February 2019
This month’s contributors are: Chris Tobe
Andy Agathangelou
Stable Value Consultants
Transparency Task Force
Page 3
Sandy Trust
Actuary
Page 14
Page 18
Paul Mumford
Cavendish Asset Management
Page 22
Get in touch if you wish to place an article! Edition #34 February 2019
The official publication of The Transparency Task Force. FREE to members of the Transparency Task Force, membership of which is also FREE
3 “How can we accelerate the rebuilding of trust and confidence in financial services?” 8 Locations for Symposia 10 Upcoming Events 14 Running to fight corruption & bring transparency to Kentucky 17 The TTF Ambassadors, Special Interest Groups and Advisory Board - Find out more 18 Avoiding a pickling - or why society needs purposeful finance 22 “Most Stock Pickers are complete morons” - Peter Hargreaves; article by Paul Mumford 24 Get Involved
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The Transparency Times | www.transparencytaskforce.org | February 2019 | Edition #34
LAUNCH OF A MAJOR PROJECT: “HOW CAN WE ACCELERATE THE REBUILDING OF TRUST AND CONFIDENCE IN FINANCIAL SERVICES?” The harsh reality of the situation It will be of no surprise to the readers of the Transparency Times that the Global Financial Crisis of 2007/8, the ‘Great Recession’ that followed and the myriad of economic and socio-political aftereffects of these events have severely eroded public trust and confidence in the financial services sector. Today, the UK’s record-low-levels of savings and engagement with financial services points to the persistence of this lack of confidence; a harsh reality that must be of grave concern to policymakers and regulators. The financial services sector’s very existence is dependent upon retaining customers and building business, and therefore trust is vital. The term ‘credit’ is derived from the Latin ‘credere’, literally meaning ‘belief in’ - financial services institutions are dependent on public faith in their ability to deliver on their promise and in their capacity to hold and return their customers’ investments. Furthermore, the ‘promise to pay’ on UK banknotes is a reminder of how the money system itself is inherently dependent on trust.
Trust is not just the first line of defence in buttressing the resilience of our financial system; it is the very oxygen on which its survival depends. Trust, therefore, to all stakeholders, policymakers and regulators, industry and consumer bodies, professional associations, businesses small and large, and consumers themselves, is integral to the prevention of future systemic crises as well as the safe, stable and efficient “business as usual” workings of the financial system on a day-to-day basis. Trust and confidence in regulators and policymakers under whose watch the Global Financial Crisis occurred have also been severely damaged, despite the best efforts of these public servants to ramp up consumer and investor protection in recent years. Not only has faith in financial services institutions been eroded by past undesirable events, so too has the public’s confidence in the regulators’ capacity to control these institutions. The evidence points to a dangerous disconnect between a sector that depends on trust to function correctly and neither it nor those responsible
for regulating it being trusted. It is imperative that actions are taken to remedy this. Today, financial security is even more challenging for governments to provide than ever before, so it is becoming crystal clear that if people want financial security they will need to make use of a transparent, truthful and trustworthy financial services sector on which they can rely to provide them with the wealth creation and preservation they need. It is a policy priority that the financial services sector gets its house in order, and is seen to be acting, as a ‘safe pair of hands’ upon which consumers and the business community can rely. Without this trust and confidence, it would be irrational for anyone, or any institution, to put their faith in a sector that has historically fallen short of required standards on an all-too-frequent basis. A way forward The Transparency Task Force recognises that there is a need for a financial services industry that is truly trustworthy and can be relied on to be the “safe pair of hands” socie-
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ty needs. We are working very closely with Newgate Communications on a major project that will be the first serious attempt to put in place a strategy to accelerate the rebuilding of trust and confidence in financial services on a pan-sector basis. It has been a delight to work with Newgate Communications to
craft a sensible way forward; and it is only because of the generosity they have shown in sharing their resource and in particular their research capabilities that the project has been able to take shape. The purpose of this article is to share our thoughts on the outline of the project we are working on with a view to collecting feedback and gathering support on what we plan to do. Please do get in touch
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and share your thoughts, particularly if you like the idea of being involved in some way. The main building blocks of the 5-year project It will obviously take more than 5 years to solve the problem but by the end of the first 5 years we believe we can assemble the key component parts needed, and have
them organised into a wellplanned project. Here are the main building blocks: 1. A highly credible White Paper with a compelling call to action. The White Paper is entitled “How can we accelerate the rebuilding of trust and confidence in financial services?� I know I’m biased but in my
