PA Adviser spends a week in the life of Paul O’Neill, CIO at Bentley Reid. Week commencing 17 February.
Monday
08:00: Catch up on the news – more tariffs are on the way, gold is strengthening yet again. Check whether any of our holdings have moved significantly, which is less of a risk given we do not hold direct equities. Delete the inevitable spam emails. Review diary for the day and week ahead – set aside blocks of time for specific pieces of work and note any key deadlines and meetings.
More and more comments about a potential China market resurgence, which is good given it is one of our long-standing equity themes – Peter Milliken over at Deutsche Bank Research is the latest to predict a renewed bull market in Chinese equities.
US inflation and consumer confidence figures are due out later this week. A Goldman survey shows inflation remains the biggest threat in investors’ minds, ahead of tariffs.
We are selling the last portion of our gold miners theme given very strong performance over the last year. We retain our holding in gold bullion but given the expansion in gold miners’ valuation multiples we have probably ridden that one long enough for now.
Noon: Update some slides covering our equity themes and alternatives ahead of the fortnightly relationship manager meeting on Wednesday. It is an opportunity to get together and provide/receive feedback – what markets are saying and what clients are saying too. This time we will cover the sale of gold miners and the addition to a biotech theme that we recently re-entered.
14.00: Lead the weekly IM Team Meeting where we cover off any issues, trading progress, meetings this week, general thoughts. Scan the WSJ as the US opens.
16.00: More slides, this time updating the risk framework.
Tuesday
08.30: Everywhere I turn I hear or read about gold. As I enter the ground floor of the office building it is even on the BBC – surely a contrarian indicator. Re-read February’s Investment Views in readiness for the recording this morning – frequent client communication is a key focus for us, so any mode we can use to get across what we are doing and why is useful. More tariffs announced – this time 25% on steel and aluminium imports. Retaliation from the EU is expected. Trump’s “escalate to de-escalate” approach is fine until it is not.
13.00: A group lunch with Mark Slater who runs the Slater Growth fund, the place I started my investment career. A common-sense approach to investing and plenty of interesting examples on current valuations and opportunities, but the real question is what is going to change the currently negative sentiment for the UK small and mid-cap space? The UK is now a third of the weight that it was in the FTSE All World index when I started, and as investors have become more global in outlook the UK just seems to matter less. Still, it will have its day in the sun at some point, so it is good to keep on top of it.
15:00: Cast an eye over the various trades occurring this afternoon. We are buying an equity volatility fund for our alternatives allocation – it seems incredible that there were only seven trading days last year in which the S&P 500 moved by more than 1%! As the bull market rolls on and valuations become extended, we expect volatility to return with a bang.
19.30: Watch my nephew play in the biggest match of his career – League One Exeter versus third in the Premier League Nottingham Forest in the 4th round of the FA Cup. Lowest remaining team against the highest. Ends 2-2 and they lose on penalties! Something for him to tell his grandchildren about.
Wednesday
08:00: The FT announces that the Chinese technology sector “enters a bull market after DeepSeek breakthrough”. We will take that.
09:00: Fortnightly RM Update
10:00: Quarterly Fund Review – one of a trio of meetings pivotal to our investment framework. Reminds everyone what our current investment stance is in all asset classes and why – duration, TIPS, instruments we have sold, others to be sold when value-appropriate, changes to our sustainability mandate, does a trend following allocation still make sense, do CAT bonds still offer the same risk/reward trade-off?
Noon: Meeting about our current trading process and any improvements we can make.
13.00: Team lunch – an off the record chat and team bonding. An important way to keep up-to-date about things we do not cover off formally.
14.00: US CPI picks up to 3%. Higher for longer yet again.
14.30: Monthly Investment Council – this month we challenge all of our themes and alternatives holdings – we assign a percentage weight to each factor that drove the initial investment, score their current status, explain any changes and come out with an overall number ranging from 1-5 in attractiveness.
15.30: Culture Working Group follow-up session. We have grown over the last few years, so we are ensuring our culture is clear to those who choose to join us, especially those starting out in their career. Far more important than people realise and prevents many frustrations that can otherwise arise.
16.30: Finalising appraisals and objectives for the year head – my own and the team’s!
Thursday
08.30: Inflation ticking higher, but Trump wants to introduce tariffs and lower rates! Treasuries have their biggest selloff since December, with the market’s forecast for the next US rate cut pushed out to December. Did someone say “higher for longer”? Europe doing very well this year in comparison…is the great rotation finally happening? Potential progress on an end to the war in Ukraine. Markets like certainty and maybe a “peace dividend” is even needed to keep this market moving higher.
UK unexpectedly escapes recession…GDP rose a huge 0.1% in Q4, for 0.9% for 2024 overall.
09.00: Write the Investment Manager’s report for the funds we manage. Note that the deck for our Quarterly Investment Committee is due out in a few days. Some interesting reading on Cat Bonds and the potential China resurgence.
10.00: Monthly Management Meeting covering off every aspect of the business.
Friday
08:00: Business Development meeting to get a sense-check on how flows are developing. Update Themes & Alts slides for the Quarterly Client Deck given recent changes.
11:00: Meeting with a potential client. I reiterate our focus on cost and communication, building long-term relationships with clients we get to truly know and understand, and the family-owned nature of the business which means we truly eat our own cooking.
Noon: Diary check for next week.
Saturday
Figure out everything I need to do to move. It has all become very real very quickly.
I like documentaries so in the evening I watch the Boyzone one. Gives a new perspective on the challenges they faced and how tough it is to actually succeed. It is too easy to think it is just luck. It isn’t.
Sunday
Piano lesson on Zoom which works really well. I started learning Pop Piano a year or so ago and am currently massacring Coldplay, Adele, Elton John, Oasis and Guns ‘n’ Roses. I really should do some practice in-between sessions! Take a walk around the nearby park where there is a thriving local food market. It seems to constantly grow in size, as do the prices!
Man United’s performance in the afternoon makes for a sobering watch.
Get ready for the week ahead.
