Choosing the right investment opportunities can be a minefield for any footballer. Negative headlines and horror stories seem to appear at every turn yet Enoch Showumni, is one current player who is tackling the issue head on after training to become a proprietary trader with Samuel & Co Trading.
Speaking to www.thepfa.com, Showumni compared trading with the “buzz” of goal-scoring and insisted that his peers can navigate the hazards of the financial world if they invest sensibly and take appropriate advice from a “reputable” organisation.
“I did a lot of research on my own because as a footballer you finish training early so you have a lot of time on your hands to do the things you actually want to do,” he said.
“That helped me establish the route I wanted to take. If you’re going to learn about investing, one, you need to learn from someone who’s trading and can show you their live trading and two, you want to learn from someone who is running a hedge fund.
“If you’ve got those kind of people to learn from you won’t be steered in the wrong direction.
“There are a lot of training companies in the market that you can find on the internet and a lot of them don’t show you their live trading or handle a hedge fund or other people’s money. So you need to look for a really reputable company who is doing that kind of thing in the investment world. Anyone can teach anything but you want to be taught by the best,” he added.
Former Nigeria striker Showumni, moved into the semi-professional arena last summer after spending the 11 years cashing in on defenders mistakes in a career that took in eight Football League clubs.
Yet far from being daunted by his next move, the 33-year-old revealed that he had started planning for this venture several years ago and is aiming to build upon undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications in Business and Finance.
While his background has undoubtedly helped, the 6ft 5in forward is convinced, it is a route that other players could exploit regardless of their experience in the financial sector.
“I got interested in trading after completing a Masters in Finance in 2011 so I was looking at dabbling in the markets a bit and investing my own money,” continued Showumni.
“At the end of my contract at my last (professional) club, Notts County, I had a few offers on the table which I didn’t think were as lucrative as I’d have liked so I decided to look for a role on the financial world and I came across this company in February this year. It’s been a brilliant experience and the company I’m involved with make 22 per cent yields on client money.
“I’ve been able to transition out of the game and also use the knowledge from my education and transfer that to the working world.
“It’s something I’ve planned for a couple of years. When you’re getting to your late twenties and early thirties I think it’s something that players need to look at and have a vision of what they want to do.
“I was interested in finance and looking after my own investments so this has been an easy step for me to make and get my teeth into.
“The thing about investment is that it’s similar to playing in the respect that it’s all about performance. It’s about what you do and what you put in - you get the rewards afterwards.
“The role I have is remote, so I work from home, I get up early and I’m on my trading platforms early in the morning and I’m looking at the markets on a daily basis.
”As a striker you miss chances, as a player you don’t play well, so how do you forget about that missed chance to put the next one away or go from having a couple of bad games to performing really well? “It’s the same with trading - the skills are transferable, it’s all about performance, it’s about how disciplined you can be. Those are the aspects I liked and kept the buzz of football in terms of scoring goals and winning,” he added.
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