Hello and welcome to Free Money, a podcast/newsletter from Sloane Ortel and Ashby Monk about how long-term investors can free themselves from the shackles of short-term thinking.
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And now, a look at the world’s newest stock exchange.
If you build a better market, will the world beat a path to your door?
You’d hope so. Stock exchanges are the heartbeat of most modern economies. They provide crucial liquidity, and help enterprises raise capital at sufficient scale to undertake the sort of complex projects that large corporations are known for.
But our circulatory system for cash could use several upgrades, because it hasn’t been built with the long-term interests of society in mind. Stock markets are famously amoral entities, unable to distinguish between ethical and exploitative earnings.
What if we were to change that?
You’d have to hope society would look a little bit different. Today’s marketplaces are entirely unable to distinguish between short-term and long-term activity, which means that speculators have as prominent a voice in corporate governance as long-term shareholders do.
It also means that companies which focus on building shared value with stakeholders get lumped in with those that don’t. And that stinks. So we decided it was time for a conversation with someone who’s working on changing that.
Our guest on this episode is Michelle Greene, President of the Long-Term Stock Exchange, which opened for business earlier this month to some fanfare. We talked about what they’re doing, why it’s different from the model employed on existing exchanges, and how their listing standards differ from their competition.
We also talked briefly about the Free Money panel on rejecting racism and realizing returns at the upcoming Social Capital Summit. It takes place on October 20th, and will feature Michelle’s colleague Jean Rodgers as well as Illumen Capital’s Daryn Dodson and a top secret mystery guest. You can get 20% off your registration with the code SPK20.
And as usual, we also took questions from the audience:
The culture and execution abilities of some Canadian pensions haven't lived up to some listeners' expectations. How does the "Canadian Model" need to evolve?
We've gotten used to the periodic news stories that dissect the returns of various pension plans and the subsequent "hot takes." What's the constructive way to interpret these news stories?
The CME and the Nasdaq are launching a water futures contract. Are you a buyer? More broadly, how have investments in water paid off in the past?
The Markets Episode