opinion it does a great job to: a) Articulate what has caused the public to have such low levels of trust and confidence in financial services b) Promote the idea that the low levels of trust and confidence need to be rebuilt c) Promote the idea that the best way to rebuild trust is an
inclusive project that brings together all the key stakeholders including governmental, regulatory and industry actors; plus progressive market participants, the media, academics, think tanks, campaign groups and so on d) Promote the idea of participation at various symposia we are running around the world
The Transparency Times | www.transparencytaskforce.org | February 2019 | Edition #34
2. Our Special Summits These events are taking place in several locations around the world including London, Boston, New York, Chicago, Toronto, Washington, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Singapore, Amsterdam, Zurich, Brussels and Dublin; and we can consider any other location where there is sufficient interest. The events will bring together key stakeholders including politicians, policymakers, trade bodies, professional associations, academics, campaign groups, and do on. There will be thought leadership speeches and discuss and debate sessions to give all attendees the chance to share their thoughts on what needs to be done. It is in this part of the programme that we will be able to tap into the collective creativity of the group. FYI over fifty ideas in response to the question have already been floated. Individually there are many great ideas; but the real magic will come from the “whole is greater than the sum of all
parts” dynamic that will come into play because many of the ideas improve the impact of others; they are mutually reinforcing. We will also begin the process of recruiting volunteers because we are looking for people that want to become part of the Steering Group and the Project Management Group 3. Video interviews of Values-Based Leaders The video interviews will capture the insights, experiences and thought leadership of those with a progressive and pioneering mindset. They will all have unique perspectives but if there were any common themes amongst them I imagine they might be acceptance of: - The need for greater transparency, truthfulness and trustworthiness in financial services - The need for a greater emphasis on a “principle before profit” mindset to help us get
away from the myopic pursuit of short-term profits that has sadly come to dominate the workings of the sector - The need for a “cultural transfusion” where ethics, integrity and purposefulness are in the ascendancy; with due recognition for a need to shift from “shareholder primacy” towards “stakeholder primacy” - The need for ground-breaking levels of inclusivity and consensus-building amongst all the key stakeholders, to drive forward solutions to the corrosive trust deficit problem - The need for ground-breaking levels of collaboration, collegiality and cooperation - The need for the interests of market participants to be better-aligned with the interests of the customers and clients they serve - The need for the world’s capital markets to realise their potential to “become a force for good”
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We are very excited about the potential impact of these video interviews; they will be an excellent way to carry the collective message right around the world and with a bit of good fortune we will get healthy levels of engagement and traction online. They will certainly serve as a crystal clear clarion call for values-based leadership to be shown right around the world so that those that wish to become part of the movement that is being formed can show their support by “standing up rather than standing by”. Once again I am extremely grateful to Newgate Communications for making all this possible. 4. Multiple workstreams In general terms, we believe the best way to solve the trust deficit is to bring together the key stakeholders, internationally, and to embark on a well-organised initial 5-year project. That project will involve multiple work streams with each work stream focused on a particular theme. These are the work streams that are on the “drawing board”: - Academic, Research, Thought Leadership and Evidence Base - Culture, Ethics, Values, Professionalism, “Principle Before Profit”, Values-Based Leadership, MQ, and Leadership Development - Market Integrity - Asymmetries of Information - Compliance, Regulatory,
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Legal, Governance, Audit, Custodianship and Stewardship - Technology, Fintech, Analytics and Reporting - Product Design & Product Accreditation - Communications, Consumer Engagement, PR, Reputation Management and Social Media - Metrics to measure, monitor and manage trust - HR Strategy, Incentive Design, Responsible Reward, Cultural Transfusion, Inclusion and Diversity - Purposefulness, Impact Investing, Sustainability, Climate Change, ESG, Socially Responsible Investing and Social Finance - The Codes of Conduct & Professional Oaths of Trade Bodies, Professional Associations and Standard Boards - Whistleblowing and Litigation - Alignment of interests through progressive fee structures - Shareholder Primacy evolving into Stakeholder Primacy - Fiduciary Duty, Duty of Care and Best Interests We won’t be waiting until the end of the 5 years to get those workstreams up and running, we’ll make as much progress on them as we can; as quickly as we can.
