RICHARD HEMMING | Under the Radar Report

Join investing expert Richard Hemming as he traces his journey from managing his father's portfolio to launching his own independent research firm, Under the Radar Report. Richard shares how his lifelong fascination with the stock market led him to specialise in Australian small caps. Learn his tips for evaluating cheap stocks with growth potential, sector analysis of mining and biotech companies, and the importance of patience and diversification when investing for the long-term.

Richard's journey as an analyst provided unique insights into the dynamics of big company briefings and the allure of small-cap events. In the world of small caps, he discovered a realm where he had more access and insight than many others. This drew him in, aligning with his preference for doing things his own way.

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Chloe (1s):

Shares for Beginners, Phil, Muscatello and Finpods are authorized reps of moneysherpa. The information in this podcast is general in nature and doesn't take into account your personal situation.

Richard (12s):

When you're building an asset, you are building something that can be used for anything in life. You know, whether it's buying a house, whether it's going on a holiday, whether it's paying for education. So without doing that, you really do inhibit your ability to live the kind of life in the future that you're living now, at the very least. And it puts you on a path of being able to be more confident about being able to spend money. So you're not spending what you don't have, you're spending what you've saved. So I know that, you know, we invest and then some of that money we use to go on good holidays and you don't feel like, oh, we're eating into our life savings.

Richard (52s):

What we're doing is we're working for the things that we want to enjoy in the future. And that's, that's part of why I like investing Good

Phil (1m 0s):

G'day. And, welcome back to Shares for Beginners. I'm Phil Muscatello. Where do you find disruption in the Australian share market? It's not gonna be at the top end of the ASX 200 today. I'm speaking with Richard Hemming from Under the Radar to explain Good day. Richard.

Richard (1m 14s):

Hi. Hi Phil. It's great to be on here. Thank you for having me.

Phil (1m 17s):

No, thanks for coming on and glad to hear you're a new listener and convert to the podcast.

Richard (1m 22s):

Oh, I'm a big convert. I think it's, you know, must hear radio, must hear audio. How do you call it But? it is certainly must listen to. Oh, thank

Phil (1m 30s):

You. Richard is an experienced equities analyst, stockbroker and financial journalist and editor having worked for over 30 years in finance. Richard established under the Radar report in 2010 to help Australian investors access quality independent institutional grade ASX small cap research. So tell us about a bit about your background and why investing is so important for you.

Richard (1m 53s):

Well, there's rarely a time that I can't remember investing, so it's part of my DNA And when did

Phil (1m 59s):

You start, how old?

Richard (1m 60s):

Well, when I was in my teens, my dad was an avid investor and he kind of introduced me to the financial pages. Yeah. And I just grew in love with because you know, like there's a lot of change in your life, but we could always talk about, we could always talk about investing So. it was very good. That and the cricket. And then when I got a bit older, I was managing his portfolio and I remember seeing all these stocks and like in his portfolio. So I graduated from okay understanding about investing to actually trying to help him invest. And I said, I don't understand these stocks dad, they're small caps.

Richard (2m 40s):

And he said, oh, well don't worry about them. You just work on the big caps. Anyway, over time some of those small caps made the huge difference to his life and they, they really did turn out to be big, big returning investments, like really big interning. So they made a difference to all our lives, but especially his and moms and I, I fell in love and then I was an analyst and I, I used to go to briefings and I'd go to the big company briefings like South Corp, Fosters Coke. And I'd see all this brainpower, I'd see so many, so many analysts and fund managers and I'd think, wow, there's, there's, and then I'd go to other stocks that were small caps and I'd see nobody or not many people and it would just be me.

Richard (3m 24s):

And I just got a lot more access. Mm. So I got a lot more insight that I felt nobody else had and I started making money from those stocks so I was hooked. So I just thought, well, you know, I'm not really one to be with the crowd. I like being doing my own thing. So small caps would just fitted my personality.

Phil (3m 44s):

And you became a journalist and editor as well. I mean, what was that transition like going between being an analyst to actually writing about it?

Richard (3m 51s):

Well, I gave up my golf membership for, for one thing. I, I just, being a journalist is an interesting world because people, everyone wants to talk to you, but it's very competitive in the journalist world, So, it is probably, there's no more competitive place in the world than a newsroom. And the news is, is everything. But once again, I found myself gravitating towards small caps and the difference was I got better and better at explaining it to my mom to explaining it to people who didn't understand. So that's why I relate to this program because it is very much, you know, we are trying to explain things that other people are interested in making more complicated.

