JAMIE MCDONALD: Hello, and welcome to the Real Investing course. My name is Jamie McDonald, and I was a portfolio manager for many years both in London and New York. This course is an invaluable journey, and we've made it entertaining enough to be binge-worthy. I'll be one of the people guiding you through it, and you'll meet the others very soon.
The course is designed to develop your approach to investing. And even if you have been doing it for years, it will force you to go back and stress test your process, something any investor and trader should do, no matter how experienced they are. There will probably be moments where you find the material very easy, especially if you have some experience. But at other times, it will be challenging.
Now, my advice is to take it one step at a time. And if something isn't clear, just drop a message in the Associated Community section. It's right below the video. Now, despite what you might see or read on the internet, there is no shortcut. So I highly recommend you take the time to go through this course from start to finish, and even repeat the episodes you find most helpful. The good news is that even though the course is packed with valuable knowledge, we've purposely distilled it into around just 10 plus hours, as we know many don't have that much time.
Now, once you've completed the course, it will then serve as a brilliant reference for you to come back to whenever you think your process needs some fine tuning, especially when you've lost confidence, which you'll be relieved to hear, happens even to the best. Now, let's make one thing clear. This won't be your typical build it once and forget it course, like everything else that's out there. The course is part of your membership.
So we will be updating it, following up on key topics, having discussions in the community, and much, much more. It's a living and breathing thing. And this is just the beginning.
Now, let's look at the journey you'll take over the coming five parts. Part one is the game of investing. That's where you will learn some of the unwritten rules, and find out your best approach to it. Part two is the stuff that drives markets. That's where we'll look at trends across different time horizons, and learn what motivates moves within them.
Part three is the art and science of charts, where we will learn how to leverage charts as part of our holistic investment framework. Part four is the asset class universe. That's what we'll go through the core asset classes, review their key drivers, and learn about the relationships across them.
Part five is the science and art of building a portfolio. That's where we'll put it all together, and show you how to build and manage a portfolio. Throughout the modules and the different formats, you'll hear a lot of real market examples based on situations that were relevant in markets at the time.
But your key focus here should be on the principles and analytical approaches more than anything else. Don't look at these as any kind of predictions or trade ideas. And speaking of these different formats, each module is designed to give you an essential understanding of the key concepts, provide you with real life scenarios and examples, and show you practical ways to begin applying it all in your own unique situation. We do this by leveraging a few formats.
Each module starts with the basics. This is where we introduce the core ideas and concepts for that module. You see, we go into a lot of details in many examples. But at the root of all of them is usually a simple idea and a few concepts. Understanding these is step one.
In the discussions, Roger, James, and I discussed some of the key topics while sharing stories from past experiences. We all come from different backgrounds, and have a very different way of looking at the market, which you will clearly see. These discussions are designed to help you understand the nuances in all of these concepts, and get you thinking and asking questions about them. As you listen, consider noting the following things, concepts or vocabulary that is unfamiliar to you, questions you have, places where you wish we had elaborated. And as you progress through the other parts of a module, listen for details and answers related to what you wrote down.
From the pros is a format we designed after realizing how much value there was in the thousands of hours of interviews we had in our archives. If only there was a way to unlock all those insights. Well, you don't have to watch those thousands of hours. We've done it for you. This format gives you distilled insights into how some of the top investors and analysts think about and then apply the key concepts and ideas of each module in their investing process.
Now, it's not that you should replicate what they do, but you should identify the principles and the thought processes. As you listen to each investor share their thoughts, ask yourself, is that something that fits with who I am and want to be as an investor? And as we said in the opening video, try, adapt, replace, evolve, and make it your own. That's the key to developing an investing framework that works for you.
The workshop is where we kick things into the next gear with practical activities, actionable strategies, and various investing scenarios, you know, all the real world stuff. This will help you begin to move towards actively integrating the concepts into your own investing process. Now, if you're just starting out, this might feel a bit mechanical, or that you are learning by rote. This is all part of the learning process. The more you apply these concepts in your own investing framework, the more natural they will begin to feel.
By the end of each module, you'll have a clear idea of what made sense, and what requires further clarification, or additional depth and details. Everyone taking this course will be coming in with a unique understanding of the investing universe. That means everyone can kind of choose their own adventure with this course. So there are a few things to keep in mind to help you along the way.
First, each module comes with an additional written handbook that organizes all of the key concepts and ideas, and provides you with the main takeaways in one place, as well as additional avenues to explore. Second, each module also comes with a section with additional resources. That's right below the video.
There, we have curated additional videos from the Real Vision platform, as well as books, and podcasts, and other resources from across the web that give more depth to each topic. Third, remember that you're not alone on this journey. We've created dedicated areas where we can all chat about the topics of each of the modules. We can ask questions, share thoughts and ideas, and build on what others are saying.
The Real Vision community is one of the most thoughtful and smartest groups around. And this will be a great place to expand your learning around each of the topics, and relate it to everything happening in markets at the moment. This isn't a traditional boring course about markets. We have designed it to meet the diverse needs of busy people.
And as long as you remember, there's no deadline to complete the course. Some people will finish it in days, while others will require more time. And that's fine. It's not a competition. Each lesson is 25 minutes or less, so you can do as little as a few minutes per week, or you can dive as deep as you want.
If you have less than an hour per week, then maybe you want to start with the basics and the discussions, so you can get a grasp of each of the modules before you progress deeper into them. If you have a particular interest, then dive deep into that part, and then move to the rest afterwards. Everything is connected like LEGO blocks, so it should feel intuitive.
In essence, you should work at your own pace. But at the same time, if you need guidance, do follow the path we've laid out for you. The most important thing is to have fun with it. Go out. Play with some charts. Formulate ideas. Ask questions. Dig for some additional resources, and then share them with the community. This is how you get the most out of the Real Investing Course.
Well, with that in mind, the only thing left is to dive right in. I'll see you very soon. Thank you for joining me and the team.