Rob Marstrand is the investment director of Fortune & Freedom and UK Independent Wealth as well as an experienced private investor.
Rob grew up in the middle of rural Sussex and went to university in Durham. After that, a career in finance seemed as good an idea as any.
He ended up spending 15 years working for UBS, a leading investment bank and the world’s largest wealth manager. During that time he was based in London, Zurich and Hong Kong and worked in many countries around the world.
Rob’s main role was in corporate strategy, working closely with the bank’s top management. This gave him a unique insider’s view into how big corporations are run and the inner workings of the global financial industry (both good and bad). Along the way he worked on a number of large acquisitions and complex joint ventures. In particular, he gained expertise in Asia, a huge and fast-growing region of the world.
After that he spent five years as Chief Investment Strategist for a business aimed at helping wealthy families, mainly from the USA and Europe, to keep and grow their money.
Later Rob founded OfWealth, where he wrote investment newsletters for private investors. His aim was (and is) to demystify complex financial issues through the use of clear language and common sense analysis.
Rob moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2008. After returning to London from Hong Kong in 2005, he became fed up with the ever-increasing petty bureaucracy in the UK, which accelerated after Tony Blair came to power in 1997 (no doubt goosed along by the EU). Plus, two of his favourite things are great steak and red wine.
Given Argentina’s long history (and present) of economic turmoil, it’s the perfect place to learn about financial crises, and how the well-practiced locals protect themselves.
He misses pints of proper English beer, Lincolnshire sausages and Marmite. But he frequently visits the UK to satisfy the cravings.