Conclusion and Next steps Please understand this is a serious and authentic attempt to deal with a problem that adversely affects us all; the lack of trust and confidence in financial services. There is no way of knowing how successful our project will be. There is no way of knowing how successful it will be; but to my mind the only way of failing is to not even try. There are many critical success factors that will determine how successful the project will be. The most important, without any doubt, is who steps forward to get involved. If enough of the right sort of people step forward we can build a momentum and if we build a momentum we will be able to maintain that momentum; because the project will take on an energy all of its own; and once we build critical mass the project will develop a “gravitational pull” that will attract others – not just in the UK but right around the world; and that’s all we need – enough good people who understand the societal importance of having a trustworthy finance sector and care about it enough to want to play an active part. So here’s the ask: If you have a genuine interest in what we are doing and why we are doing it, please take the time to reach out through andy. agathangelou@transparencytaskforce.org and I will share further details with you.
Is there a workstream that you can relate to?
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Edition #34 | February 2019 | www.transparencytaskforce.org | The Transparency Times
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Boston
New York
Brussels
Amsterdam
Dublin
Hong Kong
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Singapore
Melbourne
Zurich
Toronto
Chicago Please make contact if you want to participate in any of our thought leadership events taking place right around the world in 2019 Edition #34 | February 2019 | www.transparencytaskforce.org | The Transparency Times
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UPCOMING EVENT Time for Transparency “How can we accelerate the rebuilding of trust and confidence in Financial Services” Tuesday 12th March
Venue – Mercer, 99 High St, Boston, MA 02110, USA
For any enquiries about the above event please make contact through andy.agathangelou@transparencytaskforce.org
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The Transparency Times | www.transparencytaskforce.org | February 2019 | Edition #34
UPCOMING EVENT Time for Transparency “How can we accelerate the rebuilding of trust and confidence in Financial Services” Thursday 14th March
Venue – Manhattan, New York - venue to be confirmed
For any enquiries about the above event please make contact through andy.agathangelou@transparencytaskforce.org
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UPCOMING EVENT Time for Transparency “Active/Passive - seeing the whole picture; and what does the future of asset management look like?� Wednesday 20th March Lansons, 24A St John St, Clerkenwell, London EC1M 4AY
For any enquiries about the above event please make contact through andy.agathangelou@transparencytaskforce.org
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The Transparency Times | www.transparencytaskforce.org | February 2019 | Edition #34
...is the collaborative, campaigning community dedicated to driving up the levels of transparency in financial services, right around the world.
...is the official publication of the Transparency Task Force. It is a great opportunity for our community to share news and views, insights and ideas, right around the world.
...is how we bring people togethor to discuss and debate the key issues and to listen to thought leaders on the vital topic of transparency in financial services.
