Learner's Mind Conversation with Nadine Terman
Chief Investment Officer, FinTech Co-Founder, Financial Market Commentator, Champion of Diversity and Inclusion
Welcome to Conversations at The Learner’s Mind, bringing to you interviews and conversations with female fund managers, investors, and entrepreneurs whom I have had the honour to know and work with throughout my investment career and at my non-profit work at 100 Women in Finance within which 100 Women in FinTech.
Research here and here found that female fund managers outperform their male counterparts, and mixed-gender teams deliver the best performance. Despite their outperformance, female managers manage about 12 to 14% of assets in the US, and only about 1.4% of US assets are managed by firms owned by women and/or people of colour according to the Knight Foundation.
With this new series, I hope to introduce the various roles of finance to the younger generation interested in a finance and investment career. Also, I share where some of the female fund management talents are around the world as finding the right person to advise/manage your money and grow your wealth is fundamental if you don’t want to do it yourself. Or, simply enjoy learning about their fascinating journey that will inspire you to join this field.
Please share this if you think a friend or a colleague would be interested.
Today, I am extremely honoured and excited to introduce you to Nadine Terman, a good friend, Chief Investment Officer and CEO of her investment firm, co-founder of the FundWomen Conference at 100 Women in Finance (in 2014 in San Francisco), FinTech entrepreneur, and changemaker in global hedge funds.
Nadine is a Founder, CEO and CIO of Solstein Capital, overseeing investment and operations functions and leading the firm as a Managing Member.
With over 25 years of experience, Nadine manages tactical, global portfolios for institutional, family office and high-net-worth clients at Solstein. Previously, Nadine was a Partner with Blum Capital Partners, investing in public and private companies and working extensively with portfolio companies' management teams and boards on business, financial, and governance initiatives. Earlier, Nadine was a private equity Associate with Behrman Capital. She also worked as an Analyst with both Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs.
Nadine has been a regular contributor across global financial media in the past decade. She also is a longstanding advocate of diversity in the financial industry and has co-founded several leading diversity conferences globally.
She co-founded Longbow Trading Signals, a real-time, advanced quantitative trading and investing system for informed investment decisions.
Nadine has a B.A. with Honors and Distinction from Stanford University. She earned an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where she was an Arjay Miller Scholar. She is the writer at Longbow Arrow Daily and is the founding team member of Wall Street Beats.
Connect with her at LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nadineterman/
In this interview, Nadine shared her most important lessons and skills as a fund manager for 25+ years, invaluable insights running her investment firm and holding a long-term investment career, starting their investment company, advice to younger people in finance, projects she is most excited about, and important life skills.
Enjoy our conversation!
Q. What are some of the most important lessons you have learned as an investor?
Growth Mindset. Investing is an all-encompassing field that requires individuals to learn a lot, just to enter the business, and then a whole lot more to stay in the business over time.
Just consider a few changes in the industry, from the rise in passive investing to zero-day options to pandemic-fueled retail trading interest—to name a few in the past years.
Over the decades, think about the enormous impacts the Internet has had on investing! Thus, it takes a growth mindset to make investing a long-term career.
Solution-Focus. A lot of investors dream of starting their fund, and I use the word “fund” and not “firm” because most investors neither have the interest nor the experience to lead operations, compliance, technology, marketing, and other non-investment functions. But do most investors need and/or want another fund and its K-1?
Over time, once I switched my mindset to delivering solutions versus products, our firm grew, and our long-term growth path made a lot more sense. Of course, delivering solutions requires a lot more capital, strategic thinking, and experience, yet the shift is key when considering longevity in the business.
Journey Partners. Investing requires a lot of time to get even halfway competent, with my definition of competent meaning that you are delivering value over a long time to clients. I have worked with one of my colleagues for almost twenty-five years at this point, first at a different firm, and then now at our own firm.
Another important lesson is to find at least one person with whom you can enjoy the journey.
Q. What is your biggest accomplishment?
My three teenagers are amazing human beings. Although a lot of the credit goes to them individually, of course, I think that parenting is an incredibly important responsibility once you’ve brought a human being into this world.
Q. If you are not working in your field, what would you be doing?
I would be a stand-up comic or a professor at Stanford. They have overlapping skill sets.
Q. What advice would you give to your younger self?
When you graduate from Stanford, instead of joining Goldman, go and take a look at that local company, Google. Hindsight here in Silicon Valley would be amazing! In all seriousness, though, I would remind my younger self that staying true to your values will not always be popular, but you’ll be happy you did.
Q. What is your most valuable investor skill?
The ability to reboot is key, because being an investor means getting things wrong all the time, and you have to maintain the mental and emotional fortitude to get up, dust yourself off, and jump back in. Also, when you’re getting things right, you have to reboot as well and realize there may have been some luck in the results, so walk yourself down from the high and get back to work.
Q. What are you most excited about in the future (trends, investments, and ideas)?
We are launching a new solution that will help a lot of people in the wealth management space. It is client-driven and solution-driven, and it will democratize a part of the industry that historically was offered to wealthier clients.
Q. What is the most important book you have read that you want everyone to read?
I want to turn this question on its head and encourage people to connect with other human beings. I have been reading a lot about trends in teenagers, 20-somethings, and older folks– people spend too much time alone, especially on devices. Get out in nature with a friend or group. Invite a bunch of interesting people over once a month to connect with each other. Encourage family members to take the time to invest in relationships.
Q. What is your advice to younger people in finance?
I would make sure you understand why you think you want a job in finance. I talk to a lot of women (and men) who want to join the cast of Billions and don’t really understand the day-to-day of the hedge fund business, for example, and if most people understood what the job entails—plus what they like to do—plus what they’re good at—plus whether they’d be ok being wrong and being called out for being wrong all the time…well, they might pursue a different path.
That sort of true, honest reflection of themselves and the target career path is incredibly valuable, and it rings true for other high-intensity areas. The optimal path is one that you’re passionate about, and that you’re suited for.
Thank you, Nadine, for always being frank and insightful – your investing lessons and life advice hit the nail on the head! I admire your dynamism, devotion, and invaluable contributions to the investment community and diversity and inclusion in our industry, and for being a great friend and journey partner at 100 Women in Finance’s FundWomen conference.
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