The daughter of a property speculator and the grand-daughter of a bank manager, Anne Gordon initially trained as a medieval historian, studying theology in her spare time. But it was not long before futures seemed more attractive than pasts.
She feels her financial acument has improved considerably since her first week in the City of London when she astonished her manager by admitting she had never used a calculator, and herself by realising an invoice was only a bill.
She moved to Hong Kong just in time for the 1987 stock market crash, and her return to the UK precipitated sterling's withdrawal from the Exchange Rate Mechanism. She insists the two events were purely coincidental.
Deciding it was more exhilarating to look after other people's money than risk her own, she now advises fund managers. Any personal speculation is limited by a predilection for para-gliding, a large mortgage, and the most expensive dentist in the world.