...is awarded to one individual/organisation at each of our Transparency Symposia, in recognition of the contribution they are making to encourage greater transparency. Edition #34 | February 2019 | www.transparencytaskforce.org | The Transparency Times
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ARTICLE:
RUNNING TO FIGHT CORRUPTION & BRING T
Chris Tobe CFA, CAIA | Principal | Stable Val
While much of the US is focused on the 2020 are three States with Governor and other state General and Auditor. Most experts believe the be the most competitive and important race o While the Governor’s race will cover a broad array of issues, I contend the Kentucky Auditor’s race is the top race in the U.S. focusing on Transparency & Corruption in 2019. According to ratings agencies, the financial health of Kentucky is the second worse
in the United States. It continues to fall with Moody’s downgrading the state in July 2017 and S&P downgrading the state in July 2018. Regardless of which study you look at from Illinois State Institute of Corrupt Studys [1]— or the Harvard Center for Ethics[2] Kentucky has the most corrupt state government in the United States.
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The elected Kentucky State Auditor, if experienced and qualified, can do the most to clean up this most corrupt state government in America as a start to its financial recovery. The current incumbent Auditor -with no prior experience-has basically become a rubberstamp for the Governor of his party.
As the KRS Board member who discovered and publicly exposed the graft & corruption in our pension system, I know where the proverbial bodies are buried. I even wrote a book about it called Kentucky Fried Pensions. I helped push Senate Bill 2 in 2017 that required full transparency of private equity and
“Under the current Governor Bevin,” a major financial transparency site in 2017 said
hedge fund contracts and required investment managers to certify transparency of fees and performance by adhering to the CFA Asset Manager Code of Conduct.
“Kentucky Retirement System (KRS) is a contender for both titles of the most corrupt, and the most incompetent public pension in the US”[3]
Governor Bevin himself profited from a multimillion-dollar sweetheart land deal and then appointed the person, a hedge fund manager, from
The Transparency Times | www.transparencytaskforce.org | February 2019 | Edition #34
TRANSPARENCY TO KENTUCKY
lue
Consultants
Presidential race, in 2019 there e-wide races like Attorney e Kentucky Governor’s race will of 2019. Chris Tobe, CFA is a global leader in Transparency and fighting Corruption whom he received the sweetheart mansion deal to a position on the Board of Kentucky’s Retirement System – responsible for investing tens of billions of dollars. Bevin’s KRS led by his hedge fund buddy continues to violate SB2 and buy non-transparent illegal investments. As Auditor I would hold the pension managers accountable for making illegal investments and for providing full transparency. On pension funding, Governor Bevin has increased the pension payments for Cities, Counties, and School districts in Kentucky by hundreds of millions. I believe this is a deliberate goal to destabilize and force shrinkage of our local governments through the manipulation of pension assumptions. As local governments lay off police, school teachers and others, there are fewer people paying into the pensions. This causes, in my opinion, a death spiral, first for local budgets and eventually for the pensions. As Auditor I would bring transparency
in U.S. state & local government pension plans and investments in general including state regulated insurance products and serves on the Transparency task force. He is the founding chair of the Kentucky chapter of Represent US. a national anti-corruption Group. He has written 4 books and dozens of articles on transparency & corruption in investments. Kentucky Fried Pensions 2018 targeted to Kentucky and Public Pensions Secret Investments targeted to Trustees, cited by Pulitzer prize winner Gretchen Morgenson of the NY Times and Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone. He has been quoted and works regularly on public pension corruption stories with Neil Weinberg of Bloomberg, David Sirota of YoungTurks, Travis Waldren of the Huffington Post, and Gary Rivlin formerly of NY Times Pulitzer winner and now with the Intercept. He was interviewed on hedge fund corruption for the October 2018 PBS Frontline piece on Kentucky pensions. He does legal expert work in the areas of investment corruption and excess fees in both US Public & Corporate pension plans. He also serves as Chief Investment Officer for a minority woman owned Pension consulting firm out of New Orleans the Hackett-Group where he has provided project consulting to a number of public pensions in MD, UT,NC and TX. From 2008-2012 he served as a Trustee and on the Investment and Audit Committees for the $14 billion Kentucky Retirement Systems. From 20082009 he was a Sr. Consultant with New England Pension Consultants and worked with a number of public pension plans in Oklahoma, Missouri, Michigan and the District of Columbia. From 1997-1999 with the Kentucky State Auditor he published a 40 page report on the investments of both major Kentucky Pension plans. National Public pension speaking engagements include the National Council on State Legislature National Association of State Treasurers, the Public Pension forum at the Ohio State Law School, DePaul University in Chicago, and at the National Press Club for Governing Magazine. As a public pension trustee he completed the Program for Advanced Trustee Studies at Harvard Law School and Fiduciary College held at the Stanford University. He holds a BA in Economics from Tulane University, and an MBA in Finance & Accounting from Indiana University – Bloomington. He is the past president of the CFA Society of Louisville. He has the taught the MBA investment course at the University of Louisville and finance and accounting classes at Bellarmine and Webster.
