Most of you don't know, but besides being a basketball player at Electra Ramat Hasharon, I function as an investment manager of Pension Funds at the Psagot Investment House. Even if it sounds totally different there are many similarities between my two careers. In basketball, as in the financial market, every day is different and you cannot really prepare yourself ahead. For example, the Chinese Central Bank may suddenly raise the interest at night, resulting in change of all the work assumptions regarding the markets, just as in an important game, the coach of the opponent team pulls a rabbit from his hat, so to speak, by producing a new tactical defense, finding you hardly prepared for this. In my two careers, I need to be dynamic, think, give my maximum yet know that making the most effort is not always enough. At the end of the day, the road is important, but the bottom line is the result: gain or lose, score or miss.
For you to understand how it is possible to combine those 2 careers here is a typical day schedule:
07:20 Alarm clock rings
07:25 Alarm clock rings again
07:30 Uff, just like tight personal defense the clock rings again. I get up, brush my teeth,
and dress up with the suit I prepared last night. I look good.
08:00 I jump on my motorcycle to get to my office, check my e-mail and task list and on to
work. Warming up is over. Now it's "money time".
09:00 Stock market meeting. The research people review a few stocks while the investment
people hold a debate about which stocks need to be purchased and which need to be
sold. Lucky for me, two favorite stocks receive upgrade and at the end of the meeting
I will enlarge their share in those funds that I manage. I scored in an important game.
10:00 Short conversation with some brokers to get a better understanding of the present
stock market. I let two of them buy stocks, each a different one (and no, I'm not going
to disclose the names). So it is in the dressing room. We check, gossip, talk to the
colleagues.
11:00 A few more mails, last brush up to the presentation I need to deliver tomorrow at the
board meeting, jump of my motorcycle in the direction of Investment Committee.
That's called pre-game practice.
12:00 Investment Committee of a pension fund that I manage. I present economical review,
details the investment recommendations and takes part in the discussion of their
investment file. This time it's only 2 hours. Thank God! In the team, I can also present
my opinion, and then the coach decides…
14:30 Lunch in the office, in front of the computer screen of course. I read new investment
regulations by the Ministry of Finance while charting a few items for the next team
meeting. Yes, in basketball too you need to repeat exercises.
15:00 Phone call to my boss regarding a business question. In my team salary bonus is
already approved. Now the boss needs to worry about where to bring this money…
16:00 I receive executions of the brokers and checks to see if it follows my instructions. In
basketball I do not give instructions yet.
16:25 I turn off the computers, glance at my desk: still busy, but under control.
16:30 I sit on my motorcycle, take a deep breath, and switch my head. End of stocks and
debit charts, now it's match-up zone and box out.
17:00 I reach the gym and run the latest gossip with the girls while tying my shoe laces
and peeling a banana. Now it's a start of a new day for me and I'm totally focused. No
stock exchange, no foreign currency. I'm all in the practice: warm-up, stretches,
learning a new exercise from the coaches. We play 5 over 5 without dribble, then with
dribble. We practice how to deal with defense and some more shooting drills. I love
this orange ball. Pity you cannot issue it to the public.
19:30 After shower, I ride home thinking how to deal with the hunger feeling I have. I call my
loving boyfriend hoping that he suffers from the same dilemma. He isn't. We'll work it
out separately.
20:00 For a change, I answer a few work e-mails (they are like bugs: you get rid of one, four
of them come in), TV in the background and some phone calls to my family.
23:30 Good night! Another day is over. When will the weekend come?!