Investing Requires Pro? Which Cross-Industry Masters Do You Know?

China’s top-performing 10-billion-yuan private fund manager, Dan Bin, said: “I graduated from a sports program, so it should have been impossible for me to work in finance — but I worked hard and changed my destiny.”

Have you seen any other legendary or master investors who also switched careers?

To invest well, do you first need to be physically fit? Wall Street has long embraced a culture that treats physical fitness as a form of competitiveness. Strong physical fitness is one of the best guarantees of stress resistance in investing.

It’s well-known that many university graduates with sports-related majors have entered the financial industry, with some even becoming elites in the field.

A Chinese-American peer once told me that when he participated in Wall Street’s decathlon 400-meter event, even running 56 seconds wasn’t enough to make the finals.

David Lazarus, a senior vice president at a major trading firm, ran 47 seconds in his forties (China’s first-class athlete standard is 49.7 seconds).

And Gwen Jorgensen, an Olympic triathlon champion, once worked in finance — further proving the crossover connection between sports and the financial industry.

Questions for Discussion

Which fund managers or investors have successfully switched careers?

Do you think investing needs pros?

To invest well, do you first need to be physically fit?