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to the process and support prudent measures that help financial solvency and stability for both local and state governments and related pensions. I have my own consulting business and have worked with other states across the country regarding their pension systems. While a pension expert, I spent nearly three years in the Kentucky State Auditor’s office in the late 90’s and know its full range of duties and potential. With a Master’s Degrees in both Accounting & Finance and a CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst), I believe I will be the most qualified Auditor
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in Kentucky’s history. If elected, I will not only root out the corruption within our state’s pension systems and hold those responsible accountable, I will also reexamine stadium and university prior audits, as well as the Kentucky’s Department of Fish and Wildlife. It is going to take the most qualified and experienced Auditor in Kentucky history to clean up the most corrupt state government in America. I hope that all people who believe in transparency will join me in my fight at christobe.com
[1] https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/joseph-gerth/2018/01/26/ kentucky-politicians-most-corrupt-reporters-study/1059184001/ [2] https://insiderlouisville.com/government/ harvard-study-kentuckys-state-governmentone-corrupt-country/ [3] https://www.nakedcapitalism. com/2017/07/bumbling-kentucky-retirement-systems-threatens-naked-capitalism-with-half-cocked-nastygram-that-will-only-alienate-private-equity-fund-managers. html
The Transparency Times | www.transparencytaskforce.org | February 2019 | Edition #34
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ARTICLE:
AVOIDING A PICKLING – OR WHY SOCIETY NE
Sandy Trust | Actuary |
Sandy Trust outlines why we are in a pickl what needs to change in Financial Service thereby outlining why the work of team PIS Economic growth is good – so says the data! Data shows a strong correlation between wealth and quality of life – taking life expectancy as a rough proxy for societal progress and mapping this against national GDP[1]. With this information we can formulate a hypothesis: Hypothesis 1: Targeting GDP productivity = better life & happier people This leads to an accompanying corollary on the purpose of Financial Services. On one level, Financial Services (FS) are functional, underpinning the economy by providing bank accounts, credit, insurance and investment services to individuals, corporates and governments. But, what is the social charter, or purpose of FS? Surely, it is to allocate capital effectively to activities that support societal progress. And our evidence based hypothesis suggests, that if FS is helping
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to increase GDP by allocating capital towards profitable activities, then it is serving society by helping to create a better life for all[2] . So: Corollary 1a: Financial Services serves society best by allocating capital towards activity that increases economic growth Underpinning this, are two key assumptions, or boundary conditions, which have been true for most of human history. These are: A. The climate is stable
element of risk though. Any passenger looking backwards from the deck of the Titanic at 11.39pm on Sunday 14 April 1912, may have reasonably concluded that disembarkation in New York was a foregone conclusion. Things can change – and quickly. These two key assumptions, which have been true for most of human history, are no longer true. This is illustrated by Diagram 1, a simplified representation of the situation we find ourselves in.
