Blue Ocean Global Wealth Interviews Jason Voss, Director of Content at CFA Institute.
image credit: Jason Voss
Jason Voss is a content director at CFA Institute, where he focuses on fixed income, behavioral finance, corporate finance, and quantitative methods. He is an author of The Intuitive Investor . Previously, Voss was a portfolio manager at Davis Selected Advisers, L.P., where he co-managed the Davis Appreciation and Income Fund. He holds a BA in economics and an MBA in finance and accounting from the University of Colorado.
Blue Ocean Global Wealth: Jason, you are Director of Content at CFA Institute . What attracted you to join CFA Institute and assume this precious mandate of responsibility?
Jason Voss: There are several reasons that I exited retirement to join CFA Institute. First, I remember watching television coverage of the financial crisis around 2010 with my wife. I started yelling at the TV and said, “Where are all of the good people in finance?” My wife turned to me and said, “Uh, what exactly are you doing ?” Second, I really believe that meditation has the power to change the lives of financial professionals, and hence the industry, too. After my book, The Intuitive Investor , did not perform as anticipated, I looked for a place to host this important conversation.
Blue Ocean Global Wealth: When we met with you over dinner this past May in New York, you were clear in stating that finance is noble. Please share your perspective and insight.
Jason Voss: To be clear, the function of finance is noble. In recent practice, though, finance is not a noble profession. What I meant was that finance’s purpose/function is to pair those with excess capital, but a deficit of good ideas for what to do with it, with those that have a deficit of capital, but good ideas for what to do with it. When this matching occurs, both parties benefit and finance is the profession that pairs these two parties together and facilitates the transaction. When practiced in this way finance is noble. Sadly though, much of finance has become transactionally oriented, rather than professionally oriented. We have traded in being money doctors for being money salespeople.
Blue Ocean Global Wealth: Meditation is a core pillar in your life. Please provide perspective and update our audience on CFAI’s new meditation curriculum that you authored.
Jason Voss: The reason that I am such an advocate is that meditation is a practice that made a profound difference in my investment management career . Most know the practice as a way of relieving stress; and it certainly is beneficial in that regard. However, meditation is also a way of improving our: creativity (i.e. alpha); ability to overcome behavioral biases; and our response to ethical dilemmas. What’s more the practice is portable and free. Hard to beat this combination of benefits. For these reasons CFA Institute developed a meditation guide for our 130,000+ global members and it launches as a web-based product sometime later in 2016.
image credit: Jason Voss
The Intuitive Investor has been well received and is available on Amazon.
Blue Ocean Global Wealth: Why did you write the Intuitive Investor?
Jason Voss: I am a big believer in utilizing the entirety of your mind to do everything in life. However, in investment management the overwhelming majority of all books, skills, and tools are focused on the analytical parts of the mind. Yet, the creative, holistic, and intuitive parts of the mind are also of benefit. Until The Intuitive Investor was written back in 2010 only one other book had ever been written with these functions as a focus, The Tao Jones Averages . Frankly, this book was very cursory and not written by an investment professional. So, in short, I was trying to redress a huge gap in the toolkits of investors.
Blue Ocean Global Wealth: Why has your book The Intuitive Investor been so well received? Please enlighten our audience on its contents and why it should be prioritized atop their reading list.
Jason Voss: I think that it has been critically well received because it is a deep dive in how the mind works, and how to improve the functioning of your own mind. I wrote it with many exercises so that readers could see for themselves how the many parts of the book are relevant to their investment process.
image credit: CFA Institute
Jason shares perspective and insight at a recent industry conference. An active speaker and industry leader, his recent engagements include memorable comments in Mumbai, Hanoi, Boston, Colorado, Montreal, and New York.
Blue Ocean Global Wealth: You shared that traditional advisors and asset managers feel threatened by the Robo Advisor trend . You explained that this could be very good for the profession.
Jason Voss: I believe that robo-advisers will erode the very large margins of the investment management business. I am hopeful that as margins shrink, investment managers will have to refocus their efforts on customer service and reestablish our business as a profession, rather than as a mere transaction generator. After all, the way to compete with a robot is to be more human, more empathetic, and to listen more, too.
Blue Ocean Global Wealth: You just celebrated your 5 year anniversary with CFA Institute. Tell us about the next chapter of your leadership at CFAI (perhaps mention hardware vs. software).
Jason Voss: I think that CFA Institute, and by its own admission, has not had a robust offering for members once they achieve their charter. For example, we have not specifically created materials that can help members transition from a research analyst to portfolio manager, or from a PM to chief investment officer, and so on. We traditionally have provided continuing education-type materials, but ignored the human beings that are our members. One particular emphasis is on how we can help our members to upgrade, not just their software, but their hardware. To highlight the difference with an example might help. A software upgrade is a more sophisticated way of modeling cash flows, or a better understanding of volatility. Whereas a hardware upgrade is something that upgrades the entire functioning of your mind, or of your body. For example, consider meditation – which improves your mind, and hence improves all of your software – as well as things like proper nutrition and exercise – which improves your body, and hence improves your functioning for everything that you do.
Blue Ocean Global Wealth: When you are not advancing the global investment profession, what interests, hobbies and passions do you pursue?
Jason Voss: I love to study ancient Egypt. My wife and I love to travel. We also both like fine dining, and experimenting with new combinations of flavors and spices. I am also a fan of the great dinner with even better conversation. In short, I spend most of my waking life trying to get better and to have more fun!
To learn more about CFA Institute and Jason Voss, please contact:
Jason A. Voss, CFA
Content Director
CFA Institute
212.418.6890
twitter: @TheIntuitInvest
