PRACTICELAB - Key Persons
The TAP experience has made Kirstie a much more resourceful and thoughtful investor. In many ways, it's the perfect grounding for investment professionals, she says.
Job Titles:
- Chairman and CEO of American Funds Distributors
- Chairman and CEO of North American Distribution
Job Titles:
- Head of Fixed Income and Global Trading
Tokyo based portfolio manager Seung Kwak joined Capital in 2002 after more than 17 years as a successful Japan equity portfolio manager. "For me, the most interesting aspect about being a portfolio manager at Capital was The Capital System℠." "Previously, I was the only portfolio manager on any given fund, and I used to run a more diversified portfolio, trying to cover all the bases, thinking about the risks of not owning different sectors or industries," he explains. "However, The Capital System℠ allows me to focus my portfolio on only my highest conviction ideas. There may be more volatility in my results compared to the broader market, but the other portfolio managers tend to have holdings in other stocks and sectors, and our clients benefit from the diversity of ideas and styles without any dilution in investment conviction." For Seung, that investment conviction was developed and refined in a market that has been in bear-market 4 territory for 22 years, with many false starts. During that time, Seung has learned many valuable lessons about successful investing. "When trying to identify investment opportunities: Fundamental valuations do matter even though markets can ignore valuation extremes for many years, What is valuable can change depending on market environment and what the market perceives as scarce, and 3) Remember to step back and see if stock leadership is telling you something about a bigger pattern of wealth creation, like the China related commodity boom."
"In my years as an emerging markets investor I've witnessed so much change. A lot of the things we take for granted today we couldn't even imagine 25 years ago," he explains. "These include things like access to the impressive natural and people resources of the formerly closed economies in Eastern Europe and Asia and the emergence of globally competitive firms in industries that range from technology to consumer to finance."
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Chief Executive Officer
"But what does this product mean for society?" This tricky line of inquiry is an example of what has become known among Capital's investment professionals as a 'Bill Hurt question'. Armed with 60 years of investment experience, macroeconomist Bill occupies a special place within our organisation.
A creative thinker who has always believed an investment thesis should be based on far more than just the numbers, Bill makes a point of meeting regularly with our organisation's younger analysts to give them a useful 'right-brained' perspective on the trends shaping the investment landscape. On any given day, he may invite one or more of them for a meal with a view to giving their investment ideas a robust stress test.
"While I am a 'right brainer', they're all left brainers - in other words, thoughtful and disciplined people who are really good with numbers and linear thinkers, " he explains. "But while they are very focused on their responsibilities, I think it is dangerous to think too narrowly, so I try and help them think out of the box - about the things that might be going on in the world that they're not thinking about."