The Evolution of Investing

Darrin Erickson:
Sure, so I’ve been managing equity portfolios for about 25 years now. And a good part of that, as a US equity manager, and then for about the past 10 years or so really focused on global markets. And, you know, when I was growing up, I was fortunate enough that my family moved to the Middle East for a little while, my dad was recruited to help build a pulp, pulp and paper mill out there. And so it really, you know, when you’re 10 years old, and you see other parts of the world that, you know, most people never get the opportunity to visit, it really opens up your eyes and changes your perspective on the world around you. You realize the world is a great, big, beautiful place. You know, there’s a lot of wonderful people around the world and I think they have a common common interest and a common goal to, you know, make the world a better place. And, that extends to investing. I think that, you know, a lot of what we focused on in the past, as you said, was, how do we make money, you know, let’s make profits. But I think people are beginning to realize that it’s not that simple. You can’t just go out and worry about making money, without thinking about the consequences of what you’re doing, the actions you’re taking, the actions of the businesses you’re investing in. So really, when you talk about sustainability, it’s great to make money, but if the world that we inhabit is uninhabitable at some point, then money is worth absolutely nothing. So that’s kind of, you know, I think from my perspective, I’ve always had a very global perspective on life. And, and I certainly see, you know that as as being sort of the core of what I’m doing in managing other people’s money

Justin Recla:
Yeah, I you know, you are so so spot on I’m I’m so glad I had you on the show today because it’s today’s conversation is going to be one that I think is going to help open up the eyes of what’s actually going on in a global at a global scale. Right. I know oftentimes, investors would get really excited about a specific company or a specific technology like blockchain or Bitcoin or or anything like that. You know, I think Bitcoin especially has turned out to be like it’s just digital gold, right? It’s a limited supply and yes, it is what it is, but overall, it doesn’t really provide anything new. Right? It doesn’t do any it doesn’t create anything good? There’s stuff that can come, you know that good can come from it. But is it really helping overall? Or are people just getting involved to make money? So when we get back on the backside of this conversation, I want to dive into this even further as to what this looks like. But yeah, can you share a little bit more about the book that you’ve written, and where people can go find that information?

Darrin Erickson:
Certainly, so the book is global investing, a practical guide to the world’s best financial opportunities. It was published by John Wiley and Sons in New York, back in December of 2022. So it’s pretty recent. And really, what I focus on there is the global opportunity, trying to get people to think outside the box and look beyond their, their local economy or their own borders, at the opportunities that exist in other regions. So there are global industry leaders that exist in all parts of the world, Europe, Asia, North America, Latin America. And I think as an investor, you’re not doing yourself any favors by just looking at what you’re familiar with, you know, it’s clear, you know, you see businesses every day, you know, you drive past them, you’re familiar with them, you’re comfortable investing in them. But I’d like to say to people, if you had a friend in, in North America, friend and Asia friend in Europe, or in Latin America, you know, there are a lot of great businesses that are household names in each region, that are really doing good things, not only for their local economy, or the global economy, but for society as a whole for for the environment, and so on. So it really pays to kind of look abroad. And that’s one element of the book. The other part is to talk about the risks of investing globally, or, you know, outside your own borders, and how best to handle those risks. And then finally, I break down the global economy into into sector are actually industries 91 global industries, that are, you know, pretty, pretty dominant and comprise, I’d say, you know, the vast majority of the global economy, and then talk about some of the some of the things we look at, if we’re looking at a, you know, particular industry. Let’s say, you know, medical healthcare equipment, for example, healthcare equipment, globally, who are the biggest players in that are the most dominant players in that industry? What are the trends and themes happening within that and how to evaluate companies within that particular industry. So that’s, that kind of rounds out of book how to create a portfolio of, of great businesses. And a key theme to this is, you have to think of yourself as a business owner, when you invest in a company, you’re an owner of that business. And you’re going to benefit in the long run financially, by investing in the company. But at the same time, it also comes with some responsibilities, you have to think about, if you own the entire business, how would you feel about what they’re doing. And so I think in the long run, that’s going to be important to your financial situation as well, because if you invest in a company that is doing things they shouldn’t eventually, especially in today, you know, today with social media being what it is, and the ability for, for news to get out very, very quickly and spread around the globe in a matter of seconds. You know, I think it’s because both investors and business owners or management teams have realized that they have to take social responsibility very, very seriously. So that’s sort of what the book is sort of aimed at. It’s how do you build wealth, but how do you do it in a sustainable fashion going forward?

Justin Recla:
Oh, fantastic. Where can people find that book? Where can they get their hands on

Darrin Erickson:
it? It’s available on most websites, book retailer websites, Amazon sells it. It’s available directly from Wiley, amongst a number of other Barnes Noble chapters, Indigo in Canada, and then retailers as well in Europe and Asia.

Justin Recla:
Fantastic. Fantastic. And where can people go find more information about you directly in your organization, if they want to learn more about how they might be able to work with you?

Darrin Erickson:
They can check out valuepartnersinvestments.ca. With that myself, sometimes

Justin Recla:
fantastic folks, go take a look at what they’re up to. They’re doing some great work in the world because they understand the importance of social impact. We understand that the social impact organizations are really going to be what drive us forward in the future. We can’t be holding companies not responsible for creating disasters that are actually not doing good in the world anymore. Like they do, as Derek mentioned here, more and more people are awakening to the fact that perhaps we can hold the companies that we invest in, to do something more responsible. And so if you’re a social impact professional, and you’re trying to drown out the white noise of the world, the craziness instead of going to the world, and go to superpowerexperts.com, take a look at our core classes. Social Impact requires energetic training. And if you’re not getting that you’re not able to manage all the craziness coming in your world, then that program will help you out take a look at superpowerexperts.com. We’ll be right back.