Erika Jonsson Six Park by Erika Jonsson

Six Park client Ben Ereira works with cutting-edge investment technologyBen Ereira works on the cutting edge of investment technology and strategy. 

Having worked in finance and foreign exchange for 25 years, his decisions and strategies have helped many people and businesses grow their wealth. 

In the late 1990s, Ben was working in London and took an opportunity to work in markets and trading for a Korean bank during the Asian Crisis, setting the trajectory for a career in foreign exchange and asset management. 

He now consults for companies working in blockchain and cross-border payments as well as using dynamic and passive hedging strategies for institutions and private investors. 

Despite being immersed in the financial world, Ben has chosen to outsource part of his own portfolio management, with a significant portion of his self-managed superannuation invested with Six Park.

“I’ve seen that even professional asset managers make plenty of bad calls,” Ben says.

“Realistically, even being in the markets myself, I’m not going to have the biggest, grandest view of everything that’s going on.

“I’ve seen the background of the Six Park investment committee – they’ve experienced multiple markets, booms and busts, and have excellent oversight of where the world’s going.”

Combining active and passive investment strategies

Ben has been a Six Park client since late 2016 and sees the key benefits of Six Park as “extremely competitive” pricing, ease of access to markets, and excellent insights and oversight from the investment committee.

“Investing with Six Park means avoiding the hazard of a groupthink where I am making all the calls on my investments all the time – this is diversifying my brains trust to professionals who’ve been in the markets for a very long time and who can make decisions that I might be less able to make.

“It’s hard for any investment professional to specialise across every component so it’s important to get the right help – when that’s available at a low cost, then it makes absolute sense.”

Ben and his wife Fran use Six Park as part of a strategy that combines active and passive investments. Ben describes his Six Park portfolio as the “beta” or stable, less volatile component of the strategy, while a handful of individual stocks are the “alpha” – the opportunity for greater growth that’s accompanied by higher risk.

“I don’t see super as set and forget and walk away – it’s part of our overall portfolio base and needs thought and attention,” Ben says.

“I think of everything we do as an investment for us – our property is an investment that we hope will improve in value; shares are part of our investments; and I’m fortunate that my current roles include some equity. We have steady incomes and investments then we have some active investments that are almost like lottery tickets on the side that hopefully come to fruition.”

How Ben uses Six Park SMSF

Ben and Fran initially had about half of their SMSF in cash and half in a Six Park aggressive growth portfolio.

“Then we moved everything into Six Park into a more balanced profile to get into the middle,” he says.

“In a low-interest rate environment, people need alternatives to cash – when we were at 5% interest rates, we were worried about boomers taking their money out of the investment markets. Now the trend is that in a low inflation environment, it’s the prolongment of retirement – you’ve got no choice than to find something a bit riskier and more rewarding than cash.”

Ben and Fran and their two kids live in Sydney, where they are renovating their 90-year-old home. The couple share a passion for design, and love working on their property to improve its sustainability and reduce their carbon footprint long-term.

“I’m a self-confessed tech geek, and I like using tech and automation in the house to improve efficiency and outcomes – that can be achieved in a lot of different ways, from solar panels to lighting and heating. Along with powering our home, our solar panels power my Fonzarelli (a Vespa-style electric scooter).

“Our kids come first, then our passions come next – I’m a coffee snob among other things! Weekends are centred around ballet, soccer, playdates and time with friends and family. That’s what life’s all about.”

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Published May 14, 2020

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