South African passive investment pioneer Steven Nathan, who founded 10X Investments, gives his experience of ‘garden leave’ as Old Mutual Private Equity paid up for fund management business at the back end of 2020. Steven says that it’s still important to keep abreast of topical investment and political news, as well as spend time with family and friends when life isn’t as busy. He has made sure he’s been active during his time off, learning about complex technologies such as the blockchain. Despite the financial markets holding up strongly since the drawdown in March 2020, he emphasised the pain lies within the real economy, especially locally in South Africa. – Justin Rowe-Roberts
Steven Nathan on a routine during ‘garden leave’
I have done a lot of reading. I think what’s interesting is that when you’ve got a lot of time, you have got to be careful that you don’t waste it. Part of me wanted to do the kind of things I would previously think of as frivolous; taking my kids to the afternoon extramural activity, doing those things where – when you’re sort of busy in business – you put a value on your time. You kind of go: well, you know, I should already be doing something that’s quite frivolous or perceived to be frivolous. But really, if you have the opportunity to spend time with your children, your family and doing those sorts of things and being there for other people. So, that is quite a big adjustment to say: just be yourself and spend time with loved ones doing things that I haven’t done in the last 25 years. And then, with the rest of the time, you’ve got to be careful that you don’t waste it. There is a saying: if you want something done, give it to the busiest person. There is a good reason; they are very well disciplined and structured. I did feel that I probably wasn’t as productive as I should have been but I’ve done a lot of reading and I’ve also been engaging with a lot of people.
On his more recent learnings
I’ve also more recently been trying to understand a bit of the blockchain environment, which is quite fascinating. It is one of those where I’m a bit of a purist. You know, you start up and say, ‘no, this is all nonsense’ but you don’t know that much about it. The more you learn about it and understand the underlying technology and its capability, it is a fascinating world. So, there’s more than enough to keep me busy.
On whether the encouraging Omicron data is a net positive for economies in 2022
I think the chances are high. I think it was today that there was a New York Times article and it was all about fatigue; that, around the world, people have got Covid-19 fatigue. People are just tired of lockdowns. We are tired of social distancing, being deprived of livelihoods, being deprived of entertainment, human contact, etc. Let us return to a more normal life. I think what we’re seeing with the Omicron variant – and we’ve seen this from the data that is emerging – and although there’s not enough data to be statistically significant, I think there is enough data to form a reasonable opinion. Also anecdotally, the infection rate is high, but the severity of that is very low. That’s a really positive sign. With the combination of hopefully a less-severe virus and fatigue and a lot of the data that says we know who is vulnerable and that lockdowns don’t work, I think we will get back to a far more normal society. That will definitely, as you say, result in confidence. It will result in opening up of borders for global travel, less pressure on supply chains, which is a very big issue globally. So, that’ll be very good for the economy and also for South Africa as a tourist destination. You know, we’ll be a big beneficiary of that.
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- Steven Nathan – 2022 could provide mixed investment performance
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- Steven Nathan on portfolio construction, Aveng and doing your investment homework
