Aberdeen believes strongly that a diverse workforce is the key to better decision-making. We asked two of our leading female fund managers to share their approach to investing, decision-making and collaboration. Rebecca Maclean, Co-Manager of Dunedin Income Growth Trust (DIGIT) and Amanda Yeaman, Co-Manager of Aberdeen UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust (AUSC) reflect on their journeys into fund management and explain how conviction, shared thinking and long-term perspective shape their investment approach.

What led you to be a fund manager?

Amanda Yeaman: I studied economics and accountancy at university, so I’ve always been interested in how businesses work, what drives their growth and what sets great companies apart. However, I didn’t begin with the classic story of following markets from a young age. Instead, my interest grew naturally through experience, particularly early in my career as a sell-side broker. That role opened my eyes to how dynamic and people-driven investing really is.

Rebecca Maclean: I came into the industry later than many, as my undergraduate degree was in Experimental Psychology. I then completed a Masters in International Relations which explored topics as diverse as globalisation, the international political economy, war and global environmental crises. Post studies, I started my career in environmental consulting and responsible investment. What does a typical day look like for you? Rebecca: I start my day with some reading, usually corporate results, broker research, or any overnight market news flow before cycling into the office. Once I arrive, there is more to digest including any research produced by colleagues. My task is to process any developments and understand what they mean for the companies we own or are considering.

Company analysis is the core of my day. Typically, we will have one or two company meetings in a day. In the afternoon, I’ll often have a portfolio construction meeting with DIGIT’s co-manager, Ben Ritchie. We’ll review and debate potential actions on the portfolio, look at risk levels and positioning, and assess the valuation opportunity of holdings.

I’m usually home in time for dinner with my two young children, to read with them and put them to bed. They’re a little young to understand investment trusts just yet, but they are already DIGIT shareholders! 

Amanda: Like Rebecca, I’m a working mum, so my days are full. My mornings start very early, and I’m usually catching up on company results first thing and discussing them with colleagues. Within our global small cap team, we’ll discuss market movements, company updates, and earnings calls. This helps us hone our perspective on different companies and the market as a whole.

The rest of the day is usually a mix of company meetings, research, team debate, and portfolio decisions. At Aberdeen, our approach is collaborative. We believe that debating ideas, bringing in different perspectives, leads to robust decision-making. All portfolio decisions, position reviews, risk and exposure assessments are made as a team 

What are the most important skills you need?

Rebecca: There is a range of core financial skills required, such as reading financial accounts, analysing models, or using valuation techniques. It’s important to be able to distil a lot of information and tease out what is important.

The psychological aspect to investing is often under-rated. It is not enough to just analyse a company’s prospects, you need to deduce what the market thinks. If a company produces good growth but it is worse than the market had been expecting then the share price may be weak. This is why a good company isn’t necessarily a good investment.

You need to be able to communicate and debate complex ideas to your colleagues, to clients and to the public. You also need to be willing to challenge other people’s ideas: due diligence on a stock idea is improved if you can consider it from different perspectives and challenge your initial thinking. Collaboration generally produces better results.

Amanda: You need to be able to digest a lot of information from many different sources, but also to discriminate between what is useful and what is ‘noise’. Prioritising what is important is vital – any given day can have big curve balls.

Soft skills are equally important as the core financial skills Rebecca has mentioned. Building relationships and getting the most out of company meetings can be just as important in good decision-making. Judgement matters – you need to know when to act and when to hold back.

What are the biggest challenges?

Amanda: Markets are unpredictable. Equally, you are constantly compared to your peer group and the wider markets, which can be stressful during difficult periods. You need to balance conviction with humility. Getting things wrong is part of the job, but you need to invest with conviction and learn from your mistakes. Time management is also important. New information emerges constantly, so managing your workload is essential.

Rebecca: Yes, time management absolutely! Prioritising where to focus and how much time to spend on it is crucial. It can also be difficult to make judgements and decisions when faced with uncertainty. This ability builds with experience. Resilience also matters. You will be wrong, often. There is a number on a screen telling you how you are performing and it can be hard to sit with bad performance. Not letting emotions override logic and analytical rigour is difficult, but vital.

How do you approach company analysis?

Amanda: We have a well-defined investment process based on bottom-up fundamentals and meeting with company management teams. We look at financial factors but also at the management team’s track record, strategic clarity and the company’s culture. Elsewhere, we’re looking at a business’s quality: we want to see clear competitive advantage and barriers to entry, plus strong return on capital.

Finally, valuation is important. I agree with Rebecca that great companies can be poor investments if the valuation is wrong. We are looking not just at what a company trades on now, but its valuation compared to its broader, long-term prospects. For that, we need to look at the long-term drivers of the industry in which it operates, how it is adapting to change, whether it can broaden into new markets, and its ability to innovate. Numbers matter, but so does judgement.

Rebecca: Beyond the fundamentals, we also need to ensure that a company is sustainable over the longer term. That is the prism through which we evaluate sustainability risks and opportunities. We want to gauge long term resilience, not to tick boxes. For income strategies that includes an assessment of dividend sustainability.

What do you find rewarding about the job?

Rebecca: It is a privilege to meet exceptional business leaders and to gain a deeper understanding of their businesses. I work with exceptionally smart people, who are interesting and interested, who ask questions, seek the truth and have conviction. The job is intellectually challenging and brings variety – it is impossible to feel bored.

Another privilege is to work on behalf of DIGIT’s shareholders, endeavouring to make decisions with the aim of adding value to the company. The Trust is over 153 years old, so this heritage brings with it great responsibility.

Amanda: There is a real buzz in backing great companies, their people and their ideas. The companies in the AUSC portfolio are at the heart of UK economic growth and prosperity, and it’s special to be able to participate in that. 

Important information

Risk factors you should consider prior to investing:  

Other important information: Issued by abrdn Fund Managers Limited, registered in England and Wales (740118) at 280 Bishopsgate, London EC2M 4AG, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK.

The Dunedin Income Growth Investment Trust Key Information Document can be obtained here.

The Aberdeen UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust Key Information Document can be obtained here.