Looking back over the past 50 years as an investment manager and steward of our family assets, I realise I have an interesting perspective on the constantly changing and challenging investment landscape, so I thought I would share this with you.
In the beginning, I was a broker for a large investment dealer and my mandate was to go out and bring in as much business as I could, which I did. I found this career choice to be absolutely soulless, as my primary concern was to enrich myself and the organization I was working for.
Later in my career, I transitioned to the other side, managing other people's money along with those assets belonging to my family. This change was definitely a step up, as I was now entrusted with the assets of pension funds, endowments, and wealthy individuals. Finally, there was meaning to my work and I must say, I enjoyed it thoroughly. However, in time I realised that the most important function I could carry out as an investment manager was managing our family assets exclusively, of course with my brothers' and sisters' approval.
What started as a traditional asset mix of stocks, bonds, and cash 30 years ago, morphed into a more diversified asset mix over the past 10 years, as technology exposed us to new opportunities in private equity, venture capital, and real estate.
Financial technology (FinTech) moved forward and the financial world had to adapt. Indeed, we also had to adapt, introducing new options and solutions to our various family members spanning 3 generations.
It is easy perhaps to see how delving into the unknown world of digital finance could be frightening for some, especially in a somewhat conservative industry. However, truth be told, it has been an ever-evolving digital world for quite some time now, and although the financial world lagged for some time, it was and is no different.
Over the years, we evolved from being an investment firm to a single-family office and then progressed to a Multi-Family Office. On the digital front, we created a Fintech accelerator to support FinTech entrepreneurs, and we also created a digital finance platform.
We recognise that, not only is the digitisation of money becoming mainstream, but also the digitisation of ownership of assets. The future of investment management is changing and we have to adapt if we want to stay relevant.
To learn more about Holdun Family Office click here. www.holdun.com
COPYRIGHT © Abode2 2012-2024