Where do values start and end?
“When your values are clear to you, making decisions becomes easier.”
Roy E. Disney
As you can probably imagine, creating a quality investment consulting service model from scratch isn’t quite as simple as just putting on a suit in the morning and reading the financial news. All our services require research, testing and ongoing critique to ensure we create a process that delivers resilient investment advice.
But where should you start?
When we first talked about teaming up, we both realised that we needed a framework to guide us through the setup process and beyond. It needed to string together the two of us, our future clients, employees and our service model. Something to provide direction for everything that we do.
This is why a business needs values. So, after our first chat we decided that we should both write down what we wanted Makao Investments to stand for. We were pleased to see that our values were aligned. They now guide our every move as a company and can be distilled into three words:
Integrity
It may seem like everyone in the financial services industry claims to have it, but we are determined to show it. Actions speak louder than words and we believe that our reputation will be the driving force of our success as a business.
Transparency
A current buzzword in the investment world, yet its application is often poor. No model or research should feel like a black box, and we want to make sure that we shed light on what drives asset class and manager performance.
Humility
Kāore te kūmara e kōrero mō tōna ake reka – “The kūmara doesn’t speak of its own sweetness”. When faced with uncertainty, you have to remain open to new ideas and be modest about your understanding.
We feel some companies might have stopped once they put their values on paper. But we believe that our values need to be reflected throughout our service model. As an example, our values are apparent in our investment beliefs:
Investing without a process is like driving without your seat belt on
- ensure your governance structure is fit for purpose
- use a systematic framework for modelling expected returns
- prioritise investment opportunities with a strong process
Understanding the ingredients will give you a healthy experience
- account for similar exposures across your portfolio
- always include fees, tax and inflation in your analysis
No one has the perfect crystal ball
- be prepared for a variety of scenarios
- improve diversification with offshore investments
- use diligence and discipline when making tactical decisions
This is just the start – we have a lot in the pipeline and a lot of work to do. However, we can promise that our values will be visible in every service we offer: Governance, Asset Allocation and Manager Selection.
More importantly, our values should be felt in every interaction we have with our clients, service providers, peers and everyone else we meet along the way.
There is no end to values – Integrity, transparency and humility will guide our every move.
Stay tuned for more information on how we apply our values throughout our services model, and more detailed discussions of our investment beliefs.
Makao Investments is a New Zealand-based wholesale investment advisory business that was founded to lift investment advice to a higher standard.