Speziale - Market masters: interviews with Canadas top investors--proven investing strategies you can apply

To

Family: Mom, Dad, and Sister.

Grandparents: rest in peace.

All of my relatives: in Canada,

USA, Sweden, and Italy.

Friends. Teachers.

One percent (1%) of the proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to SickKids Foundation

If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.

Isaac Newton

It is not a case of choosing those [faces] that, to the best of ones judgment, are really the prettiest, nor even those that average opinion genuinely thinks the prettiest. We have reached the third degree, where we devote our intelligences to anticipating what average opinion expects the average opinion to be. And there are some, I believe, who practice the fourth, fifth, and higher degrees.

John Maynard Keynes, The Keynesian beauty contest

One thing I can predict: it is almost axiomatic that the wild enthusiasm of today will be met with the equally unwarranted pessimism of tomorrow.

David Dreman

FOREWORD

Knowing how to invest is an essential life skill. While the education system gives you the tools to earn an income, it rarely tells you how to make your money last and keep it from running out before you do.

I learned about investing only when I started covering mutual funds at the Globe and Mail and took the Canadian Securities Course (CSC). I interviewed so many money managers during my 10-year stint at the Globe that I finally started to understand how they valued companies and picked securities.

Robin Speziale has interviewed Canadas top money managers in depth. But instead of asking what stocks they like the flavour of the month he talked to them about the processes they use to find investable securities.

At the beginning of his book, Robin talks about his copious legwork. He had to pin down 28 strangers and encourage them to open up about their proprietary ideas and techniques.

Would they return his calls and emails? Would they agree to meet him?

The book you are about to read almost didnt come together. Other authors might have given up. Robin kept pushing and he pulled it off.

I said yes to Robin in 2010 when he pitched me about his self-published book, Lessons from the Successful Investor. By then, I had moved to the Toronto Star and started teaching an evening course, Investing for Beginners, at the University of Torontos continuing studies department.

Why dont you come talk to my students? I said.

I wanted to see if he could think on his feet in a classroom setting.

Robin aced the audition. Still in his twenties, he had the confidence of someone much older. He paid tribute to his idol, Warren Buffett, and stayed within my time limit. That rarely happens.

I invited Robin to my class again the next year. He also gave a presentation to my investment club, Ellens Degenerates.

Earlier this year, he asked me to do a foreword for a new book. I didnt know the scope of the project until he sent me the manuscript.

My first thought: What a great resource this is for students, instructors, and do-it-yourself investors.

My second thought: Canada has so many smart money managers. They deserve to be highlighted in something that lasts longer than a daily newspaper article or a Market Call show on the Business News Network.

Ive interviewed some of these Market Masters (Francis Chou, Kiki Delaney, Paul Harris, Som Seif) and invited some to speak to my classes or club (Gaelan Morphet, Peter Hodson, Randy Cass, Bill Carrigan). There are also a few people I know (Derek Foster, Ross Grant, Benj Gallander) who are compelling communicators about investing, though they dont actually work in the industry.

Good job, Robin. Yours is the first Canadian book Ive seen that spotlights such a wide variety of investing styles. You even included low-cost passive or index investing.

Readers, you will find this book useful and lively. Instead of going straight through until the end, you can dip in and out of the chapters as you like, learning as you go.

Ellen Roseman

Personal finance expert and Toronto Star columnist