Peter Thornhill
Investment Strategist, Financial Commentator & Author
Peter is an investment strategist, financial commentator and author with more than 40 years’ experience in global and Australian financial markets. Principal of Motivated Money Pty Ltd, he is known for his clear, provocative insights into investing and wealth creation.
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Peter Thornhill’s career spans more than 40 years in the financial services industry, during which time he has built an international reputation as an investment strategist, consultant and engaging communicator.
Educated in Melbourne, Peter began his career with one of Australia’s leading insurance companies. In 1971, he moved to London, where he joined a prominent London merchant bank as a private client investment adviser. His career in the UK progressed rapidly, and in 1982 he joined one of the country’s largest unit trust groups, being appointed a Director in 1984.
Since returning to Australia in 1988, Peter has earned widespread respect for his expertise and involvement with some of the nation’s most successful managed funds. He is now the Principal of Motivated Money Pty Ltd, consulting to many of Australia’s leading financial institutions and organisations.
Peter is a successful investor in his own right and a highly sought-after presenter. His deep insights into wealth creation through investment, combined with his entertaining and direct delivery style, have made him a recognised financial commentator across both print and electronic media.
He is widely known for challenging conventional investment thinking. Peter believes share markets are driven by forces beyond pure reason, shaped largely by collective human behaviour rather than a neat continuum of cause and effect. His presentations are renowned for their no-nonsense assault on popular wisdom, exploring why long-term investing is the most reliable path to wealth, why market volatility is not the same as risk, why looking backwards can damage financial outcomes, and why the concept of a market “crash” is often misunderstood.
More recently, Peter added author to his credentials with the publication of a book on investing, dedicated to encouraging individuals to take responsibility for their financial futures. Although self-published and without traditional bookshop distribution, the book has sold more than 40,000 copies, a powerful testament to the strength and resonance of his message.
Topics
- Assets-vs-liabilities.
- Understanding stock market indices.
- The importance of income or cash flow.
- The role of the media.
- A brief look at history and the relevance of past stock market corrections.
- A comparison of the performance of cash and shares.
- An illustration of why share prices go up over the long term and the key drivers.
- A discussion of the ‘yield trap’ for cash and shares and why yield should be ignored.
- A comparison of the performance of property and shares.
- Why there are no successful listed residential property trusts.
- The ‘yield trap’ in relation to shares and property.
- A discussion of stockmarket performance and its relevance over the last 100 years plus.
- The role of human perceptions (biases) and ‘herd’ behaviour in investment decision making.
