By David Fox After 21 years of living in Bermuda with husband, Harry, long time investment specialist, Mrs. Anne Kast, was ironically granted Bermuda status November 24, the day her American compatriots celebrated Thanksgiving.

The president of Kast Investment Management Ltd. was originally from the US Capital of Washington D.C., until she married her college sweetheart who brought her home to Bermuda.

Surprisingly, probably more so to people who have met Anne Kast, she was never the driven academic one would expect, and only drifted into the investment field.

That was after graduating from the University of Denver with a degree in speech. It was at university where she met Harry, while playing bridge.

"Harry came back to Bermuda after we graduated. We got married a year later.

We got out of college in 1970. We were heading into a recession and getting good jobs was tough.

"He came here and worked for AIG and got settled, while I was working in the US. I was an administrator in a compliance department in a regional stockbrokerage house.'' Here in Bermuda, she spent 17 years at the Bank of Bermuda, 15 in the investment department as an account administrator. She then did product management for two years.

She started her own business three and a half years ago. Not surprisingly, it was another successful businesswoman, Senator Lynda Milligan-Whyte, who first suggested she go it alone.

Mrs. Kast said that she had spent a lot of time planning her new venture. But after 17 years in one company, it was amazing the effect of the change.

"It's been great and it was just what I needed. I didn't realise how much I needed a change in my life. There were even little things, from where you park your car to where you walk for lunch. You do the same thing day after day, year after year and then you are doing it differently and meeting new people.

"It was a major change in my life and it was great for me personally. I'm doing what I love most, working with clients and being in the markets. Being in charge is good to. The approval process is real short.'' She has $75 million in assets under administration, but said that she has made a conscious effort to keep a focus within certain parametres, in terms of the investment services she is providing.

"I promised my clients that I would be the one who is handling their accounts. That is what they want. My area of growth is to increase funds under management, as opposed to diversifying products at the moment.'' She is aware of the trend toward women starting their own businesses, especially in the US where she notes that many have moved into areas where little start-up capital is required.

"Some of the areas where women are really succeeding are health, education, child care, beauty and information networks. There are some caveats, though.

You really have to know what you are doing before you go out on your own or leave a really successful career.'' She credited Mr. Donald Lines as saying that anybody who goes into business to make money is doomed to fail. Mr. Lines is president of investment management company, Millpoint Limited, and former long time president of the Bank of Bermuda.

"Money,'' she said, "is not a reason to go into business for yourself. It should be to fill a need. And if you can do that, people will come to you.'' For those considering starting their own business, she also advises to only do so if other aspects of one's life have been stabilised. She insists one's personal life should be in order.

"You can't go into business for yourself with a lot of personal baggage. And always, she said, always have a back up plan.

"My dad said at the time, `you tell Harry that if this doesn't work out, you're going to retire'. And I did tell him that.'' Her husband is the financial officer for the company, although he is more involved in his own business, Kast Financial Management Ltd.

She concedes she did not grow up anticipating having to work as hard as she has.

"I was studying speech in college. I had no idea I would go into business. I was from the age, where women were told that you had an opportunity to go to university and get a degree. Nobody told me that I was going to work the rest of my life and so I never took a career seriously, although I did have girlfriends who were studying business. Harry and I were busy playing bridge.'' "The rude shock came upon graduation. I knew it was coming, but wages were really low, then. I started at $100 a week at the United Bank of Denver. I had worked in banks during summer holidays.

"But here I was with a degree in speech. What do you do with that? Although, actually that degree, long term, has served me well because now the degree programme is called communications, and the whole communications industry has become quite large. So ironically, it turned out to be a good major.'' The bank job was in the stock transfer area at a clerical level, but she was intrigued by the securities business. And that's how she first got in. It was also at this point that she realised the significant gap in her education. She snatched the first opportunity to study for her MBA (Masters of Business Administration) degree, here in Bermuda, through Nova University, who flew lecturers to Bermuda for intensive weekend courses.

Students today, however, must place more value on their high school and college studies. In today's business world it is becoming increasingly more difficult to recover from missed opportunities.

Like most people she has grown into realisations and tried to make changes to more clearly define the future. She has a philosophy on life. She believes that no matter what type of life one leads, they should pay attention to the milestones.

"I've made lots of mistakes and I've got lots of regrets. But I was pretty careful about the big decisions in my life. The milestones, such as getting a college degree, making a major career move, getting married, buying a house.

"These are major things that we are faced with in our lives, where if you make a mistake, it can alter the course or the direction that your life is going. So I've always been really careful when making a major decision. You mess up on any of those and it really can set you back.'' With one daughter Elizabeth, aged 10, Mrs. Kast counts herself among the middle aged, although her grandparents on both sides lived into their nineties. She doesn't see herself retiring young.

But she tries to keep work separate from her family life. And recently has taken up more interest in getting fit and managing stress.

"A lot of the bad habits I dragged into middle-age, I finally dropped them. I got fit, took up jogging and lost weight. It is all part of leading a balanced life.

"I'm up earlier and I believe I'm more on my game. It's better for my business and better for my family.'' She's even taken up running the 10K the last three years, this month with a personal best of just over an hour and five minutes.

She laughed. "That's about 11 minutes a mile. But it is great for me. I relax and look at the flowers, the birds, wave to my friends, enjoy the beauty of the Island and just go slow. It's kind of nice to not be real competitive.

It's a great crowd of people and its nice being with them.

"They call me Anne LAST. And, I usually am.'' MRS. ANNE KAST -- "I didn't realise how much I needed a change in my life.

There were even little things, from where you park your car to where you walk for lunch. You do the same thing day after day, year after year and then you are doing it differently and meeting new people.''