Man golfing on the green

Investing is Like Golfing (Free Financial Tips)

Robin’s free investment advice of the day is that
you should apply your golfing know-how to your investments …
Robin, our fully qualified and experienced financial advisor, is a keen golfer – as well as a keen investor!

Not surprisingly, he’s come up with this article on the similarities between golf and investing, and how you can apply your golfing knowledge to your personal finances.

You can learn more about Robin on this page, and you’ll also discover links to more of his investment and money articles towards the end of this page.

But for now, let’s improve our investing know-how … along with our golf!…

 

FREE INVESTMENT ADVICE FROM ROBIN – GOLF AND INVESTING

 

Surprisingly there are many similarities between golf and investments …

Of course, you’d be right to ask how this can be possible!

Let’s take a look at comparing different assets when investing with that of different types of shot that make up a round of golf.

The assets of your game would be divided into five assets; driving, long irons, short irons, bunker shots and putting.

After playing eighteen holes, golfers tend to reflect on the round and say: “My driving was a bit off today but my putting was good” … or next day: “My long irons were solid but I lost feel for my short game”.

I’m assuming that 99% of you are amateurs and therefore there’s no way of knowing which will be the best assets of your game before we set off for 18 holes.

Seldom is the case that all five assets (driving, long and short irons, bunker and putting) combine consistently to return your personal best, although it’s a great feeling when it does happen!

The same applies to your nest-egg when investing your wealth …

Your putter is the foundation of your game. This can be likened to cash on deposit … nice and safe.

Likewise, when seeking to play a good round you need to include a driver – your longest and very important shot. These are your blue chip equities.

Personal choice plays a large part in all aspects of your life. For example, a playing partner in a recent round used his Big Bertha only once when trying to achieve consistency in his score and it served him well.

The same might apply to his investment choices, where he places very little in equities (stocks and shares) that will minimise any fluctuations to his investments overall when aiming for a secure return or income from his capital.

Where another regular partner hits big and hard, he would have a large proportion of his investments in equities and in the long term it pays off!

As you need a number of clubs in your bag to compliment the 5 aspects of your game, you should also look to diversify your wealth into several different asset classes when investing.

The old adage is “don’t put all your eggs in one basket”, of which I’m a firm believer, but … what do we put them into?

Firstly, let’s look at how our favourite club golfer “Monty” played, or rather how his 5 golfing assets looked after playing each day:-

We can see that, on Monday, Monty’s bunker play faired best although his short iron play was worst. By Friday, Monty’s driving was top but his bunker play was bottom.

Now look at a factual example of how 5 different assets have faired in through each of the last five years:-

  • 2002 shows that Commodities ( eg gold and oil) finished top while equities (stocks and shares) were last.
  • 2006 tells us that UK Property (this is physical commercial property, not residential houses) appeared top where Commodities finished last.
  • An interesting thing is that cash (bank deposits) was consistent, albeit 2 out of 5 years in 4th and the other 3 years in 5th place.

You should include most types of assets in your portfolio. Where the job of a putter is different from that of a driver, so too is a cash deposit account different to equities.

Therefore, as the best club selection will ensure the best opportunity to return with a good score card, the same applies when choosing the correct blend of investment assets to match your expected returns or income from your capital.

Surprisingly, diversifying assets in such a way can be effective for all investors, from as little as €10,000 or up to and over €1million.

Each person’s game is different, each person’s investment goals are different.

     Robin’s a professionally-qualified financial advisor, his
company having some 40 regulated advisors throughout
the EU. If you’d like to ask him a question, or contact
him for free investment advice in
confidence, please fill in the short form on this page.

MORE FREE INVESTMENT ADVICE ARTICLES FROM ROBIN …

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