Industry vet launches new fund

Investing industry veteran Julia Lee, who may be most familiar for the financial commentary she provides to media outlets including the ABC and Sky News, is launching a new fund next week.

Lee founded Burman Invest after leaving Bell Direct in 2019, where she had been an equities analyst for more than 11 years, and is set to be able to take on investments next week.

Speaking with Financial Standard, Lee says when she moved on from Bell Direct, she was ready to take things into her own hands. "The timing was right, the strategy has been working well, it's been something I've been working on for a number of years," she said.

Lee describes Burman as a high conviction, index unaware, Australian equities manager combining fundamental and technical analysis to create its flagship concentrated shares fund. The aim is for positive returns over a 5-7 year period.

"There has been a lot of interest from the soft launch which has been quite surprising. There does seem to be an appetite and it's not surprising given the strong performance from the ASX over the last few years," Lee said.

"It's very exciting as this is something that I love to do. I love stock selection and Aussie shares, so it's something I am excited to launch."

While Lee may be most recognisable for her TV and radio appearances, she has significant bona fides in the investment space. Before joining Bell Direct, Lee was the head of fundamental analysis at Hubb Financial Group.

Reporting from Eliza Bavin at Financial Standard contributed to this story.