PA Adviser spends a week in the life of Ben Gilbert, MPS portfolio manager at Sarasin & Partners . Week commencing 25 November.
Monday
I wake up early and head straight to the gym! On my way there and back I’ve got time to listen to the FT News Briefing and a bit of the Today programme. At around 07:30 I’m home and ready to start the working week. I log in, clear emails, read the overnight papers and take a look at the data feeds to get me prepped for the day ahead.
First up, we have our start-of-the-week team meeting. Ed Lloyd (my co-manager) and I go through any investment ideas, review portfolio performance and catch up with the wider team. We also discuss our plans for the coming week.
At lunchtime we have an update Zoom call from our investment analysts. Today is chief economist, and head of our investment strategy group, Subitha Subramaniam on the key macro views shaping our thinking and, in particular, the impact of a Trump Presidency.
In the afternoon we have a call with one of our largest supporters. This is a review of our market performance since we last met, including portfolio attribution/analysis and our outlook for the next six-to-nine months.
The rest of the afternoon is spent preparing for a scheduled rebalance with the team, overseeing the updating of the platforms and implementation.
Tuesday
Today I’m in the office and on the train at c.07:00. I catch up with the usual podcasts, (digital) papers and market info to prepare for the day. However, being in the sticks means the journey is long enough to allow for a bit of reading time. At the moment I’m into a real belter, Science Fictions: Exposing Fraud, Bias, Negligence and Hype in Science by Stuart Ritchie.
By 08:00 I’m at St Paul’s and arrive into the office. First thing is the firm-wide twice-weekly investment meeting, which usually focuses on the macro-economic and financial market backdrop on a Tuesday. The morning is busy with the team completing the rebalancing process started yesterday afternoon and ensuring everything goes through smoothly.
At lunchtime, I pop out for a run and catch up with some old colleagues. The afternoon is admin-focused including reporting to our clients following the rebalance, before a business development meeting with our private clients team at 16:00.
Wednesday
Another day in the City. Today starts with another early morning firm-wide meeting where we welcome a couple of new joiners to the business.
Following this, Ed and I have a meeting with a family office who are interested in learning more about our investment process. This covers a broad range of topics, from strategic and tactical asset allocation, to instrument selection and our latest views.
The afternoon is taken up with investment meetings. Firstly, for segregated equity portfolios that we manage, we review the overall positioning alongside any key news flow and potential trades to consider. Following this we have our external funds committee meeting. Here we review the performance of all of the external funds on our buylist, highlighting any outliers and, today, we focus on a couple of potential removals to consider.
Train home is delayed and it has been a long data-heavy day so I give myself a break and catch up with some comedy podcasts on the journey back.
Thursday
A focused investment research day today, after the firm-wide morning investment meeting I am straight to an investment conference.
It is a packed agenda. We meet a number of our existing external fund managers across equities and fixed income, a useful opportunity to get an update, hear their latest views and ensure consistency of messaging with what we have noted previously. I also see a number of new managers in more esoteric asset classes that we are considering (for example, private markets and emerging market debt).
As well as the above, the day provides a fantastic opportunity to spend time with industry peers and discuss the key trends, challenges and innovations we are seeing.
Friday
While often this is a working from home day, today I am in the office for our investment strategy group (ISG) meeting. This group meets to consider our long-term thematic views and the implications for asset allocation over the next 5-to-10 years. Today, I present the conclusion and recommendations of one of the sub-working groups which had been formed to explore the investment opportunity in climate-related commodities. It is a vigorous debate which embraces a wide variety of viewpoints.
Following the ISG, we welcome one of our key IFA clients over lunch. As well as the usual performance review and outlook update, it is an important opportunity to understand more about their business and if we can tailor our offering to help them even more. More admin and closing other outstanding tasks work before the train home.
Saturday
One of my favourite parts of the week, I take my boys to tennis and for a swim in the morning. My eldest has a birthday party to go to in the afternoon, so I drop them off and try to be a bit productive for two hours while I wait for him to get out of the cinema. In the evening my wife and I have a ‘date-night’ and today it is quite indulgent: steak and camembert.
Sunday
I’m afraid it is that time of year, so I’m up early to get the Christmas decorations out of the loft. In truth, the decorations need to be done a certain way in our home and I don’t have much of a flare for it, so I’m not all that helpful and my suggestions are rarely taken on board! In the afternoon we have a Sunday roast and the grandparents come over, which the kids are delighted about.
