All Diary of An Investor articles – Page 4
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Features
Diary of an Investor: Retirement questions
Here in the Netherlands we like to hold a special event for our colleagues when they retire. And there is usually something extra special when someone senior takes their pension.
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Features
Diary of an Investor: CIO talk
It is a cold Tuesday morning in March as I land at Copenhagen’s Kastrup Airport on my way to visit Rolf at PensionKøbenhavn, one of Denmark’s most innovative pension funds, to finalise our strategic co-operation in investment matters before board ratificiation. Geert, our recent graduate appointee in the investment department, is with me.
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Features
Strategy and tactics
The annual strategy meeting of the Wasserdicht pension funds is always an interesting affair. We are meeting at a nice hotel in the area of Frankfurt, with a decent golf course. Helmut from our German Pensionskasse is our host and the chairman of the meeting.
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Features
Diary of an Investor: To be charitable
It is a windy morning at the end of January and I am driving to a conference in Amsterdam.
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Features
Diary of an Investor: Sinterklaas
Before Christmas, we at Wasserdicht Pension Funds took a call from a research company. They were visiting Dutch pension funds, they said, to carry out a study of attitudes among institutional investors.
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Features
Diary of an Investor: Investment detour
This autumn, we at Wasserdicht Pension Funds in the Netherlands are touring some of our factories around the country to talk to members and pensioners about the pension fund.
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Features
Diary of an Investor: Plain talking
This week I read about a new initiative calling itself the 300 Club.
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Features
No Greek tragedy
Well, things didn’t get much better in the markets after our long family drive back from the Italian Riviera to The Hague in August – volatility continued on the markets and it became clear that when it comes to the euro, plan ‘A’ isn’t up to much and plan ‘B’ doesn’t exist.
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Features
Pieter’s Italian job
The best thing about August is holidays – this year two weeks by the beach in on the Italian Riviera with my wife and children. Italy is the best for family holidays; everything is to hand. Life is relaxed, the weather is fine, the food is good and the wine flows in the evening.
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Features
Diary of an Investor: Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose
We Dutch value consensus – perhaps we even need it in the way we need our dikes and polders to manage our low-lying lands.
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Features
Diary of an Investor: Keeping it real
I’m on my way to Brussels for a meeting. Since my car is in the garage for its annual service I decide to take the train. In the old days it used to take three hours from Amsterdam to Brussels but, since we built the new high-speed rail line, it takes less than two. I say we built it, but actually the Belgians built their own part and finished a lot later than we did.
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Features
Define risk, please
Off to talk to the chairman of the pension fund board. ‘Well Pieter, many members are still phoning the administration helpline to ask about investment policy. The recent television programme that criticised the industry for not paying more in premiums means we are still in the firing line.’
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Features
Diary of an Investor: Whisky and cigarettes
It was a good year for Wasserdicht Pension Funds. The 2010 return for our Dutch scheme was 7.9% and although we experienced a wobble in our coverage ratio over the summer, thanks to interest rates, we are now back in safe territory.
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Features
Diary of an Investor: Sugary words
We have time on our hands at Wasserdicht Pension Funds. Fiduciary managers have given up calling us; they have finally understood we do not want to be a part of this inexplicable momentum, the movement that outsources everything to the hands of supposed expert practitioners. Even in this we recognise that momentum and value are negatively correlated!
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Features
Diary of an Investor: A random walk
Today we are holding a finals presentation for managers our consultant think good, proper and worthy of managing a portion of Wasserdicht Pensioenfonds’ assets. Would these managers have been on the same short list had we employed another consultant? Or the same list if we had looked at Morningstar? Every manager wants to be our friend and to see us. Perhaps next time we do this ourselves.
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Features
Diary of an Investor: Player and dealer
I caught up with an old pal at the IPE Awards in Monaco in early December. As a previous IPE winner, we at Wasserdicht Pension Funds were invited to a special reception to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the awards. But beforehand, Pim and I met for an aperitif.
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Features
Headhunters ahoy
Last week a headhunter called me. ‘Pieter, do you know any investment directors at pension funds who might want to transition into investment consultancy?’ With things in Holland not exactly optimal there are a couple of hundred people who might be interested. But what I say is: ‘I am not ...
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Features
Diary of an Investor: Don’t ban hammers
This year, staff from the global offices of Wasserdicht pension funds are in Amsterdam for our annual get-together. This explains why I am hosting the event.
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Features
Sweetening the coffee
I meet with my old colleague Ronald, who is now CEO of the pension fund for forklift truck drivers – Pensioenfonds Vorkhef. Ronald and I used to work together at Wasserdicht, before he went to the forklift truck drivers and we often meet for a coffee when I am passing ...
