Having just ran a half marathon and having completed full marathons in the past, when it came to thinking of an article topic this week I thought how similar the emotions are that we experience when running a marathon and investing.
Preparation and training
Before we even start our marathon we will research things like:
- Running gear we need.
- How best to train.
- What to eat.
- Inspiration.
Before investing our money we need to know:
- What technology to use to invest.
- Where to do our research.
- Guidance from professionals.
Setting goals is a massive thing for both marathon runners and investors. Runners will aim for times, whether it’s a finishing time they aim to complete the course or an average pace to keep to whilst running.
No investment should ever take place without a goal in mind. Once you know your investment goal you will know how much money you need to make and therefore what level of investment return you need. This will then ultimately determine what level of risk you need to take.
Then before the race starts or you deposit your cash into an investment, there is a period of training. You will be pushing yourself more each week, learning more about yourself and how you will achieve your goal.
Get ready, get set….invest
On the start line you are nervous, 26.2 miles is a long way and anything could happen between the start and finish. The same goes when investing your money, have you made the right investment decision, what if it goes wrong and you don’t achieve your target?
As you run around the course you experience a range of emotions. There are times when you feel like giving up, your body is in pain and the end is nowhere near. It’s exactly the same when investing, the stock market goes up and then sometimes crashes down causing you all sorts of anxiety. You feel like selling and cutting your losses.
But to get through both and achieve your goal you need to get through to the end. Yes you may make slight changes along the way, adjusting your pace or tweaking the areas of investment but ultimately you realise that history tells us people have run marathons and invested in the stock market for years. Both goals are highly achievable with the right strategy.
What is very clear though is that you do not start a marathon sprinting, expecting to get to the end in record time. If you do this you are taking a massive risk that you will burn out after a few miles and end the race early never achieving your goal. It’s just the same with investing. Hoping to get rich quick will involve you taking more investment risk with the potential that you lose everything.
If you would like help with your investment training and goal setting then please give us a call so we can discuss how you can benefit from smarter investing and don’t forget to download our ‘Simply Investing’ guide below which provides further information on how to reduce your investment risk.
Risk warning:
Stock market linked investments and any income from them, can fall as well as rise and is not guaranteed. Any figures quoted are for illustrative purposes and should not be taken as a forecast or guarantee. Past performance should not be seen as an indication of future returns and clients may get back less than they have invested.
