Guest Speaker: Juan Jose Fernandez

We recently had the opportunity to welcomed Juan Jose Fernandez for a valuable session that blended financial education, behavioural insights, and career reflection. With decades of experience in trading, wealth management and investment consulting, JJ brought a great mix of technical expertise and real-world wisdom.

Understanding Markets: Asset Allocation, Diversification and Risk

JJ focused on the foundations every investor needs, and used vivid, memorable examples to bring them to life. He compared portfolio construction to preparing a meal in a restaurant: you don’t serve just one dish, you combine several to satisfy different tastes. In the same way, mixing asset classes like equities, bonds, liquidity and alternatives helps manage risk and performance over time. Asset allocation, he stressed, is what truly drives 90% of long-term returns, not timing the market or picking individual products. Diversification, often dismissed as a cliché, became real when he told the story of someone who accidentally threw away a mattress with a million dollars hidden inside; spreading investments protects you not only from markets, but from your own mistakes and the unexpected.

In addition, he explained how a 50/50 portfolio between stocks and bonds can drift as one asset rises, and how rebalancing isn’t about emotion but about discipline, emphasising the importance of re-allocating at times. When introducing the risk–return trade-off, he showed real cases of investors chasing unrealistic 25% returns and losing everything, alongside historical stock market drops that most people can’t emotionally withstand. Finally, by referencing unlikely events like snow in Madrid or major hedge fund collapses, he illustrated how rare, unpredictable “black swan” events can reshape financial lives and why humility and preparation matter.

Behavioural Finance

JJ spent much of his talk on a theme often ignored in finance courses: human behaviour.

He began with a simple question: if the S&P doubled in the last decade, how is it possible that so many investors lost money? The answer: emotions. Euphoria and fear lead people to buy at peaks and sell at lows, instead of staying consistent.

He referenced research from Nobel laureates in behavioural economics and used interactive exercises to show how framing changes decisions, even when the mathematical result is identical. He explained that most people prefer a guaranteed gain over a risky one, but when facing losses, the same people choose risk over certainty. This inconsistency is exactly what markets exploit.

He illustrated herd mentality with the famous “monkeys and bananas” experiment, many people and teams follow processes not because they make sense, but because “it’s always been done this way.” The best professionals are the ones who question, rethink and redesign.

He also used the “gorilla video” to highlight selective attention: when we focus too hard on one goal, we can miss what’s right in front of us. Investors think they’ll “buy the dip and sell the top,” but often miss the obvious signals, or other things that are happening in the market.

Exponential Thinking and Long-Term Growth

To explain compounding, JJ compared arithmetic vs geometric returns. A 50% fall requires a 100–150% rise to recover, something most people overlook. He showed how reinvesting returns year after year creates exponential growth, invisible at first but spectacular over time. As Warren Buffett said, “Nobody wants to get rich slowly” and that impatience is why most don’t. He referenced, the saying that folding a sheet of paper 42 times reaches the moon, showing that with patience and consistency, small movements win over time, but only if you stay invested instead of reacting emotionally.

Beyond Finance: Careers, Differentiation and Integrity

To finish, JJ spoke directly to students about careers and identity. He shared stories about hiring, competition and the global talent landscape, from elite universities to trading floors. His advice was clear: don’t try to be the best at one thing, be good at multiple things that in the end work together. Combine skills, languages, interests, sports or arts to create your own edge. He emphasised the importance of being different and standing out, "there will always be someone better or that knows more, but how you are different and more special is what will set you apart".