Diagram 1: Human
B. There are no practical limits to resources (i.e. we will find alternative resources or innovate our way out of any shortages – who needs whale oil when you’ve got fossil fuels eh?) But past performance is no guarantee of future performance… Backwards looking analysis clearly contains an
The Transparency Times | www.transparencytaskforce.org | February 2019 | Edition #34
EEDS PURPOSEFUL FINANCE
le and makes the case for es to avoid being pickled – SCES is so important. All of human history
Now
Imagine only Box 1 exists. There are significant spare resources. Even DOUBLING human activity by adding Box 2, leaves plenty of spare resources. Our boundary conditions hold provided atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide remain relatively stable, as there are plenty of spare resources. Earth’s complex and dynamic life support system is stable.
Things have changed. We are exhausting a number of resources more quickly than the Earth can replenish them, some of which are critical for the ongoing provision of sufficient food and water to the human population, as illustrated by the size of Box 3. Atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide are increasing rapidly, with severe climate implications. Worrying.
nity in a pickle
How does this impact our hypothesis?
Sandy is a customer, risk and investment actuary who is excited about moving his career into the sustainable finance space. he is passionate about purpose and in particular the need to address the challenges that climate change poses, believing this is the joint responsibility of individuals, corporates and governments. He sees this is a big customer and regulatory theme in Financial Services, where leading companies will reap commercial rewards. Sandy is a member of the IFOA’s Resource & Environment Board.
First, we need to update our boundary conditions to reflect this reality: A. The climate is NOT stable B. There ARE practical limits to resources (i.e. we cannot find alternative resources or innovate our way out of all shortages) Further, A and B are linked – in particular, a warming climate increases the strain Edition #34 | February 2019 | www.transparencytaskforce.org | The Transparency Times
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on resources. (On climate. We are now 1°C warmer than pre-industrial times and have so far failed to reduce global emissions. The impacts of a warming climate are increasingly felt. The rate of warming is 0.2°C per decade, implying we will speed through the 1.5°C target in the late 2040s. There is little we can do to avoid this – but the range of outcomes post 2050 remain extremely wide and very sensitive to the changes we make in the next 10 to 15 years.)
ing capital towards activities which exacerbate the problem (i.e. are profitable but not sustainable), then FS is doing society a dis-service by accelerating the onset of chaos in our life support system. The ongoing financing of new high carbon energy sources is one example of this. How then to ensure that Financial Services fulfils this new social charter (Corollary 2a) as well as being functionally competent? Quite simply to embed broader societal purpose into FS goals – to
So,if our underpinning assumptions change, then we must update our hypothesis and corollary, perhaps to something like: Hypothesis 2: Targeting GDP productivity = better life & happier people, provided there are sufficient resources Corollary 2a: Financial Services serves society best by allocating capital towards activity that increases sustainable economic growth (i.e. survival) The need for Purpose in Finance In this new reality, a FS sector which is agnostic on sustainability and focused on financial outcomes only (perhaps short term ones) is not serving society well. Put another way, this system cannot be delivering on its updated social charter (2a). In fact, if it is allocat-
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begin to measure the impact of investments as well as the financial outcomes, to set goals against these and to embed the achievement of these goals into remuneration (its incredible what a well-incentivised individual can achieve!) and shareholder reporting. The good news is that globally and across the investment value chain, there are significant developments taking place, with regulators, assets owners, investment managers, corporates and customers all starting to make changes. An ever increasing number of stakeholders are
jumping onto the Purposeful Finance bandwagon. A quiet revolution where early adopters will reap commercial rewards and laggards will be left holding risk and losing customers. The bad news is that very few currently recognise just how perilous the situation is, just how late we’ve left it and how significantly the rate of adoption of Purposeful Finance needs to accelerate if we are to avoid being pickled. So, paraphrasing Mr Grantham’s recent excellent White Paper[3] : “Get to it ladies and gentlemen!” Question, cajole, influence, nudge, insist and drive for this change. Start today. Be persistent. Let’s do everything we can to change course before we hit the proverbial iceberg – I for one am keen to be able to look my children in the eye. [1] https://www.gapminder.org/answers/howdoes-income-relate-to-life-expectancy/ For more on this see Factfulness, Rosling, 2018 [2] Bad things still happen of course, but on average things are better [3] The race of our lives revisited, GMO, August 2018
