IVV – Instituut Voor Vermogensopbouw is a mid-size asset management firm and most importantly, a family business. The firm is co-led by Julie van der Maas, “second generation IVV”, as she likes to call herself. Since 2022, Julie has been the Director of IVV. At a young age, she took over the role of director and board member – “I am probably the youngest female board member in the Netherlands”.
The day-to-day of an asset management firm director
First of all, let’s clarify what IVV does. In a nutshell, they help individuals and small businesses build, maintain and transfer their wealth. They truly take the time to understand what their clients’ challenges, opportunities, goals and wishes are for the future and to help realize them. As a director, Julie’s work involves two parts. The first one is the practical operational work, and the second is more about the business aspect. Julie finds it important to be aware of your focus and energy levels throughout the day, and she organizes her tasks according to that.
“I’m most productive in the mornings. And that’s why I will do all the operational work, such as trading, at that time, since it requires the most focus. I’m responsible for all the investments on the stock exchanges for all the clients.”
Julie then spends time on the business aspect, involving a lot of different managerial tasks: “It’s mostly HR, focusing on gaining new colleagues. It’s also about regulation and compliance, writing new policies, discovering new systems – everything related to strategic business planning, to make IVV futureproof.“
This is the work that inspires and empowers her the most – with her executional power and shared responsibility with her fellow board members, she can bring her vision into action.
Working in a “man’s world” and how Julie is changing it
For Julie, the most important thing is not to change your identity, regardless of your work environment. “Stay close to who you are, don’t change, because this is your strength. For me, being younger in a men’s world brings a different perspective into the company. So I try to stay true to myself and my vision.”
Through her vision and values, she wants to build an ideal life for her team and her clients. She takes the time to understand what her clients’ and her team’s challenges, opportunities, goals and wishes for the future are. And she helps bring these to life.
The challenges of being a young woman leading a team composed of mostly older men are there. But she counteracts that through her knowledge and experience, as well as being straightforward.
“I just know what I’m talking about. I know all about the business of Asset Management, our service and our clients. I’ll also be honest to my colleagues, and my opinion will never be a surprise. Even if it makes me unpopular for a second, I will just be honest, and I will not hide my opinion.”
Julie is also trying to embrace her leadership role, giving people space to execute their work instead of trying to solve their day-to-day challenges: “You have to offer them the context in which they can make the best possible decisions for themselves, instead of trying to solve the obstacles that arise.”
“Everything is based on client relationships and involves a lot of soft skills, and that’s actually doing the real work.”
Always improving herself and her company
Aside from striving to change the face of the asset management industry, Julie is currently pursuing a European Leadership Course, where she experiences and studies leadership from academics with a philosophical perspective. She finds it important for herself and her colleagues to continue to study trough their career. Moreover, the fact that she can transpose her vision and identity into the company gives her energy.
“I’m very proud that I can put my own identity, my vision and my ideas into IVV. Every day, I work on aspects that I think are very important. For example, we started focusing more on sustainable investing and philanthropy as well. Most importantly, we are empowering our colleagues and clients to raise their standards.”
One aspect that IVV puts into practice with their client interactions is working with and talking to multiple family generations, taking their family history as the basis for collaboration. She and her team listen, get to know and understand the families they work with.
“Financial Planning and Asset Management are not just about financial goals, it’s also about financial motivations, your perspective on money and, for a lot of families we work with, their family history.
For example, if there’s an entrepreneur who has been building a business and wants to transfer their wealth to their children, it’s important to prepare them for that. The family history and how this money is gained will carry a responsibility to use assets wisely. The fact that we focus on this and prepare multiple generations in this process is one of the most unique things we do, which you won’t find anywhere else.”
Julie wants to bring forward the human aspect of the financial world.
“Generally, there is a bad image for the asset management world, because it seems like it’s all about numbers, trading, paperwork – but it’s not. Everything is based on genuine client relationships and involves a lot of soft skills, and that’s actually doing the real work.”
About IVV
IVV has a tightly-knit, family-like culture that offers you a lot of flexibility, autonomy, and responsibility. And it’s thanks to these aspects that the learning curve is steep. You will be able to create the “ideal life for clients by investing in a way that fits each unique client.” Moreover, Julie believes in practicing what you preach. At IVV, life comes first, because it’s mirroring what they encourage their clients to do.
If you want to be involved in changing investment strategies to become more sustainable and socially-driven, and if you love research, trading, as well as traveling, IVV is the company for you!
