When one of Australia\u2019s top investment fund managers \u2013 responsible for a portfolio of $15 billion \u2013 says supermarket prices will drop, you have to hope he\u2019s right.<\/p>\n
What does Paul Taylor know that we don\u2019t?<\/p>\n
For starters, as head of investments for Fidelity International in Australia, he has boots-on-the-ground intel into how big players like Coles are using AI to streamline their operations.<\/p>\n
Taylor toured the supermarket giant\u2019s distribution centres in October and says their automation is \u201cvery, very significant\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cShopping is heading to e-commerce and home delivery which is getting better and better. There are fewer people involved, so fewer errors.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the old days, you ordered something online and a staff member would go into the supermarket and just pick from the shelves, and sometimes the stuff you wanted wasn\u2019t there, so they would substitute it for something else, or they just made a mistake.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, going through a centralised distribution centre and using AI means there\u2019s less likelihood of items being unavailable or wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taylor says blue-chip companies like Coles and Woolworths \u2013 and banks \u2013 are prioritising \u201cself-help\u201d, using AI to reduce theft and fraud and ultimately their own costs of doing business.<\/p>\n
But surely, average consumers won\u2019t reap any of these savings?<\/p>\n
Taylor disagrees.<\/p>\n
\u201cI actually think lower prices will come,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat they\u2019re focused on is two prong \u2013 where half the cost savings go to consumers, half to shareholders. I always think in that sort of situation you want a balance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taylor, 59, is widely respected for his decades of experience steering other people\u2019s investments through all sorts of ups and downs, including the GFC and Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could be an individual investor, or you could invest through a financial planner, who then puts it with us, and we manage money for the super funds, and sovereign wealth funds around the world,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
A huge part of his success is being hands-on.<\/p>\n
\u201cFidelity is what\u2019s called a bottom-up stock selector. So we invest in companies, but what that means is every quarter, we meet with the management team,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a real privilege to talk to chief executives, who are fascinating people, and hear how their businesses work and the challenges they face.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taylor and his team also listen to the workers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it\u2019s a mining company, we go out and see the mine.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it\u2019s a consumer company, we see the stores or the distribution centres.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd it\u2019s the same with banks, we want to talk to the people, see how they\u2019re developing, how the customer interface is going.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe basically just want to kick the tyres, and meet the people on the ground to get a better feeling of what\u2019s actually happening in the business.\u201d<\/p>\n
Investment decisions are made accordingly \u2013 and currently in the top 10 of Taylor\u2019s stock range are Commonwealth Bank, BHP, Evolution Mining, Macquarie, Goodman (logistics properties and data centres), Suncorp, Seek, Westpac, ANZ and IGO (mining).<\/p>\n
As for Coles, he rates it as an overweight stock, meaning its stock price should perform better in the future.<\/p>\n
Taylor, who has homes in Clayfield and Teneriffe in Brisbane and Bangaroo on Sydney\u2019s CBD waterfront near his head office, spends most of his life travelling.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be honest, I probably live on a plane,\u201d he says, with regular trips to London, China, Japan, Singapore and around Australia.<\/p>\n
When he is in Brisbane, he indulges his two major passions, the arts and golf.<\/p>\n
In June 2025 Taylor was appointed chair of QAGOMA, having been a long-term supporter of both galleries.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started as a foundation member and my family donated a few significant paintings \u2013 the most being Arthur Boyd\u2019s Sleeping Bride 1957-58, which I gave (in 2016) in Mum and Dad\u2019s name after they passed,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s such a beautiful painting and I thought it\u2019s probably that good it shouldn\u2019t really be in a home, it should be on display for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taylor helped bankroll the spectacular lighting installation by American artist James Turrell that has illuminated the facade of the Gallery of Modern Art since 2018.<\/p>\n
As chair, he says his challenges \u201ctend to be always financial\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cCosts are going up all the time, even when we\u2019re borrowing artworks, it\u2019s costing us more and more to bring them in.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd, you know, obviously, governments are extremely generous but it\u2019s getting harder and harder, they\u2019ve got more challenges in different areas like health and housing.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I have to say the current minister, John-Paul Langbroek, has been amazing; he\u2019s highly engaged in the arts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taylor says government funding also comes through Tourism and Events Queensland \u2013 \u201cTEQ recognises we are bringing lots of people to Brisbane\u201d \u2013 and through philanthropy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are trying to get more private money into the galleries \u2013 and that side has grown and grown.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously the size of the donation is relevant but the person who\u2019s donating a small amount today could be our biggest donor in 20 years\u2019 time. So you need to continually develop that pathway for people and take everybody on the journey.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Taylor, art galleries are powerful antidotes to the crazy pace of modern life.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven this big disruption happening with AI, art galleries are even more important,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo me, an art gallery is the soul of the city. It\u2019s where people come, there\u2019s beautiful art, art that challenges us; it\u2019s contemplative, meditative.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I just think, you know, these days it\u2019s hard to get in to see a psychologist, right? So galleries are also about mental health, they bring calm.\u201d<\/p>\n
Golf has a similar effect on Taylor.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a slow game \u2013 it\u2019s not a 30-second hit from social media,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s actually four hours in nature, walking around, talking with people. To me, that\u2019s everything a person needs in this world, which is to slow down, have a chat with friends, meet new people, and get out into the sunshine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taylor \u2013 a director of the Australian Golf Foundation \u2013 hosts a private suite every year at Royal Queensland for the PGA tournament.<\/p>\n
Heads of business, sport, medicine and philanthropy can all be seen enjoying a cold beverage and smorgasbord lunch in air-conditioned comfort on the 17th \u201cparty\u201d hole as they watch the greats in action.<\/p>\n
Taylor himself \u2013 who has a handicap of 10 \u2013 has played alongside Adam Scott and Min Woo Lee in the Pro-Ams.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are both very engaging people,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd it was an amazing opportunity to ask lots of questions about their experiences over time, and they give you advice on what you are doing, right or wrong \u2013 it\u2019s a once in a lifetime thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taylor grew up in Brisbane\u2019s northern suburbs with loving parents Eric and Marion Taylor and sister Fiona (former chair of the Brisbane Writers Festival Board).<\/p>\n
He attended Anglican Church Grammar School and studied commerce at the University of Queensland before moving to the UK with his wife Sue in 1996 where he gained a Masters in Finance at London Business School.<\/p>\n
The next year he joined Fidelity\u2019s head office in London before returning to Australia in 2003. Daughter Kate, now studying criminology at UQ, was born in 2006.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was always fascinated by how businesses make money, even from a young age, and I\u2019m very interested in statistics and probability,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I got that from Dad (Eric, who ran a string of small businesses; Mum Marion owned florists).<\/p>\n
\u201cAround the dinner table at night, there was always discussion around what was working or not, and how to collect on bad debts \u2013 which disappeared when credit cards came in (in the 1970s).\u201d<\/p>\n
With his 60th birthday looming in August, Taylor intends to celebrate in style.<\/p>\n
There will be golfing trips to the US, a holiday in Italy \u2013 \u201ca year without a trip to Italy feels bad,\u201d he laughs \u2013 and plenty of hard work.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love what I do, and I hope to still be doing it when I\u2019m 80.\u201d<\/p>\n
RATING<\/p>\n
Paul Taylor, investment fund manager, chair of QAGOMA<\/p>\n
Fatcow on James St, Fortitude Valley<\/p>\n
Infinite Rangers Valley 220g rump MB9+ with salad, roasted pumpkin <\/p>\n
10\/10<\/p>\n