Fund Manager Q&A

How an everyday investor competes with the pros

Patrick Poke
Patrick Poke
Livewire Markets

Angie Ellis might not be a 'household name' among investors, but she's racked up quite a track record since she started 8020 Investments about five years ago. See, Angie is a regular entrant to the Fairfax share tipping competition, published in The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald each week. And of the seven times she's entered the competition this year, she's won it five times, and came second twice. This is no fluke either, she's consistently been the top performer over several years.

So for my last podcast for 2019 (this was recorded in December), I decided to change up the pace, skip the fund managers, and talk to one of Australia's most successful private investors.

We discuss how she transitioned from a part-time to a full-time investor, and how it's affected her portfolio; her strategy for the tipping competition, and how it compares to her personal portfolio; and she discusses some of the companies that have been key to her success.

Recommended reading:

Time stamps

  • 2:10 – Angie’s journey to become a full-time investor and the challenges involved
  • 6:55 – Her first trade: buying The Reject Shop (ASX:TRS) at $16.75 and selling it two weeks later at $10.80, and the impact that had on her confidence
  • 8:48 – An overview of her research process and current holdings; what she looks for in companies and, interestingly, how she uses social media and networking to find critical information
  • 16:03 – Lessons for private investors from the professionals including the importance of calculating returns, accountability, meeting company management, trying the products of the companies you’re investing in and monitoring directors’ trades
  • 24:00 – Putting theory into practice: Angie discusses Lovisa (ASX:LOV), A2 Milk (ASX:A2M) and BWX (ASX:BWX)
  • 28:20 – Some of the damaging habits retail investors have
  • 33:08 – Her portfolio versus her picks for The Age/SMH shares race
  • 36:05 – Can retail investors be successful at day trading?
  • 38:25 – Angie answers our three favourite questions

If you prefer to read...

My colleague Vishal has written an excellent summary of some of the key points in this podcast, which you can read here.

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Ngaire Groves

Thank You so much!

Joanne Thambyah

Inspirational investor! Excellent interview and I came away with a number of golden nuggets. Thanks Angie. Angie mentioned an interview between Ray Dalio and Sean Koontz (not sure how to spell his name). Could you please post that link?

Joanne Thambyah

Thanks Angie! I've just purchased Ray's 'Principles: Life and Work' book. Looking forward to reading it. BTW: OLL reached an ATH today and was up over 37% at one stage.

Patrick Poke

Thanks Angie and Joanne!

Angie Ellis

It’s a great book Joanne - enjoy! How lovely that Ray Dalio replied so kindly to me about the coffee catchup! Classic! Got to be in it to win it I say! 😂

Philip Metcalf

I enjoyed your comments on researching companies from their output . I expected that with 80/20 in your companies name that you would be applying the principle but this reference did not appear .It would be interesting to hear if there is a application in your business . Thanks Philip Metcalf

James Komninos

So refreshing and valuable.

Angie Ellis

Thanks Philip. The 8020 Rule has been really important for me to plan my day and allocate my time. I try to resist the temptation to clear up small things and focus on the, often harder, but more important higher value tasks.

Peter Brown

In reply to Joanne's comment made on the 6th January about the large increase in the share price of OLL. Many people who read investment articles such as those published by Livewire buy on the basis of what they read. If you look Angie's article came out on Friday 3rd January. The next two trading days it has risen from a close of 17.5 cents to a high of 26.5 cents. Coincidence? I think not. OLL has been in a sideways trading range sice early December and only now has started increasing quickly. I have noticed that many shares increase rapidly once mentioned in Livewire. Look at BID last week. Same thing.

Peter Brown

BTW. Lest any readers take offence my earlier comment was not meant as a criticism but simply as an observation.

Adrian Lim

Thanks so much for this interview with Angie. I thoroughly identified and enjoyed the contents, esp chit-chatting with DAIGOUs and doing ones own ingenious "independent research". You mentioned in the interview about groups of private investors that are in e-mail groups / catch up, could you mention or suggest some of them? Is there also a newsletter or contact email that your 8020 investments has? I only see Twitter and LinkedIn online...Thank you

Angie Ellis

Thanks Adrian. Attending the livewiremarkets live event is a great way to find people to form an investment group. My groups are made up of people I have met at investment conferences and events. You could try meetup, AIA (Australian Investors Association) and the ASA (Australian Shareholders Association) to find like minded people - I have, in the past, attended their monthly meetings. Follow me on twitter and connect on LinkedIn!