About companies, life and investing – a chat with Charlie Huggins

Our Head of Equities and manager of the Quality Shares Portfolio, Charlie Huggins was recently interviewed by Peter Higgins for the London South East, Investing Matters podcast series.

In the interview, Charlie discusses his background, how he got into investing and his investment approach. He talks about the importance of cash, culture, companies he likes, those he avoids and much more. It is packed full of lessons for investors.  

The interview was recorded in one take. This means you get Charlie’s unvarnished views on investing – as ever he is very frank and doesn’t hold back.

You can play it here – or, if you prefer – you can read the transcript. I hope you find the interview as interesting and informative as I did.

From Biochemistry to fund management

My interest in investing started early. In the interview I discuss how I got into investing, the first share I bought and what I learned from the 2008/09 financial crisis - including how it shaped my investment approach.

I also talk about my rather unconventional route into fund management:

• Why I made the 180-degree shift from Biochemistry at Oxford to Hargreaves Lansdown (HL)
• How I went from HL’s Graduate Scheme to being a fund manager running £0.5 billion in assets – and what lessons I learned along the way
• Why I left HL to join Wealth Club

My investment approach and 60-point checklist

Every investor seems to have a different definition of ‘quality’. 

I discuss what a quality business means to me, the key things I look for and three company examples from the Quality Shares Portfolio – and why I rate them so highly.

I talk in depth about my 60-point investment checklist - the most critical part of my investment process – as well as:

• Why it’s so important for investors to stick to their ‘circle of competence’
• Why cold, hard cash matters more to me than anything else
• Why meeting company management can be a double-edged sword

Companies I avoid

Half the battle of investing is knowing which companies to avoid. I discuss:

• Why most businesses fail my investment checklist
• Why I have not invested in Unilever or Amazon 
• What could trigger an instant sell

Lessons for investors

I end by drawing out some general lessons for investors, including:

• The importance of ‘getting rich slowly’
• Mistakes to avoid and why you should never rely on share ‘tips’
• Why investors should ignore management and culture at their peril