Behind the Balance Sheet – Details, episodes & analysis

Peter Oppenheimer is chief global equity strategist and head of Macro Research at Goldman Sachs in Europe and the author of two books on market cycles.

His first book, the Long Good Buy is sub-titled Analysing Cycles in Markets. His follow-up book Any Happy Returns, is sub-titled Structural Changes and Super Cycles in Markets and looks at longer term secular trends and the future outlook for economies and markets. Our discussion covers both.

Our episode title refers to Peter’s study of cycles inmarkets, but amusingly for a partner at Goldman Sachs, he arrived for our recording on a bike, not their usual mode of transport.

Behind the Balance Sheet is a fundamental investing podcast for serious investors. Each episode dives intohow real‑world investors source ideas, build conviction and manage their portfolios.

You’ll hear frameworks for analysing industries, understanding business models, and thinking about risk, behaviour and incentives, so you can refine your own process rather than copy stock tips.

For full show notes, transcripts and additional resources, visit our ⁠⁠website⁠⁠.

If you value thoughtful, process-driven investing discussions, follow the show and consider leaving a short review, or just a 5* rating on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Please help spread the word.

John Armitage is a giant in the hedge fund world and in the world of investing more broadly. His firm, Egerton Capital,  celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. In this conversation, John explains how he started with $10m, and why you couldn’t do that today. He touches on his portfolio, talks about his approach to investing, explaining why he requires his analysts to follow more than one sector, and why he doesn’t employ data scientists. We discuss Elon Musk, AI, and geopolitics and John gives advice to a young person contemplating a career choice.

And Nicolai Tangen, CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management, the largest single equity owner in the world, explains why John is so highly regarded by his peers.

John is our first podcast guest to return for a second episode.

Behind the Balance Sheet is a fundamental investing podcast for serious investors. Each episode dives intohow real‑world investors source ideas, build conviction and manage their portfolios.

You’ll hear frameworks for analysing industries, understanding business models, and thinking about risk, behaviour and incentives, so you can refine your own process rather than copy stock tips.

For full show notes, transcripts and additional resources, visit our ⁠⁠⁠website⁠⁠⁠.

If you value thoughtful, process-driven investing discussions, follow the show and consider leaving a short review, or simply a 5* rating on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Please help spread the word.

Explaining what to expect from a new series of podcasts focusing on the investment opportunities (and risks) in the energy transition. With co-host, climate finance expert Huw van Steenis.

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Bill Browder is a human rights activist who championed the Magnitsky Act, signed into law by President Obama. It not only sanctions Russians, but others around the world. Similar legislation is now in place in over 30 countries. He is also a bestselling author and former hedge fund manager.

In this episode, we talk about his career, about how he coped with a 90% fall in the value of his fund, about how he subsequently engineered a 37x recovery for the portfolio, about his deportation from Russia and how he subsequently secretly cashed in the gains and returned the cash to investors.

And of course we talk about the events that led up to the tragic death of his lawyer and friend Sergei Magnitsky.  

Warning: Listeners may find some of this discussion upsetting.

Disclaimer: Bill's views are his own and do not reflect the views of this podcast.

Show Notes

Behind the Balance Sheet is a fundamental investing podcast for serious investors. Each episode dives intohow real‑world investors source ideas, build conviction and manage their portfolios.

You’ll hear frameworks for analysing industries, understanding business models, and thinking about risk, behaviour and incentives, so you can refine your own process rather than copy stock tips.

For full show notes, transcripts and additional resources, visit our ⁠⁠⁠website⁠⁠⁠.

If you value thoughtful, process-driven investing discussions, follow the show and consider leaving a short review, or just a 5* rating on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Please help spread the word.

Grant Williams is a former hedge fund manager who now publishes the monthly newsletter Things that Make You Go Hmmm and a subscription-only investing podcast channel that incredibly is one of the top 0.5% of all podcasts globally.

In this fascinating discussion, Grant explains his fascination for Japan and why we should all pay attention. We discuss US Treasuries, and why there is a risk that the current glut of supply could meet a dearth of buyers. And of course we talk about gold as well as how Grant has built a financial media empire.

Show Notes

Behind the Balance Sheet is a fundamental investing podcast for serious investors. Each episode dives into how real‑world investors source ideas, build conviction and manage their portfolios.

You’ll hear frameworks for analysing industries, understanding business models, and thinking about risk, behaviour and incentives, so you can refine your own process rather than copy stock tips.

For full show notes, transcripts and additional resources, visit our website.If you value thoughtful, process-driven investing discussions, follow the show and consider leaving a short review, or even just a 5* rating on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Please help spread the word.

