MARC HASENFUSS: When you just have to grin and bear it

You can’t teach an old dog new tricks, they say.

I recently managed — with much kicking and screaming — to get my studious son to invest in the stock market. My contention has always been that the earlier you learn to invest, the better. That said, I never seem to learn. But that’s a topic for another time.

In any event, my son finally looked away from cryptocurrencies and started scanning equities on the JSE. It did not take long for the market machinations to pique his interest — even if I winced when I saw him looking at charts rather than financial statements.

A quick but valuable lesson was learnt in Nampak, followed by some mixed results. When he was ready to “go big” he decided to opt for luxury brands conglomerate Richemont, a share that had done well in his “mock portfolio”.

Naturally, as a value-inclined investor, I tried to dissuade him — being a tad wary of Richemont’s premium price. I suggested that if he was going to back a Rupert family company, rather look at deeply discounted investment counters Remgro and Reinet.

He was adamant, countering with an argument that was simply: “These okes have really sick brands.”  Yup, don’t overcomplicate things.

There is nothing in my carefully assembled portfolio that has compared with the growth from Richemont in the first few weeks of April. Nothing even remotely close.

Interestingly, I found myself flip-flopping when Zac toyed with the idea of cashing out his Richemont profits. There I found myself arguing for holding onto the shares, and rather following a strategy of buying more if there was a price dip.

Richemont, I maintained, was strongly cash generative, prided itself in its dividend flows, had excellent management, owned an array of brilliant brands (he obviously knew that), was innovative and had a balance sheet that could withstand a mauling from a bionic bear. These are, after all, the key attributes of a long-term investment.

I don’t know what the lad is going to do. Perhaps it is best at this early juncture of his investment career to stop peppering him with advice, and rather offer him Cartier blanche …