Asset Management
Asset 资产
How the super-rich invest
The family offices through which the world’s richest invest are a new force in global finance—and a target for populists
new force 新生力量
populists 民粹主义者
Think of the upper echelons of the money-management business, and the image that springs to mind is of fusty private banks in Geneva or London’s Mayfair, with marble lobbies and fake country-house meeting-rooms designed to make their super-rich clients feel at home. But that picture is out of date. A more accurate one would feature hundreds of glassy private offices in California and Singapore that invest in Canadian bonds, European property and Chinese startups—and whose gilded patrons are sleepwalking into a political storm.
upper echelons 高层 echelons 等级 阶级
money-management 理财
the image that springs to mind is.... 脑海中浮现这样的...
fusty 陈旧的 发霉的
Clients 顾客
marble lobbies 大理石大堂
Marble 大理石
Lobbies（lobby） 门厅
Fake 假的 伪造
country-house 乡间房屋
meeting-rooms 会议室
out of date 过时的
accurate 精确的
glassy 玻璃的
feature v. 以...特征的，是...特征的
Canadian bonds 加拿大债券 bonds 镣铐，监禁
startups 创业公司
gilded 镀金的 有钱的
patron 赞助人 资助人
sleepwalking 梦游
Global finance is being transformed as随着 billionaires get richer and cut out the middlemen by creating their own “family offices”, personal investment firms that roam global markets looking for opportunities. Largely unnoticed, family offices have become a force in investing, with up to $4trn of assets—more than hedge funds and equivalent to 6% of the value of the world’s stockmarkets. As they grow even bigger in an era of populism, family offices are destined to face uncomfortable questions about how they concentrate power and feed inequality.
cut out 切断
roam 漫游
up to 多达...
Stockmarket 股市
equivalent to 等于 相当于 equivalent 相等的 等效的
hedge funds 对冲基金
知识拓展：对冲基金是指在基金在买入基础金融资产时，同时卖出此基础金融资产的衍生金融资产，以减少风险。例如，基金在2元买入A股票10股，同时以2.1元卖出以此股票为标的的3个月期货，那么此基金在三个月内可赚取1元。应该看到对冲基金在规避风险的同时，减少了投资的预期收益率
populism 平民主义
in an era of 在...的一个时代 era 年代 时代 纪元
destined 预定的 命中注定的
inequality 不平等
uncomfortable 不愉快的
feed 助长
The concept is hardly new; John D. Rockefeller set up his family office in 1882. But the number has exploded this century. Somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 are based in America and Europe and in Asian hubs such as Singapore and Hong Kong. Though their main task is to manage financial assets, the biggest offices, some with hundreds of staff, undertake all sorts of other chores, from tax and legal work to acting as high-powered butlers who book jets and pamper pets.
hardly 几乎不
set up 建立
exploded 爆破了的，被打破的
hubs 中心 枢纽
The costs of bringing such expertise in-mansion means that they generally make sense only for those worth over $100m, the top 0.001% of the global pile. Asian tycoons such as Jack Ma of Alibaba have created their own fiefs. The largest Western family offices, such as the one set up by George Soros, an investor and philanthropist, oversee tens of billions and are as muscular as Wall Street firms, competing with banks and private-equity groups to buy whole companies.
make sense 有意义
the global pile 全球 pile n. 堆，桩 v. 堆起 蜂拥，拥挤
the top 0.001% of ... ... 前0.001%的... ...
mansion 大厦
expertise 专门知识 技能
tycoons 企业巨头 将军
Asian tycoons 亚洲大亨
fiefs 封地 领域
Philanthropist 慈善家
Oversee 监督 略看
as muscular as 和... ... 一样强大
muscular 肌肉的
Wall Street 华尔街
competing 对抗的，竞争的
equity 公平
private-equity groups 私人股本集团
private-equity 私募股权。私募股权(PE)是一种金融工具(FINANCE INSTRUMENT)
Every investment boom reflects the society that spawned it. The humble mutual fund came of age in the 1970s after two decades of middle-class prosperity in America. The rise of family offices reflects soaring inequality. Since 1980 the share of the world’s wealth owned by the top 0.01% has risen from 3% to 8%. As the founders of family firms receive dividends or the proceeds of initial public offerings, they usually redeploy the cash. But since the financial crisis there has been a loss of faith in external money managers. Rich clients have taken a closer look at private banks'high fees and murky incentives, and balked.
spawned 产卵 孕育
boom 暴涨 迅速发展，繁荣
reflect 反映
prosperity 繁荣
of age 成年了
humble adj谦逊的; 低下的
v. 谦恭 低声下气
mutual 共有的 相互的
soaring 加剧了
the share of 份额
owned by 属于
founders 创始人
dividends 红利
proceeds （买卖等的）收入，收益
initial 首次
initial public offerings 首次公开募股
扩延：首次公开募股（Initial Public Offerings，简称IPO）是指一家企业或公司 （股份有限公司）第一次将它的股份向公众出售。
redeploy 重新部署，调遣（士兵），调配（工人、设备）
cash 现金
crisis 危机
faith 信心
external money managers 外部资金经理 manager 经理
murky 阴暗的，昏暗的
incentives 动机 诱因 刺激
Murky incentives 阴暗的动机
Balked 畏缩不前，犹豫( balk的过去式和过去分词 )
take a closer look at 更仔细地看看
These trends are unlikely to fade, as our Briefing explains. The number of billionaires is still growing—199 newbies made the grade last year. In the emerging world older entrepreneurs who created firms in the boom years after 1990 are preparing to cash out, while in America and China younger tech entrepreneurs may soon float their companies, releasing a new wave of cash to reinvest. Family offices’ weight in the financial system, therefore, looks likely to rise further. As it does, the objections to them will rise exponentially. The most obvious of these is the least convincing—that family offices have created inequality. They are a consequence, not its cause. Nonetheless, there are concerns—and one in particular that is worth worrying about.
trends 趋势
Fade 褪去
Briefing 简报
newbies 新手 初学者
make the grade 达到标准，成功
She had a strong desire to be a dancer but failed to make the grade.
她非常渴望成为舞蹈演员，但却因为达不到标准而未能圆梦。
grade 等级 年级，评分
In the emerging world新兴的世界 emerging adj.新兴的 v. 形成 出现
entrepreneurs [ɒntrəprə'nɜ:z]企业家
cash out 套现
in the boom years在繁荣时期
float their companies 使他们的公司上市 float vt.(及物动词) 上市
releasing 释放
a wave of 一波 wave 波浪
rise further 进一步上升 further 较远的 更进一步
rise exponentially 指数上升 exponentially 以指数形式
objections 反对
Convincing 令人信服的
the least convincing 难以让人信服 the least 最少
Nonetheless 虽然如此，但是
in particular 特别地
be worth doing sth. 值得做某事
The first is that family offices could endanger the stability of the financial system. Combining very rich people, opacity and markets can be explosive. LTCM, a $100bn hedge fund backed by the super-rich, blew up in 1998, almost bringing down Wall Street. Scores of wealthy people fell for a Ponzi scheme run by Bernie Madoff that collapsed in 2008. Still, as things stand family offices do not look like the next disaster waiting to happen. They have debt equivalent to 17% of their assets, making them among the least leveraged participants in global markets. On balance, they may even be a stabilising influence. Their funds are usually deployed for decades, making them far less vulnerable to panics than banks and many hedge funds.
the stability of 稳定性
endanger 危及，使遭受危险
explosive 爆炸的
opacity 不透明性
LTCM 长期资本管理公司(Long-Term Capital Management)
Capital 首都 资本 资本的
hedge 回避 避免
$100bn 1000亿 bn: billion 十亿
blew up 爆炸 破产
backed by 在……的支持下
bring down 打败
Scores of 大量的 （修饰可数名词）
fell for 爱上，倾心
Ponzi scheme 庞氏骗局
庞氏骗局： 指骗人向虚设的企业投资,以后来投资者的钱作为快速盈利付给最初投资者以诱使更多人上当
scheme n.计划 阴谋 v.图谋 策划
run by 由...运营
collapse 崩溃
as things stand 按现状看来，在目前的情况下
debt 债务
equivalent to 等于
leverage 杠杆作用 杠杆化
On balance 总而言之
stabilising 稳定化
deployed （尤指军事行动）使展开 部署
vulnerable （地方）易受攻击的
panics （金融方面的）大恐慌( panic的名词复数 )
vulnerable to panics 易受恐慌影响
far less ... than 与...相比远不及
The second worry is that family offices could magnify the power of the wealthy over the economy. This is possible: were Bill Gates to invest exclusively in Turkey, he would own 65% of its stockmarket. But the aim is usually to diversify risk, not concentrate power, by taking capital from the original family business and putting it into a widely spread portfolio. The family-office industry is less concentrated than mainstream asset management, which a few firms such as BlackRock dominate. Compared with most fund managers, family offices have welcome habits, including a longer-term horizon and an appetite for startups.
