Investment Uncut

Some call it styles, some call it factors some call it style factors. But regardless, it’s value and momentum size, and it’s definitely had its ups and downs in the last decade. This week we’re joined by Dan Taylor, CIO of MAN Numeric. Dan reviews the last decade and offers candid thoughts on lessons learnt, how things have evolved and how investors should be thinking about these strategies today....

This week we’re joined by John Gilleland of Campbell Global (part of JPMorgan) to discuss one of the fastest-growing areas in investment (no pun intended) – forestry! – and how it fits within the broader category of Natural Capital.

Are your investments exposed to modern slavery? The answer might not be what you think. This week we’re talking to Saskia Kort-Chick who has spent a lot of time investigating modern slavery and human rights abuses in portfolios – a key issue given the continued prevalence of modern slavery in today’s economy and supply chains, which is not just restricted to emerging markets. We discuss the vast n...

This week we have a thought-provoking conversation that might challenge you to think differently about the financial system. We’re speaking to Delilah Rothenberg who spent a career in private markets investing before founding the predistribution initiative to examine and change the inbuilt incentives in the financial system to work toward a more equitable society.

A short special episode this week as Mary returns from a 3 month sabbatical and we take a few moments out to talk about her trip to Central and South America and some reflections. We discuss: highlights including favourite moments, best activity, best food and of course the most dicey transportation situations. We discuss Mary’s journal, some deeper reflections on work and life, plus her reading l...

This week we've got an action-packed conversation that might just spark a little inspiration when it comes to leadership and decision-making. We're chatting with Langley Sharp, a former British Army officer and now leadership consultant who's here to share some incredible insights into the world of decision-making and leading. We're talking about everything from the power of leadership as a "force...

Buckle up, folks - this week we're diving headfirst into the world of fixed income and corporate bonds with Jeff Boswell, a portfolio manager at Ninety One. Corporate bonds have been on a rollercoaster ride lately, going from zero yields to plummeting values even for low-risk assets, and now returning to yield levels not seen since the days of yore. We'll be discussing all the juicy details, like...

This week we’re speaking to an expert on investing in China: Jason Hsu, CIO and founder of Rayliant Advisors. If and how to invest in China are key questions for long-term growth-oriented asset owners with different issues to unpack around political risk, geopolitics, ESG and even the mechanics of listing an entity. Jason walks through these questions and others including: should western investors...

This week we’re talking about one of the key issues of the moment, health in the UK. We’re speaking to well-known actuary and LCP colleague Stuart McDonald MBE, Head of LCP’s longevity and demographic insights team, who specialises in understanding and explaining health and death data. Stuart gained a high profile during Covid-19 when data interpretation of the government statistics became an esse...

This week we’re discussing a particularly booming area of the markets in 2023: the market for buy-outs of DB pension funds by insurers. We’re speaking to LCP’s Catherine Hopper who thinks that 2023 will see record volumes in the “bulk annuity” market. We discuss the key changes in the funded status of UK DB schemes over the last year and what this has meant for their buy-out deficit, we cover the...

Today we’re speaking to author Annie Duke. Annie’s work bridges the behavioural finance theory and practice. Her latest book Quit asks whether quitting gets a bad rap and whether we should all embrace the power of walking away from things that aren’t working so we can reallocate resources to better ideas.

Today we’re speaking to author and principal at AQR, Antti Ilmanen. Antti has made a career out of bridging the gap between finance theory and practice, and this year updated his 2011 book “Expected Returns” for a new environment. A lot has happened while Antti has been updating and releasing the new book so we dive first into how Antti thinks about setting expected returns on various assets inclu...

This week we’re speaking to author and CIO of Fundhouse Joe Wiggins. Joe’s latest book focuses on fund investing and the ways this is different to generic ideas around investing. There is a huge amount of wisdom in Joe’s ideas here and quite a lot that goes against the grain of the fund and consulting industries. We talk about what “risk” really is, complexity, and the lure of certainty. Joe catal...

