Massimo Doris: Rendimenti BTP in crisi e Pensioni Dimezzate – Cosa Fare?

Well, it certainly inspired me. The memories I have are of wanting to work with my father, to do his job. I always saw great enthusiasm; he often held meetings with his collaborators at home, so I always experienced that. Then he founded Mediolanum, which was called Programma Italia. In 1982 I was 15 years old, so old enough to understand how things worked, so I always thought I would do that. The path was long and very gradual, from selling pension policies with a network that we had, which also accepted part-timers and sold a single product, the pension policy. So I sold that product while studying, then I worked a bit in management control, took the exam to become a financial advisor, as it was called. So I became a financial advisor. The problem I had was that all my friends and relatives were already clients, so I had to go find others. But it was a very important experience, indeed fundamental for the work I do today. Then experience in other sectors of the company, experience abroad, in London, in other institutions, of course. Then Spain as managing director of our bank in Spain, and then here from 2008 onwards. So it was truly very gradual, but without any big leaps. All very important experiences, certainly the two most important were being a financial advisor and being managing director in Spain, because when you work normally you have bosses, and when the problem is a bit bigger than you, you turn around and say 'should I do A or B?' No, when you turn around there is no one behind you. You understand that it is the moment that instead shapes you, makes you stronger.

Yes, look, that Italians are less inclined to invest in the real economy, i.e. in stocks, is well known. In my opinion, it stems from two factors. One is that historically, not in the last 7-8 years, but historically, they always had a very simple, risk-free investment available: government bonds, right? With high returns that were not the same as those in Germany, for example. And this accustomed them to a very calm and serene return, and it distracts from seeking other investments like the real economy, equities. The other, I think, in comparison with other countries, also stems from the structure of guarantees in our country, namely pensions. Pensions were guaranteed. When we see the United States or the United Kingdom, where savers invest more in stocks, most of those investments, especially in the US, are driven by mandatory pension plans, practically. So they invest in stocks, yes, but partly because they are forced to. How to put it, everyone has car insurance, sure, otherwise you can't drive, right? If it weren't mandatory, it would be different. So these two things together make a big difference. Now I think that gradually, with interest rates at a low level, this will lead, in my opinion, savers to look a bit more at other alternatives.