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Venues wanted for transparency symposia in all of these locations: Amsterdam, Auckland, Beijing, Berlin, Boston, Brussels, Cape Town, Chicago, Dubai, Dublin, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Montreal, New York, Ontario, Paris, San Francisco, Santa Monica, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, The Hague, Tokyo, Toronto, Vancouver, Washington D.C. and Zurich. For further information please get in touch through andy.agathangelou@transparencytaskforce.org Edition #34 | February 2019 | www.transparencytaskforce.org | The Transparency Times
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ARTICLE:
“MOST STOCK PICKERS ARE COM – PETER HARGREAV
by Paul Mumford | Fund Manager | Cavendish Asset M
I am what people term as a “stock picker” which m shares in which I hope to make money. My type of which look undervalued on investment merits. Some call this value investing and often the approach is contra cyclical which can involve buying shares in out of favour sectors of the market. Examples might be housebuilding, oil and gas, property and retail all of which have had their ups and downs. The idea is to buy cheap and sell when the potential has been reached and can be termed as an active style. However, the majority of my share purchases are made from a long term perspective and, if necessary, I am happy to hold for many years. The investment world today is highly sophisticated and modern technology has made it a truly global one. What happened in the days before computers and how did my stock picking world develop in the UK? In my book “The Stock Picker” I attempt to give a potted stock market history covering my career, first as a stock broker and then as a fund manager.
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My story starts in the early sixties and is going strong today. This is the story of my life rather than an investing ‘howto’ book. It is, in many ways, a very personal book. I never wished to write anything else. However, I hope there are chapters that will be interesting and useful to fellow investors, and that the rest will be enjoyable for anyone who likes to look back at how the stock market and indeed the wider world has changed over the years. I write about how to find investing bargains, what makes for a robust company and all the most important lessons I have learned as an investor – but also about the musical world of the 1950s and 60s, my time as a schoolboy bookmaker, and the time I took an art course and painted trees that looked like lollipops. I think the latter (and many other experiences I touch on) all played a role in making me who I am as a stock picker. Nevertheless, while I do make those connections between the personal side of my life and investing in the stock market, I do not try to labour
the point; the book is a collection of memories rather than a manifesto. At first the thought of writing around 4,000 words per chapter seemed daunting, but I found sufficient material and soon discovered that I could cover a whole range of topics without padding. It was exciting to delve into the past and pore over information on bygone investments and historic events. One of my objectives was for the reader to come away saying, “Gosh I did not know that” (and hopefully to do so more than once). An overriding goal was to make each paragraph and every chapter as interesting as possible and to throw some light on the ups and downs of a stock-picking approach to investment. Are most stock pickers complete morons? In a headline to an article in the FT Adviser that seemed to be Peter Hargreaves’ verdict. Curiously, though, he has built up Hargreaves Lansdown plc on the basis of being able to choose and recommend to his followers the most successful active investment managers.
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MPLETE MORONS” AVES
Management
means that I chose buy individual stock picking is selecting shares
The firm became a FTSE 100 company because of its ability to pick the right investment funds for its clients. From a humble beginning to having a market value of £9 billion is some going. Was his tonguein-cheek definition of the stock picker correct? Perhaps it is best to form your own judgement.
Paul Mumford is one of the longest-serving fund managers in the UK, with 50 years’ experience in the markets as a stockbroker and fund manager. He currently runs the TM Cavendish Opportunities Fund and TM AIM Fund having launched the first in 1988 as the Glenfriars Opportunities Fund. He is a stock picker who aims to find shares in undervalued companies and often ends up swimming against the tide and buying unloved shares. Paul has three daughters and two granddaughters. His outside interests include bridge – he has obtained the rank of Life Master – supporting live music at local venues, and following two football teams as a season ticket holder.
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