Investment Community #9

Deon Gouws, CIO of Credo, was my special guest on the Investment Community podcast.

In this episode, Deon tells:

* How the most formative experience of his career came from being “technically bankrupt” for a few weeks, due to having a long and geared position in a single stock that tanked as interest rates rose sharply.

* How being a good CIO means having to be skilled at both investment management and people management.

* How he learned to wear his own opinions lightly (“don’t believe your own b******t”).

We also discussed:

* That many different investment approaches can work, as long as the manager has a demonstrable process and sticks to that process through the cycle.

* That the key attributes of an excellent investor are intellectual honesty and emotional stability.

* The importance of focussing on our strengths rather than weaknesses, because that’s how we have a shot at being exceptional.

Deon Gouws is CIO of Credo, an independent wealth management business headquartered in London. Deon began his investment career as an analyst at Old Mutual Asset Management. He left to join Capital Alliance as head of industrials before rejoining Old Mutual as head of research. Deon then spent five years in London as CIO of Sanlam Multi-Managers before returning to South Africa to join RMB Asset Management, first as CIO and then CEO. He then returned to London in 2012 to take up his current position as CIO of Credo.

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