Richard (4m 36s):

Well my business is making it understandable so people can get access to it. I guess the best thing is when you are talking to people for the first time and you have to break it down and you have to say, well this is why this company is different and this is why we think explaining okay, what the company does is one thing, but then how its valuation measures up to other companies. You know, explaining all these different terms and then making them understandable. Like, because it's one thing understanding what a company does, that's the first thing. But then, okay, what are you gonna pay for that company? How much is it worth And? what is the point of that company for you being an investor in it?

Richard (5m 18s):

So I guess what's interesting to me is, okay, I love learning. I love learning about what companies do. but I also love investing. So I love different concepts about the cost of capital, about diversification, about contrarian investing, about compound interest, So, it brings all these different areas into my world and I'm able to explain these different areas to people and make a difference to their lives. That for me is why I like doing what I do.

Phil (5m 47s):

So I know you're under the Radar, but if something is coming up on your Radar, what are the usual things that would attract your attention about a particular company? Is it the story or is it the numbers that you're looking at first? Yeah,

Richard (5m 57s):

Listening to this program, I know that the story comes up a lot and

Phil (6m 1s):

Well we talk about the story also having

Richard (6m 2s):

Been a journalist

Phil (6m 3s):

Also be aware of the story as well.

Richard (6m 5s):

Well having been a journalist, I'm always aware of the story and I'm, I love telling stories, but those stories are actually only good for an investor if you can see that it makes sense from an economic and financial standpoint. So basically I think, you know, we do screens at under the Radar reports. So we are looking for basic valuation metrics that everyone looks for. But in small caps, I guess you are looking for companies that are cheap. So they're on low PE ratios often, but also that they have growth potential. So the one thing that small caps do is they provide you with growth potential for not much And.

Richard (6m 46s):

that is what, that is the sweet spot. So what you're trying to get is I guess a company you're investing and in an early stage and the whole thing is like Warren Buffet said, you want to be holding onto that company through the lifecycle. So you're looking for earnings, re-rating. So you're looking for improving earnings but you're also looking for an improving rating. So that's what like, you know, there was a company we covered recently, gent Track and they do utility software, they do airport software. Now this company was really on its knees and it was just having a lot of trouble because its customer base in the UK were going broke 'cause these, there were big insolvencies.

Richard (7m 28s):

But what was interesting was that their underlying business was good and they had a charismatic CEO, Gary Miles, I think that's his name anyway, he's a charismatic operator that said we can do this. We're investing where other people are scared, we're putting money into the company. So we're growing. So you like to hear the confidence of A CEO even though you're not gonna invest on that basis because they're all pretty good salesmen.

Phil (7m 52s):

I mean that's a big part of the role, isn't it? Being

Richard (7m 54s):

Well it's so, so you know, If, you were just to invest in an, any salesman you've ever heard of you, you'd probably go broke. But, so that's what fundamental analysis is, is about you're saying, well what's it balance sheet like? Can they sustain this kind of investment schedule? So you're looking at the basics of the company. Is there enough cash flow to sustain them through this lean period? And you're thinking, 'cause the market's often just saying no, this company's going through the back door. But if you can see situations where you think, no, this company's can survive, then ergo it can thrive. So what you're doing is you're paying for something when sentiment is low and you're getting that ratings uplift combined with the earnings uplift, then you can make four times your money.

Richard (8m 40s):

Doesn't happen all the time. Which is why that other principles of diversification, which is I think probably the greatest learning and investment markets in the past 50 years comes into play.

Phil (8m 50s):

So tell us about diversification. I mean how many, I know there's, it's a huge, huge topic, but say, say for you personally, how many stocks would you be investing in at any one

Richard (8m 60s):

Time? Well the numbers like I, I really loved that podcast that we listened to the other with the lady who was the expert on the Dr. Laura

Phil (9m 6s):

Rusu. Rusu. Yeah,

Richard (9m 7s):

Yeah. You know the Markowitz theory but I guess the numbers say seven. So seven is the minimum sort of number of stocks that gives you that diversification benefit. But the other thing is like if you're investing like a hundred grand and you lose out on one of those stocks, then that's gonna hit you. So you know, lots of people talk about the sleep at night factor. So we say 14 or 15. But here's the thing, like people look at the markets, what are the markets? Well the markets are simply what people think goes up and down. Which is the ASX 200 market in Australia, this is the most concentrated market in the world.

