With International Women's Day around the corner, we wanted to shine a light on the female fund managers on Tillit! At the time of writing there are 14 funds and investment trusts on Tillit managed by a woman (either as sole manager, co-manager, or part of a team). To view all, log in to the platform, click 'View all funds' and apply the filter 'At least one female fund manager' in the 'Other' filter section.
Female fund managers on Tillit
Please note that as of the 6th of March 2022, there were 14 funds and investment trusts on Tillit managed by at least one female fund manager. In addition to the funds and investment trusts mentioned in this article, Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust, BlackRock Frontiers Investment Trust, Janus Henderson Strategic Bond, Matthews China Smaller Companies and M&G Emerging Market Bond are also managed by at least one female fund manager.
Alquity Future World – Marnie Uy
Describe your personal investment style.
“Responsible with an impact, disciplined and consistent. I’m a mother of three so responsible investing is very important to me. It not only is good for the planet and humanity, but it’s good for managing risk. I adhere to a disciplined, quantitative approach informed by data to steer myself away from personal biases. In this way, I can stop myself from holding onto losing positions (or overvalued positions) as long. I aim to be consistent rather than hitting the ball out of the park one year and losing it all in another. So it’s all about balancing investing in higher quality disruptive, growth companies with consistent, less volatile stocks.”
What do you wish you knew when you started investing?
“I started my career in the 90’s and I wish someone had told me that it’s okay, as a woman, to think differently compared to men. Because women tend to be less overconfident than men, I think differently about constructing portfolios and managing risk than male portfolio managers. I’ve been proven right on this approach but I wish someone had mentored me that it’s okay to be an ‘out-of-the-box’ thinker. As an industry, we need to have more representation in female portfolio managers. The divergence in views can only help how we invest and manage risk.”
Artemis Corporate Bond – Grace Le
Describe your personal investment style.
“I’m focused on investing for the long-term, as opposed to day-trading and stay mindful that if a security can go up 500% in a short space of time, it can fall in a similarly spectacular way.”
What do you wish you knew when you started investing?
“It can be easy to spend hundreds of hours researching a particular bond when something goes awry, to the detriment of the rest of the portfolio. Remember that you manage a portfolio of assets and that those hundreds of hours are better spent on 100% of the portfolio, rather than 1% of the portfolio.”
AXA Framlington Biotech – Linden Thomson
Describe your personal investment style.
“Self-led with much due diligence. I take time to build an investment case, do my own work, consider the scenario’s and then I can buy/sell an investment with conviction.”
What do you wish you knew when you started investing?
“The short term push and pull of markets can be all consuming, try and ignore much of it. Do the work build conviction and trust that longer term. You won’t always be right and markets often make you look like a fool, but this way of working should build returns over the longer term.”
Baillie Gifford Positive Change – Kate Fox
Describe your personal investment style.
“I’m drawn to the wave makers – companies intent on driving change and, in doing so, have the ability to grow over long periods of time.”
What do you wish you knew when you started investing?
“When I started investing in 2002 I wish I had appreciated how I could make an impact in the real world beyond helping savers grow their capital. There were times where I felt I should be doing something more tangible in helping society by retraining to be a teacher or an engineer. It was only later on that I appreciated the importance and power of providing long term and supportive capital to companies whose products and services are changing the world.”
First Sentier Responsible Listed Infrastructure – Rebecca Myatt
Describe your personal investment style.
“I am a fundamental investor at heart, but one with a passion for addressing the climate emergency.”
What do you wish you knew when you started investing?
“The longer I spend in the investment industry the more I appreciate that being different is a strength not a weakness. Holding a contrarian or contrasting point of view enables stronger debate and better investment decisions. To quote Brooklyn author Nancy Ruffi “Do not be afraid to color outside the lines. Take risks and do not be afraid to fail. Know that when the world knocks you down, the best revenge is to get up and continue forging ahead. Do not be afraid to be different or to stand up for what’s right. Never quiet your voice to make someone else feel comfortable. No one remembers the person that fits in. It’s the one who stands out that people will not be able to forget.”
JPMorgan Asian Growth – Joanna Kwok
Describe your personal investment style.
“Thoroughness. My role as a portfolio manager gives me the opportunity to meet with different businesses and understand what makes a good investment.”
What do you wish you knew when you started investing?
“Invest in patience, don’t change your style to keep up with the market. Also, it is crucial to trust your judgement.”
Pantheon International – Helen Steers
Describe your personal investment style.
“My personal investment style is dichotomous – I take a barbell approach. I favour super-active, long-term private markets investments, and hold significant participations in growth-orientated private equity funds, including a large holding in PIP (of course!). On the other hand, any public equity investing I do is through index trackers/ETFs and diversified investment trusts.”
What do you wish you knew when you started investing?
“I wish I had started investing in my early 20’s, and had understood the value of putting away even small amounts of money regularly into a savings fund. As Albert Einstein said, “Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world”.”
Rathbone Ethical Bond – Noelle Cazalis
Describe your personal investment style.
“Investing is about finding the companies that will succeed in the future. As an amateur of photography, I like to start with a wide lens, looking at themes that shape our world such as climate change, digitalisation, regulation, and geopolitics. As I progress through to an investment decision, I zoom in. First, I look at how sectors are affected by these trends, and then I zoom in again to see how a specific company might benefit from it. I started life as a credit analyst, and therefore continue to attach a strong importance to putting on a macro lens to look in details at all the numbers, to ensure I’m selecting a sound company, with solid fundamentals, that will benefit from strong tailwinds and show resilience in the face of certain headwinds too.”
What do you wish you knew when you started investing?
“I wish I’d have known more about behavioural finance and the emotional side of investing. It’s easy to look at numerical data and assess if a company is improving or deteriorating. But to be a successful investor, the analysis needs to be much broader, and I believe the ability to be forward-looking and intuitive are also key. It’s also important to understand how biases can influence your investment decisions – we all have them! But being aware of them is crucial because they shouldn’t influence your investment decision. I do hope that emotional intelligence is made part of finance curriculums in the future. And perhaps knowing that this side of the investment world also exists – alongside those hard facts and figures - might attract a more diverse set of individuals and skills to the industry.”
Trojan Ethical – Charlotte Yonge
Describe your personal investment style.
“My investing style can probably be described as caution first, with a willingness and preparedness to go against the grain. This means saying no to risk when markets are expensive, but also having the grit to dig in and add to equities when they get cheaper.”
What do you wish you knew when you started investing?
“I wish I’d known at the start of my career that even the best investors make mistakes – and lots of them. There is so much to learn but often the most valuable lessons come from what you get wrong. It is human nature to look for reassurance in certainty, and it is often the investors who profess to have all the answers who receive the most air time. But reality is more complex, and being honest, especially with yourself, about what you don’t know and what you can learn from your mistakes is a critical part of becoming a better investor. It is that ongoing evolution that keeps the job interesting – and why many investors stick at it for decades.”
Please note that as of the 6th of March 2022, there were 14 funds and investment trusts on Tillit managed by at least one female fund manager.
In addition to the funds and investment trusts mentioned in this article, Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust, BlackRock Frontiers Investment Trust, Janus Henderson Strategic Bond, Matthews China Smaller Companies and M&G Emerging Market Bond are also managed by at least one female fund manager.
The information in this post is not financial advice, it is provided solely to help you make your own investment decisions. If you are unsure about whether an investment is appropriate for you, please seek professional financial advice. You can find more information here.
When you invest you should remember that the value of investments, and the income from them, can go down as well as up and that past performance is no guarantee of future return.