Morningstar Magazine - April/May 2018 - 71

I kind of like dealing with people in a creative
field because it balances out what I do.
It gives me access to a different world, an
exciting world."
While he's "not necessarily what you would
call a quintessential finance guy at heart," Riley
throws himself into learning, reading, and
attending conferences. "I don't do those things
because I have to do them; I do them because
I want to."
He's attended every Morningstar Investment
Conference in London (11 in all) and plans
to attend his first Chicago conference this year.
He views Morningstar as a trusted source of
information. He was also one of the first people
in the U.K. to subscribe to Morningstar
Advisor Workstation Office, which he still uses
every day to build customized client reports, review
documents, and read qualitative analyses. He
also is able to back-test his model portfolios
to show their hypothetical performance through
periods of stress like the financial crisis.
"You're not trying to show clients what the
return is," he says. Rather, he uses it to show
what potential loss would look like. "You're
trying to show to clients what the loss on this type
of investment portfolio could be through
a pretty terrible period to allow them to come
to terms with what their risk is on these types
of investments."
That fits with Riley's investment philosophy.
"We take a strategic asset-allocation
approach to client money. We're not trying
to outperform markets and use complex trading
strategies," he says.
Alex Riley, director and advisor, Bunker Riley
Financial Planning.
How he caught our eye: U.K. advisor who was
an early convert to passive investing.
Career path: Studied financial economics at London
Metropolitan University. Trained as a financial
advisor at a London-based insurance company
in 1995. After two years, he joined former colleagues'
independent advisory firm. He purchased
the firm with Justin Bunker in the mid-2000s. They
rebranded the firm Bunker Riley in 2010.

Personal: Lives in South East London. Married
with two kids, aged seven and nine. He has
completed the New York and Berlin marathons and
is an enthusiastic fixed-gear cyclist and amateur
photographer. Likes to read and tries to get through
one book per month.
Favorite funds: Vanguard's broad market index
trackers for their extremely low-cost core exposure.
DFA Emerging Markets Core Index in a sector
where there are few standout funds with a costconscious approach. And for the right type
of client, the iShares Edge MSCI Multifactor ETF.

"We have clients who don't understand
investments; our job is to make sure that our
clients meet their financial goals within
the constructs of a financial plan that includes
investments that they can genuinely
understand and that is not going to blow up
at some point." K
David Brenchley is a reporter for Morningstar.co.uk.

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