James Aitken is an expert in the plumbing of the financial system. We go on a world tour of the hotspots in global finance. You will learn why James is relaxed about the US; why the Japanese government will Make Japan Great Again and why this could have serious repercussions for global bond markets; and why China will likely muddle through, in spite of massive problems in its property sector.

Show Notes

Behind the Balance Sheet is a fundamental investing podcast for serious investors. Each episode dives into how real‑world investors source ideas, build conviction and manage their portfolios.

You’ll hear frameworks for analysing industries, understanding business models, and thinking about risk, behaviour and incentives, so you can refine your own process rather than copy stock tips.

For full show notes, transcripts and additional resources, visit our ⁠website⁠.If you value thoughtful, process-driven investing discussions, follow the show and consider leaving a short review, or even just a 5* rating on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Please help spread the word.

Sebastian Lyon is a conservative investor who manages two highly successful multi asset funds. His motto is simple over complex and he is intent on protecting the downside. In this interview, we discuss his views on markets (spoiler: not super bullish); how he built Troy into a significant asset management business from scratch; how he has managed his fund to deliver only 3 down years in 20 and create outstanding performance as a consequence; what he looks for in stocks; why he invests only in quality companies; and why he owns gold.

Show Notes

Behind the Balance Sheet is a fundamental investing podcast for serious investors. Each episode dives into how real‑world investors source ideas, build conviction and manage their portfolios.

You’ll hear frameworks for analysing industries, understanding business models, and thinking about risk, behaviour and incentives, so you can refine your own process rather than copy stock tips.

For full show notes, transcripts and additional resources, visit our ⁠website⁠.If you value thoughtful, process-driven investing discussions, follow the show and consider leaving a short review, or even just a 5* rating on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Please help spread the word.

Bill Smead has been in the investing business for over 40 years and has seen multiple cycles. He has an idiosyncratic investing philosophy which seeks to buy high quality stocks when they are out of favour.

He has a concentrated portfolio of 26 stocks with 45-50% in the top 10 positions. Yet his holding period averages over 6 years. He explains why he thinks the stock market is going down over the next decade and offers his views on the stocks that will deliver great returns, focusing on demographics and out of favour sectors.

And he explains how to handicap a greyhound!

Show Notes

Behind the Balance Sheet is a fundamental investing podcast for serious investors. Each episode dives into how real‑world investors source ideas, build conviction and manage their portfolios.

You’ll hear frameworks for analysing industries, understanding business models, and thinking about risk, behaviour and incentives, so you can refine your own process rather than copy stock tips.

For full show notes, transcripts and additional resources, visit our ⁠⁠website⁠⁠.If you value thoughtful, process-driven investing discussions, follow the show and consider leaving a short review, or even just a 5* rating on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Please help spread the word.

Alec Cutler runs one of the best performing low risk global funds and has a pragmatic investing  approach. In this interview, we discuss inflation and markets and what this means for stock selection. Alec explains his views on what makes for a successful investment team. And he explains the principles of investing he learned as a child from his grandmother, which still guide his investingframework today.

Show Notes

Behind the Balance Sheet is a fundamental investing podcast for serious investors. Each episode dives into how real‑world investors source ideas, build conviction and manage their portfolios.

You’ll hear frameworks for analysing industries, understanding business models, and thinking about risk, behaviour and incentives, so you can refine your own process rather than copy stock tips.

For full show notes, transcripts and additional resources, visit our ⁠⁠website⁠⁠.If you value thoughtful, process-driven investing discussions, follow the show and consider leaving a short review, or even just a 5* rating on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Please help spread the word.

Guy Spier is a successful value investor and has spentconsiderable time creating an environment which will protect him and his fund from making mistakes through his own temperamental idiosyncrasies. He talks much more about environment design than valuation which is refreshingly different.

We discuss why the best ideas are simple, yet analysts always want to impress with their understanding of complex situations. Guy talks about his university chums, David Cameron and Chris Hohn and why his father entrusted his life savings to a young man with no investing experience and how that has coloured Guy’s investing approach. And of course we discuss that lunch with Warren Buffett.

Show Notes

Behind the Balance Sheet is a fundamental investing podcast for serious investors. Each episode dives into how real‑world investors source ideas, build conviction and manage their portfolios.

You’ll hear frameworks for analysing industries, understanding business models, and thinking about risk, behaviour and incentives, so you can refine your own process rather than copy stock tips.

For full show notes, transcripts and additional resources, visit our ⁠⁠website⁠⁠.If you value thoughtful, process-driven investing discussions, follow the show and consider leaving a short review, or even just a 5* rating on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Please help spread the word.