Investment Uncut

This week we’re joined by Dr Rebecca Newton, Organisational psychologist, visiting Fellow at the LSE, and CEO of CoachAdviser, for a wide-ranging conversation about modern work life. We cover how the landscape of business culture and leadership has changed radically over 20 years, and what’s going wrong today for many business execs and leaders? What is joy and why does it matter in the workplace?...

This week we’re joined by Professor of Finance at London Business School, Alex Edmans. Alex also authored the book Grow the Pie and has presented numerous popular Ted Talks on corporate finance, responsible business, and responsible investing. Being a Professor means lecturing and doing research, but Alex recognises the practical relevance of the research he does and uses this to influence the pra...

This week we’re joined by LCP colleague David Wrigley to break down LCP’s strategic portfolio. This covers: our best ideas in investment, how we bring strategies together, how we view asset classes and investment in a time of higher inflation. David covers recent changes to the portfolio, the role of short dated credit, asset backed securities and real assets as well as much more. Listeners will s...

This week we’re joined by MD of 2020 trustees Naomi L’Estrange. We discuss her top tips and frameworks for better decision making (including the GROW model), what she’s seen work in investing and why the biggest risk might be risk aversion and not making decisions. We also cover how to review underperforming managers in today’s environment and reflect on the role of diversity in decision making an...

This week we speak to award-winning freelance finance journalist and communications consultant Charlotte Moore! We discuss how the media covers finance and investing, things asset managers tend to get wrong and right with their communications, and how the changing media landscape impacts the industry. We finish with an array of top communications tips from a media expert that listeners won’t want...

This week we’re joined by Deb Clarke. These days, Deb is a NED following a long career in the City spanning asset management and fund research. We discuss – what Deb thinks the consulting and fund management industry have got right and wrong over the years. We dive into some of her principles for fund research, as well as some of her worst research meetings. We talk about some of the most importan...

This week we’re joined again by LCP’s head of Real Assets research Andy Jacobson. During a difficult year for investors, Real assets are in the spotlight for all sorts of reasons: potential portfolio diversifiers, protection from higher inflation, and also risks from decarbonisation and changes to energy strategy. At the same time, we’re seeing a rotation into newer styles of real asset investing...

Have you heard the term microaggression? Today we’re speaking to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion consultant Mamawa Turay who is taking us through the topic of microaggressions in the workplace. We cover what they are, the significant (and often underappreciated) negative impact they can have, how to spot them, what to do, and why giving them a label has helped. Mawa draws on her own experiences to h...

This week we speak to Matt Gibson, head of Manager Research at LCP. Matt’s been asking some interesting questions about passive investing of late, which we debate, including: does the success of passive (ironically) rest on a belief in active management? And, should the onus be on passive managers as opposed to active managers to justify their approach?

This week we speak to Ludovic Phalippou professor of Financial Economics at the Saïd Business School. Ludovic found himself at the centre of a storm 2 years ago following the publishing of his paper: Inside the billionaire factory which took a critical look at private equity and many of the questionable practices which take place in the marketing and allocating to these funds. We recap the paper a...

This week we speak to independent trustee director Graham Jung from Ross Trustees. We cover Graham’s advice to consultants and asset managers working with trustees, including key things they miss, and the questions trustees should be asking right now. We discuss why Graham believes trustees are not the impediment to better decision making they are sometimes seen as, and reflections on what’s chang...

In this episode, Dan and Mary reflect on many of the learnings that have come from the podcast so far, including some frequently asked questions including building and targeting an audience, the practicalities, and some of the trade-offs involved like time, depth, breadth. They go behind the scenes on the process involved in putting out the podcast each week and talk about some potential direction...

This week we speak to Allison Schrager, author, Bloomberg columnist, and senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Allison specialises in the intersection of economic policy and finance, leading to some fascinating recent insights into behavior and risk. We discuss some of Allison’s recent work such as: why Americans should be more like Europeans, do people actually make reasonably good risk decis...

This week we speak to Gurpal Ruprai, Consultant in our Energy Consulting Team, about all things batteries – the thesis, the impact of 2021 and current events, and what the future could hold for battery storage investment.

This week we’re joined by Jessica Clark, a Consultant in LCP's Insurance Consulting Team, and fellow podcast show host on LCP's Insurance Uncut. On the week of International Women's Day, Jessica joins us to discuss what IWD means to her, her experiences of being a woman in the industry and the importance of allyship.

This week we’re joined by investment author and Director of Liquid Markets at St James Place, Joe Wiggins. Joe is a former fund manager who has written extensively on many of the prevalent and underappreciated behavioural risks in investing. We discuss some of Joe’s recent work including why investors should ignore macro forecast, why setting beliefs out is one of the more useful things an investo...

This week it’s book club time as we speak to FT journalist and author of the book “Trillions”, Robin Wigglesworth. Trillions tells the story of how a band of renegades invented the index fund and changed Wall Street forever. We discuss Robin’s research process of writing the book, consisting of many interviews including with Jack Bogle and weaving together a raft of different stories from the 1970...

This week we speak to governance expert Rachika Cooray. We delve into the forthcoming single code of practice applying to UK pension schemes, covering the what, why, and when. We discuss what’s new, what’s underappreciated, and what’s surprising about it. And governance, in general, reflecting on Rachika’s experience working with many trustee and committee groups on what gets done well, and the co...

This week we’re talking about something that often goes underappreciated – voting. Voting by asset managers, on behalf of their asset owner clients at company Annual General Meetings (AGM’s). We’re talking to the author of an influential research piece benchmarking the voting activity of a huge chunk of the asset management industry, Shareaction’s Sonia Hierzig.

This week we’re talking consumer financial engagement with Tom McPhail, Director of Public Affairs at research consultancy the Lang Cat. In a previous role, Tom spent a decade as Head of policy at investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown. In this episode, we cover the transition to individual responsibility for pensions and savings in the UK, the role of regulation and policy interventions, and the...

This week we’re talking about one of the most important and effective communication mediums known to man – stories! Our guest Stacy Havener has worked with boutique fund managers helping them tell their stories in more compelling ways and in the process has helped raise billions of dollars in assets for up-and-coming managers. Stsacy walks us through key components of a good story, what people in...

This week we’re talking decision making with professional Trustee Robert Thomas. We cover chairing investment boards, avoiding groupthink, and making good decisions in a complex environment. We also take a deep dive into why having a clear plan is so essential to moving forward, the value of getting advisers on the same page, and the underappreciated value of simple solutions. Robert discusses som...

This week we’re reviewing all the various market forecasts we’ve seen for 2022 with the help of LCP Consultant & macro expert Anais Caldwell-Jones. We discuss China, the Fed, inflation, politics, and much more.

In the final episode of 2021, Mary and Dan sit down to review the year through the lens of four key stats, three people who defined the year, and two recommendations. They also reveal the top three most downloaded episodes of the year.

This week we’re talking China with Chris Kushlis of T Rowe Price. We ask all the China-investing questions on our minds, including how to think about Evergrande, this year’s tech crackdown, and the ever-present risk of a China slowdown or hard landing damaging the world economy. Chris highlights the key things to focus on when looking at China and offers a useful perspective to understand the year...