Q&A

Star investors are made, not born

Get ready for invaluable insights from Amy Xie Patrick, Head of Income Strategies at Pendal Group, and a panelist on our Keystone Analyst Program, as she shares her unique perspective on developing a robust investment process, emphasising the importance of self-awareness, a systematic approach, and continuous learning in achieving consistent success.

I didn’t start my career in finance because I loved investing. I started because I grew up below the poverty line and wanted the fastest path to financial security with minimal downside risk. That pragmatic approach led me to a sell-side trading desk in emerging market credit, a niche, high-pressure world where expectations were extreme—make $10 million in your first year or become irrelevant.

The problem? No one really taught me how to make money.

My mentors, while invaluable in helping me navigate the professional world, weren’t traders. The traders I observed had no clear process—decisions were driven by momentum, gut feel, and an instinct that, when questioned, was chalked up to “experience.” Wins were attributed to skill; losses to bad luck or difficult clients. When I pressed for insight into what actually worked, the answer was always the same: “You’ll just get a feel for it over time.”

That answer never sat well with me. Experience only has value if you extract lessons from it and use those insights to refine your investment process. Time alone does not make you a better investor—deliberate learning does.

The hardest lesson: Understanding myself

To gain conviction in my decision-making, I first had to understand myself. This is me at my most honest:

I am naturally risk-averse. Left unchecked, this could mean taking too little risk to generate strong returns. In life, I built a system—surrounding myself with people who push me beyond my comfort zone. I needed a similar structure in investing to ensure I took enough calculated risks to succeed.
I don’t believe investing should feel like a coin toss. Active investing isn’t about making a decision and then constructing a story around it. It’s about knowing where you have an edge and consistently leveraging it to drive performance.
My edge is being a systems thinker. Markets are complex and interconnected. I’m naturally sceptical of absolute conviction—I know too many variables are at play. Instead of pretending to be certain, I embrace doubt. I plan for different scenarios, stress-test my views, and control what I can: the process leading up to a trade and the risk management after it.
I am not a gut-feel investor. The times I tried to mimic my colleagues left me lost and inconsistent. I couldn’t explain why some trades worked and others didn’t. Once I leaned into my process-driven nature, my results improved, and I gained true confidence—not in always being right, but in having a repeatable framework for decision-making.
I anchor to evidence, not narrative, rhetoric, or hype. Doing my own research and critically assessing market narratives leads me to hidden opportunities. I don’t get caught up in consensus thinking or persuasive storytelling; I listen to what the data says.

To gain conviction in my decision-making, I first had to understand myself... Instead of pretending to be certain, I embrace doubt. I plan for different scenarios, stress-test my views, and control what I can: the process leading up to a trade and the risk management after it.

Process over willpower

Strong investing isn’t about sheer discipline or mental toughness—it’s about having a process that stacks the odds in your favour. A robust process enhances the gains from successful calls and limits the damage from bad ones. It turns investing from an unpredictable gamble into a craft you can refine.

I also believe that a bad outcome doesn’t necessarily mean it was a bad decision. What matters is that the decision was made with a well-structured approach, not on impulse. Just as in life, where motivation fades after three weeks on a new diet when someone offers you cake, relying on willpower alone in investing is unsustainable. Process wins over time.

The bigger picture: Active investing done right

Today, I run active income strategies across multiple asset classes, including fixed income—a sector with a long history of underperformance. Over the past 35 years, the median active fixed-income manager in Australia has delivered negative excess returns against benchmarks. Even in recent decades, performance has been lacklustre. But I don’t believe this means active investing doesn’t work. Our industry has failed to clearly define what active fixed income is, how to do it well, and what success looks like.

When done right, active investing adds resilience to portfolios in ways passive investing cannot. The more investors engage with active strategies—challenging their structure, understanding their philosophy, and demanding clear accountability—the more likely they are to achieve the financial confidence they seek.

Questions to ask yourself as an investment analyst:

What truly drives your investment decisions? Are you following a process, or are you relying on instinct and hoping for the best?
How well do you understand your own biases, risk appetite, and natural tendencies? How do these shape your approach to investing?
Experience alone doesn’t make you better—what lessons are you consciously extracting from your career to refine your edge?
If you had to define your personal investment philosophy in one sentence, what would it be?
Where do you add your highest contribution to investing? Is it research and analysis? Is it market timing? Is it something else?

I look forward to exploring these ideas further at the Keystone Analyst Program panel and sharing the lessons I’ve learned along my own journey.

Experience only has value if you extract lessons from it and use those insights to refine your investment process. Time alone does not make you a better investor—deliberate learning does.

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