Zingers, Questions and Answers
Sorry for those who missed it – we purposely don’t record the Happy Hour because the best insights shared are done “off the record,” and given the unscripted nature of Happy Hours, we never know what is going to be said. Nevertheless, here are a couple of pivotal questions, zingers and even proposed solutions.
Top Zingers and Fun Exchanges
- Weiskopf: (responding to Venuto) “That’s the ETF professor to you, sir”
- Tolle: “The U.S. ranks about 17 out of 262” – for overall freedom
- Tolle: “I was surprised to see India drop out of the index, its the world’s largest democracy, but we use relative freedom levels and they were dropped at the rebalance this year”
- Weiskopf: “With freedom, innovation is accelerated”
- Dziekanski: “It’s better to invest in countries that have more diaper sales to the young than to the old”
- Venuto: “We’re adding that to the Think Tank KPI’s – the ‘Diaper Ratio'”
- Gayed: “I think the Diaper Ratio might become a new ATAC product”
Laughter and Fun
We launched the Get Think Tanked Happy Hour with this exact purpose: addressing serious investment subjects with humility, authenticity and yes, a little fun during these difficult times. Given that, we were thrilled to raise a glass on February 11, 2021 and use the toasting word “Freedom.” Many of us were channeling William Wallace in this episode, and it led to some great chatter.
Questions and Key Discussion Points
Does investing in more freedom-oriented countries lead to more innovative companies long-term? Perth Tolle thinks so, and that’s how her index and ETF is designed. While there is a big emerging market missing from the index (one that almost every other emerging market ETF has), this is a freedom-weighted strategy that you need to know about. Some of the questions and debate covered includes:
- Life and Liberty are good things to invest in but talking through what it actually means from an investible thesis side.
- Why construct investments in this way?
- What countries are emphasized and excluded in this freedom and liberty style index?
- How does one think about liquidity in these types of emerging markets, and how do you tackle these issues in ETF products?
- In launching an index and an ETF, talk about the journey of the entrepreneur and what the biggest surprise in the journey was.
- What’s the advice? We’ve opened and closed funds that were unsuccessful. What’s one thing every ETF entrepreneur needs to know?
Thank you, Perth Tolle (@Perth_Tolle) for letting us in on how you designed your freedom + liberty index, and why everyone should have some sort of screen like this in their portfolios. We also really enjoyed diving into your entrepreneurial background and seeing what helped your story develop along the way.
Key Takeaways
The Happy Hour was a constructive discussion and highlighted various key points that we often address at Toroso.
What type of countries are high-democracy and freedom, and how does long-term investing themes play into these countries? Does freedom lead to better returns and what types of companies in emerging markets are in those types of investments? We had a lively discussion and had some great depth on what Perth does within her index and ETF. This was followed by another Clubhouse chat, which gets better every time!
Thank you, Perth, for coming on our show last week. To learn more about her Life + Liberty Indexes, check out her website here. If you want to follow along on her journey to invest in things like human rights, economic freedoms, emerging markets, and ETFs, follow her on twitter.
This week we have Matt Barkley, a quarterback for the Buffalo Bills NFL team. He has been a big investor in all things Bitcoin and it will be an interview you do not want to miss out on. Come join us! Bring on your questions.
Disclosure
The information provided here is for financial professionals only and should not be considered an individualized recommendation or personalized investment advice. The investment strategies mentioned here may not be suitable for everyone. Each investor needs to review an investment strategy for his or her own particular situation before making any investment decision.
All expressions of opinion are subject to change without notice in reaction to shifting market conditions. Data contained herein from third party providers is obtained from what are considered reliable sources. However, its accuracy, completeness or reliability cannot be guaranteed.
Examples provided are for illustrative purposes only and not intended to be reflective of results you can expect to achieve.
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The value of investments and the income from them can go down as well as up and investors may not get back the amounts originally invested, and can be affected by changes in interest rates, in exchange rates, general market conditions, political, social and economic developments and other variable factors. Investment involves risks including but not limited to, possible delays in payments and loss of income or capital. Neither Toroso nor any of its affiliates guarantees any rate of return or the return of capital invested. This commentary material is available for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any security and nothing herein should be construed as such. All investment strategies and investments involve risk of loss, including the possible loss of all amounts invested, and nothing herein should be construed as a guarantee of any specific outcome or profit. While we have gathered the information presented herein from sources that we believe to be reliable, we cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information presented and the information presented should not be relied upon as such. Any opinions expressed herein are our opinions and are current only as of the date of distribution, and are subject to change without notice. We disclaim any obligation to provide revised opinions in the event of changed circumstances.
