Earlier this year, with markets in turmoil, Capital Group, one of the world’s largest money managers, arranged for two guests to speak to its investment professionals.
Both were retired portfolio managers. One was known for his ability to “look around corners”, spotting long-term winners others had overlooked. The second was both contrarian and cyclical. He loaded up on volatile airline and steel stocks, resulting in a white-knuckle ride, with poor years followed by great ones. But, as he told the March gathering in California, he had an iron stomach.
What the managers had in common, says Jody Jonsson, a 32-year veteran of Capital and a management committee member, was a “belief that you must have the conviction to wait out a market that doesn’t favour your investing style. It takes incredible courage [ . . . ] We brought them both in to help our next generation of investors understand how we manage money and why we respect and need their individual investment approaches.”