Franklin Watson Investments is managed by its sole employee Jeremi Suchanecki. Jeremi strongly believes in the benefits of independently managing assets rather than in committees because it enables him to focus on research rather than the management of people.
Jeremi is passionate about investing. As a child in Switzerland, he was fascinated by anything having to do with numbers and money. His great-grandfather, founder of Labhardt & Cie., and grandfather were both bankers, whom the grandson adored for their entrepreneurship. He played with his grandfather’s desktop calculator at every visit in Basel and still uses it today, where it sits right next to him on his desktop.
When he was 12, he was fascinated by earning interest on his personal savings at the bank. This set the stage for his thrifty mindset, accumulating money so that compound interest could work its magic of compounded returns.
A the age of 16, he opened his first trading account at the leading Swiss online broker, which offered the lowest fee structure. Having seen that the performance of his family’s wealth at a leading Swiss private wealth management bank underperformed the market, he understood that the high fee structure of large banks substantially harms long-term performance of clients. He deeply questioned why there are no fee structures that only win when the client wins and was determined to find a structure that aligns the interest of clients and the manager.
He went on to experiment with all manner of trading methodologies. For a while, he was a stock “chartist” and market timer. Later he enjoyed enlightenment by value investing, a strategy based on the fundamental analysis of businesses and thoroughly read and reread the magna opera of value investing Benjamin Graham’s The Intelligent Investor and Warren Buffett’s Shareholder Letters. But not only did the strategy of buying companies for less than they are worth resound with him, but also the values of integrity and alignment with client partners. He setup his fee structure so that it is performance driven, where he participates in the performance of his client partners. Jeremi thinks of his clients as long-term partners and not just customers. His guiding philosophy is “focussed on your growth and not our own.”
Jeremi gained the trust of his family and started investing their assets with increasing success. Heavily influenced by his father Francois Suchanecki, who won a silver medal at the Olympics in 1972 and a bronze medal in 1976 and said you can achieve anything if you work hard enough, Jeremi was determined to found his own business.
Gathering about CHF 2 million in funds from family and friends, in 2016 he founded Franklin Watson Investments AG, an investment management and wealth management firm. Today he manages tens of millions for wealthy families and entrepreneurs. He helps his partners grow their wealth and entrepreneurs and their families to diversify their hard-earned wealth.
Jeremi applies a value investing approach, investing both in high quality businesses and in special situations. His passion is in finding undervalued businesses that the market incorrectly discounts. He has now gained experience for over 25 years and three economic cycles.
Previously, Jeremi worked as an analyst in investment banking (mergers & acquisitions) at Jefferies in Frankfurt and gained experience in investment banking (sales & trading) at Deutsche Bank as well as in private banking at Credit Suisse. Jeremi concurrently earned a M.A. degree in Accounting and Finance from the University of St. Gallen (HSG) and a M.Sc. degree in International Management from Bocconi University. Jeremi holds a B.A. degree in Law and Economics from the University of St. Gallen (HSG).
