Skills That Separate You as an Investment Manager
A series of articles authored by Jason A. Voss, CFA, Content Director, CFA Institute, and retired co-Portfolio Manager of the Davis Appreciation and Income Fund. Each piece highlights skills not discussed in the standard financial education literature, but that, nonetheless, are important for effective portfolio management.
Curiosity is one of the critical skills leading to investment management success.
Creating your own context is essential to understanding the world around you. If you understand the world, then your chances for investment success are much higher.
An overlooked skill that separates you from other analysts is the ability to use a multitude of scales to lead to deeper understanding of an investment.
Many investment managers and research analysts think that one of their responsibilities is to discover the very best mental model for their work. I say: the best tool for the job is a better philosophy.
If you would like to separate yourself from the crowd of highly motivated and highly intelligent candidates, try adding the following to your arsenal of skills: forthrightness.
If you would like to separate yourself from the crowd of highly motivated and highly intelligent candidates try adding the following to your arsenal of skills: absolute vs. relative decision making.
Over the course of my investment career, none of the unconventional tools that I used to improve my results were more powerful than this one.
If you would like to separate yourself from the crowd of highly motivated and highly intelligent candidates, try adding this to your arsenal of skills: intuition.
If you would like to separate yourself from the crowd of highly motivated and highly intelligent candidates, try adding the following to your arsenal of skills: creativity.
If you would like to separate yourself from the crowd of highly motivated and highly intelligent candidates try adding the following to your arsenal of skills: introspection.