Richard (9m 47s):

So you have like 40, 50% dominated of that market, of those moves dominated by 10 companies. And, that is unsustainable in terms of being able to sleep at night. So in order to diversify, and I think that lady, the doctor really kind of hit home on that, you want stocks that aren't correlated to the market. So you really need small caps to diversify your portfolio.

Phil (10m 14s):

It's because of the sectors as well, isn't it? Because a lot of sectors are just not available in the ASX 200.

Richard (10m 19s):

Well they don't mean that much in the ASX200. So it's not that they're not available all the time, it's that you need to be positioning your portfolio so that you've got returns that can benefit your portfolio. Whatever the market does. There's always gonna be market risk. But you need really to be into things that are the future and into investments that mean the future. I mean part of the reason on Love small caps is disruption. I mean we're all disruptive as kids, but what does this mean in a real sense? Well for me, I intuitively don't like what the crowd says.

Richard (10m 59s):

I like thinking for myself. So I like looking at the world and thinking, well is there something here? Can it work out? Like Afterpay is a classic example. We looked at that stock at like $2 or something or $8, I can't remember. It was single digit dollars. It went to a hundred dollars. I mean I'm not saying we stayed on board, but whoever heard of buy now pay later 20 years ago, 15 years ago, like big area Pilbara minerals, lithium stocks, we have great mining expertise that under the Radar report, whoever heard of Lithium as being a major critical mineral 10, 15 years ago, you know, you look for quality in the space and then you ride them, you ride them and you hold onto them.

Richard (11m 45s):

Sure you might not get all the wind, you might miss out on some of them, it's a bumpy ride. But the one thing I know is it's never good being a passenger. You want to be on the ride, you want to be where you think the areas are that are gonna make a difference to your life. And one of those areas are these sort of, these stocks that might not be the bellwethers might not be in the, you know, the BHPs three Rio Tintos, but they might be areas where you think, wow, I really believe in this story and you know, investing at the right price is your way to go, your way to exploit that kind of feeling of, I guess of wonder because you don't want to die wondering.

Richard (12m 25s):

You want to be investing in situations that you believe in.

Phil (12m 29s):

And volatility is a big part of this sector as well, isn't it? There's gonna be much more volatility that up and down movement And, that makes it doubly hard. If you're sitting there and you're watching the price plummet that whether or not you can stomach that kind of volatility to move ahead and hopefully it will turn into a five bag, a 10 bagger or whatever. And then you have the problem of holding when it's going up as well.

Richard (12m 52s):

Oh well I,

Phil (12m 52s):

That's not a real question there, but that's more of a comment for you too. Well

Richard (12m 55s):

I was having lunch with Rudy yesterday. Yeah. And we were talking about how it is investing and we both had the same feelings. Like when we are going well in investing we feel like we can do anything. And then when we're not going well we have feelings of, you know, of despair. Yeah

Phil (13m 14s):

The mojo's gone.

Richard (13m 15s):

But the point of investing is that all feelings will pass your great feelings, your bad feelings, they will pass. but I guess it comes back to having solid principles in investing. And that's why I guess the emotional kind of rollercoaster you experience, well that's part and parcel of investing. But what's also part and parcel of investing is doing things incrementally. So not betting the house, having a system where you can invest slowly and methodically and then build up your threshold, build up your understanding. Which is why Shares for Beginners is so good. Why people hearing all these different experts they can say well you know, I'm learning and you know, dipping their toe in and that's why we developed a system.

Richard (14m 3s):

I love investing because it makes me just wake up each day. And think today's gonna be different because it is never the same. It's n none of these things are set and forget. Like the markets move. Like that lady said the doctor, you know you can balance your portfolio one minute, then two months down the track it's going to, you know, you can rebalance it or like nothing is static in investment markets. You will always live to fight another day. And. That's why you know, one of our principles of investing is, or our key principle Phil, is buy cheap and be patient And that if I was to sum up like how I look at it is like you simply don't look to follow the crowd, you look to make your own decision but you look at the fundamentals of the company, then you invest slowly and then you're patient.

