My Cup of Tea, Cressida Myers

Cressida Myers
Head of International Multi-Asset Portfolio Management
Endowment & Foundations CIO Team, London
J.P. Morgan Private Bank

Cressida, welcome! Let’s kick things off with the most pressing question. What’s your afternoon tea preference?

Ha! I absolutely love tea. I have two whole shelves packed full of different varieties at home! It needs to be loose leaf, in a pot, and I’ll usually opt for Lapsang Souchon. I really like the smokiness. At work, I drink coffee in the morning, and a multitude of fruitier teas in the afternoon. We have Italian and Swedish friends coming over on Saturday, so we’re introducing them to a ‘proper’ assortment. That’ll involve scones, jam and cream, fruit cake, and shortbread for optionality.

Tell me something about yourself that I wouldn’t find on your CV or LinkedIn.

Despite living in a land-locked city, I adore the ocean. That passion emerges from the skills I’ve learnt and the places I’ve visited. I’m both a rescue scuba diver and a sailing yacht master, and in the past, I’ve been involved in coral research and marine conservation projects in the Seychelles and Mexico.

Now that I have very young children, we tend to stay closer to home. They’re 3 and 4 years old, so the local swimming pool is where they’re learning those important life skills! I look forward to sharing my passions with them when they’re a little older. As a matter of fact, we’re currently hatching plans for our first family sailing trip, next summer.

As an investment portfolio manager, how do you think about your own day-to-day finances?

The magnitude and scale are quite different, but the basic principles are similar: start out with a clear, goals-based plan, know your risk tolerance and time horizon, assess the tax implications and always have a strategic framework in place.

Professionally, running investment portfolios is my day job, so I work on asset management quite regularly. Personally, the cadence is totally dissimilar. I check-in on my portfolios monthly. My husband and I will conduct strategic reviews on a quarterly basis, as part of a wider overall appraisal. To make it a little more fun, we direct these ‘family’ evaluations over tasty food and a good bottle of red – a significant difference between my professional and personal approaches!

You’re J.P. Morgan’s leading representative for GAIN (Girls Are Investors). Can you tell us what this collaboration entails, and why you chose to get involved?

Yes, certainly!

I’m a Portfolio Manager, and I’ve been working in the industry for nearly two decades. 3 years ago, Morningstar revealed that UK fund managers named ‘Dave’ or ‘David’ outnumbered their female counterparts. To make matters worse, the proportion of women named as portfolio decision makers currently stands at less than 12% – a truly shocking statistic.

GAIN’s mission is to redress this imbalance, and strive to attain a more equal ratio. I wanted to create a partnership that could provide talented young women with the opportunity to get into finance, as well as educating them about what these careers entail. I’m proud to say that J.P. Morgan has hosted GAIN students at Insight Days, led panel sessions with senior female figures to inspire the next generation, and held networking events for the student Analyst/Associate population here at the firm.

Internally, we’ve got lots of great initiatives such as Women on the Move, in addition to excellent gender workforce ratios. Partnering with GAIN is all about creating a wider impact. We want to empower young women to access the industry and the job opportunities that exist within it. Ultimately, I think that’ll attract a pipeline of highly capable individuals to our doors!

Has becoming a parent changed the way you think about the world, or your personal approach to money?

Gosh yes, great question! It’s definitely changed the way I think about things. I worry much more about the future of the earth, and society as a whole. Climate change disrupts environmental systems, but also dramatically impacts socioeconomic structures. When it comes to my kids, I often fret about social media and the internet – particularly as it relates to the psychological effects of both.

As for my personal finances, my perspective hasn’t altered all that much. I was always a saver/investor, rather than a heavy spender. That continues to be the case. I just have different priorities now, like my children’s education, for instance.

I would say that financial literacy – money management, savings and the value of fiscal responsibility – is really significant. I’m often surprised by how little some of my friends – often highly educated people in ‘impressive’ careers – really know. Teaching my children to be economically informed will be a priority.

As someone who focuses on ESG criteria, what does investing with purpose mean to you? How do you do it?

Sustainable Investing is a philosophy. I think the approach should reflect certain principles.

The overarching ‘purpose’ is that it aligns with long-term investing values – in other words, balancing the needs of tomorrow with the requirements of today. Those essentials are not only financial, but environmental and social too.

I like how ESG data informs decision making, helping to inform investment perspectives from a wider lens. Information is more consistently reliable these days. Not all of it is useful or financially material, but when it is, we always try to incorporate it. The overarching framework helps codify and measure factors that would otherwise be overlooked. It helps investors and management teams better assess – and cope with – emerging risks and opportunities.