Of all the lessons we could learn from investor George Boubouras, perhaps the most important would be to face every aspect of life with devotion and enthusiasm.

“You must be really passionate about what you do. As clichéd as that is, you must love what you do, because it’s a lifestyle – you’re a fund manager for life.”

Boubouras grew up in the South Australian town of Peterborough, perhaps better known for its place in steam railway history rather than the childhood home of financial entrepreneurs.

At an age when most young boys would more likely be spending their money down at the shops, Boubouras instead asked his father to buy shares with the money he would earn from farm work and other jobs around town.

Moving to Adelaide at the age of 17, he eventually attended university and began to buy and sell his own stocks, often from payphones in between classes

For someone of his interests, the 1980s was an exciting time to be playing the markets in Australia, not only watching the rise and fall of various conglomerates, but also some of the country’s most well-known large-scale borrowers like Alan Bond, Christopher Skase and Laurie Connell.

Not even Boubouras escaped this era unscathed, however, he managed to learn a lesson from it, unlike his contemporaries.

“I still recall back in 1989 losing $10,000 at Farrow Corporation offering a 19 per cent yield. Farrow Corporation was obviously a derivative of Pyramid, and they went under in that period,” he says.

“So it was a wonderful lesson at the early stage of my life cycle, that chasing such high returns, risk comes with it … and obviously a great lesson to have.
“I keep that perspective still and it was a good, valuable lesson in 1989.”

Boubouras went on to finish his Bachelor of Economics at the University of California, Irvine, and then landed a role as a graduate economist at Swiss Bank Corporation (SBC) back in Australia, hired by John Fraser, who now serves as secretary of the Treasury Department.

Following SBC, he put in a solid innings of 10 years at HSBC Asset Management, eventually moving on to UBS Wealth Management and with stints at Macquarie and Equity Trustees.

Nowadays, he can be found occupying the position of chief investment officer at Contango Asset Management, a multi-sector equity fund manager, a role he has held since December 2014.

Even though Boubouras is so heavily invested in the financial world that it would seem he has little time for much else in life, a glance at his Twitter feed proves otherwise.

Amongst endless links to finance articles are numerous updates on his favourite sports teams.

Most notably, Carlton Football Club, whose board he has recently joined, however, he doesn’t limit himself to the AFL.

“Anything that’s broadly blue and Socceroos in nature,” he mentions in his descriptor.

He’s also a fan of Melbourne Victory, Melbourne Storm, Melbourne Rebels, Chelsea Football Club, and even Duke University’s basketball team, the Blue Devils.

It is worth mentioning that he isn’t a mere spectator, as he even spent a season playing football in Alice Springs.

Boubouras is a hard player; whether it’s in the sporting field or in the financial markets.