Phil (14m 54s):

So how do you look for value because that's what you're looking for. You're looking for a good price to get in on a particular company. Well how do you do that? What are the kind of methodologies that you subscribe to?

Richard (15m 4s):

Well I guess it's about expected return. So it's about what you think your level of risk is going to be. So your level of risk depends upon maintaining your standards of living in the future. Like that's pretty much what your risk is. So working out your risk tolerance. So basically like I look at life like well you were to lend me $50 and then I'd say well okay I've got this $50, do you want that $50 back in 12 months time? You'd be right to say no I want it now, I want my money now. And you say, what would it take, you know for you to give me that $50 for 12 months? And you'd say,

Phil (15m 42s):

Compared to a term deposit obviously as well. Well that's where

Richard (15m 44s):

We're coming from like well like the rate of interest is the one thing. So I'd say like two or 3% and you'd say no I want more than that. And then maybe we get to like okay I want five or $6, I want $5 in 12 months time. So there's a point of indifference where you are not indifferent. So giving me the $50 and accepting that return is worth you parting with your $50, that is your term deposit rate. Say I, I say I'll try and give you $50 plus $10 but there's a risk, you might get $40, there's risk. So you've got default risk. So then you'll say Ah okay the default risk is worth it 'cause I'm getting more money.

Richard (16m 25s):

And so you go at infinitum. So a lot of these things of your risk depends upon how much you are willing to part with that $50. 'cause if you are just struggling to pay your bills, then you need the money now you can't afford to lend $50. So all these risk kind of idea of risk, you need the money. But you also know if you don't need the money now in order to pay your bills in 12 months time, you probably need more than $50 So. it is worth you taking the risk. So it's about how much you value money now is how much risk you are gonna take. So everyone says ah, don't invest or do invest but be prepared to lose the money. Well there's some truth to that but there's also the truth that with inflation you can't afford not to invest.

Richard (17m 11s):

So you can't afford to just say, oh I can just save money and then I'll be able to pay my bills and I'll be able to live this life in the future. Now you actually need to get a return on your money in order to afford those things that you take for granted. Now you need a return on your money that's above and beyond just simply the wage that you are living on. So that is how I look at investing. So risk for me is, well you know, in small cap land I'm looking closely at the balance sheet because I'm looking, well if this company get wound up well you know, like what's there, what's there? Can they pay their bills now? Can they afford the growth?

Richard (17m 53s):

So whereas like in the stock market, like all these investors, they're focused on earnings, they're very focused on earnings because they know, oh if a company meets these earnings or exceeds these earnings and you hear a lot of talk about this short termism. Whereas what I'm looking at are

Phil (18m 10s):

You talking about like the the general analysts looking at large cap stocks, looking

Richard (18m 13s):

At all stocks

Phil (18m 14s):

In particular?

Richard (18m 14s):

All stocks, yeah. Particular like that's when you listen to analyst calls Phil, they, they're obsessed with earnings like are you gonna make these earnings targets And there's good reason for that. 'cause fund managers themselves, they have three month targets, right? So they live and die on the basis of short-termism. Whereas as an individual investor you have the luxury of investing for the long term. You can say okay well I'm not making money today, I can invest in the long term And. that means you have to rely a lot more on the balance sheet. The balance sheet is your boiler room is the area that you can rely on so that a company doesn't keep coming back to you and asking for more money to fund their growth. You want to know that a company can fund its growth.

Richard (18m 56s):

You don't want to keep putting your hand in your pocket and giving companies money. And that's the big thing about small caps is that basically they are higher risk in individual investments but lower risk when they come to being added to your portfolio. But within that risk you've got the company's specific risk which you have to monitor very closely. And that's what like our team just does all the time. We monitor and you know, we are independent, we are not paid for, you know, we're not pr. So what we do is spend our time making sure that the company risk is low because we know that these small caps, you know they're not blue chips, they're not industry leaders.

Richard (19m 37s):

These are companies that are building products, building market share. There's always risk. But we're trying to minimize that risk.

