Philosopher’s Stonehage
The firm’s investment philosophy and process is the same for every client but the outcome is dependent on his or her core strategy. According to Wainer, this runs the gamut from capital preservation strategies for those clients wanting to protect their wealth and who are looking for a modest return, to those seeking to grow their initial wealth over a long time horizon.
While the strategy covers a broad spectrum of investment at present, Stonehage Fleming remains fairly neutral, given the level of valuations in general and the range of possible outcomes.
The firm is beginning to pay more attention to emerging markets, however, which Wainer says offer tremendously good value for long-term investors who are able to carry additional volatility.
“It is an area in which we have been under-represented for some time. I don’t think we are about to go back to the giddy days of the super-cycle but I do think we could be doing a bit more there. We are at the point where whole countries have been massively oversold, so some retracement is likely.
“Asia is particularly attractive but one has to make a judgement call about whether or not China will be able to steer itself through this new reflationary world. The jury is still out on that but I am on the more bullish side of things.”
Wainer is also bullish on both the US and the UK, with the latter a potential surprise variable for returns in 2017. “While the majority of talk within the industry is about the UK underperforming relative to expectations, I think it will overperform.
“We are going to have a government that is very pro-growth in terms of tax rates, fiscal policy, infrastructure spend and entrepreneurial relief, all of which could be beneficial,” he says.
With regards to US equities, while he expects the current bull market to end eventually, Wainer believes Trump’s fiscal expansion, the promised deregulation and tax reform means that the rally likely has a lot longer to go.
“I feel 2017 will be a strong year for risk assets. The market is gearing itself up for that but we are perhaps even more bullish.”
