Success and More Interesting Stuff

The world is fracturing and Australia faces some critical decisions - FY27 Outlook 30.06.2026 58min

The geopolitical and economic tides have shifted. Recent decades played out against a backdrop of globalisation, disinflation, falling interest rates, and above-normal equity market returns. That era is behind us, and the path forward looks vastly different. This shift sits at the core of this special episode, which brings together three leaders in equity investing, gold mining, and economics. The panel dives into the outlook for geopolitics, commodities, inflation, and equities - highlighting both the challenges and the unique opportunities ahead.

Morry Waked and the rise of an investing juggernaut 02.06.2026 56min

Morry Waked revolutionised the funds management industry in Australia. Armed with a natural gift for mathematics and the rigorous training of an actuary, he made the leap from insurance to the equities market and helped turn quantitative investing into a legitimate, powerhouse strategy. By using sophisticated algorithms to strip away emotion and generate above-average returns, Morry has spent over 20 years at the absolute frontier of Australian finance.

Manny Pohl: Is Growth still the right bet? 05.05.2026 50min

Manny Pohl may well be the 'father of growth investing' in Australia, but his journey began thousands of miles away as an electrical engineer in South Africa. From a chance meeting on the Gold Coast to co-founding the $17-billion-dollar powerhouse Hyperion Asset Management, Manny has spent decades proving that 'quality growth' is the ultimate winning strategy. But in a new era of rising interest rates and AI disruption, the old rules are being rewritten. In this episode, Matthew sits down with the founder of ECP Asset Management to discuss the early experiences that shaped his philosophy, the evolution of the Australian market, and why he’s doubling down on growth in an age of uncertainty.

Dr Don Hamson: The pivot that built a $25bn business 07.04.2026 55min

In this episode of Success and More Interesting Stuff, we sit down with Dr Don Hamson, founder of Plato Investment Management. Hamson built a $25 billion fund manager, but it started with a problem. His original long/short strategy was disrupted during the GFC when regulators banned short selling. What followed was a shift towards income, built around a simple idea. In Australia, franking credits matter, particularly for retirees. That focus became the foundation of Plato’s business. Today, Hamson runs a global investment firm with a systematic approach to investing, focused on consistency, risk management and long-term outcomes. In this conversation, we unpack that pivot, how he thinks about building portfolios, and why process matters more than prediction over time.

Why Jillian Broadbent believes reform, not rhetoric, will drive Australia forward 03.03.2026 52min

Jillian Broadbent has worked at the heart of Australia’s financial and policy institutions for decades. She began at the Reserve Bank under Nugget Coombs, helped build Bankers Trust during deregulation, and later served three terms on the RBA board through the Asian and global financial crises. She also chaired the Clean Energy Finance Corporation from inception and served as Chancellor of the University of Wollongong. In this episode, Broadbent reflects on central banking, board life, clean energy finance and why Australia still needs meaningful economic reform.

This ain’t junk! Why GYG’s Steven Marks refuses to compromise on quality 03.02.2026 52min

Guzman y Gomez Founder & co-CEO Steven Marks joins Matthew Kidman to discuss his decision to leave Wall Street, the tough early years building GYG, why quality is non-negotiable, and what comes next as the business expands into the US.

Gold, AI and the risks investors can’t ignore heading into 2026 17.12.2025 46min

To mark the 50th episode of Success and More Interesting Stuff, Matthew Kidman is joined by Chris Judd, Jun Bei Liu and Dr Shane Oliver for a panel discussion focused on four timely issues facing markets as we approach 2026.

Mark Landau's best investment decision 12.11.2025 55min

Mark Landau’s best investment decision wasn’t a stock pick — it was meeting his future business partner, Rafi Lamm. Together they built L1 Capital from scratch into a $17 billion fund manager. In this episode, Landau reflects on the lessons from success, setbacks, and starting again as a listed company.

Alexis George: Rebuilding AMP 07.10.2025 52min

From small-town Bega to the boardrooms of London and Hong Kong, Alexis George built a global career before taking on one of the toughest jobs in Australian business — rebuilding AMP. In this episode, she shares her story, the lessons she learned abroad, and how she’s reshaping AMP’s culture and strategy for the future.

Viktor Shvets: The end of cycles and the cost of progress 16.09.2025 42min

Viktor Shvets on the end of cycles, the rise of the cloud of finance, and why politics may now be the greatest market risk.At Livewire Live 2025, Viktor Shvets delivered one of the most anticipated keynotes of the event. Over four decades, he has built a reputation as one of the sharpest minds in global finance, unafraid to challenge consensus. In this episode, Viktor explains why the old rules of cycles and mean reversion no longer apply, how financial markets have drifted into a “cloud of finance,” and why inequality and politics may prove the greatest risks ahead. It is a conversation that unsettles, but also clarifies what really drives markets today.

