Investment Uncut

In this week's episode, we’re talking big themes with Scottish Widow’s Head of Pensions, Investment & RI Maria Nazarova-Doyle. We catch up on Maria’s time at COP26 and hear her reflections on it, what she is thinking about the Net Zero transition over the next decade, and how this will influence the £170bn of assets run by Scottish Widows.

In this week's episode, we’re talking inflation with LCP’s Jon Camfield. We catch up on the latest inflation stats, how investors and pension schemes should think about these, and get onto the big question: Is this a temporary or a structural shift into a new regime? Have we got lazy over the last two decades with low and stable inflation? And what conventional assumptions would need to change if...

On this week’s show, we welcome Karen Ward, Chief Market Strategist EMEA at JP Morgan Asset Management. We discuss: how investors should think about inflation and central bank reactions. Why this rate hiking cycle might be more like that of the 2000s, and how some economic models are getting challenged.

This week we welcome Jason Mitchell, Man Group’s Co-Head of Responsible Investing. We discuss Jason’s experiences attending COP26 and some of the main things he’s taking away. Including: what the COP26 decisions mean for investors, Net Zero, emerging markets, and what next to look for in Responsible Investment.

This week, show hosts Dan Mikulskis and Mary Spencer are delighted to welcome back Senior Consultant and fund researcher at LCP, Nikki Matthews. Following a recent research piece from Nikki on Govcoins, they delve into digital currencies, including a digital currency the UK Government is looking to launch, and the implications this will have.

This week’s guest is Zoe Burdo, Co-Chair of LCP’s D&I Steering Group and we’re talking about the future of inclusion in the investment industry. Prompted by the recent FCA discussion paper, which many firms will have completed we delve into some of the discussions that went into LCP’s views on the discussion paper. We cover key barriers to progress, small things that go under-rated, and what ought...

This week’s guest is Rob Arnott, quant researcher and founder of Research Affiliates. We discuss the principles of fundamental indexing, the definition of bubbles and anti-bubbles, the future of value investing, what quant researchers tend to get wrong, and the right questions to ask of any backtest. We put some big questions to Rob including: has factor investing been oversold, can passive invest...

This week’s guest is Head of Pensions and Savings at investment platform Interactive Investor, Becky O’Connor. We cover the results of a recent large-scale survey of individuals’ hopes and worries about investing for retirement, as well as a wider discussion of the conversation the investment industry needs to have with individuals.

This week’s guest is LCP partner Norbert Fullerton who sheds some light on the investment approaches and social role of African institutional investors, as well as sharing some thoughts on his own professional journey and where the industry stands today on diversity and inclusion.

In this week’s episode, we speak to Karen Shackleton, founder of Pensions for Purpose and independent investment adviser and NED on impact investing. We cover Karen’s background and journey to setting up Pensions for Purpose, the growth she sees in impact investing when speaking with asset owners and asset managers, and the possibilities for the future.

In this week’s episode, we speak to Energy Analytics expert Rajiv Gogna about the recent bizarre goings-on in the GB power markets. We hear an explainer on how the GB’s electricity market actually works, what’s been happening this month, and what it all means for the future.

In this week’s episode, we discuss our recent climate investment risk report, along with co-author Laasya Shekaran. We cover how we analysed our database of UK asset owners for climate risks, and what some of the key and surprising conclusions were as well as the tangible next steps that investors can take.

Welcome back for season 3 of Investment Uncut! To hit the ground running, we are joined by LCP’s CEO Aaron Punwani to talk about the future of hybrid work and reflect on the last 18 months, including the benefits of Diversity & Inclusion that we’ve seen. We discuss:

In this sixth episode of our "Invest like a..." mini series we speak to Mark Thompson, investment committee member at multiple DC schemes.   We discuss – Investment philosophy Providing options for a vast DC pension membership base The structure of a good DC scheme o Well constructed default o Lifestyle plans o Freestyle options (up to around 20) For DC schemes, the mark of success is often gettin...

This week we speak to Victoria Sant, investment committee member at the National Trust. We discuss The need to know what you own Putting investment beliefs and charitable missions into practice Mixing emotive issues with risk and return Getting deep alignment with the managers of your assets Some of the challenges Victoria’s seen overtime Tips for making effective decisions: who owns what? The sea...

This week we speak to Katharine Neiss, Chief European Economist for PGIM Fixed Income to take stock on where we are in terms of the recovery in Europe. We discuss – - What’s the current state of play in terms of the European post-Covid-19 recovery (vs expectations at the start of the year and vs the US, Asia) - What data points is Katharine watching over the coming months on this? - Inflation – Ka...

This week we speak to Alex Scott, Chairman of Schroders Global Family Office services, and founder of Sandaire family office. We discuss: - Alex’s journey of setting up and growing a multi-family office - Strategy not tactics in investing – be very clear on the difference - Focusing on a 5-year view in a world full of news about the last week - Decision making in small vs large groups, maintaining...

This week we speak to MD and CIO at Wealth Manager AJ Bell, Kevin Doran. We discuss Kevin’s guiding principles in investing and what’s worked well / less well over the years. Investment decision making – groupthink etc. Kevin has seen big changes and discusses what he’s most focusing on over the next few months. Guiding principles: the single most important thing is acknowledging that time is your...

This week we have a very special episode in honour of Pride Month, and we’re delighted to be joined by two LCP colleagues, Jess Horner and Luke Hothersall.  Jess and Luke share their experiences of being gay in the city, and we also discuss wider LGBT+ issues with them. We discuss: What Pride Month means to Jess and Luke The impact of changing attitudes towards the LGBT+ community Power of network...

This week we speak to Lothian Pension Fund’s Head of Responsible Investment, and well-known figure and podcaster in the UK responsible investment scene, David Hickey. We discuss: Net Zero is very much “of the moment” – but is that a good thing or bad thing? Transitioning key sectors (eg utilities, mining), observations Reflections on UK government commitment Where does responsibility sit: governme...

This week we sit down with author, podcaster and go to girl on young peoples’ money questions: Iona Bain. We discuss What first got Iona into working on the Young Money blog, highlights from a decade in the business, research on Gen Z vs Millennial habits and what that could mean for both saving and investing in the future. In addition we explore what do young people tend to “get wrong” when think...

We are joined by Rob Groves, CIO of Pension Insurance Corporation, a $50bn asset owner and bulk annuity writer. We discuss Rob’s philosophy on investing, how insurers approach investment, the role of regulation, changes and trends he’s seen as well as current market concerns.  Philosophy As an insurer they are not focusing very much on the performance of the asset portfolio. It is all about cashfl...

We speak to Shyam Gharial, sustainable investing researcher at LCP, on a big research project he’s been doing, looking at setting up corporate bond mandates with sustainability criteria. It aims to tilt portfolios away from companies with bonds most exposed to sustainability-related risks. This has had some interesting results and is particularly relevant for DB pension schemes. With many defined...

As we finally start seeing real light at the end of the Covid-19 tunnel with the country opening up into summer, show hosts Dan Mikulskis and Mary Spencer sit down to LCP's Heidi Allan who has done a huge amount of research to understand the impact of Covid-19 on people's finances and overall wellbeing with some surprising conclusions. We discuss - Regional differences: one in three Londoners have...

In the first of our "Invest like a..." mini series, show hosts Dan Mikulskis and Mary Spencer welcome Richard Williams, CIO of RailPen, onto the show to have a conversation about investing like an open DB scheme.   Richard started his career at LCP, which was colloquially known by his flatmate (who was also a trainee actuary) as Lane Clark and Paychecks…! We discuss Good investing is about identif...