Phil (19m 46s):

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Phil (20m 36s):

So are there any sectors that you don't look at? I mean are you still looking at junior miners for example, or biotechs and speaking of biotechs, they're the ones that really Oh and miners as well. They're, they're often the ones always looking for more capital to keep exploring or keep it doing r and d. Yeah, you

Richard (20m 53s):

Know exactly Phil exactly like you've, you know this world exactly like to keep a solid company going in the mining business takes, you know, their consumption of capital is is unbelievable. And actually I was a biotechnology writer for the Financial Times for a while. So I was, I was across the biotech world and the pharma world pretty closely and they are areas of consumption So. it comes back to the business model, it always comes back to the business model. So with mining we have a very good mining analyst and over the years we've kind of had our time doing the, the one mining stocks, the explorers and we've moved over into producers, those who are looking to produce in the near term.

Richard (21m 42s):

So not pie in the sky. So we are not interested in exploration because mining is about scale. So as soon as you forget that you are highly vulnerable. So we don't like single mine risk. We tend to like, we cover niche industries for our small caps publication, but they're not always in our definition of, in the classical definition we use of small caps of under 500 million. So we're willing to go bigger market caps in mining and that's why we've had success because we've been following the best in breed. But like you know, some of these nuclear or uranium stocks, they're actually not producing at the moment. They are still developing but you can see that their timeframe into production is there.

Richard (22m 26s):

So like Paladin, they have a mine that they've run before the Lang Hendrick in Namibia Boss Energy, they're about to commence production. I mean we're covering them this week. So like I'll be interested in reading our mining analysts report, but these are higher risk obviously 'cause they're not producing cash flow but there is a timeframe of into production. So you know you're mitigating your risk somewhat on the biotechnology side. Well I think similar to mining, you're not seeing the Genentechs of the world. You are seeing a lot of the Pharmas taking the cream. It's like a lot of the miners take the cream off the exploration, the big miners, they just buy them out before the, the minority.

Richard (23m 8s):

The small investors can make the kind of Poseidon returns that they made in the seventies or eighties, I don't know. But basically what you're looking for from medical technology is more medical technology rather than biotechnology. So we are more interested in products that don't have the same approval criteria. So you're looking at trying to mitigate your regulatory risks and you're looking for cash flow, you're always looking for cash flow, especially with interest rates sort of at more, at more normal levels, four, four to 5% the hurdle return rates have to be met before you're gonna be in a cash flow sense before you're not gonna pay for upside like you were in a no interest rate environment.

Richard (23m 54s):

And in fact like even in that environment, like the upside people were paying for was just out of this world and not achievable.

Phil (24m 4s):

It's interesting when this episode comes out, our previous episode will be covering NanoSonic for example. Oh

Richard (24m 9s):

Well NanoSonic which

Phil (24m 11s):

Has been one of those ones where people have had to put their hands into their pockets many times over the years,

Richard (24m 16s):

Many times But, it hasn't had quite the same risk profile of biotechnology stocks and they are a successful company. NanoSonic used General Electric as their distribution agent, then they've insourced it. So they're basically capturing profit margin for themselves, albeit at a lot of sort of risk,

Phil (24m 38s):

Risk

Richard (24m 38s):

At a lot of cost risk, cost sunk costs. So, which I thought was a great idea. The problem with NanoSonic is that their new next level project CORIS I guess has been extended. It keeps getting extended the rollout because you've got that regulatory risk, it hasn't been approved. So when you get companies and they're performing really well and they say we're gonna perform even better, it's harder for them to perform even better. So the bigger they get, the harder it is to grow. And the market was assuming that they will get that CORIS was gonna come online by now and it hasn't. So the market has been disappointed and the point about someone like CSL was, well that's a big company but that kept outperforming So.

Richard (25m 25s):

it was trading on a growth premium But, it kept doing better than even the market was expecting and the company was expecting So. It just goes to show like what we're talking about are everything's about expectations. So there will be a point when NanoSonic is a buy because they have a great business model and that's what we've seen. We've seen lately that lots of companies that were priced for like growth, well that growth quotient has been knocked out of the price And that could be argued is the case with CSL. So what you don't want to be paying for is too much growth. You want to be like contrarian to a degree And that gives you more comfort in your ability to reduce the risk in your investments.

Phil (26m 12s):

So what are the steps that people can take to start building a thriving portfolio?

