As a new subscriber to Money Morning, you'll be reading a lot of Martin's analysis. Here's an opportunity to learn more about him... and more importantly, his investment style...
- What would you say your investing mantra is?
Value, value, value! I take a look at a company's financial position and the direction I think the economy is going to find really good values. I also like the bottoms of bear markets, because there are bargains EVERYWHERE! - How did you get interested in investing?
My first paychecks, at the age of 17, were between school and college working for an insurance company. Since I didn't need the money immediately, I got interested in investing it, initially in mutual funds. Didn't hurt that this was the 1966-68 bull market. I wrote a family magazine each summer (WHAT a dork) and started a (paper) investment portfolio for it. It beat the market too, over the 4 years it ran! - Tell us about your background...
I was brought up in a completely non-commercial family - my father a civil servant. Though I did have a favorite great-uncle who worked for Barclays bank. Spent 3 years in Singapore as a child, so I have always been very positive on Asia and believed in its potential. Cambridge maths graduate, Harvard MBA... I always intended to be a fund manager but got sidetracked into international corporate finance when I graduated in 1973. I only finally got the chance to recommend actual investments when I joined Money Map Press in January 2007. - How did your background shape your investment philosophy?
I have a deep suspicion of sales pitches (which is why I don't trust "growth" stocks or quick trade opportunities) and a belief that if I don't understand it, then it's probably a scam. Also, I always want to see the numbers and scribble on them before I do anything. Sure, I missed Google's IPO with that approach, but it's saved me from losses on numerous other occasions. - What is one thing your readers don't know about you?
I'm a keen financial history buff, and when I get a financial problem, I often try to figure out what J.P. Morgan would do. To me, his best epitaph was Rockefeller's remark when his will was proved: "And to think, he wasn't even a wealthy man." J.P. Morgan did OK, but he was more interested in getting each decision right than in his own short-term profit. - Why did you start writing for Money Morning?
It was an opportunity to work with Bill Patalon in launching something from the ground up that would do investment analysis right. So much individual investment analysis is rubbish, or just a dressed-up sales pitch. I wanted to give readers advice of the same quality the big institutions get, or preferably somewhat better. - Tell us about your favorite investment gain... the pick you are most proud of.
The biggest gain on a share I recommended publicly was back in 2004. My son Rumen, then 12, had been badgering me to write about video game companies, so I did a piece tipping Nintendo (OTC:NTDOY). At the time, it was out of favor and trading at $13. It peaked three years later at $78, so readers did OK! - What was your shrewdest market call?
Hong Kong in 1984. When the treaty giving Hong Kong back to China was signed, everybody thought the place would go Maoist, and stocks dropped to absurdly low levels. I bought a chunk of Cheung Kong Holdings the day the deal was announced -- and sold far too early, after about 2 years made four times my money, should have held on for 10 years and made 100x.
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