WEALTH WATCH
STEPHEN CRANSTON: The good fund manager is not always the one in the clown suit
At conferences it is sometimes the most low-key presentations that make the greatest impact. At the Allan Gray investment conference in Sandton, Rory Maguire from unit trust researcher Fundhouse reminded the audience of the basics of choosing a good manager. Some might have expected to see Tom Cruise’s alter ego Jerry Maguire, but it isn’t Rory’s style to shout "Show me the money!" He repeated the point made famous by the great Fidelity stockpicker Peter Lynch, that when there is a 50%-off sale at Pick n Pay, consumers are knocking down the doors at 7am. Yet in investment it is the opposite. In effect we go to Pick n Pay and ask what item has gone up most in the past year and stock up on that. Maguire used to be in marketing at Investec but he retired his clown suit to go into unit trust research, where there undoubtedly was a gap. And he timed this with the rise of discretionary fund managers. There is now huge demand from financial advisers who don’t have the time to sift through ...
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