Formed at the tail end of 2007, Capital Generation Partners was put almost immediately to the test during the financial crisis. Nine years down the line, the firm has grown from just one client to 11, but all are offered a distinct bespoke service.
As the team has grown, the founding partners, Ian Barnard, Khaled Said and Charlotte Thorne, remain at the centre of the business’s operation.
It is Barnard who talks Portfolio Adviser through the wealth manager’s philosophy and process. He has a unique take on the private client sector, having spent a large part of his life working in the public sector, both in the army and in diplomatic service.
“If you work in foreign affairs, it gives you a broad understanding of how the world works in political terms and how governments really function,” he says.
“It reinforces the view that the world doesn’t change that much and there is more often continuity rather than change. It equipped me with an ability to really understand other people’s point of view because multilateral international negotiation is always about trying to find common ground, and I find that very helpful now.
“However, in life as in markets when big change does come, it comes very quickly.” With this in mind, Barnard believes it is “lazy arrogance” to put clients into high, medium or low-risk buckets without thoroughly understanding their needs in more detail.
“The message that came out of 2008 is that when thinking about your downside case, make sure you explore the outer reaches. Don’t just take a lazy 5-10% off your base case because things can change dramatically.”