Paul Moore: The only true arbitrage in markets is time 02.09.2025 51min

Four decades into his career, Paul Moore seems to be just getting started. Two years ago, he made the bold decision to vend his business, PM Capital, into Phil King’s Regal Partners. Many thought this was an exit plan for Moore. Instead, it proved to be the tonic he needed. PM Capital has since become a growth engine inside Regal, with close to $5 billion under management and performance that continues to deliver. In this episode of Success and More Interesting Stuff, Paul shares what keeps him motivated, why he believes the only true arbitrage in markets is time, and how he is positioning portfolios in today’s unpredictable environment.

Simon Conn’s guide to surviving the small cap 'torture chamber' 29.07.2025 51min

The professional investment game is relentless. No matter where you are in the world, you cannot escape the endless procession of markets. Sure, you can go on holiday and attempt the concept of relaxation, but each morning when you wake up, Wall Street has just closed. It’s impossible not to sneak a peek. Each month your numbers are measured against the market and your peers. There is no hiding. After 27 years and more than 50 reporting seasons, one of the mainstays of the Australian share market, IML’s Simon Conn, is stepping aside for a well-earned break. It might be permanent. It might be a refresh. Only time will tell. Conn joined IML back in 1998 - teaming up with market legend and past guest Anton Tagliaferro. Before long, Conn found himself overseeing the tough end of town - small caps. In those 27 years he has seen the rise of the internet, the smartphone, the GFC, COVID, and now the AI revolution. Through all of that, investors like Conn have been told it’s a new world. Concepts like ARR, PCV and the Rule of 40 have taken hold, while old measures like PE ratios have been pushed aside for revenue multiples. Meanwhile, the Small Ords index has underperformed for decades. It all sounds like a torture chamber, but somehow Conn has come through it, delivering 12 percent returns for more than two and a half decades. In this episode of Success and More Interesting Stuff, Conn shares the lessons he learned over his career and how he adapted his approach as markets evolved and over the past three decades.

Nick Griffin on finding stocks that can double earnings in 5 years 01.07.2025 54min

Nick Griffin’s path to fund management may have seemed preordained, his father worked in the industry, but his journey has been anything but ordinary. After completing a commerce degree, Griffin missed out on a graduate role with one of the big four accounting firms. That setback led him to the Commonwealth Bank’s investment team, where he cut his teeth before embarking on a backpacking trip that ultimately set the trajectory for his career. Landing in London, Griffin took on a role as an oil and gas analyst and soon found himself in Edinburgh, the traditional home of UK fund management. It was there he immersed himself in the world of long-term capital, working closely with some of the oldest and most respected investment houses in Europe. Eventually, Griffin returned to Australia and joined K2 Asset Management, where he ran the firm’s global fund. Then, in 2017, he co-founded Munro Partners with a clear mission, back companies set to double their earnings in five years or less by riding powerful structural tailwinds. In this episode of Success and More Interesting Stuff, Griffin shares how he built Munro from $20 million to more than $5 billion in FUM, the key signals he looks for in structural winners, and what comes next for AI, healthcare, and defence investing.

Jake Klein: The West is ill-prepared for what lies ahead and the gold price reflects this 03.06.2025 49min

Jake Klein left a high-flying banking career to chase a hunch about gold, and it paid off in spades. From pioneering mining ventures in China to building Evolution Mining into a $16 billion powerhouse, Klein has made a habit of spotting value where others see risk. In this episode of Success and More Interesting Stuff, he shares how growing up in South Africa shaped his thinking, why Western democracies are unprepared for what’s coming, and what the gold price is really telling us.

How Fidelity’s Paul Taylor stays ahead of the market 09.05.2025 55min

We're often told that beating the market over the long term is impossible. A lucky year or two? Maybe. But doing it for more than two decades? That’s supposed to be out of reach. Paul Taylor has defied that logic. Managing a concentrated portfolio of 30 to 50 local stocks through everything from the GFC to the COVID crash. It sounds exhausting - but he shows no signs of slowing down. In today’s turbulent market, Taylor’s perspective is more relevant than ever. In this episode of Success and More Interesting Stuff, he shares the key ingredients for long-term success, explains why failure is inevitable in stock picking, and offers his view on why the current obsession with tariffs and trade tensions will ultimately be seen as little more than short-term noise. It’s a rare opportunity to hear from one of Australia’s most consistent and enduring investors.

