THE QAV STORY

THE PODCAST

QAV started in 2019 as a podcast about Tony Kynaston’s approach to value investing. Since then it has turned into a vibrant community of value investors who learn Tony’s QAV system and help others to become successful investors.

Tony and his co-host Cameron Reilly have known each other for about 20 years. Tony was a fan of Cameron’s early podcasts in 2004–2005 and they gradually developed a friendship. Over the years they collaborated on a number of projects, including a book and a film, and they and their families travelled the world together.

In early 2019, as they were wrapping up their film project, Tony suggested they work on a podcast together. He had recently been on another podcast (produced by Cameron’s sons) where he briefly explained the investing methodology that he had developed over 25 years, which he had used to become wealthy. Cameron suggested they do a detailed podcast about that investing system.

That became the QAV Podcast.

TONY’S INVESTING BACKGROUND

After a twenty-year career as a senior executive at Shell and Coles, Tony retired to become a full-time investor.

He studied the greats like Buffett and Munger and developed his own QAV (Quality At Value) system which has been refined over the decades. He designed it to meet his needs – he wanted a system that would allow him to find shares in well-managed companies that had a history of generating plenty of cash but that were available to buy at a discount to their intrinsice value. He also wanted to spend his time with his family and playing golf, so he didn’t want it to be a full-time job. It needed to be something he could manage with an hour a day of focus.

From time to time, people ask to see Tony’s historical returns. He’s talked about them a couple of times on the podcast, the most recent episode being #547.

• FY03 10%
• FY04 98%
• FY05 35%
• FY06 38.4%
• FY07 41.4%
• FY08 ‑19.9%
• FY09 ‑31%
• FY10 115%
• FY11 32%
• FY12 0.8%
• FY13 39%
• FY14 6.5%
• FY15 6.6%
• FY16 14.3%
• FY17 12.4%
• FY18 1.2%
• FY19 ‑10%
• FY20 14.2%
• FY21 19.4%
• FY22 ‑17% (Tony’s wife Jenny retired from a career as a senior executive and they started pulling money out of the portfolio to live on)

As you can see, there have been good years, average years, terrible years and great years. It’s the long-term average (roughly double market) that counts. All investing strategies have good years and bad years. The mistake most amateurs (and even many professionals) make is to change strategies during the bad years. The smartest approach is to stick to your strategy during positive and negative cycles and ride it out. 

CAMERON’S BACKGROUND

Cameron worked in IT for 15 years before co-founding the world’s first podcast network in 2004.

He’s been making podcasts ever since, and has written a few books and made a history documentary. He knew nothing about investing when they started QAV. Today he manages all of the QAV portfolios, as well as his own personal portfolio.