John Sevior, the 17-year Perpetual Investments veteran on a six month sabbatical, wants to stay.

“Moving to another firm is right down the bottom of the list,” says Sevior. “Perpetual has too good a culture, too good a history. It’s possible I could change my role at Perpetual as they’ve been very accommodating and creative in the past with regard to my responsibilities.”

Sevior says setting up his own firm is “speculative as I’m a paid employee of Perpetual during my leave”.

He says he will speak with Perpetual about his future with the firm in December or January.

Sevior says before he reached 50 years of age he wanted to reassess his career.

“Investing is a pretty intense, competitive game,” says Sevior. “I need more time for my family, sport, taking my daughter to school, go for a bush walk with her class.”