Bob Desmond: Patiently picking the eyes out of quality global growth stocks 01.04.2025 53min

Go back 20 years and consensus said that managing international equity portfolios from Australia was just too difficult. Bob Desmond and his team at Claremont Global are proving that is yesterday’s thinking. Starting from scratch in 2012 the business has grown to over $1 billion and the style of picking the eyes out of quality growth has been able to outpace global markets. Desmond grew up in Rhodesia, the southern African country that was renamed Zimbabwe in 1980. He studied economics in Western Australia before heading back to his homeland to start working in markets. Life became difficult under the Mugabe regime and Desmond packed his bags and headed to London where his world view opened before his eyes. It was here that he developed his quality growth strategy for stocks. Always keen to relocate to Australia, Desmond got the green light for his migration in 2008 just in time to sidestep the worst of the GFC. He kicked off his career at financial group Evans and Co. Four years later Desmond and his colleagues set up Claremont Global. Desmond has used his vast experience garnered on three continents to identify the best growth stocks on the globe. He does not believe in too much diversification and thinks excessive trading is counterproductive. Tune in to the latest episode of Success and More Interesting Stuff to learn about Desmond's unique style of investing and some of the companies in the concentrated Claremont Global Fund.

Dr Philip Lowe: Interest rates alone can’t conquer Australia’s cost of living crisis 04.03.2025 1h 1min

Australia is obsessed with interest rates like no other country, and it is distracting us from tackling more pressing challenges, like productivity, that would have a greater impact on the cost of living crisis facing many Australians. That's the view of former Reserve Bank Governor Dr. Philip Lowe, who spent 43 years working at the RBA, including 7 years in the top job from 2016 to 2023. Dr Lowe believes the current policy settings from the RBA are suitably restrictive with risks remaining and the battle to tame inflation hasn't been won. Lowering interest rates may ease some of the pain households are feeling, but it isn't the silver bullet many perceive it to be. In this episode of Success and More Interesting Stuff, Dr Lowe discusses the lessons through his RBA journey and shares his thoughts on some of the pressing economic issues of 2025.

Inside Chris Corrigan's fierce battle to reform the Australian waterfront 04.02.2025 1h 3min

Chris Corrigan has had his fingerprints all over corporate Australia for more than 50 years now. The boy from Bowral joined stockbroking firm Ord Minnett in the late 1960s to get the ball rolling. When Ords formed a joint venture with US fund manager Bankers Trust in the early '70s, Corrigan jumped in boots and all. He saw an opportunity to derail the establishment life insurance companies that dominated the Australian landscape. A disruptive force, Corrigan steered BT Australia to the top of the mountain before he started to get restless for his next adventure. Leaving BT in the late '80s, he formed his own investment vehicle, Jamison Equity, picking off opportunities as they arose. During the 1990s, a chance to buy into port operator Patrick Stevedores arose. Stevedoring had been a tough business in Australia, hamstrung by militant unions. Corrigan thought he would give it a go, and before long it was his sole focus. The election of the Howard government in 1996 was the green light he needed to challenge the Maritime Union of Australia front on. He restructured the business and went about removing union workers. A decision by the High Court forced the MUA to the trade table, and a significant agreement was struck that improved Australia's container movements forever. The battle was on the front page every day, and Corrigan took a major personal hit, but eventually got his way. In this episode of Success and More Interesting Stuff, Corrigan shares the story behind the growth of an Australian investment powerhouse and his fierce battle to reform the Australian waterfront.

Success and More Interesting Stuff is back in 2025 07.01.2025 3min

Success and More Interesting Stuff is back in 2025 with new episodes being released on the first Tuesday of each month. We're excited for the year ahead and would love for you to subscribe to the podcast.

How Joe Aston went from the back page to bestseller 03.12.2024 1h 1min

Welcome to the final episode of Success and More Interesting Stuff for 2024. In this episode, we’re closing out the year with a guest who knows how to deliver a knockout punch. Joe Aston spent 12 years as co-writer of the AFR’s Rear Window column, transforming it from a finance industry gossip page into a hard-hitting, no-holds-barred must-read. With a sharp wit and a fearless approach, Aston took on everyone from prime ministers and billionaires to untouchable institutions. In October 2023, Aston signed off from Rear Window with a bang, exposing Qantas and its CEO Alan Joyce for their conduct during the COVID pandemic. But Aston didn’t stop there. Instead of taking a break, he penned the bestseller The Chairman’s Lounge, a deep dive into how Qantas fell from national sweetheart to corporate villain. Before journalism, Aston cut his teeth in politics, working with Joe Hockey and Liberal Party icon Bruce Baird. He also spent time inside the walls of Qantas, gaining firsthand insights that would shape his future career. It’s a conversation you won’t want to miss as we wrap up an incredible year. I hope you enjoy this podcast and I look forward to bringing you more episodes of Success and More Interesting Stuff in 2025.