Portfolio
Managers: Aging Like Fine Wine
| There has never been a boy painter nor can
there be. The art requires a long apprenticeship, being mechanical
as well as intellectual.
John Constable
19th-Century English landscape painter |
Hockey, baseball, basketball and
tennis players tend to peak with maximum athletic performance in their
late twenties to early thirties. North American football, due to the
severe physical contact of the sport leads to shorter athletic careers
and an earlier peak in top performance.
Rarely, in any of these five major
sports, do players continue on into their early forties. While their
minds may be willing, unfortunately, their battle-scarred knees,
dislocated shoulders, broken ribs and serious concussions impede their
athletic longevity. In summary, their careers are relatively short,
compact and rather intense.
Interestingly, the careers of
investment professionals along with landscape painters take a completely
different course. Accomplished painters and successful investors are
neither born nor are they overnight successes. Through extensive trial
and error, painters and portfolio managers mature and improve over time;
they age like fine wine. While a hockey player may be scoring hat-tricks
and a point guard may be shooting three-pointers in their late twenties
to early thirties, comparatively-aged portfolio managers, at that time,
are considered mere rookies.
It is my opinion that it takes at
least several business cycles, countless missed opportunities,
occasional misfortunate stock selections and numerous successes to forge
the character of a well-rounded portfolio manager. But this process
takes time just as no one expects a 25-year-old to paint a Mona Lisa or
a Last Supper. The point is, successful portfolio managers do not mature
until their mid-forties or early fifties. At that time a manager has had
20-25 years of battle-hardened work experience and has, ultimately,
honed a multitude of invaluable investment skills and tools.
In summation, the fact is that unlike
numerous other lines of work, the older and more experienced an
investment manager becomes, the more priceless his worth.
Irwin A. Michael, CFA
