Fabulous Futbol Fiasco
When I was in high school, my soccer team made it to the state finals. In spite of a grueling double-overtime game, the score remained tied. So, it come down to a penalty shootout to determine the outcome of the state championship. I was the third of five nervous shooters on our team. When taking a penalty shot, it’s important to examine your surroundings, focus on a target, and eliminate all distractions. As I approached the ball, I made a fundamental mistake by trying to predict which direction the goalie would move. Instead of focusing on my initial target to the left of the goalie, I was distracted. My indecision forced me to change my mind at the last second and kick the ball towards the right corner of the goal. The ball collided with the cross bar, bounced straight down, and the goalie immediately covered it, declining me of what would have been the winning goal.
Lesson of the past
Ah, the glory days—many athletes wish they could go back to relive them, whatever they were. (In my case, it was high school soccer in Idaho, so maybe not quite so glorious.) It’s not uncommon to hear one say, “If I had a chance to go back and do it all over again, I would have made such better choices.” Just as I couldn’t predict where the goalie would jump, no one can predict the future. However, we can take lessons from our past, and not repeat the same mistakes. Lessons I learned in that single moment on the soccer field apply fittingly to today’s investment environment. Examine your surroundings, focus on a target, and eliminate all distractions.
How to make it work
Here’s the simple application – examining your surroundings requires you to make conscious choices about personal finance. It won’t take care of itself. Work with an advisor who tirelessly defends your best interest. What experience do they have that qualifies them to be an advisor to you and your practice? What educational background or professional credentials do they hold? What do their existing clients say? Take your time and make a good decision – don’t get sold a bunch of over-hyped financial products that overcompensate the advisor while under-compensating the client.
Focus on a target. Establish clear goals and stay focused on those concrete, tangible goals. Working with your advisor can help you stay focused and accountable to those goals.
Get focused
Finally, eliminate all the distractions. Desperate times call for desperate measures. And it’s no different this time around. Ever day there are powerful messages telling us to “buy” something, or “buy into” someone’s philosophy. Bad news sells. Good news doesn’t. Especially during this market cycle, these messages are designed to take advantage of our desperate times, to influence us to make very short-term, emotional decisions. . . ones not usually in our best interest. Chao amigos.
