Tell us a little about yourself

I am Grace, and I am 20 years old currently studying a double degree in Aerospace Engineering and Commerce (Finance) at UNSW. I really enjoy painting in my spare time, particularly landscapes and classical-style portraits being my favourite. I used to be a competitive ballerina prior to finishing High School, but now I dance recreationally and enjoy staying active whenever I can.

How did you first hear about Future IM/Pact?

I first heard about Future IM/Pact initially through the Investment Competition that my society (UNIT) was in collaboration with. The chance to win paid internships at leading investment management firms particularly intrigued me, as this was almost unheard of in case competitions.

But it wasn’t until the directors from UNIT reached out with the mentoring opportunity to prompt my participation. I saw this valuable opportunity to connect with industry representatives and jumped at it as soon as I could.

What do you find most valuable about the program?

The most valuable aspect about the program was the Mentoring Circle. Bridging the gap between industry representatives and university students was extremely helpful in delving into the world of investment management and what the job truly offered. I was able to hear the mentor’s experiences first-hand; on the job, getting the job and even off the job, asking questions to guide my prospective career journey, with thought-provoking responses.

In university classes, we are taught an abundance of the theory, but a major aspect of captivating the job is lost until students enter the workforce, I felt the mentoring circle assisted in bridging the gap and worked to pave a concrete understanding of what a career in investment management offers before stepping foot into the workforce.

What interests you about a career in investment management?

Before my involvement with Future IM/Pact, I had never delved deeper into understanding what a career in investment management looked like. To me, I only saw it at surface level- investing money and making a good return, but over the three mentoring circles, I uncovered the multi-faceted nature of the role.

Investment management is highly relationship driven; in order to perform well, strategy must drive your outlook, tying into holistically understanding the client’s motivations. I really liked how psychology, and taking the time to build a strong relationship with the client, understanding their needs and wants held such significance in the success of the role.

Additionally, one of the mentors mentioned her pursuit for a job that allowed her to constantly learn, prompting her entrance into investment management. This stuck out to me as I find my values align strongly with hers, I value a career where I am always learning. Being able to hear from her experiences where she is continuously having to learn about new market trends and new methods of optimising returns piqued my interest.

Tell us about your experience participating in Mentoring Circles

I took a lot away from the Mentoring Circles, I had never considered a career in investment management prior to the program. I was worried how the program would run since often mentoring programs are unstructured and require students to proactively seek what they want to gain out of the mentors. But the Future IM/Pact Mentoring Circle were carefully structured, allowing us to pre-prepare for upcoming sessions, and then dedicating time for each student to share their findings and ask questions. The structure made the program highly productive with room to hear from not only the industry representatives but also the other partaking students.

I chose Colonial First State as my mentor organisation as I was interested in the nature of their offerings extending to wealth management. This meant not only in investment products but also superannuation products to holistically serve individuals in Australia helping them to “achieve financial freedom in retirement”. I thought the company structure and extensive offerings were really interesting, and was curious to learn more about them.

Tell us about the presentation you gave as part of the Mentoring Circle

During the last of the Mentoring Circles, we were prompted to develop a presentation surrounding an upcoming market trend. Although many prominent trends came to mind, like technology, AI and sustainability, I wanted to look at the overarching macroeconomic trends that drove the market instead.

My presentation centred around a discussion and brief analysis on whether markets have been too driven by sentiment around rate cuts and whether this had sparked false optimism in investor behaviour.

I chose this discussion point as I found behavioural finance particularly interesting, seeing the market’s response to speculating economic changes led me to uncover that human psychology plays a vital part in driving the market. Around the time of my presentation, new economic data was uncovering, and I wanted to make sure that I stayed on top of any news that could aid my presentation.

After my presentation, the mentors provided some interesting points of discussion, building onto my presentation, it was highly valuable hearing their perspectives and speculations on future market behaviour in the midst of international rate cuts.