About us

Our Philosphy

There is all too often a false dichotomy between the aesthete and the investor, or the environmentalist and the entrepreneur. But it does not have to be so.

Art does not have to be for money, but an artist will struggle to live without a paying audience. And business does not have to be for a good cause, but any decent business-person should strive to fund what is worthy, not just what is profitable.

Ethical Investing dates back to at leat the 1700’s when the Quaker’s in England found neither investing in slavery, nor selling its produce, to be compatible with their religious belief that we are all equal. While those views seemed, at the time, to be radical, it is now near universally accepted that the Quaker’s were right. Their ethical investing has now become law: worldwide those who would seek to profit from slavery run the risk of severe punishment. And rightly so.

Today, the contention of many capitalists is that they must invest in firearms, coal, tobacco and all manner of harmful activities in order to drive investment returns. Greed often motivates these people just as, when they invest in art, they often do so for social status rather than the love of it.

A Rich Life stands in opposition to this profanity. We celebrate profit where it causes no major harm (and preferably when it benefits stakeholders). We celebrate art for what it can gift all of us, rich and poor, and we celebrate literature for the knowledge it can give us, as well as the pleasure.

The aesthete need not eschew wealth, and indeed we would prefer see wealth accumulate in the hands of those who care about beauty, not the crass.

And the environmentalist need not eschew profit. Indeed, we would prefer see capital (and the power it brings) accumulate in the hands of those who would act rapidly to reduce the environmental strain our pollution is causing.

Meet The Team

Claude Walker

Claude is the founder of A Rich Life and writes the Ethical Equities column for this publication.

He had the good fortune of starting young as an investor, and was the Research Analyst and then Advisor of Motley Fool Hidden Gems from 2014 – 2018, during which period his recommendations more than doubled the market return. He has a go-anywhere, do-anything approach to investing, but he always considers the impact his investments have on society and the environment, not just the expected financial return.

In the past few years he has enjoyed most success with medium-sized high-growth tech stocks on the ASX, but has continued to invest heavily in smaller, unloved and ignored micro-caps, because the market is much less efficient at the small end.

Christian Tym

Christian Tym is an Arts & Social Sciences PhD from The University of Sydney and a post-doctoral researcher in social anthropology at the University of Marburg. Christian’s academic areas of expertise are qualitative health research, critical public health and Latin American medical anthropology, but he is an appreciator and purveyor of fast, informative, evidence-based journalism of all kinds.

Chloe Mandryk

Chloe Mandryk is the Arts Editor and Writer for ‘A Rich Life’. Chloe has also contributed to the arts as ‘ARTAND Foundation’ Manager, Visual Art Curator for ‘Art, Not Apart’ a public art festival and ‘3:33 Art Projects’ who curate exhibitions in corporate spaces. For several years Chloe was the Editor of Australia’s longest running art guide ‘Art Almanac’. She was also a contributing Editor to ‘Ken Unsworth’, the first monograph on the senior Australian artist and she continues to be a freelance arts writer, published in Art & Australia, Art Asia Pacific, Artist Profile and catalogue essays.

Kirsty Francis

Kirsty Francis is a Sydney-based arts writer and former Deputy Editor of Art Almanac. Recently she collaborated with artist Jenny Bolis on fine art books, ‘Ghost History’ and ‘The Mirror’.

Maddie Reynolds

Maddie Reynolds is a university student studying Global Studies with a focus in East Asia and its languages. Maddie’s academic interests lie in Asian dynamics on the global stage, but she’s also passionate about Australia’s education system and climate policies.

Matt Brazier

Originally from the UK, Matt is passionate about investing. Prior to becoming a full-time investor, he completed a master’s degree in mathematics and qualified as a Chartered Global Management Accountant. Matt generated an internal rate of return of more than 30% on his personal ASX account from when he bought his first ever stock in 2012 until its close in 2019. He used the proceeds to set up a small private investment company focused on Australian equities which he runs today. Since 2016, he has also been managing portfolios of UK listed shares on behalf of family. When not researching investment ideas, Matt loves spending time with his young family, reading and being outdoors.

Fabregasto

Fabregasto is a growth-oriented private investor with a particular fondness for software stocks and companies below $1B market cap, and is always hunting for long term compounders (aren’t we all?!). His treatises on ASX growth stocks have attracted a broad international readership from retail investors to analysts at large financial institutions.

Kenny Pittock

Kenny Pittock is a Melbourne based artist who uses humour and sentimentality to playfully respond to contemporary Australian culture, having fun with the overlaps and boundaries between the public and the personal. Kenny received an Honours Fine Arts Degree in painting from the Victorian College of the Arts in 2013, since then he has had solo exhibitions in Italy and Singapore, as well as consistently exhibited his work all over Australia with galleries including ACCA in Melbourne, PICA in Perth, Artspace in Sydney and MONA in Tasmania.

Vanessa Low

Vanessa Low is a Sydney-based creative with a background in art theory, graphic design and photography. Her work has been published in Art Almanac, Singapore Art Gallery Guide and, most recently, the exhibition catalogue for Capturing Nature: Early photography at the Australian Museum 1857-1893. In addition to art, Vanessa enjoys exploring and creating good food. She has a Bachelor of Art Theory (Hons I), and Certificate IV Graphic Design.

Emma-Kate Wilson

Emma-Kate Wilson is a Sydney-based contemporary art and design writer. Her writing examines current trends in global interior design and architecture; as well as the broader cultural impact of art and design.

Nick Hordern

Nick Hordern is a former senior writer with the Australian Financial Review and the co-author of World War Noir (NewSouth Publishing), a history of the Sydney Underworld during World War II.

Jess Howard

Jess Howard is a Canberra-based writer. Originally from New Zealand, she spends a lot of time getting to know the ACT by checking out local music and visual arts shows. Jess is passionate about making links between the culture we consume and our ideas about the world.

Raymond Jang

Raymond has extensive experience in analysing and investigating businesses from his roles at Rask Australia, ASIC and a national accounting firm.

He is a Chartered Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of NSW. His curiosity about the world and drive to find high-quality businesses is what gets him out of bed every morning.

Outside of writing and investing, Raymond loves to play football in a cage (trust him, it’s more fun than it sounds) or at a park.