A short special episode this week as Mary returns from a 3 month sabbatical and we take a few moments out to talk about her trip to Central and South America and some reflections. We discuss: highlights including favourite moments, best activity, best food and of course the most dicey transportation situations. We discuss Mary’s journal, some deeper reflections on work and life, plus her reading list ..read more

This week we've got an action-packed conversation that might just spark a little inspiration when it comes to leadership and decision-making. We're chatting with Langley Sharp, a former British Army officer and now leadership consultant who's here to share some incredible insights into the world of decision-making and leading. We're talking about everything from the power of leadership as a "force multiplier" for high performance, to the core values and purpose that underpin effective leadership. Langley has spent years studying leadership and decision-making in the military, and trust us, you ..read more

Buckle up, folks - this week we're diving headfirst into the world of fixed income and corporate bonds with Jeff Boswell, a portfolio manager at Ninety One. Corporate bonds have been on a rollercoaster ride lately, going from zero yields to plummeting values even for low-risk assets, and now returning to yield levels not seen since the days of yore. We'll be discussing all the juicy details, like whether yield or spread is the more important factor for investors to consider, and how to navigate the different parts of the market. We'll also be taking a look at how macro factors like the Covid-1 ..read more

This week we’re speaking to an expert on investing in China: Jason Hsu, CIO and founder of Rayliant Advisors. If and how to invest in China are key questions for long-term growth-oriented asset owners with different issues to unpack around political risk, geopolitics, ESG and even the mechanics of listing an entity. Jason walks through these questions and others including: should western investors understand President Xi better, how investors should think about political risks and whether economic growth is rewarded in share prices (“no” is often the answer)? We weigh up to what extent hidden ..read more

This week we’re talking about one of the key issues of the moment, health in the UK. We’re speaking to well-known actuary and LCP colleague Stuart McDonald MBE, Head of LCP’s longevity and demographic insights team, who specialises in understanding and explaining health and death data. Stuart gained a high profile during Covid-19 when data interpretation of the government statistics became an essential skill and has continued this work in recent analysis of the impact of NHS waiting times on deaths, and the drivers and implications of the higher-than-usual excess deaths we’ve seen over the las ..read more

This week we’re discussing a particularly booming area of the markets in 2023: the market for buy-outs of DB pension funds by insurers. We’re speaking to LCP’s Catherine Hopper who thinks that 2023 will see record volumes in the “bulk annuity” market. We discuss the key changes in the funded status of UK DB schemes over the last year and what this has meant for their buy-out deficit, we cover the supply/demand dynamic in the market and what this means for trustees looking to do a transaction for their scheme. We also discuss the implications of potential future changes, such as solvency 2 regu ..read more

Today we’re speaking to author Annie Duke. Annie’s work bridges the behavioural finance theory and practice. Her latest book Quit asks whether quitting gets a bad rap and whether we should all embrace the power of walking away from things that aren’t working so we can reallocate resources to better ideas ..read more

Today we’re speaking to author and principal at AQR, Antti Ilmanen. Antti has made a career out of bridging the gap between finance theory and practice, and this year updated his 2011 book “Expected Returns” for a new environment. A lot has happened while Antti has been updating and releasing the new book so we dive first into how Antti thinks about setting expected returns on various assets including the use of historical data, the emphasis to place on current valuation levels and how to use forward-looking yields ..read more

This week we’re speaking to author and CIO of Fundhouse Joe Wiggins. Joe’s latest book focuses on fund investing and the ways this is different to generic ideas around investing. There is a huge amount of wisdom in Joe’s ideas here and quite a lot that goes against the grain of the fund and consulting industries. We talk about what “risk” really is, complexity, and the lure of certainty. Joe catalogues many of the underappreciated behavioural challenges facing fund investors. We think anyone involved in fund investing will get something useful out of this conversation ..read more

This week we’ve got a bonus special episode on …. Football! Alongside pensions, investment and other areas LCP has a team that specialises in football analytics (yes really!). In this episode Ashley Mould and Bart Huby explain how their systems use data from thousands of events across dozens of leagues to form a model of each player’s impact on a game and how this can be used by scouts and managers. We discuss what the data had to say about world cup teams and the decisions facing England manager Gareth Southgate. We reflect on analytics in sport generally and what this might mean in the futur ..read more