Recapping the best event we have ever done

The Sunday Essay ☕️

Last week we wrapped up the 2024 Vancouver Resource Investment Conference (VRIC).

I’ve heard from so many of you that this was the best conference we have ever put together - I am overwhelmed with gratitude and very excited for the years to come.

Here are a few highlights from the event I wanted to share.

24% of the audience was under the age of 40, and 8% was under the age of 25

It might not seem like much, but only a few years ago, you didn’t see any new investors at a commodities investment conference - and almost no one was under 50 years old.

There is a rising tide of investors who are hungry to understand why the supply and demand of raw materials matters - and they understand the value of playing the long game with their portfolios.

In a counterintuitive way - young, inexperienced investors have the greatest advantage - time is on their side.

The best “tools to succeed” this decade will be good values and good people.

From Robert Kiyosaki, Rick Rule, Ross Beaty, Mark Moss and more - this theme kept recurring - the most valuable assets for the decade ahead were not gold, equities or bitcoin - they were strong values and good people.

History Trumps Headlines

I did my best to set the stage at this year's event with my opening talk, stepping back from near-term headlines and walking the audience through a 600-year history of Empires. I intended to add perspective to our current economic landscape.

We’ve been here before, and we will be here again.

See the full presentation here.

The most discussed theme on the main stage was “Time Horizon.”

I did not ask any of our speakers to trend in this direction - but I could not be happier that they did.

Since 2020, there has been a surge of new people putting money in the market, and although they think they are investing, most are just trading share prices - trying to time swings in the market.

I can’t time the market. The smartest investors that I know can’t time the market. 

But we can buy undervalued asset classes with a cyclical history and favourable long-term macro fundamentals. 

And wait. 

It is not the exciting get-rich-tomorrow game - but it is the one that builds serious wealth over time.

Warren Buffet is the Oracle of Omaha because he has been an investor for over 80 years. Had he run the same portfolio strategy but started when he was 30 and quit when he was 65, he would be worth less than 1% of his current net worth, and no one would have heard his name.

He still would have done very well - 35 years is a fantastic tenure, but this point puts in perspective the power of duration. 

For the same reason, the number one asset that most investors ever own is their principal residence - not because real estate is always the best-performing asset class, but because it is the one asset that investors buy and hold for 25 years.  

There is no easy money. There are no “quick bucks”.

But if you have patience and discipline, the money will follow. 

35% of the conference attendees had never been to one of our events before.

This year, we have been very focused on building out our suite of investor education products. 

(here is my shameless plug)

Check out our ten-chapter video course for brand-new resource investors at:

www.commodityuniversity.com 

Also, my latest e-book, 5 Simple Rules for Every Resource Investor:

www.mynewebook.com

LOTS more coming on this front in the next three months - I am very excited about it. 

Jay

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