This week we’ve got a bonus special episode on …. Football! Alongside pensions, investment and other areas LCP has a team that specialises in football analytics (yes really!). In this episode Ashley Mould and Bart Huby explain how their systems use data from thousands of events across dozens of leagues to form a model of each player’s impact on a game and how this can be used by scouts and manager...

Today we’re talking decision-making with Chris Martin who is an independent trustee and Executive Chair at ITS with over 30 years of experience working with pensions boards and committees to make better decisions for members’ best interests. Chris shares some of the key ingredients to good decision-making in this setting drawing on his experience of advising schemes, particularly those in stressed...

This week we’re joined for the second time by Karen Ward, Chief Market strategist EMEA for JP Morgan Asset Management. Karen was also recently appointed to the chancellor’s council of economic advisers. A year after we last spoke to Karen we’re taking stock of the global rate-rising cycle, how far through we are, where interest rates might peak, how central banks will likely respond to data from h...

This week we’re revisiting one of the key market issues of the moment: DB pensions and LDI. First, we’re joined by LCP Partner Steve Hodder where we discuss some of the actions being taken by pension funds, frameworks for helping clients approach the decisions, a reminder of the core reasons behind LDI and its continued popularity, how the market for LDI is changing going forward and the role of l...

This week we’re joined by James Baldwin, Real Assets Researcher at LCP. We’re talking about the future of infrastructure investing. James shares his insights from recent research on a raft of new infrastructure assets and funds becoming known as “infrastructure 2.0”, including battery storage, EV charging, data centres, sustainable transport and, of course, renewable energy. We cover some of the c...

This week we’re joined by Andy Bradley, Partner in our energy team, LCP Delta. Andy’s work covers what’s known as the “demand side” of the energy system spanning things like energy efficiency, storage and smart meters. We discuss some of the features of the UK energy market that have contributed to the current moment and how these might change. We explore how the low-carbon energy transition relat...

In this first episode of our fourth series, we are talking about inflation. Dan and Mary speak with a range of experts to get a rounded picture of the current moment. We discuss insights on the financial well-being implications of higher inflation at a national level and the role of governments, employers and individuals in supporting households. From the political angle, we discuss the current an...

In this episode, Dan and Mary wrap up season 3 for the summer break with a quickfire roundup of some of the key moments and themes of the last 40+ episodes! We start with the post Covid-19 “back to school” buzz of September 2021, recap the early days of three of the key themes of the moment: energy, inflation, and interest rates in late 2021, touch on 2022 forecasts, four mega-themes that emerged...

This week we’re speaking to John L Bowman. John is Executive Vice President at CAIA, The Chartered Alternative Investment Association. We’re discussing the five key components of what John has called “The Portfolio for the Future”. We also discuss universal owners, private markets as a beta allocation, crossover funds, permanent capital and lots more. We think listeners will get a lot out of this...

This week we’re speaking to Michael Mauboussin. Michael is head of consilient research at Counterpoint Global, as well as a prolific author and professor at Columbia Business School. We discuss the basics of security valuation, why using simple multiples is not valuation, how intangibles have reshaped valuation, market efficiency, good losses vs bad losses, and a framework for understanding source...

This week we’re addressing the big question of the moment: rising interest rates. Joining us is colleague Steve Hodder to discuss how pension schemes and other investors are reacting. We cover: what the interest rate moves to date have meant for portfolios, hedges, and progress vs objectives. We discuss the size of the moves compared to risk model outputs. We look forward and run through a quick d...

This week we’re discussing a brand new data set on diversity and inclusion within asset management with LCP’s Laasya Shekaran. We discuss – the background to this dataset and what the Diversity Charter entails. We discuss the coverage of the data and the challenges in collecting it. We run through highlights from the data and accompanying LCP report, pulling out key messages. We discuss various go...