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A fireside chat with the founder of one of the most successful investment management firms in the world on how capitalism is broken, and importantly how it can be fixed.[vc_quotes layout=”accordion” quotes=”%5B%7B%22name%22%3A%22Ray%20Dalio%22%2C%22job_role%22%3A%22Founder%20of%20Bridgewater%20(United%20States)%22%2C%22content%22%3A%22Ray%20Dalio%20is%20founder%2C%20co-chair%20and%20co-chief%20investment%20officer%20of%20Bridgewater%20Associates.%20He%20started%20Bridgewater%20out%20of%20his%20two-bedroom%20apartment%20in%20New%20York%20in%201975%20and%20under%20his%20leadership%2C%20the%20firm%20has%20grown%20into%20the%20fifth%20most%20important%20private%20company%20in%20the%20US%20according%20to%20Fortune%20Magazine.%5CnFor%20his%20and%20Bridgewater’s%20industry-changing%20innovations%20as%20well%20as%20his%20work%20advising%20policymakers%20around%20the%20world%2C%20Dalio%20has%20been%20called%20the%20%E2%80%9CSteve%20Jobs%20of%20Investing%E2%80%9D%20by%20aiCIO%20Magazine%20and%20Wired%20Magazine%2C%20and%20named%20one%20of%20the%20100%20Most%20Influential%20People%20by%20TIME%20Magazine.%5CnHe%20is%20also%20the%20author%20of%20The%20New%20York%20Times%20%231%20Bestseller%20Principles%2C%20which%20outlines%20his%20work%20and%20life%20principles%2C%20the%20foundation%20of%20Bridgewater%E2%80%99s%20distinctive%20culture%20and%20the%20cornerstone%20of%20his%20and%20Bridgewater%E2%80%99s%20success.%20Dalio%20and%20Bridgewater%20also%20recently%20published%20Principles%20for%20Navigating%20Big%20Debt%20Crises%2C%20the%20first%20public%20dissemination%20of%20their%20research%20on%20these%20economic%20events%2C%20which%20enabled%20them%20to%20anticipate%20the%202008%20Financial%20Crisis.%20He%20is%20currently%20working%20on%20his%20third%20book%2C%20which%20will%20outline%20his%20investment%20principles.%5CnDalio%20holds%20a%20Bachelor%20of%20Science%20degree%20in%20Finance%20from%20C.W.%20Post%20College%20and%20an%20MBA%20degree%20from%20Harvard%20Business%20School.%20He%20has%20been%20married%20to%20his%20wife%2C%20Barbara%2C%20for%20over%2040%20years%20and%20has%20four%20grown%20sons.%20He%20is%20an%20avid%20philanthropist%20with%20a%20special%20interest%20in%20ocean%20exploration%20and%20conservation.%5Cn%22%2C%22image%22%3A%2233586%22%2C%22linkedin%22%3A%22https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fin%2Fraydalio%2F%22%7D%5D” title=”Speaker” el_class=””][vc_quotes layout=”accordion” quotes=”%5B%7B%22name%22%3A%22Colin%20Tate%22%2C%22job_role%22%3A%22Chief%20executive%2C%20Conexus%20Financial%20(Australia)%22%2C%22content%22%3A%22Tate%20has%20been%20an%20investment%20industry%20media%20publisher%20and%20conference%20producer%20since%201996.%20In%20his%20media%20career%2C%20Tate%20has%20launched%20and%20overseen%20dozens%20of%20print%20and%5Cnelectronic%20publications.%20He%20is%20the%20chief%20executive%20and%20major%20shareholder%20of%20Conexus%20Financial%2C%20which%20was%20formed%20in%202005%2C%20and%20is%20headquartered%20in%20Sydney%2C%20Australia.%5CnThe%20company%20stages%20more%20than%2020%20conferences%20and%20events%20each%20year%20%E2%80%93%5Cnin%20cities%20which%20have%20included%20London%2C%20New%20York%2C%20San%20Francisco%2C%20Los%20Angeles%2C%20Amsterdam%2C%20Beijing%2C%20Sydney%20and%20Melbourne%20%E2%80%93%20and%20publishes%20three%20media%20brands%2C%5Cnincluding%20the%20global%20website%20and%20strategy%20newsletter%20for%20global%5Cninstitutional%20investors%20conexust1f.flywheelstaging.com.%20One%20of%20the%20company%E2%80%99s%20signature%20events%20is%20the%20bi-annual%20Fiduciary%20Investors%20Symposium.%20Conexus%20Financial%E2%80%99s%5Cnevents%20aim%20to%20place%20the%20responsibilities%20of%20investors%20in%20wider%20societal%2C%20and%20political%20contexts%2C%20as%20well%20as%20promote%20the%20long-term%20stability%20of%20markets%20and%20sustainable%5Cnretirement%20incomes.%20Tate%20served%20for%20seven%20years%20on%20the%20board%20of%20Australia%E2%80%99s%20most%20high%20profile%20homeless%20charity%2C%20The%20Wayside%20Chapel%3B%20and%20he%20has%20underwritten%20the%5Cnwelfare%20of%2060%2C000%20people%20in%2028%20villages%20throughout%20Uganda%20via%20The%20Hunger%20Project.%22%2C%22image%22%3A%2233547%22%2C%22linkedin%22%3A%22https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fin%2Famanda-white-101a7515%2F%3ForiginalSubdomain%3Dau%22%7D%5D” title=”Moderator” el_class=””][vc_empty_space height=”10px”]
