A personal reflection on the events of 9/11, its relation to MASECO and how it changed the course of my life

Written by Josh Matthews, HBA

My wife and I are watching a new Netflix series on 9/11, how it changed the course of American politics and the ‘war on terror’ in the past two decades and we have been discussing how 9/11 changed our lives and what the past 20 years would have looked like for us had it not happened. I am sure you will read many more sombre and commemorative blogs about 9/11 this week, but this year, I have decided to write a more personal blog that is the result of some of my discussion with Holli and how it changed the course of our lives.

Salomon Smith Barney NYC
Holli and I moved from Montréal to New York City in late 1997 and I was working in the private client group at the Park Avenue branch of Salomon Smith Barney. My team managed the stock option plans for various Fortune 500 companies and primarily I helped their top executives, who had sold highly appreciated company stock, with their wealth management needs.

Exiled from the US
In early May 2001, I was summoned to my branch manager’s office and was told that because I was Canadian and the company had me on the wrong visa, they would not be able to renew my visa and that I would need to leave the company. After digesting the shock, my team leader and I spent the next couple of weeks mapping out a plan where I would move with Holli to the new London office for one year as a manager and then return to New York on a different US work visa. So, on May 10th, we moved to London for what we thought would be one year.

9/11

‘The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry’ – Robert Burns

Five months later, on the morning of September 11, everything changed as I watched the TV in shock as the World Trade Centers s were hit by planes and crumbled. I will always remember being paralysed and dumbfounded whilst I watched live as the second plane hit the south tower. The third building to fall in NYC that evening was World Trade Center 5, the former headquarters of Salomon Brothers. At the time, no one knew the short or long term consequences of these terrorist attacks, but everyone knew the world had changed forever.

Recession in NYC
In the following months, the US invaded Afghanistan and the US fell into recession. As New York City struggled to rebound from the tech wreck and terrorist attacks and many people left, Holli and I struggled with a sort of ‘survivors guilt’ as like many others, we couldn’t comprehend what had befallen what was our home for so long. We felt helpless for those who had lost lives and families. In the meantime, the U.K. not only avoided recession, but London grew in importance as the securitisation and the consolidation of Europe marched on. By the time our ‘one year abroad’ was coming to an end, our New York offices had bigger problems to sort out than getting us back and we were told to wait. The wealth management business in the US struggled in the early 2000’s as the US stock market fell by more than 35% over the course of three years.

‘Stuck’ in London
So, we were ‘stuck’ in London for at least another year or two (no one knew) and decided to make the best of it. In October 2002 we were blessed with the birth of our first born and moved into a house. We had been living in flats for the past 5 years and Parsons Green was a great neighbourhood with a lot more living space than our apartment on Park Avenue in NYC. It was also in 2002 when I started to help Americans living in the U.K. as many clients started referring me to their American friends and family. To the best of my knowledge, I was one of the few Wealth Managers in London with years of US centric knowledge, experience and qualifications. At the time SSB had a USD platform with USD mutual funds, IRAs, 529s, 1099 reporting, etc which didn’t appeal to Brits or Europeans but did to Americans.

The MASECO Group @ SSB
By 2003 things were going well at (what was now) Citi Smith Barney, the markets started rebounding, we were settling into life in London, but post the events of 9/11 things were still tough in NYC, so I stopped nudging NY about transferring back. Now that I was more focused on staying, I struck an arrangement with Citibank to help with their US clients and started forming a team. A year later, James Sellon and Emilia Chachulova joined the team and ‘Team America’ was born. We also joined forces with my old buddy from the Park Avenue branch, Rich Correra, and we combined our names and called ourselves The MASECO Group.

Non-Dom Tax Law Changes
The group grew quickly over the next few years until 2007, when Gordon Brown announced sweeping changes to the U.K. Non-Dom tax laws. By early 2008, it was clear that Americans living in the U.K. needed a comprehensive tax strategy to complement their investment strategy due to the impeding U.K. tax law changes. Citigroup felt that this was not a core part of their business proposition and by early summer, Citigroup closed the London office, moved their US clis to a New York office and let us go. After having spent months trying to find a home for the team and our clients, no firm we spoke to was interested, so MASECO was born on the eve of the Global Financial Crisis. James, Emilia and I started the London business. Rich stayed in NY and moved to Merrill Lynch who provided us with custody for clients.

U.K. Reporting Status Funds
Now our clients’ needed tax efficient investments. Luckily, earlier that year I met an American by the name of Sam Adam who was the Head of Financial Services at Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA) in the U.K. I explained to him the U.K. tax problems with US mutual funds for Americans living in the U.K. and explained how a year earlier, I had persuaded Templeton to apply for U.K. reporting status for two of their US funds. As an American, he understood the issue and worked with us to get U.K. reporting status on a dozen or so US based DFA funds. This was the holy grail of tax efficiency for our American clients and off the back of this effort, MASECO had a unique industry leading solution for Americans in the U.K.

Growth
Over the next 12 years, we had two more children, MASECO opened up offices in Geneva and Zurich, two colleagues moved to Hong Kong where they opened MASECO Asia and I established MASECO Asset Management. In London, James & I grew the team from 5 to nearly 80 people; we added an offering for Brit and other Non-Doms; the partnership broadened out to those who were instrumental in our growth.

Reflections

Looking back over the past twenty years, I often think about how differently life might have unfolded. If not for 9/11, Holli and I would almost certainly have returned to New York City in 2002, and our path would have taken a very different direction. That day changed the lives of so many people, and ours was no exception.

Although our time in London ended up being far longer than we originally expected, we’ve been very fortunate, and we’re grateful for the opportunities and stability we found. We also know that many others were not as fortunate, and the effects of that day continue to be felt around the world even now.

We will never forget the tragedy of 9/11, and we will always honour and remember all those who lost their lives twenty years ago.

Important information

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MASECO LLP (trading as MASECO Private Wealth and MASECO Institutional) is established as a limited liability partnership in England and Wales (Companies House No. OC337650) and has its registered office at Burleigh House, 357 Strand, London WC2R 0HS. The partners are Mr J E Matthews and Mr J R D Sellon; Mr D R B Dorman, Mr H Q A Findlater, Mr T Flonaes, Mr N B Tissot, Ms A L Solana. Telephone calls may be recorded for your protection. MASECO LLP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority for the conduct of investment business in the UK and is registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission as a Registered Investment Advisor.