RWH054: Billionaire Brit w/ Terry Smith

In this episode, William Green chats with British investing legend Terry Smith. Terry, a member of Bloomberg’s index of billionaires, manages the Fundsmith Equity Fund, which is the UK’s largest stock fund. Since 2010, it’s returned more than 600%, beating the MSCI World Index by over 200 percentage points. Here, Terry talks in depth about the skills, personality traits, & principles that catapulted him from poverty to the pinnacle of the investing world. IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN: 00:00 - Intro 04:01 - How Terry Smith was shaped by poverty & violence. 35:17 - How he achieved fame by exposing financial deception. 39:26 - What he looks for when identifying great businesses. 46:54 - Why many of his favorite companies are 100 years old. 51:56 - Which sectors he shuns & which he likes. 58:42 - How Microsoft embodies what he loves in a business. 1:00:29 - Why it’s worth paying up for the best companies. 1:20:15 - Why the US is his favorite place to invest. 1:21:44 - How being a CEO made him a better investor. 1:32:07 - What he learned from Sir John Templeton. 1:35:46 - Why he refuses to speak with brokers or read their research. 1:40:30 - Why it’s hard to be successful professionally & personally. 1:52:46 - Why he’s deeply skeptical about Tesla. Disclaimer: Slight discrepancies in the timestamps may occur due to podcast platform differences. BOOKS AND RESOURCES Terry Smith’s investment firm, Fundsmith . Terry Smith’s book, Investing for Growth . Terry Smith’s book, Accounting for Growth . William Green’s book, “Richer, Wiser, Happier” – read the reviews of this book . Follow William Green on X . Check out all the books mentioned and discussed in our podcast episodes here . Enjoy ad-free episodes when you subscribe to our Premium Feed . NEW TO THE SHOW? Get smarter about valuing businesses in just a few minutes each week through our newsletter, The Intrinsic Value Newsletter . Follow our official social media accounts: X (Twitter) | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook | TikTok . Browse through all our episodes (complete with transcripts) here . Try our tool for picking stock winners and managing our portfolios: TIP Finance Tool . Enjoy exclusive perks from our favorite Apps and Services . Learn how to better start, manage, and grow your business with the best business podcasts . SPONSORS Support our free podcast by supporting our sponsors : SimpleMining Hardblock AnchorWatch Human Rights Foundation Unchained Vanta Shopify Onramp HELP US OUT! Help us reach new listeners by leaving us a rating and review on Spotify ! It takes less than 30 seconds, and really helps our show grow, which allows us to bring on even better guests for you all! Thank you – we really appreciate it! Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://theinvestorspodcastnetwork.supportingcast.fm Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://theinvestorspodcastnetwork.supportingcast.fm Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://theinvestorspodcastnetwork.supportingcast.fm Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://theinvestorspodcastnetwork.supportingcast.fm Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://theinvestorspodcastnetwork.supportingcast.fm Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://theinvestorspodcastnetwork.supportingcast.fm Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://theinvestorspodcastnetwork.supportingcast.fm Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://theinvestorspodcastnetwork.supportingcast.fm Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://theinvestorspodcastnetwork.supportingcast.fm Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://theinvestorspodcastnetwork.supportingcast.fm Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://theinvestorspodcastnetwork.supportingcast.fm Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://theinvestorspodcastnetwork.supportingcast.fm Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://theinvestorspodcastnetwork.supportingcast.fm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://theinvestorspodcastnetwork.supportingcast.fm