Funds management – somebody tell Tourism NSW One morning last December, pedestrians in Martin Place would have seen a line of chattering school kids making their way down the storied thoroughfare. Noticing that they were from St Kevin’s Primary School in Cardiff, a suburb of Newcastle, one might have wondered where the youngsters were headed. Excursion to see the Harbour Bridge and Opera House? Day at the Australian Museum? Perhaps even a tour of the nearby Reserve Bank to boost the financial literacy? Not a bit of it. You see, amongst the St Kevins kiddies was the daughter of Michael Negline, head of RCM Capital Management for Australia, and her lucky class were taking a trip to … his office. Chatting with Unbalanced as he waited for the group to arrive, Negline talked up the educational benefits of Level 57 in the MLC Centre. “The view will knock them out. Remember, they’re from Newcastle, some of them don’t know what an elevator is,” joked Negline who, as a genuine Knights-loving Novacastrian, is allowed to say that. He admitted that the kids wouldn’t get the full funds management experience. As a client service office, RCM Sydney ditched its Bloomberg terminal a while back, in favour of updates received through Negline’s “dodgy iPod”. All the same, Michael later reported his daughter’s friends were duly impressed by the vista from Daddy’s lobby, and seemed reasonably interested in the concept of an office, even if not all of them picked up on the finer points of global equities management. Ever the marketer, Negline made sure each young ’un also received an RCM pen as a memento.
We wish you a merry super The award for the best Christmas “card” goes to SuperRatings, for its wish list. Development manager, Casey Hammond, 25 [“carefree and wishing it was all easier”] For Christmas I would LOVE a super fund that is specific to my generation, a fund that invests in the best options for my age bracket only. Maybe they could have a couple of options for people working full/part time. But they would communicate with me in a language that was easy for me to understand. I’m Gen Y and I don’t have time to sit down and try to understand my super statements. And, from CFO Jason Clarke, 42 [“bitter and running out of time to maximise my super”] All I want for Christmas is for one of my funds to stop allocating my work colleague’s contributions to me. It’s nice to have more…but it seems unfair. I want the $25,000 annual cap on concessional contributions raised. Where’s my incentive to put more into super? Where’s Peter Costello when you need him? Finally, from team leader and content director, Greg Alder, 58 [“the closer I get to retirement, the further away it seems”] I’d like the federal government to stop tinkering with super – and whilst I’m on the subject of governments, I’d like New South Wales to have one. I want the government to reverse its decision to halve the lump sum contribution limits (which seems to go against my first wish, but I don’t imagine any members will begrudge me this). I’d like to see safari suits make a comeback – especially in sky blue. With long socks.
