Looking Ahead - January 2017
Greetings to you and your family. We trust that you had a relaxing, fun and enjoyable Christmas and New Year break. All the best wishes as well for a healthy and adventurous 2017, may the challenges not be insurmountable ….. and may the Boks have a change in fortune!!
Our return to office was quite different to previous years. After a very special family holiday for the Finlayson clan, there was no reluctance to head back to work and face a challenging corporate machine, as we have both done for the past 15 years. This was replaced by the excitement of getting back in the saddle and focusing on our own business. Our desire to create an exceptional Multi Family Office wealth management business, is still front and centre in our minds. Our first year ended in a place that we are very comfortable with and gives us good impetus to keep working to reach the goals of our clients and of Maven Wealth. Some touch points from last year:
· The investment returns of our solutions, have been good, given the challenging investment environment (do we need to rehash 2016 and Brexit, Trump and the Zuptas!!)
· Our client feedback has been positive, with the focus on the whole balance sheet being a key differentiator.
· The relationships with our professional partners both locally and offshore (providing technical support in the areas of investment management, fiduciary services [covering tax, Wills and trusts] has grown from strength to strength.
· We received a clean bill of health from both our Compliance Officers and Auditors, which was expected, but always good to get.
· And both the number of clients and the assets that we manage have put the business on a trajectory from which we can keep growing in the targeted manner that we desire. As we have said to each client, we want to be different, by having deep relationships with a limited number of clients. We are still fully committed to this and our results and efforts to date do support this view.
So, the focus now turns to 2017 and beyond. We expect it to be both an exciting and challenging year. There are several areas on which we are focusing:
1. From an investment management perspective, the things that we will be watching and debating at our Investment Committee’s will be:
· How will the Trump presidency actually play out? Whilst we now understand that Meryl Streep may be an average thespian, this is a side show to the real issues of the global capital markets, trade agreements, US equity returns etc. How will the relationships between China and the US develop whilst Trump is at his tweeting best! Does the USD strength keep trucking along? It will be important to mute out the noise and focus on the underlying drivers such as monetary and fiscal policies.
· How will the UK Brexit? It seems that the powers that be do not have a plan, but the people have spoken. How does this mess untangle and what are the financial market impacts?
· Closely aligned to the above point is that France and Germany have elections later this year. These will be closely followed as to the long-term sustainability of the Eurozone .. and the balance sheets of the countries who form part of this grouping.
· Who will succeed President Zuma ….. President Zuma if the ANCYL has its way! This shift in leadership must take place whilst being in the crosshairs of the global ratings agencies. We are expecting some volatility in the Rand this year.
2. We have started planning our trip in May to meet our offshore fund managers. We did this in 2016 and had an eye-opening experience in London (please refer to our Note from that trip on our website under “Insights” www.mavenwealth.co.za). We will return to London with our Fundhouse partners and meet more of the people and teams making the investment decisions on the ground.
3. It has always been our intention to create a community amongst the Maven Wealth network. The idea being that it would be an outstanding outcome if our clients could benefit in their work and personal lives by having access to others who have relationships with Maven Wealth. We are conceptualising plans on how we can bring this idea to life. Ideas are welcome!!
4. Ensuring that the governance and implementation of our investment thinking continues to happen without issue. Our processes and structures that are in place will ensure that these are not compromised.
5. Growing our team. We have reached a point in our evolution where another pair of hands is a necessity to ensure we can continue to deliver on our promise to our clients.
6. Monitoring changes and improvements in technology that can make us more efficient and keep us ahead of the industry
7. To keep growing our client base. To ensure that Maven Wealth is sustainable, we do need to keep growing our client base in a targeted manner (as discussed). We put a lot of effort in developing ‘Balance Sheet roadmaps’ for families and their wealth and will continue to do this. Feedback received is that our approach is unique and adds tremendous value. Your assistance in helping us to engage with the right new people is greatly appreciated.
I guess that is it for now. We look forward to reconnecting during the year and making 2017 a year we will look back upon favourably.
Kind regards,
Paul and Andrew Finlayson