BIO: Jeremy Kokemor founded Right Tail Capital: a concentrated, fundamental equity investment firm based in Richmond, Virginia.
STORY: Jeremy was an intern in an investment management firm where he got to cover small-cap metal miners. He was new to this industry and made several mistakes.
LEARNING: Figure out your investment style. Be careful of overconfidence and overestimation bias when looking at stocks to invest in. Be willing to change your mind when the circumstances call for it.
“Figure out if there’s a certain type or style of investing that really appeals to you.”
Jeremy Kokemor
Guest profile
Jeremy Kokemor founded Right Tail Capital: a concentrated, fundamental equity investment firm based in Richmond, Virginia. Jeremy loves helping people with their investments through owning high-quality, under-valued companies for the long term. Jeremy grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana, prior to attending the University of Virginia. After working in investment banking and investment management, Jeremy graduated from Harvard Business School. He then worked with several fantastic investors at global mutual fund company T. Rowe Price before managing concentrated portfolios at Private Advisors and Thompson, Siegel & Walmsley.
Worst investment ever
Jeremy had the great opportunity to work for T. Rowe Price after the financial crisis. He covered a portion of the technology sector for his internship and really enjoyed it. Later, when Jeremy was asked if there were any industries he did not want to cover, he said no because he liked learning about many different businesses. That’s how Jeremy found himself covering small-cap metals miners.
Jeremy was utterly new to this industry and often made mistakes investing in this industry. Some of the mistakes include investing in a small hometown Canadian company that announced they were making a significant acquisition of a copper project in Peru. The company had never done anything before in South America.
Another one was an investment in a gold mining company that, when they began production, their operating costs were just through the roof and dramatically higher than they had ever envisioned. Jeremy should have realized that the estimates they were publishing were based on the lowest degree of confidence of a feasibility study.
Lessons learned
- Don’t invest in metals and mining because it’s a more difficult industry to make money in, and not many companies survive for long.
- Know yourself and figure out where you’ve done an excellent job, where you’ve made mistakes, and where you’ve gotten lucky or unlucky.
- Figure out if a particular type or style of investing appeals to you as an individual.
- As public market investors, we always know less than we think we do.
- Have enough conviction to make the investment, but also hold that conviction loosely and recognize that many things could go wrong, and at times you might get duped.
- Be willing to change your mind when the circumstances call for it.
- You’ll learn much more from experience than from reading a textbook.
Andrew’s takeaways
- Sometimes in some sectors, it’s the Wild West, so facing failure is a huge possibility.
- There’s overconfidence bias and overestimation bias that we’re all subjected to, and certain sectors are more prone to that.
Actionable advice
If you’re a student, start building your investing acumen, even with just a little money. Make some of those mistakes and learn while at it. It’ll really pay great dividends over the long run.
Jeremy’s recommendations
Jeremy recommends reading a lot to improve your investment skills. Some of his favorite reads include You Can Be a Stock Market Genius: Uncover the Secret Hiding Places of Stock Market Profit and books by Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger.
No.1 goal for the next 12 months
Jeremy’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to continue to learn new businesses and industries and increase his investment performance.
Parting words
“Keep learning and trying to get a little bit better.”
Jeremy Kokemor
[spp-transcript]
Connect with Jeremy Kokemor
Andrew’s books
Andrew’s online programs
Connect with Andrew Stotz:
