bought shares at a certain time and 0:15:11.840 --> 0:15:14.680 had held them for this seven length of time and 0:15:14.680 --> 0:15:17.920 that sort of thing. I actually think, I think your 0:15:17.960 --> 0:15:21.120 point of ownership is actually really important on this, and 0:15:21.160 --> 0:15:24.200 it was something that I hadn't kind of considered. But 0:15:24.240 --> 0:15:28.320 can you imagine if everyone and an also enrollment pension 0:15:28.960 --> 0:15:31.480 who owned a foot say one hundred tracker, got a 0:15:31.480 --> 0:15:35.480 twenty five percent discount voucher from next every year as 0:15:35.560 --> 0:15:39.280 part of their pension statement. And because that's I mean, 0:15:39.480 --> 0:15:42.680 you know, I'm assuming that the majority of these would 0:15:42.720 --> 0:15:45.640 actually qualify for it. Now, whether you know, let's well, yeah, 0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:48.600 because of the perks may explode if that happened. But 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:51.440 I think that's quite an interesting thing to think about 0:15:51.480 --> 0:15:53.600 because it goes back to this thing and getting people 0:15:53.680 --> 0:15:57.480 excited and interested in and understanding, because then you would know, 0:15:57.640 --> 0:16:00.480 you know, all right, I actually owned shares and I 0:16:00.480 --> 0:16:03.760 didn't know that my auto enrolled pension was actually end 0:16:03.800 --> 0:16:06.560 this or you know what the other footally one hundred 0:16:06.560 --> 0:16:08.400 companies that still offer perks. 0:16:08.840 --> 0:16:10.440 And we've talked a lot over the years about look 0:16:10.520 --> 0:16:12.320 through voting and how people should be able to use 0:16:12.360 --> 0:16:17.200 their votes even if their shares are held inside a 0:16:17.280 --> 0:16:19.640 track of fund or an active fund or whatever it is, 0:16:19.640 --> 0:16:21.840 that you should be able to still influence how your 0:16:21.880 --> 0:16:24.960 vote is used, and look through perks seemed like an 0:16:25.000 --> 0:16:27.800 excellent idea as well. Look through perks look through tea 0:16:27.800 --> 0:16:29.160 and biscuits, look through lunch. 0:16:31.440 --> 0:16:33.840 Maybe what we could do is we could say the 0:16:33.880 --> 0:16:37.280 companies all day, you will let you off with a 0:16:37.440 --> 0:16:39.400 lunch and not the tea and biscuits, but we'll let 0:16:39.440 --> 0:16:41.760 you offer the lunch as long as you offer an 0:16:41.800 --> 0:16:45.280 actual perk to shareholders that is on a look through basis, 0:16:45.760 --> 0:16:48.520 and then they have an incentive to avoid the kind 0:16:48.560 --> 0:16:51.200 of hassle at the AGM by making sure they offer 0:16:51.240 --> 0:16:52.160 the half decent perk. 0:16:52.560 --> 0:16:55.040 All right, I'm good with that, as long as anyone 0:16:55.080 --> 0:16:58.120 who goes to the AGM is guaranteed tail coffee, at 0:16:58.200 --> 0:17:00.960 least two biscuits and a branded pen. Yep. 0:17:01.080 --> 0:17:03.160 Yeah, that's okay. I think I think we can shake 0:17:03.200 --> 0:17:04.000 hands on that ideal. 0:17:04.320 --> 0:17:07.160 Okay, it's a deal. I will add one thing to that, 0:17:07.200 --> 0:17:07.359 is it. 0:17:07.400 --> 0:17:10.159 Back when I was writing that book share Power, I 0:17:10.160 --> 0:17:12.560 looked at an SEA report that came out that was 0:17:12.600 --> 0:17:15.639 looking at how people feel about investing ETCTERA, and one 0:17:15.680 --> 0:17:17.760 of the things that came up very clearly was that 0:17:18.160 --> 0:17:23.240 new investors really enjoyed the status of feeling that they 0:17:23.240 --> 0:17:27.399 were owners. Yeah, and if we can give everybody that 0:17:27.600 --> 0:17:31.440 feeling of status with a little look through perk, three 0:17:31.480 --> 0:17:33.520 pen and a biscuit. I think we will really be 0:17:34.080 --> 0:17:37.120 improving matters in the UK, or certainly improving matters around 0:17:37.160 --> 0:17:37.800 the stock market. 0:17:38.119 --> 0:17:43.119 The genuine I genuinely think that's a great idea, you know. 0:17:43.160 --> 0:17:44.800 I mean, if there's a company out there are the 0:17:44.960 --> 0:17:47.600 things actually, yeah, that is something that we could and 0:17:47.680 --> 0:17:50.840 should do, then maybe maybe it should. Maybe we can 0:17:50.880 --> 0:17:51.960 start at the end. 0:17:52.960 --> 0:17:55.560 Get in touch, let us know what perk you're prepared 0:17:55.600 --> 0:17:57.040 to offer, and John and I will let you know 0:17:57.080 --> 0:18:06.639 if we approve. Thanks John, Thanks Will, Thanks for listening 0:18:06.680 --> 0:18:08.399 to this week's Marin Drugs Your Money. If you like 0:18:08.480 --> 0:18:10.919 our show, rate review, and subscribe wherever you listen to 0:18:10.920 --> 0:18:13.120 podcasts also be showed. Follow me and John on ex 0:18:13.240 --> 0:18:16.399 or Twitter at marinas w and John Underscore Stepic. This 0:18:16.480 --> 0:18:19.200 episode was produced by Summersadi and Moses and I'm sound 0:18:19.240 --> 0:18:19.800 designed by. 0:18:19.720 --> 0:18:21.000 Blake Mabeleson Aaron Kasper. 0:18:21.359 --> 0:18:23.320 Questions and comments on this show and all our shows 0:18:23.320 --> 0:18:25.879 are always welcome. Our show email is Merror Money at 0:18:25.920 --> 0:18:27.280 Bloomberg dot net.