Coffee Catch-Up
Our success relies on the efforts of our team, we caught up with our Executive Director of Capital Markets, Jenna Labib for a quick Q&A over coffee.
Read what she had to say, below:
Hi Jenna! Let’s start with a little bit about your career.
1. How would you best describe your career journey up until now.
I started my career at Deutsche Bank working in foreign exchange, where I had the opportunity to work on trading desks in New York, London, Singapore and Hong Kong. Most recently before joining the team at Income Asset Management, I was working at UBS on their equities desk.
All I can say from my experiences is that you never waste a crisis in terms of the training it gives you! I was in FX at Deutsche Bank during Brexit when the pound was in free fall dropping to a 30 year low. My career to date has been one hell of a learning curve and when the market falls, you definitely learn more than when it’s going up.
2. What attracted you towards choosing a career in Fixed income?
In Australia, equities have long been the dominant source of investment income. Fixed income is quite a new asset class for a lot of Australian investors and the potential in Australia for fixed interest is still enormous. I was excited to be a part of this process to show Australian investors the importance of fixed income to an investment portfolio.
3: As Executive Director at IAM, describe your job in one sentence!
I educate investors on the importance of defensive assets in a diversified portfolio and provide direct access to corporate bonds for my private clients, financial advisers and family offices so they can benefit from the reliable income streams that bonds provide.
Connect WITH OUR TEAM
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Let’s also get some more of your expertise at work.
4. With the current market volatility, what are some strategies that investors should consider to protect their investments?
There has been a lot for investors to digest this year and with a global recession looking more likely, investors should consider whether they have the right asset allocation. Property and shares tend to be more linked to the economic cycle. It can be useful to have other asset classes such as bonds in your portfolio, because in a cyclical downturn, this can help to mitigate loss.
In the past, when interest rates were low, investors looking for yield needed to go into riskier investments in order to achieve a certain yield target. However, the environment has changed, and the rise in interest rates has seen fixed income become more attractive. The bond sell off is a big tailwind for our investors and clients are now getting very efficient returns for investment grade credit E.g. many BBB bonds are offering 6%-7% yield to maturity (YTM). The yields on bonds is now significantly higher, and in many cases higher than the dividend yield available on shares.
5. What is your personal Investment MANTRA?
For me, the number one rule for any investor, no matter the asset class, is don’t invest in something you don’t understand. That’s why I’m so passionate about educating people about bonds and providing a balanced picture of the risks. We provide expert advice on what we think represents good value in the Australian bond market and also globally.
When people come to me having no idea what a bond is, and by the end of our interaction find themselves feeling really confident in their understanding, that is what motivates me. It’s very humbling when clients tell you about the direct outcome on their savings from the decisions they have made.
And lastly, lets get a tiny peek in your life, when you’re not working.
6. Describe what ‘a perfect weekend’ is to you?
My most recent weekend fit the brief. I enjoyed a long weekend with my family in Port Douglas and spent the days swimming, reading and playing backgammon.
7. What are some of your favourite places in Sydney?
Last year I completed the 80km walk from Bondi to Manly along the Sydney coastline, which not only was one of the best walks I have ever done, but also took me past many of my favourite spots in Sydney. I love the view of the headland on the Bondi to Watsons Bay stretch and enjoy window shopping the coastline real estate (a pipe dream!). The Manly Pavilion reopened earlier this year and is a very welcome sight at the end for sore legs to enjoy a refreshing drink (and a chair!) overlooking Manly Harbour.
8. Tell us what is something that you would like to experience this year for the first time?
Until last year I didn’t have much (if any!) interest in the world of Formula 1 racing, but like a lot of people, I was captivated by the Netflix series “Drive to Survive”. This newfound fascination with the sport led me to Singapore earlier this month to attend the Singapore Grand Prix for the first time, which takes place at the Marina Bay Street Circuit. There was torrential downpour for the 2 hours before the race, so much so that the race was delayed, but even sitting in the grandstand in a sopping wet poncho, I loved the energy of the event (and of course Daniel Ricciardo’s strong performance!).
Jenna’s Favourite Bonds
Why are they your favourite bonds at this time?
Challenger: It holds good value in the Tier 2 financials space when looking at the Australian debt capital structure.
Ausnet: An extremely robust Business that operates in an industry with stable cash flows and high barriers to entry.
