Renee Haugerud is a true forward thinker. She has built her billion-dollar Galtere Ltd., investment advisory firm with a keen eye on the future and the flexibility to adjust to the obstacles and opportunities she detects. With a shaky economy both in the United States and around the world, Haugerud says 2012 could be a pivotal year. While there are going to be some major – and somewhat scary – shifts, she feels there is great potential for people who pay close attention to the economic landscape.
“It doesn’t have to be scary if we adjust our thinking. The way we’ve looked to invest in the past isn’t the way for the future,” says Haugerud, who has lived on Lookout Mountain since 2008 with her husband, John Murphy, a LaGrange, Ga., native and former football player at UTC. “We are having a shift of wealth from developed to developing economies.
Renee Haugerud, investment adviser.That’s a good thing for the world in the long term, but in the short term it can be painful because we will have to moderate our standard of living. It’s not scary if we look at the world dynamically as it’s shifting and at the regime shift as it’s taking place.”
Haugerud cautions that Americans need to adjust their thinking to the idea that their house isn’t going to be their ATM, that housing prices and equity prices may not go up, but everyone’s cost of living may go up. “I think every problem contains the seed of opportunity and I think ultimately these shifts that are taking place are painful but good for the world in general,” she explains. “You want a diverse portfolio because globalization and the interrelationships of all geographies and all asset classes around the world is getting stronger, not weaker.”
For 2012, Haugerud believes we are on the brink of a major change and she says Chattanooga may be a perfect prototype for how cities around the country can get on board with globalization and economic shifts on the world stage. Citing international investments such as Volkswagen, Alstom and Wacker to main street initiatives like electric shuttles, greenspaces and environmental awareness, she says the Scenic City is ahead of the curve moving forward into this new era.