Name the most noticeable generational divide in investment style between sub-40-year-old investors and baby boomers.
I think over-40s have more patience with their investments. As I’m 39, I’ll find out pretty soon.
Your least favorite part of being an asset owner is...?
Receiving 500 emails a day.
The manager you don’t currently work with whose brain you’d most like to pick for an hour is...?
John Hussman, founder of Hussman Funds, who has a highly disciplined investment approach and interesting investment views.
... and where would that meeting take place?
Any good coffee shop.
Describe the weirdest interaction you’ve had with an asset manager.
I spend lots of time with management teams of assets we invest in and am always surprised when other asset managers fail to take the opportunity to ask them a single question. I find that pretty weird.
What asset class or investment troubles you most right now—and why?
Given where we are in the world, most asset classes are troubling right now.
Name your favorite food and drink.
A crab sandwich with a pint of beer at the Ship Inn in Low Newton, Northumberland, UK.
What’s the wildest institutional portfolio you’ve seen?
I don’t spend much time looking at other portfolios, but when I see a fund with 30% of its NAV (net asset value) in a single asset, it catches my eye.
Name a cultural aspect of asset management that gets under your skin.
Overconfidence, which is not something that is in short supply in this industry.
Donald Trump is ________.
Not my first choice—but I don’t have any say in the matter.
Name your four-member investment dream team for your own family office.
Koenraad Foulon (senior managing partner, Capital International), Hugh Hendry (founder, Eclectica Asset Management), Seth Klarman (founder and CEO, Baupost Group), and Jeffrey Gundlach (founder, Doubleline Capital).
What’s the biggest investment or career misstep you’ve made?
The biggest investment misstep I have made is actually a personal one: I sold my London flat five years ago...
What should be an investment trend, but isn’t (yet)?
I think we’ve had plenty of trends over the years in this industry, but I will be interested to see how the industry makes the most of big data.
