“I love making new friends and I respect people for a lot of different reasons.”
— Taylor Swift
My guest for this week’s Session was suggested by a Reserve member.
“How have you guys not interviewed Perth Tolle?” Gabriel L. wrote to us here.
As incredulous as it sounds, thus far into the project we haven’t thought of talking to people we haven’t met.
Gabriel’s description is intriguing: “Libertarian values meet investing.” So here we go…
Last week, on PJ O’Rourke’s passing, we mentioned that back in the day we did time at the Cato Institute. In addition to hosting the forums at which various authors and lecturers spoke, another one of my duties was distributing the Human Freedom Index co-sponsored by Cato and the Fraser Institute in Vancouver, BC.
Having a background in financial publishing at the time, I often wondered how the worlds would eventually collide.
Come to find out this week Ms. Tolle has built a series of indexes on the idea of emerging economies enjoying economic freedom. Then, to make it easy, created an ETF for individual investors to put money in a bundle of these free economies.
Specifically, Ms. Tolle founded Life + Liberty Indexes, which specializes in exchange-traded funds (ETF). Its flagship product is the Freedom 100 Emerging Market Index (FRDM index).
To invest in emerging markets, you probably know, you’ll have to have an appetite for risk. They’re found in countries that are experiencing rapid economic growth… usually with ascent social and political infrastructures to nurture them.
If burgeoning capitalists can successfully navigate fresh waters, investors could and can see outsized returns. But any government or public backlash could and can bring progress to a standstill, taking all the invested capital with it.
Perth’s ETF aims to avoid those risks by only focusing on emerging markets in countries ready and willing to support entrepreneurs who thrive on free market government policies. Leading up to Saturday’s Session, we’ll share some of the criteria Perth uses.
We’ll also discuss how successful the index has been… and look at how she evaluates new opportunities to rebalance the EFT moving forward. We believe you’ll like how the conversation transpires…
Follow your bliss,
Addison Wiggin
Founder, The Financial Reserve
