Twenty years of PA, and counting

Gary Corcoran, launch editor, Portfolio Adviser, August 2006

According to Claude – the latest go-to search sage and rarely wrong – Portfolio Adviser was launched in October 2006, founded by Gary Corcoran.

To be accurate, Last Word Media, Portfolio Adviser’s publisher, was founded in September 2005 by two salesmen and a soon-to-be Olivier Award-winning comedian. No joke. Their first publication was International Adviser, launched in February 2006 to cover offshore investing in what then was essentially the Wild West of the Middle East.

Any self-respecting London-based trade publisher needed a UK investment title to go up against Citywire, Investment Week, Money Marketing and FT Adviser. After many, many, many people refused to return their calls to be the launch editor of Portfolio Adviser, they turned to someone who had been a trade journalist for only three years, with Pensions Week and Retirement Planner on his CV – doesn’t exactly scream investment expert, does it?

What made Last Word Media a success in those early days was the ‘We’re all in this together’ mentality. The first office I worked in was in High Holborn, next to a methadone clinic. I was the sixth or seventh member of staff – we had 85 when I left nearly 12 years later – and we’d take it in turns to clear the needles away from the bottom of the stairwell (a slight exaggeration…) then buy the coffees, pastries and even bog roll. 

I knew I’d quickly settle into the culture of the business as my first three interviews went from being a coffee to a lunch to several pints in a pub in Holborn – not on the same day – and then an epic quasi-interview for three long days and longer nights at the PIMS event on the P&O Aurora cruise ship (if you know, you know – it was brutal but life-changing!).

I was given 90% of the magazine’s structure, with a very clear idea of what to cover, but zero content. What was to set Portfolio Adviser apart was its remit to cover asset allocation, portfolio construction and fund selection. We competed on news, but we were also given licence to give our opinion. A headline along the lines of ‘Is Ignis going down the Gartmore path to self-destruction?’ was an opinion – and prophetic – but it got me into all sorts of trouble with various PR people. 

And we launched our website back then, too. It took me a while to get my head round the fact that we needed new content every day when the Portfolio Adviser editorial team was me and I had a magazine to run as well. But with much cajoling and encouragement – and finally hiring – we got there.

My favourite question I ever asked – as the person I asked it of is wonderfully keen to remind me whenever I see him – was to Richard Romer-Lee and Nigel Whittingham when they sold OBSR to Morningstar. I asked during a telephone press conference: “You are both very much people people, so how are you going to get on with those faceless Americans?” How was I to know the president and UK CEO of the faceless American firm were both sat in the room next to them?

The single most stupid question I ever asked was to Iain Stewart, all-round good guy and manager of the Newton Real Return fund at the time. He was talking about the unintended consequences of something or other – it was a long time ago – so I asked him what some of those unintended consequences might be. He politely explained that he had no idea, and that nobody knew, because they were unintended…

My time at Portfolio Adviser taught me a huge amount and I loved almost every minute of it – I did make the choice to leave after all. I was privileged to work with very talented, hugely entertaining colleagues; I met a vast number of intelligent fund managers, researchers and analysts as well as very savvy and bright salespeople (some of whom I work with now, at Polar Capital); and I ‘networked’ at some stunning venues, in a dozen different countries and was offered hospitality to watch probably every sport going. What’s not to love?

Happy 20th birthday!

Gary Shepherd, editor, Portfolio Adviser, 2010-2017

Looking back, my time at Portfolio Adviser is best summed up by a few curt four-letter ‘words’. Nothing genuinely unprintable, mind, though during my editorship from 2010 to 2017, the retail investment industry had its own profane lexicon of alphabet soup.

I still recall the panic as the PIGS made a proper sty of the sovereign bond markets, sending investors scrambling toward the Brics and MINTs to save their bacon, all while muttering ‘TINA’ to justify what were then all-time highs for equities. In the funds world, I remember trying (and mostly failing) to untangle Gars, while the regulator came down hard on Ucits, and Paifs had their own hurdles. 

Heady times indeed. Yet hindsight shows a sector shaken up for the better by RDR. Advisers and fund selectors truly stepped up to prove their mettle, professionalising an industry still nursing a brutal hangover from the 2008 crash (I’ll save those stories for another day).

It’s easy to forget how quickly the industry evolves. Responsible investing has grown tremendously since I left journalism. Once the domain of a specialist few, sustainability is now embedded in most investment houses’ processes. Ask me back then, and in all honesty I’d probably have thought ‘ESG’ was that nasty stuff they use to flavour cheap ramen. 

