As this year’s baseball season gets underway, America’s pastime reminds us “It’s a long game.” Baseball and wealth management share many parallels. Baseball fundamentals can directly apply to your retirement strategy.
The Major League Baseball season has approximately 162 games. Winning teams are not measured in what they do in any single game but in how they perform over the season. The same can be said for your retirement plan. Retirement often lasts for 20, 30, or even 40 years. It’s a long season, so you’d better have a long-term vision and pace yourself.
From the first pitch on Opening Day to the final strike in October, winning teams capitalize on the fundamentals. In wealth management, there are many parallels. Baseball is an extremely mental game that takes a great deal of focus and discipline. When it comes to preparation, mental approach, strategy, and execution, many of the factors that drive success in baseball directly apply to investing.
Focus on the Fundamentals
Over the course of the season, there are many ups and downs in the game of baseball. One individual, one game can’t change the outcome of a season. That’s why winning teams capitalize on the fundamentals. The same is true of investing. You have no control over how the market is going to perform, but you can decide to focus on fundamentals, covering your bases, and making sure you have a track record of quality performance.
Pick Your Pitch
Picking the ball up out of a pitcher’s hand, detecting the spin on the ball and where it might cross the hitting zone, and deciding whether to swing takes absolute focus and a clear mind to be successful.
But reaching that point of ultimate focus is not easy. Elite players practice routinely to hone their skills. Successful investors also adhere to a disciplined routine, learn to manage their emotions, and make decisions that fit their long-term strategy.
Every hitter has an area of the strike zone where they prefer to hit the ball. This “sweet spot” is the area where a hitter is most comfortable and confident. They wait for the right pitch and perform when the stakes are high.
Coaches teach players to “wait for their pitch” and “let the ball come to you.” Successful investors also are patient, take a lot of pitches, and wait for the right opportunity that fits their strategy.
One Base At A Time
There’s nothing like seeing a home run light up the scoreboard, but games are often won by singles and doubles that get runners in scoring position through a series of base hits. The one-base-at-a-time approach takes discipline, something that you can apply to your finances by putting together a long-term strategy that covers your retirement from spring training to the final game.
Baseball players minimize the odds that a runner will safely reach a base by standing close to the base to protect it. To avoid a bad hop and help protect your financial future, we help our clients prepare for life’s “what-ifs.” We take a holistic approach and mathematically test a wide range of economic, market, and political scenarios so you can have confidence that your retirement strategy doesn’t get derailed by a curve ball.
Strike Your Out
Fans may have trouble seeing strikeouts in a positive light, but every baseball player knows that striking out is a big part of the game. In baseball, even the best hitters in the game get a hit only three out of ten tries. Clutch players don’t allow the fear of striking out to keep them from playing the game. Instead of always swinging for the fences, they focus on being a consistent performer.
In baseball, there’s more than one way to strike out. A batter can strike out by not swinging at a pitch, or strike out swinging by attempting but failing, to hit a pitch. In both cases, the batter was in the game waiting for the “right” opportunity.
True professionals find a way to stay focused, forget about that last at-bat, learn something from it, and keep their head in the game. While we don’t want you to strike out, you must be in the game to hit it out of the park.
It’s A Whole New Ball Game
When the trailing team ties the score (often unexpectedly), the announcer shouts, “It’s a whole new ball game!” And so, it is as you prepare for retirement. What got you to retirement is very likely not the same strategy you need when the paychecks stop. Some of the same fundamentals apply, but different issues pop up and things get more complex. It’s now that you need a skilled coach with both the technical knowledge and experience to get you through to the playoffs.
Winning Teams Have Winning Coaches
Successful players attest to having a great coach in their corner. To be an effective coach, it takes both technical knowledge and qualitative skills, plus the ability to communicate well.
Being a wealth manager is similar. It takes experience and knowledge, plus the ability to listen, observe and communicate. In retirement, you want a coach who can take you all the way – through all 162 games of the season and into the playoffs.
We’ve helped people just like you navigate the bases for a successful retirement season for over 25 years. We’d love to help you get to home base too! Remember, the sooner you start preparing for a successful retirement, the more likely you are to hit it out of the park.
To schedule your complimentary consultation call 281.872.1515