Why all good investors have a long-term view
October 2024
Nick Burt
Executive Director and Portfolio Manager
Vinva Investment Management
What is your day job?
I’m part of the senior management team at Vinva Investment Management, which is one of the fund managers used in Cornerstone portfolios. My day-to-day role primarily focuses on running our Australian share funds.
What was your previous experience and qualifications?
I have a Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Finance (Honours), from the University of New South Wales. I went straight into stockbroking after graduation as a quantitative analyst at Ord Minnett. Maths was always my strength and I wanted to go into a field that combined maths with economics.
I moved into different roles there and eventually switched to Barclays Global Investors (BGI) in 2004 to run its long- short funds. I then went to Vinva when it was first established in 2010, joining a number of my BGI colleagues to launch the business. Several of us have worked together for more than 20 years.
What’s your favourite part of the job?
Financial markets are exciting in the sense that you never really know what will happen on a day-to-day basis (though that can sometimes be bad too). I’m also a very competitive person and in this industry you compete pretty much every day – by comparing your portfolio returns to the market.
I enjoy the constant innovation in funds management too – new technology is continually coming out. We’re always looking for new ideas and data feeds to include in our investment strategies.
What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learnt in your career as a fund manager?
I started my career in 1994 towards the end of a market rally and then witnessed the original technology bubble in the early 2000s. The latter was a huge learning experience – as was the global financial crisis a few years later.
The biggest lesson from it all is that investors need to take a long-term view. Many people in the market have short memories but, looking back, I can see market history has an amazing way of repeating itself.
How do you spend your spare time?
I do a lot of fitness training – swimming, running, cycling. I spent a large portion of my life doing triathlons at a highly competitive level and only stopped competing just prior to COVID.
I read a lot – including audiobooks while I’m training – and listen to a whole host of podcasts. One of my favourite podcast series is hosted by Peter Attia. He was a general surgeon in the US and his podcasts focus on research related to health and fitness.
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