All articles by Pieter Mullen – Page 2
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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 ...
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Features
Diary of an Investor: Know your onions
I am back in the UK talking about our defined contribution (DC) scheme for the UK pension plan. We are discussing managers. I am relatively new to this DC world, but how different can it really be? My colleague from the Wasserdicht UK DC pension scheme is Joe and he says we should not worry because he knows his onions. People say the Dutch and English can be very alike but just to be clear: in Holland we are not focused on onions. He briefs me before we see two managers.
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Features
Diary of an Investor: Every ash cloud has a silver lining
A short excursion to London at the end of April turned into a longer stay than I had expected. I had flown over on a Thursday morning for a day trip to make site visits to one or two of our investment managers, and to see our global investment consultant.
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Features
Diary of an Investor: Understand everything
Apologies for returning to an important theme that is still running in Holland – that the definition of good governance is one where the pension fund boards must only approve investment in strategies they completely understand. Think about that for a moment. Now picture this
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Features
Diary of an Investor: Risk averse
So good-bye to the new normal (not even adieu) and hello again to old normal. Well, sort of. Marketing seems to be back on the agenda for all those asset managers with such wonderful alpha-producing track records, and of course for all the beta players too. But we are taking beta blockers here at Wasserdicht Pensioenfonds – it’s the A-class performance we want. Except in Germany.
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Features
Diary of an Investor: Crikey!
“Oh dear, whoops and crikey”, are expressions used by the British to describe feelings when facing unusual situations. Well, I use them because we are being visited by Central Bank supervisor. These visits must evoke similar reactions from my peers in other European countries. Yet in Holland, no matter how the coverage ratio looks, we know we are all about to be told off.
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Features
Diary of an Investor: Mental resolve
The beach at Scheveningen is broad and blustery at this time of year. The tempestuous, grey North Sea contrasts with the pale, wan light and the broad horizon, and I always find that a brisk walk with our Labrador-cross Dubbeltje brings about the right sort of mood to deliberate on the problems that are taking me the most time to resolve.
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Features
Diary of an Investor: Fortune favours the brave
I am in Hong Kong. Not only am I visiting Chinese factories to taste the potential of Asian growth stocks, as my Asian equity manager and host explains, but I have also learned about what the new year might hold.
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