#126: The World's on Fire — So Why Isn't Your Portfolio? with David Berthon-Jones, Chief Investment Officer & Founding Partner, Aequitas Investment Partners

Markets are behaving in ways that don't seem to match the headlines. Conflict in the Middle East, the Strait of Hormuz under threat, oil briefly pushing $120 a barrel, inflation creeping back, interest rates moving the wrong way — and yet equity markets keep printing fresh all-time highs. If you've been watching your superannuation balance climb while quietly wondering what on earth is actually holding the whole thing together, you are not alone. In Episode 126 of The AgriCoach Wealth & Wisdom Podcast, Ben Law sits down with David Berthon-Jones, Chief Investment Officer and Founding Partner at Aequitas Investment Partners, for a candid conversation about what's really driving global markets right now — and what intergenerational farming families need to be paying close attention to as they think about long-term wealth, off-farm investments, and succession planning across decades, not quarters. David manages and advises on roughly eight billion dollars of client capital, and he brings a refreshingly honest perspective to a moment that most commentators are either talking up or shouting down. He and Ben get into the AI capital expenditure wave fuelling the so-called Magnificent Seven, the quiet accounting questions underneath those valuations, and why the panic that used to follow geopolitical shocks seems to have evaporated at the index level — even as individual stocks get punished savagely. They also turn the lens home to Australia: rising fuel prices, stubborn inflation, a Reserve Bank with fewer levers than it had six months ago, the housing affordability question that other comparable countries have already started answering, and the productivity backdrop that every primary producer is feeling on the ground. For farming families thinking decades ahead, the conversation moves into the territory that really matters. How should off-farm wealth be structured when valuations are rich and the macro picture is murky? Where does cash, fixed income, and genuine diversification fit when growth assets have done all the heavy lifting? And what's the single most common mistake David sees in self-directed portfolios that quietly undermines a family's succession plan before the next generation even gets a look at the books? Ben and David also touch on the lessons from the dot-com era, why Warren Buffett is sitting on an extraordinary cash position right now, and what that signals to patient capital with a multi-generational horizon. If your family balance sheet stretches across the farm gate and the share market, and you want a clear-eyed read on what's worth worrying about — and what's worth ignoring — this is an episode worth your time. Tune in for a grounded, thoughtful conversation about protecting and growing family wealth in a market that's quietly daring everyone to look away.  If this podcast has ever added value to your farming business, we'd love for you to leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. https://pod.link/1598835360 \----------------------- Ben Law is a coach to some of Australia's most successful farming families. He was raised on the land — three generations of farming in his blood — and has spent almost 30 years and more than 40,000 hours alongside farming families, first as their financial adviser and now as their coach. Along the way he learned the truth nobody talks about: what makes or breaks a family legacy isn't the money — it's whether the family can communicate, get aligned, and prepare the next generation before succession arrives. That's what this podcast is about. Each fortnight Ben sits down with farming families, trusted advisers and industry experts to unpack how to build a family that thrives across generations — strong in business, strong in relationships, and set up to hand over the farm without losing each other. *Disclaimer: The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and for education purposes only. It is not financial advice. It is not legal advice. No one should act on the information without appropriate specific advice for your particular circumstances. Ben Law is a former financial advisor but is no longer licensed and cannot and will not give you specific or personal advice in this podcast. The Financial Bloke Group Pty Ltd accepts no responsibility for any loss or damage occasioned by any person acting or refraining from action as a result of reliance on the information in this podcast.* ...