Edward Mainwaring-Burton is a senior financial planner at deVere Acuma. The Briton, 32, worked as a wealth manager in Geneva for many years before heading to the UAE in 2013.
Describe your financial journey so far.
My financial life has been very varied. My family was able to provide a very good life for me when I was growing up, but they always insisted that I work to earn money. When I was young I was good at maths, but not good at taking advice. This reflected in my attitude to income and outgoings. I really started to appreciate the true value of money and forward-planning in my early 20s, and my work with savings and investments has certainly given me the ability to be objective about my own finances as well as those of others.
Are you a spender or saver?
By nature, I am a spender. Like many people, I have to make a conscious effort to save money. I understand the desire for shiny new things, and so I force some perspective and challenge myself to make sure I store away what I need for my future plans. My wife is the opposite. She is definitely a saver, so I’m sure we will complement each other and meet in the middle somewhere.
What is your philosophy towards money?
For me, money must always have a purpose. Hoarding cash without knowing what it is for is just as irrational as frittering away every penny on needless expenses. To have money and no goals to achieve would be as disappointing as having goals but no money to achieve them.
Have you made any financial mistakes along the way?
The biggest mistake I ever made was to shy away from help when I needed it. I struggled with money at university, and when I left I found it hard to juggle my costs and debts against a small income. I was afraid to admit that my plans had not worked out and embarrassed to seek assistance. Once I actually relented and realised that I was not alone, I found that my mistakes and difficulties really were not that bad.
If you won Dh1 million, what would you do with it?
I would put half of it into long-term investment funds to help my niece, nephew and my future children with their education when they are older. I would use Dh10,000 for a really special holiday with my wife to celebrate. The majority of the rest would then go into my investment funds, but I would probably be tempted into spending about Dh50,000 on a pretty-looking classic car that I could enjoy driving from time to time and be proud of fixing up.
What has been your best investment?
It must be the money that I have put into developing my career. From education fees to new suits, many people forget they should consider their everyday costs as investing for the future. In terms of pure assets, I invested a small sum of money in Indonesian equities in 2010 that grew by an extraordinary amount over the few years that I held the fund. I took a good return from that. Even though it was a relatively small investment, I am glad I did not risk more because it is a volatile market and I could easily have lost out.
Do you plan for the future?
Definitely. My beautiful wife and I had an amazing wedding in the Netherlands less than two months ago, so we are spending a lot of time planning right now. Building a life with someone else is a whole new ball game and comes with extra responsibilities. I have to think about where we will be in two, five, 10 and 20 years’ time. Thinking about a family, children and protection against the unpredictable has to be the first priority.
What do you enjoy spending money on?
Time with people close to me. Going for a nice dinner or taking memorable holidays is brilliant. However, I love anything with an engine. Cars and motorsport are a passion of mine and are not the cheapest of hobbies. I love to go to F1 races and drive on the track myself. It is important to set aside some money to fuel your own enjoyment.
lgraves@thenational.ae
Follow The National's Business section on Twitter
How green is the expo nursery?
Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow
Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers
About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer
Main themes of expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
RESULTS
6.30pm: Maiden Dh 165,000 1,600m
Winner: Superior, Connor Beasley (jockey), Ahmad bin Harmash (trainer)
7.05pm: Handicap Dh 185,000 2,000m
Winner: Tried And True, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson
7.40pm: Maiden Dh 165,000 1,600m
Winner: Roy Orbison, Fernando Jara, Ali Rashid Al Raihe
8.15pm
Handicap Dh 190,000 1,400m
Winner: Taamol, Dane O’Neill, Ali Rashid Al Raihe
8.50pm
Handicap Dh 175,000 1,600m
Winner: Welford, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar
9.25pm: Handicap Dh 175,000 1,200m
Winner: Lavaspin, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar
10pm: Handicap Dh 165,000 1,600m
Winner: Untold Secret, Xavier Ziani, Sandeep Jadhav
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Brief scores:
Liverpool 3
Mane 24', Shaqiri 73', 80'
Manchester United 1
Lingard 33'
Man of the Match: Fabinho (Liverpool)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
MATCH INFO
Juventus 1 (Dybala 45')
Lazio 3 (Alberto 16', Lulic 73', Cataldi 90 4')
Red card: Rodrigo Bentancur (Juventus)
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 268hp at 5,600rpm
Torque: 380Nm at 4,800rpm
Transmission: CVT auto
Fuel consumption: 9.5L/100km
On sale: now
Price: from Dh195,000
The specs
Engine: 4-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: eight-speed PDK
Power: 630bhp
Torque: 820Nm
Price: Dh683,200
On sale: now