Richard (26m 17s):

Well as I said before, we've developed a project which is very much a Shares for Beginners kind of orientation. And we've got building wealth from scratch in the stock market. So we're really excited about it because it's an affordable product that's available to people on this podcast.

Phil (26m 33s):

Oh and to people who are now listening on the podcast.

Richard (26m 35s):

Yeah, that's right. And I guess the point is that like what I like in life is people being interested. Like I was from an early age, but really it doesn't matter what age, it's just getting started. But you want to get started and you don't want to blow yourself up quickly. And this process that we've developed is $500 a month investing for 12 months and it's going to get you a portfolio which is an asset. So that's what we're talking about. What I like in life is assets. Okay, lots of people talk about their home being an asset and that's fine, but that's not necessarily affordable for everyone and it's very a liquid.

Richard (27m 16s):

The good thing about the stock market is that it's liquidity. It's your ability to use it as a bank account almost. That's more the case for bigger stocks, more higher traded stocks. And we account for that in the $500 strategy which we've developed. But really it's getting an investing habit. And that's what I got early on from talking to my dad. It's

Phil (27m 38s):

Great to have that kind of start, isn't it? Well just 'cause a lot of people just don't have that.

Richard (27m 40s):

When I think if you get a habit then it's a virtuous habit and you're just getting rolling and you're not putting too much into it. You're putting just enough into it to get used to it, to get comfortable with it being part of your life. And then you can build from there. And that's why it's called Building Wealth and you're embracing different principles. And we go through those principles that we've been talking about in this podcast and I just think when you're building an asset, you are building something that can be used for anything in life. You know, whether it's buying a house, whether it's going on a holiday, whether it's paying for education. So without doing that, you really do inhibit your ability to live the kind of life in the future that you're living now at the very least.

Richard (28m 26s):

And it puts you on a path of being able to be more confident about being able to spend money. So you're not spending what you don't have, you're spending what you've saved. So I know that, you know, we invest and then some of that money we use to go on good holidays and you don't feel like, oh we're eating into our life savings. What we're doing is we're working for the things that we want to enjoy in the future. And that's, that's part of why I like investing. Yeah. Having a goal, having a dog So, it is the point of investing. Like everyone, it gets a bit lost with all the, the noise in this industry, the noise and yeah, and there is a lot of complexity. But what we try and do in the course is include that complexity but in bite-sized chunks.

Richard (29m 9s):

So you don't feel like investing is a complicated thing. Like small caps, risky beasts on their own, but if you work up to them then you know how much risk you can take. And investing isn't something you do all the time basically. It's not something you have to do every day. But you know that if you've started investing you can just take a break but you've still started so you've still got those investments working for you and you can pick it up again. It's not like you have to start from scratch every time. That's why, you know, we call the, we call the course building wealth from scratch 'cause literally getting started is the most important thing.

Phil (29m 48s):

And, what sort of things would you be learning in this course as you build up your knowledge?

Richard (29m 52s):

Well we talked about diversification, we talked about contrarian investing. Yeah, we've talked about compound interest, which is basically, you know, like simply reinvesting your dividends has a huge effect on building up your wealth, creating a diversified portfolio. Well to start with, ETFs are good, but I've heard you talking a lot about ETFs, but really it's keeping it simple. It's just investing in an index linked ETF. 'cause that is the cheapest way to get diversification and then building from there. So you are working out, what I said before about if you lend me $50 what you'll pay for it. You are working out over time over the 12 months what your risk tolerance is because you need to know your risk tolerance.

Richard (30m 37s):

'cause no one else can know that for you. It's like no one else can understand what your financial needs are. Like yourself. Like life is about trusting yourself. And, what we are interested in doing is helping people trust their own instincts and get control over their lives because it's just easy to outsource everything and you think you're doing, but what you're doing is you're just paying fees. And the one thing I hate in life is paying out more fees than I have to like paying people to do stuff that I can do myself. And I think like a

Phil (31m 11s):

Changing a tap washer when you can go to a YouTube video and work out how to do it yourself. Yeah.

Richard (31m 15s):

Or learning the guitar when you can anyway. But lots of things are a lot more enjoyable and a lot less scary. And what we're trying to do is take the fear factor out and get people on the path that's made me so happy and that's made a lot, lots of my friends happy. And it can make you feel happy and confident and that's part of what life's about. Mm.

