Right man in Horn corner
Mentor’s help goes beyond boxing
JEFF Horn will not have to go far to get financial advice as he starts raking in the big money from a promised stellar boxing career.
The world welterweight champion’s trainer Glenn Rushton is not only a producer of winners in the “sweet science” of boxing but in the financial world as well.
Mr Rushton, together with his son Lee, runs a funds management business Rushton Financial Services that manages $70 million for investors.
While Horn garnered worldwide headlines following his win against Manny Pacquiao at Suncorp Stadium earlier this month, the ragsto-riches background of his softly-spoken trainer and manager has gone largely unnoticed.
The 59-year-old left his hometown of Bundaberg as a teenager with $20 to go fruit picking, going on to a varied career as a bricklayer, photographer and successful property developer before turning to investing more than a decade ago.
Mr Rushton, who initially founded Rushton Financial Services as a way to manage his own family’s wealth, said there were many similarities between boxing and finance.
Mr Rushton, a martial arts expert who describes himself as a “rich man brought up in a poor’s man’s body,” said financial and sporting success were both dependent on a good strategy.
“With Jeff, I analysed hundreds of hours of video footage of him fighting and distilled it down into a 10point plan,” Mr Rushton said. “I told him if he followed that plan he would win the fight and he did.”
Like boxing, Mr Rushton said investing was all about risk management. That approach allowed him to take a bullied schoolboy like Jeff Horn and mould him into a boxer capable of beating an 11-time world champion.
“Jeff was 20 when he had his first bout and time was important so I stepped him up quickly,” Mr Rushton said. “I was less concerned about whether he won in the early days and more focused on achieving our long-term objectives.”
Rushton’s firm employs a so-called “market neutral” approach, which aims to perform well in both rising and falling equity markets. This is particularly important for retirees who don’t have time on their side to ride out market volatility.
Mr Rushton said the risks for Australian investors in 2017 were piling up, including rising US interest rates, Brexit and the threat of a US-China trade war.
“We have 600 positions in companies in 23 different countries allowing us to minimise risk,” Mr Rushton said. “Like boxing, avoiding getting hit is as good as landing a punch. Most people who win the Lotto end up broke so it is so important to be disciplined and stick to a plan.”
MOST PEOPLE WHO WIN THE LOTTO END UP BROKE SO IT IS SO IMPORTANT TO BE DISCIPLINED GLENN RUSHTON