As a callow and innocent youth, I once asked the chief executive of a large asset management firm, why he liked fund management so much. He said: “Son, it’s inside work with no heavy lifting.”

Self-deprecation doesn't come better than that. Fund management is one of the greatest businesses you can be in. In a world where the word "banker" is spat out as a casual insult and has become a byword for usury and excess, fund management has gone largely unmaligned.