Winning Is Everything... or is it?

2011: Win Win - Thomas McCarthy

Great financial planning is all about figuring out what you want to achieve and putting this into a values based workable financial plan to achieve the results you want. Invariably life changes, so the plan needs reviewing and sometimes it is necessary to make dramatic changes. The assumptions we make and the strategies applied are tested against real experience. Financial Planning is not about winning, but it is about getting results.

In sport, the combination of the right sequence of results, will lead to someone being either a winner or not. Indeed in sport, to become "the best" you have to ultimately face the best and compete to win. As Andy Murray has found today in Australia, playing the best (Novak Djokovic) is the required experience and ingredient in order to progress towards becoming the best. Sport and in particular tennis, is particularly unforgiving - consistently playing at the highest level is vital in order to become a "winner". A momentary lapse can be the difference between winning and losing. Sadly for Andy Murray, the Wimbledon Mens Champion and current world number one proved too much today (but only just) in an enthralling match.

Financial planning and investing is not really like this. There is no "winning" the goals are not to beat other people, or the market, but to ensure that your goals are achieved. This does not mean that investment performance is unimportant, on the contrary, it is highly significant - but in the context of getting the results you need to achieve, which may mean taking very little investment risk or a lot - depending on your goals.

However, like sport, if you want your financial planning to deliver the results you are looking for, you need to find the right coach (financial planner) and have a proper strategy. Times will be testing, sometimes more effort is required, sometimes risks need to be taken, at others - perhaps a more cautious approach is necessary. Vital skills include knowing the difference between quitting and changing.