Tim McElvaine is a name familiar with regular readers of Controlled Greed. But not to most Americans. He made a name for himself in value investing circles by being Peter Cundill's top associate for some years. He set up his own firm on the side in the 1990s and eventually left to run it full time.
I recently saw that his site has a link to an interview he gave for a Canadian publication called Stock Market Superstars. Go here and get the link. It is dated October 2008 so some of it certainly isn't current -- yet it gives an excellent overview to his approach. And his early days with Cundill make for interesting reading.
If I lived in Canada and didn't want to manage my own portfolio, the first two things I'd do are invest with McElvaine and Francis Chou (you have to be a Canadian resident to invest in their funds). Both class guys who keep their interests aligned with shareholders.
They both suffered brutal years in 2008 -- but not many value investors didn't.
That's a great find John. You may not post much at times but a few like this makes it more than wortwhile. You hit an inside-the-park homerun with this... a seemingly boring game suddenly became exciting ;)
Posted by: Sivaram Velauthapillai | August 06, 2009 at 09:22 PM
@Sivaram: Hey, thanks -- I'm glad you liked it. I know for me it's something I'll re-read from time to time, to keep me in the proper frame of mind.
Regarding posting -- the past year has been busy and the blog has increasingly become a "link-to-this, link-to-that" operation. (I'd rather have more fresh content and original articles.)
Also, I posted a comment of your blog when you posted about its Second Anniversary. But I must've done something wrong because I don't think it ever showed up. :-( Anway, belated congrats once again!
Posted by: John | August 06, 2009 at 10:27 PM
Oh, kind of sucks your post was lost. My commenting system has had issues and isn't the most stable around :(
The busy days must have permanently changed you. I see that you have joined the dark side (or is that the light side?) and endorsed the barbarous relic ;) A concentrated position at that! :)
Posted by: Sivaram Velauthapillai | August 08, 2009 at 11:23 PM
@Siv: Ha! Well, as long as GLD doesn't mimic my adventures with Japanese consumer lenders, I'll be (relatively) happy. :-)
Oh, and remember you're in Toronto. The chances of seeing a "Canadian dollar crisis" are nearly zero. Wish I could say the same down on my side of the border.
Posted by: John | August 09, 2009 at 11:06 PM