Meet Oliver: The one-year-old with a $10,000 portfolio

Interviewing a one year old presented some slight language barrier challenges, but luckily his Dad and fellow colleague Kerry Sun, was happy to step in and answer on his behalf. 

"Time in the market" is the phrase that gets thrown around most, and with good reason. Anyone who's started investing knows the power of compounding over time, whether they're a millennial discovering ETFs or a boomer who lived through multiple market cycles.

One thing I’ve learned since joining Livewire is that “stocks only go up”. Funnily enough, those are Kerry’s words, not mine.

So without further ado, I hope you enjoy this special instalment of Meet the Investor.

Profile

• Name - Oliver Sun
• Age - 15 months
• Job / Employment status - I’m a baby
• Years spent investing - 15 months
• Investment goals - Fund private school education, first car etc.
• Products used - Stocks
• Biggest investment/portfolio holding - Alfabs (ASX: AAL)
• Secret (or not so secret) talent - My first word was ‘nana’ (for banana)
• Guilty reading or viewing pleasure - National Geographic, specifically tigers and lions

How did you get started in investing and what was your first investment?

I opened an account on Stake for Oliver shortly after he was born. This was around the time the Russell 2000 was breaking out (up ~11.5% between 9-16 July 2024), which encouraged me to dabble around the small-end of town. In hindsight, it was a little degenerate to be playing around with such small companies.

There were a lot of chop and changes made in the first few months as many of these small caps (ANG, COS and MCE) were just moving sideways and I exited around breakeven.

How would you describe your strategy and your investment goals?

I'd say the strategy is pretty simple. We start with a $10,000, five-stock portfolio, focused on stocks that have undemanding valuations, strong balance sheets and/or massive growth runways.

The objective isn't to trade but hold these over the medium term. I will be mindful of technicals (e.g. if the chart begins to deteriorate) and fundamentals (e.g. an earnings outcome that undermines the original thesis). I will probably add more capital to the portfolio here and there, and hopefully, this will fund Oliver's big ticket items down the line.

I think one of the main challenges for me is that I'm looking at far too many stocks (especially in a role where I'm also analysing and writing about stocks daily). This creates a bit of market ADHD, evidenced by how the portfolio started off. 

Can you share your top 5 holdings in % terms and why you hold these positions?

As of his first trip around the sun, the portfolio recorded total returns of 27.9% and its holdings included:

1. Alfabs (ASX: AAL) – 39.0%

Alfabs is a heavy mining and industrial plant/equipment hire company that listed in June 2024 and spent a few months trading sideways. I thought this presented a compelling opportunity since:

• I'm a big fan of IPO breakouts (recent ones include TEA, CCL, even the initial GYG leg was quite powerful)
• A market cap of ~$72 million, with ~$9m net cash and trading at 3.5x FY24 EBITDA
• Reported FY24 NPAT of $6.9m, beating prospectus forecasts of $6.0m by 15%
• August FY24 result noted intentions to pay a maiden dividend in FY25

2. Cuscal (ASX: CCL) – 33.6%

Cuscal is one of those stocks I struggle to understand what it does. I know it's B2B payment processing services, and it holds a license that's held by only itself and the Big Four Banks. Much like Alfabs, the stock listed on Nov-24 and spent a few weeks chopping sideways, before establishing a higher high.

This wire by Harley Grosser also brought to my attention the fundamentals and its undemanding valuation.

3. Metals X (ASX: MLX) – 9.7%

Metals X is one of the world's largest tin miners, it trades at a low-to-mid single PE ratio and it absolutely prints cash. It currently has a market cap of ~$550 million, with $230 million in cash (as at 30 June 2025) and punched out $67 million EBITDA in the June quarter or $274.2 million on a rolling 12-month basis.

It's pretty hard to argue against its valuation and strategic position. Though it's one of those frustrating stocks that could easily re-rate severalfold – but stubbornly stays put.

4. Xero (ASX: XRO) – 8.9%

Xero's a bit of a no-brainer – it falls in the bucket of stocks like Pro Medicus, Technology One, Hub24, etc., trying to seek world domination for its offering.

That, combined with its nice chart back in July 2024, and we're happy holders. Although its recent acquisition of Melio does muddy the waters a bit. I may or may not cut this one in the not-too-distant future.

5. Southern Cross Electrical Engineering (ASX: SXE) – 8.1%

Another industrial name, trading at a reasonable valuation, where seven blue-chip clients have consistently provided over 45% on average of revenues over the last eight years. However, Australia's energy transition and AI demand have seen SCEE win some major contracts within the data centre and battery storage space.

This was the only stock in the portfolio that spent most of this year around breakeven or slightly red. There’s a good chance I'll cut this for something else down the line.

What investment is on your watchlist?

August reporting season will be a good opportunity to buy into a thesis-changing result – I'm a big fan of using earnings as catalysts. A few recent names that show just how much a stock can move from a meaningful result include Hansen Technologies (ASX: HSN) (margin surprise) and Metcash (ASX: MTS) (turnaround story).

I also wouldn’t mind buying into names like Pro Medicus (ASX: PME) and Hub24 (ASX: HUB) in the event of a pullback. 

What was your worst investment, and what has been your best?

There haven't really been any losers in the portfolio. We sold a few small caps that I mentioned earlier around breakeven after a couple of months. The worst one was probably panic-selling the Betashares Crypto Innovators ETF (ASX: CRYP) when it fell 20% on 5 August after the Yen Carry trade implosion. We had a small profit buffer, but exited for a 5-10% loss. It's now up around 50% from where I bought it.

Is there a lesson you’ve learned as an investor that could potentially help others?

Nothing new – hold winners, cut losers, stay level-headed, focus on quality companies, don't entrench yourself in biases, add as many layers to your investment analysis as you can.

Can you share a personal passion or ambition you have for the future?

Since we're talking about Oli – probably give him a sibling (or two …).