"It starts with hard work and dedication, because you can’t get anywhere without that. They have to sift through an absolutely mind-blowing amount of information.""They need the ability to look at a problem laterally and take a different approach so they can spot opportunities. Back in 2000, nobody would go near tobacco stocks because they were being litigated to death. Since then they’ve gone up by about 500 per cent."
"They also need an edge, which is something you can’t really define – to use sporting analogies, Tiger Woods has it, all the great batsmen had it."
"They need a good feel towards the stock markets generally, a type of instinct, which is something you’ve either got or you haven’t. It’s something you can’t really work towards or we’d all be doing it."
Chris Spear, managing director of Spear Financial
"Someone who can relate to the general public. People like Tom Dobell at M&G Recovery. One of my things is I like people who are very down to earth, who understand they are dealing with real clients’ money." "I like Rob Burdett and Gary Potter. They look at the stock market and the economy in a realistic way, they don’t try to shoot the lights out by doing anything experimental."
"One of Gary Potter’s words is 'Vanilla' – he tries to keep things simple. For example we’ve seen a move into things like ETFs, but I’m still not convinced that I want to use them. We try not to complicate things because my client bank is made up of ordinary men and women."
Darius McDermott, managing director of Chelsea Financial Services
"If we knew the answer to that, we’d be rich. The best fund managers understand what they do and keep it simple. We know they won’t panic when they’re stressed. Having said that, it is important that they have the ability to change their minds."
"It’s all the usual suspects: Neil Woodford, Nigel Thomas, and Derek Stuart with Artemis."
Adrian Lowcock, senior investment adviser at Bestinvest
"A fund manager needs good judgment, clarity, focus and discipline. They need to be able to read the same material as other people but read between the lines, assess what is really meant and act on that." "Discipline is perhaps one of the most important skills, as fund managers need to stick to their view even in the face of poor performance (at least for a short while)."
"Examples of managers with these characteristics would be Neil Woodford, Hugh Young and Rob Burnett."
Chris Wise, director of Budge and Co
"We have a quantitative and qualitative process when choosing a fund manager. We try to identify if he is qualified, patient and true to his investment philosophy. Also what drives him, has he got the mechanics in place?"
"We’re not all that bothered about his personality – we don’t care if he is charismatic or not, although if he's a quivering wreck when we shake his hand, we probably wouldn’t invest with him."
"What’s more important is, does he buy into his own fund? What makes him tick? I want to know if he’s going to be with the same company for 10 years, has he got a big team and would we mind if he left."