On 23rd October 2017 Herbert Scott hosted a professional connections seminar at Plumpton Racecourse where we were joined by several local solicitors to enjoy an afternoons racing.
The event followed the usual format, commencing with an interactive seminar led by Tracey Payne. This was intended to explain and explore the challenges of trustee investing. Tracey discussed the main challenges faced when considering investments inside a trust. She also introduced Herbert Scott’s new Trust service, called Fiduciary Wealth Management.
This was followed by a three-course lunch along with the usual fun conversations and relaxed networking opportunities whilst watching the afternoons racing.
After the presentation Tracey and other members of Herbert Scott handed out envelopes which contained money to bet on the 7 races that day; the point of this was to challenge the theory as to whether any skill was shown by our guest to consistently pick the winners of each race. Of course, we were using a very small data sample but never the less as a cohort, with potential winnings of £1,100 we barely broke £100. 80% of players produced a negative return on investment and the average player returned around -50% (the house always wins!). This ties in with our in-house investment philosophy which predominantly invests in passive funds on the basis that we do not believe investors are able to consistently pick winning stocks over a long period of time and if they could, then it would most likely be down to luck rather than skill.
At Plumpton we had full use of the Directors suite, an exclusive dining area situated on the roof top of the Sussex Stand which had excellent views of the track and the South Downs. Overall the day was really entertaining and informative and it was a great opportunity to meet with local professionals.