Up next in 10
We're lucky enough to have the contributions of Christina Brady from Blacktower Financial Management live every other Tuesday at 10am.
Now, at the end of each financial quarter, we'll be catching up with Group Managing Director and co-founder of Blacktower, John Westwood. For this first episode, we find out a bit more about the company and how they've weathered the many financial storms over the past 35 years.
Plus, Moody finds out what AUM means, and just how much in A's they have UM.
For more information see www.blacktowerfm.com and Subscribe to our YouTube channel for the latest updates.
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0:00
As regular listeners will know, every other Tuesday on my show in the mornings
0:03
we talk to Christina Brady from Black Tower Financial Management and been doing it for a while now, so always some useful stuff imparted
0:11
and especially over the last couple of years. What I thought we do here is just once every quarter is catch up with
0:17
I'd hesitate to call him a head honcho there. We're talking about Group MD and founder of Black Tower Financial Management
0:24
John Westwood, John, hi. Hi, good morning, good afternoon, wherever you are in the world. Hi
0:29
Well, it's morning where you are. You're based in the Cayman Islands, right? I'm currently in the Cayman Islands
0:34
I'm working here for the company at the moment. We've got a project over in this part of the world
0:39
so we're spending a little bit of time here just putting that project to bed
0:42
So normally I'm based in Gibraltar. I have to be here for this particular purpose
0:48
Yeah, I mean, we do make clear because although we talk about some of the tax implications
0:53
between Spain and the UK, that sort of thing, with Christina, very much an international company
0:58
Yeah, we are. We've grown enormously over the last 10 years from sort of the beginnings in the United Kingdom back in 1986 when I started the business
1:07
So now the company has a considerable global footprint really offices throughout the United Kingdom America the Cayman Islands Trinidad Zabago down in Chile which you believe and also soon in Panama
1:24
And we're just opening in Switzerland and in the UAE later this year
1:29
So it's grown enormously. Absolutely. And that's some time in business as well
1:33
And we always like to point that out because it's a pretty good sign for people looking around for a company to invest with
1:39
that, A, the size you are now, but also the length of time
1:44
And the things you've seen over the years as well, I mean, starting in 86
1:47
you've been through a few ups and downs as far as the economy goes, that sort of thing
1:52
especially worldwide even. Yeah, that's really true. I mean, the biggest one being, of course, 2008, which was very severe for everybody concerned
2:01
in the financial markets and indeed consumers as well. So, yeah, I've seen some difficult times, and we've had to make, you know
2:09
during those times, emergency decisions to protect clients' assets. It can be quite testing, but I think the test is, being around from 1986
2:20
you've seen a lot and you've gained an awful lot of experience in how to look after people assets and financial affairs over that period of time Sure I mean the big crash in 2008 as you say you can sort of see that coming a little bit I sure with you you watching everything with people investments at stake
2:38
But how much can you do? It's not just how much you can do to avert a major crisis yourselves
2:44
It's an interesting point. I think financial crisis starts to brew and you can start to tell when you can see a
2:52
financial crisis brewing. Sometimes it kept you, like the 2008 one. We saw it perhaps happening, but when it happened, it was extremely quick
3:00
I mean, effectively, it happened on September the 29th, 2008, when world just changed
3:06
And markets went down 30 and 40%. So nobody actually saw that coming
3:11
But in hindsight, I think, you know, one can protect oneself against that now
3:17
And certainly the financial institutions and the financial markets are much better
3:23
placed to understand how these things happen and protecting the downsides for client
3:30
investments. In 2008, I don't think we ever believed it could crash that far. We now, we know
3:35
it can And I think the industry as a whole has grown up and understands those particular problems And that kind of thing I would be very surprised if it was allowed to happen again Sure And of course yeah you seen that come and go And if there anything I learned from Christina it about diversification
3:54
and not putting all your eggs in one basket. So, you know, spreading the risk, as it were
3:59
Yeah, absolutely. It's the key to all financial planning is to spread your risk over a wide broad range of assets
4:06
Assets also that suit your purpose and your attitude. to investment. I think one of the things that people often get wrong is the way they invest
4:17
and the type of investments they make. We often see persons with money, which really they can't
4:24
afford to lose. So you're looking at capital protection. When you examine the portfolio
4:30
it's just taking too much risk. So you've got to be very careful and listen to the advisors
4:35
in judging and understanding the level of risk you're prepared to. take and of course also equally is important it's the time you're prepared to invest as well
4:46
time time is a great key to normal investment and stock markets and if you can stay in the market
4:52
and take that little bit of extra risk you'll probably be rewarded but if you're in retirement
4:58
perhaps you don't want to take those
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