A woman's work is never done

I have this recurring dream where I hire a manager with militaristic qualities to run the day-to-day needs of my one-bedroom, two-person, 700-sq ft household. This person would oversee the sorting, washing and folding of laundry; dust would never accumulate in thick layers on my bookshelves; the floors would be mopped; the lack of a dishwasher would never be an issue; long strands of hair would never be spotted on the bathroom floor and mounds of discarded clothing would never carpet the floor of my wardrobe.

Order would reign supreme and, most importantly, I would never again experience that specific nightmare where my mom and grandma show up unannounced to find that my house does not live up to their spotless standards. I believe that if I were to dedicate as much time as I am convinced is needed to keep our tiny apartment as dust-free as I would like it to be, our marriage would suffer. Really, does a husband prefer to come home to a wife stressing over the best way to remove a carpet stain, or a wife all dressed up and ready to go out for dinner? Exactly.

I used to finish household chores in the early morning, before heading to the office. That time is no longer available, because I have replaced cleaning and tidying with daily treks to the gym, where I get to sweat and toil on the treadmill instead of over last night's dishes. Now, because this marriage is a partnership one would assume that this "running the household" issue would be a conundrum for both Mr T and myself, and not something that I would have to deal with on my own.

One would be, unfortunately, mistaken. I apologise to feminists everywhere, but I am from the old-fashioned school that believes no one can take care of the home like the woman. Mr T, bless his heart, has the best of intentions. It would never occur to him to shy away from household chores, or claim he has work to finish, or make himself scarce on cleaning day. He always seems eager to jump right in there and take part, which one would assume makes me the luckiest girl in the world.

Except for the fact that he has been banned from helping around the house in any way whatsoever. I did not issue that ban easily, and was only forced into it when I realised that he does more harm than good. For example, he rushed to the washing machine to fold laundry one day, and ended up folding clothes that had not been washed yet; he insisted on vacuuming while I washed the dishes one Friday morning and I suddenly heard a crash - which was our mirror was lying shattered on the floor. It takes him 30 minutes to wash a sink of dishes that I could have finished in five.

My only concern now is a nagging thought in the back of my mind that I just can't seem to shrug off. Could it be possible that my husband is actually creating all these "accidents" on purpose, to get out of helping around the house? If so, then the guy is actually smarter than I thought.

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”