Give to gain: A day in the life of Aberdeen’s Rebecca Maclean

Aberdeen believes strongly that a diverse workforce is the key to better decision-making. Citywire ranks Aberdeen fourth among major asset managers for gender diversity ¹, with more than 40% of investment teams made up of women across fixed income, real assets and equities.

As we mark International Women’s Day, we’re celebrating the women whose perspectives strengthen investment outcomes. In this spirit of Give to Gain, we ask two of our female fund managers to share their approach to investing, decision-making and collaboration.

In this article, Rebecca Maclean, Co-Manager of Dunedin Income Growth Trust (DIGIT), reflects on her journey into fund management and explains how conviction, shared thinking and long-term perspective shape her investment approach.

What led you to be a fund manager?

I came into the industry later than many, I started my career in environmental consulting and responsible investment. I was fascinated by the question of whether considering environmental, social and governance factors genuinely supported better long term investment returns.

Once I moved into asset management, I found I wanted to be closer to the core investment decision making and to understand the wider view on what drives markets – bringing in macroeconomics, corporate strategy, capital allocation, market expectations and valuation.

At Aberdeen, there were plenty of senior female portfolio managers who made my aspirations feel achievable and showed what was possible.

Did you start with a strong interest in financial markets?

My undergraduate degree was in Experimental Psychology, so I initially saw little connection with financial markets. In practice, psychology does influence markets, and theories of behavioural finance helps explain why asset prices can diverge from fundamentals.

I then completed a Masters in International Relations, which explored topics as diverse as globalisation, the international political economy, war and global environmental crises. That showed me how financial markets were integral to economies, the role of capital flows and how corporate strategy drives performance.

What does a typical day look like for you?

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 across Aberdeen’s Equity team. 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. Ahead of those meetings, I will spend time looking at the company, understanding how it is performing, analysing recent results, reviewing our investment case and establishing what we want to get out of a meeting. Meeting management teams is a highlight of the job. It’s a privilege to be in the room with these leaders and to understand their thinking. I’ll be learning about different markets and their corporate strategy.

In the afternoon, I’ll often have a portfolio construction meeting with the co-manager on the Trust, Ben Ritchie. We’ll review and debate potential actions on the portfolio, look at the risk levels and positioning, and assess the valuation opportunity of holdings. There is always a healthy level of competition for capital within the portfolio, helping ensure we’ve always got the best ideas in there. If there are any trades that need doing as a result of this analysis, we’ll enact them.

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

What are the most important skills you need?

There are 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. This is particularly true at the moment when there is so much noise in markets.

Developing frameworks for analysing companies in different sectors is also important. For example, for a food retailer, an investor needs to care about inflation because it affects demand, plus factors such as space growth, or competitive positioning. For a bank we would be more focused on its capital position, loan growth, and its ability to distribute capital. This enables me to identify what is relevant quickly and what will drive shareholder returns.

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 sometimes 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. That means sharing ideas, debating stocks with analysts and fellow portfolio managers, working with people from different parts of the business.

What are the biggest challenges?

Time management is challenging given the range of competing priorities. 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. You will never have perfect information, yet you need to build conviction. This ability builds with experience.

Resilience 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?

We start with fundamentals. What are the company’s industry dynamics? Its business model? Competitive position? Financial strength? Or ESG considerations? Then there are ‘softer’ considerations, such as the quality of the management team: we look at their track record and how they respond to change.

We also need to ensure that a company is sustainable over the longer. 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.

Finally, we consider valuation and market expectations. What is a company saying about its prospects? What are upside and downside risk scenarios? We look at the implied returns, what is reflected in the valuation and where we could be wrong.

What media do you consume for your job?

I read the weekend FT, starting from the back page and working my way to the front. I am also a huge fan of podcasts, particularly when cycling to and from work, or when travelling. I listen to podcasts about markets and investing, but also about politics (Not Another One), history (The Rest is History). I like interviews with CEOs (In Good Company). Then there are deep dives into niche topics, such as the impact on AI on the brain, or semiconductor supply chain bottlenecks, or Gen Z’s spending habits – ‘In Plain English’ is very good for this type of thing.

What do you find rewarding about the job?

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 and the second oldest investment trust, so this heritage brings with it great responsibility.

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.

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