‘I think sustainability is the most important word of the 21st It’s the most important force.’
For a society to be great, you need to increase productivity and then divide it well. COVID has made productivity difficult but it has also highlighted inequalities. For example, the top 40 per cent of the US population spends 5 times more on the education of their children than the bottom 60 per cent. This mismatch creates a fundamental inequality and unfairness. The US economic mechanism is not meeting its goals of fairness or equality. Inequality is not just unfair its damaging. Populism, for example, has arisen because of unfairness.
The problems of civility, poverty and guns are American problems. I’m a mechanic. I don’t approach this moralistically. I want us to consider what we want to be as a nation and how we engineer for it.
The system that we need is a bipartisan system, otherwise we will constantly be at one another’s throats battling over contradictory positions. We need to produce win-win outcomes, not lose-lose outcomes, to avoid social and political conflict. We need leaders to create harmony so we can work together to generate efficiencies.
I am a realist. The curse of every generation is to not acknowledge the lessons from prior generations.
The children of today will need skills to navigate the risks, uncertainties and opportunities of the future world.
Regardless of who wins the US election, there will be significant stimulus.
Impact investment is easier to measure than philanthropy, but it is still difficult.
Oceans are the greatest asset in the world.
Three issues currently exist that last occurred in the turbulent 1930s period:
Extreme debt levels
The values and political gap
A rising power (China) challenging a historical power (USA)
One of the most important, upcoming challenges at CalSTRS is how the fund should evaluate Chinese investments from a human capital and environmental standpoint, says Chris Ailman, chief investment officer at the giant pension fund.
Stewardship and engagement will become an integral part of investment in the future, and asset owners need to write stewardship and non-financial objectives into their mandates with managers, according to Saker Nusseibeh, chief executive international of Federated Hermes.
Climate Action 100+ illustrates asset owners’ ability to come together to solve the tragedy of the commons, said Anne Simpson, managing investment director, board governance and sustainability at US pension giant CalPERS. She said once investors realise that risk and return comes from managing financial, human and natural capital then ESG became a fundamental part of investing.
Shardul Agrawala, head, environment and economy integration division at the OECD laid out the challenges and opportunities for governments to build back better. He highlighted the industries and that may undergo transformation and the underlying market failures that need fixing.
There is moment driven by the COVID-19 crisis to invest in line with the Sustainable Development Goals, according to chief executive of Robeco, Gilbert van Hassel. But investing in companies of the future, and avoiding risks of the past, requires real expertise and changing mindsets about investment poses one of the biggest challenge for investors.
Nigel Topping, Champion of COP26, says institutional investors should put their fund managers on notice to provide more net zero products. He was speaking at the Top1000funds.com Sustainability conference in a session detailing how asset owners can move towards net zero.
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