magnify 放大
were Bill Gates to invest exclusively in Turkey 疑问句
exclusively 唯一地 专门地
exclusive 专用的 独家的
own 拥有
diversify risk 分散投资风险
diversify 使多样化，多样化
take capital 取资 capital 资本
spread 传播
Portfolio 证券投资组合; 公文包; 代表作品集; 部长[大臣]的职位
mainstream asset management 主流资产管理
The family-office industry is less concentrated than mainstream asset management, which a few firms such as BlackRock dominate.
which做宾语 贝莱德等少数几家公司主宰着主流资产管理
dominate主宰着 主导着 支配着 影响着
Compared with 与 ... 相比
longer-term horizon 长期视野 horizon 地平线
appetite 欲望 爱好
It is the third danger that has most bite: that family offices might have privileged access to information, deals and tax schemes, allowing them to outperform ordinary investors. So far there is little evidence for this. The average family office returned 16% in 2017 and 7% in 2016, according to Campden Wealth, a research firm, slightly lagging behind world stockmarkets. Nonetheless, tycoons are well connected. Family offices are becoming more complex—a third have at least two branches—making tax wheezes easier. Hungry brokers and banks are rolling out the red carpet and pitching deals with unlisted firms that are not available to ordinary investors. If all this did lead to an entrenched, unfair advantage, the effect, when compounded over decades, would make wealth inequality disastrously worse.
bite 咬 疼痛 have most bite 最具有影响力
privilege 特权
access to information 使用信息 获取信息
tax schemes 税收计划
outperform ordinary investors 做得比…更好，胜过
So far 到目前为止
little evidence 没有证据
returned 16% 回报率
research firm 研究公司
slightly lagging behind 稍微落后于
lag 落后 滞后
There is a time lag between theoretical research and practical applications 时间间隔
Nonetheless 虽然如此，但是
tycoons 大亨们
a third 三分之一
at least 至少
branch 分支; 树枝; 部门，分科; 支流
wheezes 喘息
broker（股票、外币等）经纪人
roll out the red carpet 铺开红地毯
unlisted firms 未上市公司
pitching deals with unlisted firms 与....达成交易
pitch 本意是“投，抛”，这里的意思是“推销，争取生意”
entrenched根深蒂固的，牢固的，固守的
entrench用壕沟围绕或保护…
advantage 优势 不公平
compounded adj.混合的 复合的 复杂的
n. 复合物
v. 使恶化，使加重
If all this did lead to an entrenched, unfair advantage, the effect, when compounded over decades, would make wealth inequality disastrously worse.
如果这一切确实导致产生根深蒂固而不公平的优势，那么几十年的影响叠加，会使得财富不平等灾难性恶化。
did 用来强调，如果这一切确实导致产生根深蒂固而不公平的优势
wealth inequality 财富分配不均
disastrously 悲惨地
Slow considerably相当（非常）慢
dramatically戏剧性地，引人注目地
infinitely极其; 无限地，无穷地
We have a relationship infinitely superior to those of many of our friends
我们的关系要比我们其他许多朋友的关系好得多。
significantly意味深长地
The answer is vigilance and light. Most regulators, treasuries and tax authorities are beginners when it comes to dealing with family offices, but they need to ensure that rules on insider trading, the equal servicing of clients by dealers and parity of tax treatment are observed. And they should prod family offices with assets of over, say, $10bn to publish accounts detailing their workings. In a world that is suspicious of privilege, big family offices have an interest in boosting transparency. In return, they should be free to operate unmolested. They may even have something to teach hordes of flailing asset managers who serve ordinary investors, many of whom may look at their monthly fees and wish that they, too, could ditch the middlemen.
vigilance 警惕的
bring sth to light 披露，揭露
These facts have only just been brought to light.
come to light 变得众所周知
when it comes to 提到...
beginners 新手
regulators 监管部门
treasuries 财政部
authorities 当局，权力，权威
insider trading 内幕交易 insider 知情人; 了解内幕的人
the equal servicing 平等服务
dealers 商人
parity of tax treatment 同等税收待遇
parity 平价，价值对等
treatment 治疗，疗法 待遇
Observed 遵守，观察，研究( observe的过去式和过去分词 )
suspicious of privilege 怀疑特权
boost transparency 提高透明度
boost 促进，提高
transparency 透明
In return作为报答
be free to 自由去做
operate unmolested 不受干扰地操作
operate 运转 操作
unmolested 没有苦恼的，无干扰的
molested骚扰( molest的过去式和过去分词 )
hordes of 成群的
flail 鞭打 抽打，胡乱摆动，这里用来形容一般投资者的投资经理“狮子大开口”的要价，所以后文说那些一般投资者，也想要甩掉中间人
asset managers资产管理机构
ditch the middlemen 抛弃中间人
ditch抛弃， 沟渠
prod 刺针，激励
publish accounts detailing their workings发布详细说明其工作情况的帐户