Passive investing, too, has grown at a great pace. For a strategy built on essentially doing nothing (though I’m sure ETF providers will disagree with me), index investing has had a remarkably busy decade. The relative underperformance of active managers over this time has dented a fair few egos, I’m sure. We’ll say no more on the fallout from the Woodford saga, though I’m glad to see that the cult of the star fund manager that held sway has been kept somewhat in check.   

Through it all, PA has endured as an indispensable cornerstone: unbiased, unabashed and always ready to hold up a mirror to an investment world prone to the odd wrong turn and fashion faux pas (130/30 funds, anyone?).

Twenty years is a milestone well worth toasting. I raise a glass to Lauren and the team for continuing to push the title to new heights, not least by fiercely defending the print edition while so many rivals have dissolved into purely digital ether. I still vividly recall my first visit to PA’s old Holborn office while interviewing for the job in late 2008, when management proudly unveiled the ambitious grand plan of at least one article a week online.

The dizzying rise of AI has yet to eclipse the craft of determined, talented journalists – a breed PA has cultivated in spades over two decades. Still, the algorithms do have a decent eye for typos. In my era, my blushes were saved the old-fashioned way, by the saintly patience of Caroline, Sarah and Adrian on the long-serving design and production team (hi!). I’ll keep any howlers, and a few less printable memories, for the 30th anniversary…

Sebastian Cheek, editor, Portfolio Adviser, 2017-2021

A lot happened in the four-and-a-half years I was Portfolio Adviser editor. Brexit negotiations, the US-China trade war, China’s property crisis, the Woodford debacle, the open-ended fund liquidity saga – and, of course, Covid.

The pandemic was the defining moment. Like most of the world, the PA team suddenly found itself firing up laptops, attempting to work from kitchen tables and spare bedrooms. The days were long and the boundaries between work and home disappeared almost overnight, but the team rallied brilliantly. Indeed, the enforced isolation gave us licence to experiment. We launched new sections, including ‘At home with…’ and video interviews, finding new ways to connect with our audience when everyone was stuck at home.

Before Covid, there was, of course, Woodford. I can still remember the moment the equity income fund suspension was announced. I was, quite literally, open-mouthed. What followed was one of the biggest stories the investment industry had seen for years, and I’m genuinely proud of PA’s coverage. 

We had been on it even before the suspension, and, after the news broke, we followed every twist and turn, asking difficult questions and, importantly, explaining what it all meant for PA’s readers. I believe PA was up there with the best of the specialist press in its reporting of the unfolding saga.

Liquidity was another recurring theme. Open-ended funds, property fund suspensions and the debate about whether investors could get their money out provided plenty of copy. These were technical, sometimes dry subjects, but they mattered, and making them accessible was one of the things PA did particularly well.

There were lighter moments. At my first PA Wealth Awards, a few weeks into the job, I confidently announced some of the wrong winners for some of the wrong categories. I tried my best to style it out, but I was certainly left with egg on my face. My defence remains that I was reading names from a sheet of paper rather than an autocue. Easy mistake to make, right?

The PA congresses were another highlight. The locations were impressive, but it was the people, the quality of the debate and the calibre of speakers that made them special. Astronaut Tim Peake and journalist/broadcaster Robert Peston were particularly memorable keynotes. 

I’m perhaps proudest of how we developed PA Analysis. Taking the biggest news stories and industry developments and going beyond the headline became a real priority. It wasn’t just reporting the story, it was the ‘so what?’ What exactly does it mean for our readers? We committed to producing at least four a week – a target we managed to hit, even if it sometimes felt like it might break a small team like ours.

Overall, it was an extraordinary period in PA’s history. Eventful, occasionally chaotic, often challenging, but hugely rewarding. I feel lucky to have steered the magazine through it – and even luckier to have done so with such a talented, committed and occasionally long-suffering team.

Happy birthday, PA. Here’s to the next 20 years! 

Kirsten Hastings, editor, Portfolio Adviser, 2022-2023

One of the greatest gifts of being a journalist is getting to meet some seriously impressive people. And it’s always wonderful when they turn out to be human – often alarmingly bright – but the majority are just people who are passionate about what they do and enthusiastic about sharing their views and opinions.

Stepping into the editor role at PA in January 2022 was exciting and a little nerve-wracking. It was (and very much still is) a widely recognised and well-respected publication. In truth, it should have come as no surprise how supportive and welcoming the industry was.

