Passive Investing Australia: Get Rich Slow, The Fintech That Tells You to Trade Less | Hayden Smith, Pearler
Hayden Smith started Pearler, a wealth management platform for everyday Australians, with negative money in the bank, medical bills unpaid, and surgery he couldn't afford. Eight years later, Pearler has over 100,000 accounts and $1.5 billion USD in holdings, making it one of Australia's most recognised long-term investing platforms.
We cover why a brokerage would actively discourage frequent trading, how his first startup CompareMeals died from exhaustion rather than failure, the equity split mistake most co-founders make, why he kept his lecturing role at UNSW for years into building Pearler, and what patience actually costs in a fast-moving industry.
00:00 Intro
00:27 What Pearler actually is
00:54 Getting people started on the boring habit
02:46 The products: long-term, super, and investing for kids
03:36 CompareMeals: the first startup that fizzled out
05:29 Equal equity and the co-founder trap
07:42 Investors vs. "get rich slow"
10:00 Why he never quit lecturing at UNSW
10:33 Negative money: the bike crash and the surgery bills
11:48 The mental-health edge
12:36 When it's actually worth going all in
14:43 Is patience a skill or a virtue?
16:19 Perspective, aging, and one last piece of advice
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