PA Adviser takes a walk in the life of Chris Robinson, MPS investment director at Premier Miton, who diarises his week at work.
Monday
I love a routine and a list as it makes life much simpler – the start of my Monday is always the same. Make myself a tea, and a coffee for my wife to get my day started (happy wife happy life). On my walk to the station I listen to two podcasts, Morgan Stanley’s Thoughts on the markets and the FT News Briefing, giving me an oversight of the key themes and discussion points in markets. On the train I read the fast FT to know how Asian markets have closed and any European company announcements, followed by a review of economic announcements for the week from Trading Economics.
By the time I’m at my desk in Paternoster Square I know I’m ready for the market open and anything that may challenge or support our current allocations and positions. My first meeting of the day is our weekly internal fund manager meeting, one of our junior credit analysts chairs this. This week we talk about the Chinese policy announcements and expectations for easing in the coming weeks. I’m then into my weekly sales meeting by 11am, catching up with the sales directors on MPS and multi-asset.
The afternoon starts with a meeting with one of our Asian funds, discussing the slowing momentum in India and high valuations, relative to the likes of China which has experienced one of its best monthly returns since 2009. Pleasing to see the manager rotating and taking profits in the region after a strong run. Finally, I prep for the next day on the road presenting, before finishing work and heading to the gym.
Tuesday
An early start as I get the train to the West Country for investor meetings with Chris Lynch, our regional business development director. While technology is great with Zoom and Teams calls, it’s always great to see investors in person. We have five adviser firm meetings lined up. In the first meeting I cover the market and economic backdrop. I cover the risks around the UK ahead of the Budget, and the opportunity provided in emerging markets considering the monetary and fiscal easing at play. Onto my second meeting, an investor that has not met Premier Miton before, I present our investment process and portfolio structures. I want to make sure we support advisers as much as possible as this feeds through to good client outcomes.
Between meetings I’m checking economic updates – German industrial production has come in better than expected – a positive for a region which has experienced a slew of weak economic data. We have an underweight here, so I take note for my Wednesday investment meeting. Days like today are not just about updating the advisers but also taking on board feedback so that we are providing the right solutions. Clearly cost pressures, Sustainable Disclosure Requirements and the UK Budget are concerns for the advice community. I feed that back to our global head of distribution, Jonathan Willocks, as he undertakes regular videos with the chief investment officer Neil Birrell. It’s important we provide communications that can be used by advisers when clients are asking difficult questions. I’m back home by 7pm – Tuesday is boys’ night (as I call it) as my wife goes to a tap-dancing class, so I invite my brother round to watch my beloved Arsenal play in the Champions League!
Wednesday
I’m back in the office again with the multi-manager team. At 9.30am we have our weekly macro chat chaired by Ian Rees, head of multi-manager funds. David Thornton, fund manager, covers moves in the yield curve. Stronger than expected jobs data in the US and worries around fiscal strategy in the UK have pushed government bond yields higher. The team have been conscious of going longer duration too soon but have gradually been edging higher in our fund range. The team take encouragement and see this as further opportunity to extend duration ahead of further rate cuts.
At 11am we have our weekly fund review – we’ve met with a range of Japanese equity managers over the past week. We discuss the Eastspring Japan Smaller Companies, Man GLG Japan Core Alpha, and Chikara Japan Income and Growth funds. We always meet our managers twice a year and this latest review proves timely with the Japanese elections and change in policy. Nintendo is a company that’s also mentioned a lot with the hype around the new console in 2025.
A lunchtime gym session breaks up the day and resets the mind. I’m back at the desk early afternoon reviewing our positions and starting to prepare for the MPS Investment Committee in the coming week. At 3pm we sit down for a sector review, this time it is Mark Rimmer who provides an overview on our Asian equity allocation. We undertake sector reviews twice a year, which includes scanning the universe and comparing against our existing managers, as well as meetings.
On the train back I start reviewing my fantasy football team for the weekend, analysis doesn’t just occur at the desk. I’ve got a very competitive family league, my father won last year, equivalent to Leicester City’s Premier League win – I don’t plan on losing this year. As he says, it’s a marathon not a sprint!
Thursday
An interview with our Insights Magazine to start the day, an internal staff magazine – covering my time at Premier Miton so far and the work we are doing as a team. This coincides nicely with the town hall, a companywide catchup chaired by our CEO Mike O’Shea, with various speakers from across the business including representatives from our EDI, Environmental and Social committees.
At 11am I meet with Angus Robb and the team at Defaqto. I have a speaker slot at their National Adviser Conference in November; I run through preparations for content on Consumer Duty and the changing investment landscape for advisers.
In the afternoon I have TV slot with a media company booked with Ian Rees and Jonathan Willocks. Every quarter we film an update on the market backdrop, our positioning and performance and our outlook. Whilst our portfolios have been performing well it should never be underestimated how much negative news flow can affect investment sentiment – the Labour Party’s recent focus on a financial blackhole and the Middle East are key themes to cover – geopolitics very rarely moves markets, a point I reiterate.
In the evening my wife has tickets for Dish Live, the podcast by Nick Grimshaw and Angela Harnett – a surprisingly good duo, great food and interesting wine pairing!
Friday
I’m always up early on a Friday as I write Premier Miton’s Weekly Market View, covering key themes for the week, that’s distributed to our investors. The markets have behaved this week, yields are up, commodities flat and the start of the reporting season has been reasonable for banks. I get this to our marketing team by 10am.
The rest of the day is spent reviewing our current over/underweights in our MPS solution and building out my proposals for the upcoming committee meeting – will we or won’t we have a Santa Rally this year? Is the Labour Party going to learn from the 2022 mini-budget and is 15% earnings growth achievable in the US for 2025?!
I finish the working week with preparation for the next week’s meetings with investors in Scotland and our investment committee meeting. Not to mention choosing my captain for the fantasy football at the weekend!
Saturday
I’m awake at 8am as I have my sights on a new PB for my local parkrun. My mind and body are always conflicted, but the sun shining through the curtain convinces me it will be good for me. My target of getting to the 20-minute 5km is still a bit off, but I’ll take the 22 minutes. We are in the process of decorating so I know the day ahead will be painting and organising the house with the odd drive to the recycling centre.
A combination of decorating and watching the football leads to a more leisurely evening. Strictly Come Dancing wasn’t an obvious choice for me, but it happens to feature at the moment when the remote is in my wife’s hands, followed by a La Liga documentary on Netflix – just like asset allocation, it’s important to balance TV time on a Saturday evening!
Sunday
The off-menu podcast is always a good one to start a Sunday and gives inspiration for our food shop for the week. We catchup with friends and their 18-month-old boy Theo, with a walk in a local country park. I check the fantasy football and it seems to be going well as I sit top of the family and work leagues.
I finish the weekend with the usual shirt ironing for the week ahead and get the roast on the go!
Chris Robinson
MPS Investment Director
