Richard Howell-Peak

Business, Finance, Investing, Software.

Mathematician. Technologist. Strategist.

My Core Expertise

Data drives understanding, which allows people to better understand the future. When you know the mechanics and underlying forces that govern something, you can predict what will lead to success and failure.

Ultimately this leads to efficient and resource allocation and better long-term returns on investment. Whether that investment is time or capital.

Mathematics & Insurance

Following my Master's degree in Mathematics from the University of Warwick, I spent several years specializing in insurance pricing. I executed impact analysis, demand modelling, and portfolio management. My work centered on developing and executing pricing strategies that improved profitability and business performance.

It is what might also be called these days "Big Data" or "Data Science"

Software Engineering

When I moved to New Zealand from the UK I changed careers and started web development. I moved on from that into ERP systems (i.e. warehouse & stock management, accounting systems, e-commerce etc.)

Investment

I've been investing throughout my career, in traditional assets like property, stocks and bonds. I also actively invest in alternative asset classes like crypto, show-jumping horses, wine & whiskey etc.

My development philosophy

I understand short-term business needs to add value or solve immediate problems.

But software is a living breathing system that can grow immensely in complexity if not managed properly. As the business environment the software operates in changes, so must the software.

This means for the long-term health of the software, it must constantly be reshaped as new requirements emerge, or a better understanding of the business problem becomes apparent.

There are a few tenets I follow that I believe will maximise software value in the long-term, which as most companies are spending large sums of money on their software systems, I feel a duty as an engineer to protect that investment and not allow the software to atrophy and turn from an asset into a liability.

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My investment philosophy

While I understand people can make money speculating in financial markets, I believe this is not ethical. Speculation relies on the "Find a bigger idiot" strategy, and while it can be profitable it is not a mutually beneficial approach.

To me investment should be something that drives innovation, something that allows people to work on problems that society needs solving, and something in which everyone benefits from.

To setup financial systems which can only produce winners if there are losers, is not much different from a casino, or basically just legalised theft. The other issue with playing this game is you can become the biggest idiot too and lose large sums of money.

By focusing investment on genuine economic value, we can all work towards creating a better society that everyone can benefit from.

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Learn more.

See my skills and services page if you are interested in learning more about what I can do for you.

What I do