Phil (31m 36s):

So how much is the course and how can people find out more about it?

Richard (31m 39s):

Well we've got a special offer 'cause we've just launched it $49 and it's a 12 month system. And so that gets you on board. And then there's another deal that you can do with our blue chips course. So you can get six months of blue chips and small caps, but everything depends upon your appetite for risk. So this course just, if you buy nothing else, just get the course and then see how you go and, and it's a great try before you buy, well you are buying, but what it is is it's what I keep saying, do things incrementally. You're not gonna become Warren Buffet, you know tomorrow, maybe never. But you don't have to become Warren Buffet. You just have to realize what kind of risk tolerance you have in life.

Richard (32m 22s):

And what it is that you want in life and shoot for that. Mm.

Phil (32m 26s):

So how can listeners find out more about the course? Where can they find it?

Richard (32m 29s):

Well, under the Radar report.com au is our website. So that's, that's the best start. Yeah. And everything goes from there. And

Phil (32m 37s):

Where do, where's the course on that website? Where does it

Richard (32m 39s):

Come up? It'll be, there'll be a link on the website to get to the course.

Phil (32m 42s):

Yeah. And for the rest of the newsletter, what does the newsletter offer with under the Radar? Well

Richard (32m 48s):

There's the blue chips which offers the 40 to 45 of the blue ASX 200 companies that we cover. And that's a fortnightly newsletter And that has a, that that basically gives you simple buy, sell, hold recommendations with metrics like PEs and dividend yields, But it importantly, it also gives you access to understanding where those companies fit in within the as X 200. So it's sector by sector. So you know, part of understanding about investing is working out which sectors you're comfortable in, you know, building up your understanding of diversification. And then that diversification continues when you get to small caps.

Richard (33m 29s):

And that's our sort of specialist letter which concentrates well we, we cover about 110 companies or so. So you know, we cover companies right across the spectrum. As you were saying before, there's a lot more variation in terms of sectors, but there's different risk appetites. So what you're trying to do is help people understand where those stocks can fit into their investment portfolio, which is only dependent upon themselves.

Phil (33m 57s):

Wow. So what is the step that people need to find out more about themselves? Is it actually doing it, just doing the investing and seeing what happens?

Richard (34m 4s):

Well I think it's understanding where you sit financially. So it's working out what your financial goals are. So like if you have all this debt fill, your best efforts are getting rid of that debt. You know, you are often your best effort just getting the best mortgage deal that you can get. So you, you need to do a bit of work before you can start investing. You know, equities are called risk assets for a reason, so you need to prepare yourself a bit. but I guess the best thing you can do is just start learning and start investing is start a system and get prepared. Like spend a month preparing for the system and then spend 12 months on the system and then through the system because it's incremental.

Richard (34m 49s):

Like if you don't have $500 a month, maybe invest $500 every three months. But you're following the, the tenets of the system. So you're putting yourself on a path. I mean it's much better being on a path when you know that you're getting somewhere than not being on a path at at all and getting nowhere that all we're doing is saying here's a path that's been researched, thought out. And it's not complicated and anyone can do it. So accessibility isn't just for the Kardashians, it's also for people who want to improve in life. And that's everyone.

Phil (35m 25s):

So Richard, I've gotta say it's been great meeting you. We, we met each other wandering around the streets of Sydney really, didn't we?

Richard (35m 32s):

Well we, well within the context of we just met into going to a Microcaps conference. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Phil (35m 37s):

No, I just, I like the Impre to give the impression that we were just wandering vaguely around the streets of Sydney and we came across each other.

Richard (35m 43s):

Well that's yeah, the main streets of Sydney.

Phil (35m 45s):

We the main streets of the big end of town. Yeah,

Richard (35m 47s):

The main streets of, yeah. I think we went to Bar Luca. Anyway, that's another story. That is another

Phil (35m 52s):

Story. Anyway, Richard, we'll look, we'll definitely get you back on. But for today, thank you so much for joining me.

Richard (35m 57s):

Thank you for having me, Phil. I've really enjoyed it.

Chloe (35m 60s):

Thanks for listening to Shares For Beginners. You can find more at Shares For Beginners dot com. if you enjoy listening, please take a moment to rate or review in your podcast player or tell a friend who might want to learn more about investing for their future.

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