Name: Ashley Pittard
Age: Around 40
How long have you had your SMSF?
10-years plus
Why did you start it up?
It was just far simpler to have the money in something that I could manage because that’s my job. My job is to invest people’s superannuation.
How is it invested?
Effectively the assets have either been in the company (the majority of PM Capital’s funds under management is in global equities) or our enhanced yield fund. The reason I’m able to do that is I’m not a majority shareholder of the firm. When we originally started as with a lot of firms we got opportunities to buy stakes in our business. Over a longer-term period, considering where I was going to get the best returns, I’ve always though the global fund is going to get the better returns
Does it bother you that it might be over exposed to international assets?
I have my house in Australia and I work in Australia. I like to have my assets globally if I can, only because I see a better risk reward payoff. I can get global financial stocks like Lloyds of London (UK) and Wells Fargo (US) for half the price of a CBA share.
Is it more or less difficult to manage than you thought it would be?
I effectively outsource it to my accountant. I think that’s the best way to. Of course you pay a fee for it but mine is very, very simple.
I look at it this way. I could have taken my superannuation and put it into a fund, whereas now the only fee I’m paying is to my accountant. It’s cost effective because I’m not paying a management fee to a third party.
How has it performed?
It’s difficult to measure performance as it’s invested in the unlisted shares of PM CAPITAL, which I’m able to do as I’m a minority shareholder, but as a guide, The Global Companies Fund (which I manage) has annualised after fees performances of 30.4%, 31.8% and 15.6% for the one, three and five-year periods to the end of March. The Enhanced Yield Fund has annualised returns of 3.6%, 4.9% and 5.4% over those same one, three and five-year periods. Its benchmark is the RBA cash rate, which it has outperformed over all those periods
What are your favourite investments/stocks and why?
At PM Capital we invest at the epicentre of a crisis, so I like US property, US banking and near-term European property and European financials – anything with regards to a rebound in Europe.
Companies I like at the moment include Lloyd’s of London, Wells Fargo, Banco Popular (Spain) and Bank of Ireland. We’ve owned the brewer names like Heineken and the reason we like them is because they’re global business and they are duopoly earners.
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