Former PIMCO Chief Executive Officer and Co-Chief Investment Officer Mohamed El-Erian speaks during an interview at Thomson Reuters. (Reuters)
The CEO of a $2 trillion investment fund said he made the decision to resign from his post after his young daughter wrote him a note listing 22 milestones he had missed in her life.
California-based Mohamed El-Erian left his job as chief executive of PIMCO in mid-March. The 56-year-old El-Erian, who made $100 million in 2011 alone, chose to leave his post after his 10-year-old daughter wrote about all the special moments he was absent for in her life.
Months before announcing his resignation, El-Erian's daughter handed him a note that made him realize he needed to change his work-life balance, according to an essay he wrote in Worth Magazine's June-July issue.
"It was a list that she had compiled of her important events and activities that I had missed due to work commitments," El-Erian wrote, adding that the note was a "wake-up call" for him.
"The list contained 22 items, from her first day at school and first soccer match of the season to a parent-teacher meeting and a Halloween parade," he wrote.
"I felt awful and got defensive: I had a good excuse for each missed event! Travel, important meetings, an urgent phone call, sudden to-do," he said. "But it dawned on me that I was missing an infinitely more important point ... I was not making nearly enough time for her.
El-Erian is now chief economic adviser with financial services company, Allianz, where he told Reuters he spends "50 percent of my time and I love it."
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