Diary of An Investor
It’s all about feeling in control
01 May 2013
Our friends at PensionKøbenhavn have been visiting us here in Amsterdam. Last year, our two boards signed a mutual co-operation agreement with our Danish counterparts to start investment joint...
A day to explain Dutch ambitions
02 Apr 2013
This year we held the annual global strategy meeting of the Wasserdicht Pension Funds in the Netherlands. As this year’s organiser, I suggested a pleasant country house hotel near Hilversum.
Cold weather, great pay
01 Mar 2013
February is not the time to visit Toronto. Stepping outside the airport I am reminded how seriously cold it gets in Canada. Winters are mostly pretty mild in the Netherlands so we don’t get to skate...
Early retirement? No thanks!
01 Feb 2013
One day during our Christmas break, my wife was horrified to read in the daily paper that retirement ages are going up. Jeanette is a French national, even though she has lived most of her life...
A tale of two funding ratios
02 Jan 2013
Just before Christmas I met my friend Ronald, who is CEO of the pension fund for forklift truck drivers. We meet for a beer one evening after work in our regular haunt in Utrecht. As usual, Ronald is ...
A tale of two cities
01 Dec 2012
Last week we visited the offices of two asset managers for finals for a European equities mandate. The experiences were instructive.
Rear-view mirror
01 Nov 2012
A couple of weeks ago I made my way to Amsterdam’s Beurs van Beurlage for a festive evening, the annual dinner of the Dutch Committee of Institutional Investors. It’s always a good occasion to catch...
Feed the world
01 Oct 2012
It is early September and there’s a chill in the air but the sun is shining. It seems that summer has come late in the Netherlands.
Dog days
03 Sep 2012
It is the end of August. Holidays are a distant memory, the leaves are wilting on the trees and the children are going back to school. The euro crisis isn’t getting any worse and markets have even...
Back to the future
02 Jul 2012
A few weeks ago I phoned an old colleague of mine from years back. Jean-Pierre is from Paris. For many years he worked in the asset management department of a big French insurer but now he works in...
We all agree… but
01 Jun 2012
Everyone agrees about the problems. And everyone agrees that institutional investors need diversified, long-term, risk-managed portfolios to help them meet their liabilities.
At least, that is what...
Retirement questions
01 May 2012
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. So when Klaas, the...
CIO talk
02 Apr 2012
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...
Strategy and tactics
29 Feb 2012
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...
To be charitable
01 Feb 2012
It is a windy morning at the end of January and I am driving to a conference in Amsterdam. I am asked to speak by a group of Dutch community groups and charities. Bart, an old friend and former...
Pages 1 of 4 | Next
