Investment Management

Foundational Elements: Speculator or Investor?

December 5, 2017


John Allen
John Allen

Chief Investment Officer, Partner

John joined Aspiriant in 2014 as Chief Investment Officer. As CIO, John is primarily responsible for leading the firm’s overall Investment Strategy & Research Group, broadly consisting of 12 professionals. The group is responsible for asset allocation, portfolio construction, manager selection and risk management. John also chairs the firm’s Investment Committee and serves on a number of other committees. He has over 20 years of experience in investment management, investment banking, corporate finance advisory and business strategy consulting.

Prior to joining the firm, John was a senior member of the client service team at Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo (GMO), which manages approximately $80 billion across a wide-range of public equities, fixed income, hedge funds and asset allocation funds. In that role, John had primary responsibility for 80 clients and $6.5 billion in assets under management.

Prior to joining GMO, John was the Head of Investments at a large family office in Los Angeles. There, John had responsibility for managing the firm’s overall investment portfolio as well as its direct investments. Previously, John established his career working in the investment banking department at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and in the business consulting practice at Stern Stewart & Co. Throughout his career, John has served on the boards of directors of three private companies.

John earned a Bachelor of Science degree with high distinction from the Economics Department at the University of Virginia. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA®) designation and the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation. He is also a member of the CFA Institute and CAIA Association.

John lives in Los Angeles with his family.

Phil J. Kastenholz
Phil J. Kastenholz

Director in Investment Strategy & Research, Partner

Phil joined Aspiriant as a Principal in 2010 as a result of the acquisition of Deloitte Investment Advisors. Phil has served as a member of the Investment Committee for Deloitte and Aspiriant. He has been providing high net worth individuals and families’ investment and wealth advisory services since 1999. Phil brings broad experience to client relationships including investment portfolio design, income tax consulting, and charitable and family wealth transfer planning.

Prior to joining Aspiriant, Phil worked at Deloitte Investment Advisors as a Senior Manager for the Milwaukee office since 2002. His career began in 1999 at the accounting firm Arthur Andersen LLP.

Phil received a Bachelor’s degree in accounting from Marquette University in 1999. He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder, and a Certified Financial PlannerTM professional (CFP®). He is a member of the AICPA and CFA Institute.

Phil and his wife, Bree, live in Franklin, WI with their three children. In his free time, he enjoys reading, coaching soccer, and spending time with his family. Phil and his family are members of St. Alphonsus Parish in Greendale. Phil serves on the Board of Directors and finance committee of the Milwaukee Kickers Soccer Club.


Footnotes:

1Based on our Capital Market Expectations as of September 30, 2017.

2Equally weighted composite forecast of three of the most reputable investment management firms as of September 30, 2017. For confidentiality purposes, Aspiriant only discloses the identity of the firms to its clients.

3When adapted to investing, the concept is similar to regret aversion in behavioral finance.

4The book was originally titled, “Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica.”

5Much of England’s debt at the time resulted from financing its war with Spain, which controlled South America. It was envisioned that trading between England and South America would begin following the end of the war.

Important disclosures:

Past performance is no guarantee of future performance. All investments can lose value. Indices are unmanaged and it is impossible to invest directly in an index. The volatility of any index may be materially different than that of a model.


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