Publishing exclusives, breaking news and interviewing top names were all part of the daily buzz of being a journalist. As editor, you tend to live a little vicariously through the reporters who have greater freedom to pop out for coffees, lunches and (ahem) other social gatherings.

The news cycle is a beast that must be consistently fed, add on to that a monthly print publication and I often found myself staring forlornly at a half-eaten sandwich as I hit send on an email gently pleading with an industry spokesperson to comment on an analysis piece.

God, times were good.

I share the following story because I know I’m in a safe space and my fellow PA editors will, no doubt, share similar tales of how they managed to cock something up… right, guys?  

Anyway, the monthly magazine always dictated when holidays could be taken because the planning, pleading and scrambling cycle was pretty consistent. I had agreed (under duress) to walk a section of the West Highland Way and, on the following day, climb Ben Lomond to raise money for a Ukrainian children’s charity. The timing of the walk was not ideal, and it meant the deadline for that month was squeezed.  

I was halfway up the mountain when, for reasons known only to my brain, it started to run through the sections of the magazine I had finished putting to bed a couple of days before. Mild panic set in as I wondered if I had forgotten to submit some copy or there was a section I hadn’t proofed.

As we neared the top, I was horrified to realise, throughout my four-page cover story, I had consistently used trillions instead of billions. Not a small mistake to make. And definitely not a small mistake to make in a print magazine.

The embarrassment was real and it was visceral.

Returning to the office after the hike, my ego was definitely more battered and bruised than my body. I quietly informed Julian Marr and Caroline Howlett, our production maestro, of my stupidity.

True to fashion, both (absolutely fairly) took the opportunity to mock me for it before sharing their own tales of woe about mistakes they made that now live only in their memories.

I share this story in the hope that future PA editors know, when their time comes to make a mistake, they are 100% not alone.

Lauren Hardy, editor, Portfolio Adviser, 2023 to present

With three years under my belt at Portfolio Adviser, it simultaneously feels as though I have been part of the brand for two weeks, and 20 years. 

Shortly before I joined, I had happily spent five years as the editor of Investment Week, and I was on maternity leave with my first child. I was pulling a pint down my local pub in Salisbury, in fact, when I received a phone call from the former editorial director, Julian Marr. He said: “Look. We’re small. We’re about to be bought by a company I’ve not worked with before. They’re based in Herne Hill, so as far away from you, in London terms, as you could possibly imagine. It’s a punt. Do you fancy it?”

Sleepless nights ensued. But, having successfully appealed to my self-destructive nature, I took the punt. And I can truthfully say I am very, very glad I did. 

As to be expected with acquisitions, a lot of change ensued. We have an almost entirely new team. We have new brands. We have seen the expulsion of old brands. We have joined forces with the indomitable Estates Gazette team to form a new business arm: Mark Allen Financial Media. 

We did indeed move from a bustling office near the Square Mile to a huge 158-year-old converted church down the road from Brockwell Lido. Within this church, we now work alongside a vast range of brands, including, but not limited to: Pig World, Filtration & Separation, Stoma Tips and Glass & Glazing Products Magazine. 

Frankly, it has been a weird three years, but all of them have been filled with excitement, dynamism, evolution and, still at its core, great-quality journalism (although I am inherently biased). 

Since 2023, we have seen post-pandemic inflation and central bank tightening, bond market volatility and decade-high yields, escalating global debt levels, extreme market concentration in the US and emerging markets, ongoing disruption from the Russia-Ukraine war and unfathomable capex in AI and AI infrastructure. And naturally, two weeks before returning to work after having my second child, the US-Iran war broke out.

And through it all, our team of two, sometimes three, journalists covered everything with unwavering gusto and composure. I am proud to say that we still have a print magazine (which, by the way, seems to be growing in size!) alongside our news website. 

I had my first big clash with the Financial Conduct Authority during my time at the helm of Portfolio Adviser – a rite of passage as a financial journalist. I wish it had been over something higher octane than cost disclosure regulation, but I’ll take it. I also found myself in the strange situation of being threatened by US guitarist Nile Rodgers’ legal team for sniffing around the now-delisted Hipgnosis Songs fund.

Looking ahead, I am hugely excited about the prospects for the brand. Our events are going from strength to strength and the whole team across every department is working more collegiately than ever before.

We might be small, but I would say we are definitely packing a punch beyond our size. I am looking forward to writing another one of these pieces, from a 163-year-old church, in our 25-year magazine!