From Football To Funds Management – Ted Richards – Careers In Transition

I observe and am indeed privileged at times to assist people make successful career transitions. It’s never easy and there is no one formula for success. Rather, it is a process which was well summarised by Kieran Perkins’ article about transitioning from elite athlete to a successful career in banking and finance.

Perkins’ highlighted that underpinning a career transition is the need to recognise you are going to have to go backwards to go forwards. In this Q and A, former Sydney Swans premiership player, Ted Richards talks about his career transition process to funds management.

What attracted you to consider a career in funds management?

I read ‘One up on Wall Street’ by Peter Lynch when I was 18 and I think that initially sparked the interest. As I learnt more about the industry, I discovered that I like funds management because it is competitive. In a similar way to how each week has new challenges in football, equities change too which presents constant challenges. I also enjoy generating ideas about potential opportunities and learning about businesses.

What have you done to prepare yourself for a new career in funds management?

I completed a bachelor of Commerce from University of NSW and worked a day a week with the institutional equities sales team at CitiGroup for a few years. Following that, I completed a Masters of Applied Finance and worked at Airlie Funds Management for close to four years.

What did you do and learn while at Airlie Funds Management?

As I could only commit one day a week whilst playing football I wasn’t given a sector to cover, but was allowed to generate my own ideas and follow through with reporting on these stocks. I would either look at stock usually that Airlie may not normally consider, report on new IPO’s, or sometimes report on stocks that we currently owned but come at it from a different angle. I learnt the Airlie framework for analysing stocks and would discuss my thoughts with John (the fund manager) or the other analysts and get feedback from them.

I was also fortunate enough to sit in on meetings with management and learn about making the most of these opportunities. These meetings were usually about determining the trustworthiness of management, clarity around their strategy and trying to gain insight around any potential risks.

What is the ideal position you are looking for in funds management?

I enjoy the analysis of studying stocks. I’m looking at analyst roles and although I still have a lot to learn, I know that it’s a career where in which I will be constantly learning.

What are your transferable skills from your time as an elite athlete?

I’m very lucky that my time in football has taught me some skills that I’ll take into my next career and have for life. I wasn’t supremely talented so I built my football career on grit, hard work, and attention to detail and I know these skills can transfer over. Skills of discipline towards preparation and resilience to handle the times when I didn’t get the intended outcome will also be transferable.

The Sydney Swans seem to encourage professional development outside of football. Did your internship at Citigroup help you?

It gave me great insight into the real world. I learnt a lot in both my bachelor degree and masters, but I really believe I’ve learnt more whilst working in the industry. In my time at Citi and Airlie I’ve been lucky enough to meet some smart people and discuss what they look for in stocks and what they read. On top of this, I think having the balanced lifestyle helped my football too.

Who will win the 2017 premiership? Why?

Picking successful stocks is hard, and picking successful football teams is also difficult.  I think it will be the Swans, but to be fair I am biased. I agree that GWS will have a big year which has been highly publicised, but a lot of people don’t rate Adelaide and I think they will surprise a few people this year.

Matt McGiton – Director

Kaizen Recruitment specialises financial services recruitment across funds management, wealth management, superannuation, investment consulting and insurance. We are based in Melbourne and Sydney. For assistance or further information please telephone our office at +61 3 9095 7157 or submit an online form.

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