Financial Lessons from the Boys of Summer
At the time this article was written, the Atlanta Braves and its fans were still celebrating their second World Series championship since moving to Atlanta in 1966. A little history for you, the Braves have actually won four Major League Baseball titles – the first in Boston in 1914, and the second in Milwaukee in 1955. And if you’ve followed the Bravos for any length of time, this championship is especially sweet considering the path they took to get there. More on that later. If the phrase, “it’s a marathon, not a sprint” applied to a sport other than its namesake, it’s baseball. Most teams will start around Valentine’s Day and two will finish just before the Peanut Festival begins. There are 162 games in the regular season – 150 or so receiving much less attention than those played in October. But if you’ve ever been part of a championship team of any sport or of any sort, you know that it was the preparation of February that led to the champaign in November. It wasn’t serendipity, far from it. I’m sure there was a good break or a bad call along the way adding to the story. But long before the first glove was restrung, or the first line- up card scribbled out, there was a plan.
Such is baseball.
Similar success stories can be found from planning within the personal finance game. And unless there’s a silver spoon in the way, you can clearly see the correlation. For most, living your one best financial life doesn’t happen by chance. It’s the result of implementing and monitoring a financial plan with adjustments being made along the way. It’s intentional. And it starts with understanding how you make financial decisions and the biases at play within us all. Do you ever avoid having financial discussions with those you care about most? Are there certain behaviors detrimental to your financial wellbeing that you seem to repeat again and again? Odds are, you have a history with one of these questions. Maybe even both. Take heart, you’re not alone. One study from a financial research firm found that people are “more comfortable” talking about race, sex, politics, mental health and marital discord than they are talking about money. Money can be hard to discuss for a variety of reasons, right? Maybe you were brought up in a home in which avoiding the “money talk” was modeled to you. Your parents never discussed it at the dinner table, so now you don’t. So why is that? It’s not like we want our children to learn financial stewardship through culture. The same culture that gives us the Real Housewives of (insert city here) or Pretty Little Liars. Maybe we avoid discussing money for fear of being compared to others, or maybe we just don’t know how to talk about money? Could it be that we hesitate to talk about money because how we spend it shines a light on what we value? I’ll pause here and let you reflect on that a moment.
When we realize why we make the decisions we make, and how those decisions reflect what we value, we’re gaining the understanding needed to create a personal financial plan.
Baseball has changed over the years. When I was a kid, they played “small-ball baseball” where teams emphasize getting runners on base and methodically moving them into scoring position and then advancing them across the plate. They do this through bunting, stealing bases, and just putting the ball in play. Defensively, this style calls for your pitcher to throw 80 to 90 pitches per outing. That’s old school, fundamental baseball. These days, however, teams (see: their owners) have moved toward the “knock out punch” style of baseball where hitters are swinging for the fences – or for the knock out – from one swing of the bat. Great for ratings, advertisers, owners, and those who’ve found baseball – boring. The Braves? Not so much. They won the old-fashioned way. For example, Braves players, Freddie Freeman and Austin Riley, as one writer offered, “drew walks like flies”.
(A “walk” is when a player opts not to swing for the fence and chooses to wait for the pitcher to throw strikes. And when the pitcher doesn’t (or can’t), he ends up “walking” the batter (on four bad pitches), thereby earning the batter a trip to first base – the first step toward home plate and another run.)
Once on base, they would “steal” the next base. And once in scoring position, (on second or third base), they would advance on the next hit, and add to the run total. Then, with pitchers able to consistently pitch into the 6th and 7th innings, you’re able to throw in a middle reliever for an inning or two to hold the lead and then turn it over to your closer. That’s the baseball that many of us grew up on. And there’s a reason for that – it’s methodical, it’s proven, it’s fundamental, and it requires a strategy.
And it’s all part of a plan.
As an advisory business, CapSouth focuses on the long-term goals of our clients while guiding them toward the financial life they’ve always wanted. It starts with an honest conversation that can fundamentally change the way you see your finances. Our discussions, as you may know, are not so much focused on amounts, as they are on values, goals, and behaviors. Our process puts the personal back in personal finance. Your life is not about numbers, amounts, percentages, and totals (as baseball may be.) Your life is the sum of your values, the priorities you establish and the decisions you make along the way. We’re not here to help you hit the long ball, we’re here to help you pursue your goals through one wise financial decision after the other. Understanding, of course, there may be bumps along the way.
Detours and forks in the road are not uncommon, and your financial plan should account for them.
In the middle of the summer, when our nation celebrates its independence, we also celebrate the Major League Baseball All-Star game. Both the American and National Leagues bring their best teams together for one game – for bragging rights, I guess. In old-school baseball (prior to 2017), the winner would have home field advantage in the World Series. That’s not the case any longer. Now they play for a pool of money. Surprise. But I digress. In 2021, your Atlanta Braves entered the all-star break with a record of 44-45 and had just lost its best player Ronald Acuna, Jr. to a torn ACL. Perhaps this is the equivalent to a significant market correction, or let’s call it a market slump in keeping with the metaphor. So what did the Braves do?
They relied on their plan.
They made adjustments, sure, traded some assets for others, but didn’t panic in the face of adversity. Their advisor, Coach Brian Snitker, having years of experience behind him with his team of coaches, led the way, making wise decisions with the resources they had in hopes of living their one best season. And boy did they.
As the Braves have shown, numbers, percentages and values may change throughout the course of a season – as is true in a financial season – but more important than continued, uninterrupted success throughout, is success when the season ends. The Braves finished well. How about you? How are you going to celebrate the end of your season? On the field hoisting a trophy? Or in the dugout watching someone else do it.
Finish well, won’t you?
And from all of us a CapSouth, may you and your family enjoy this season and many more!
To learn more about CapSouth Wealth Management visit our website at www.CapSouthWM.com
If you would like to further discuss CapSouth’s financial planning services, request an appointment at www.CapSouthWM.com/contact or contact our office at 800.929.1001.
CapSouth Partners, Inc., dba CapSouth Wealth Management, is an independent registered Investment Advisory firm. This material has been prepared for planning purposes only and is not intended as specific advice. CapSouth does not offer tax, accounting or legal advice. Consult your tax or legal advisors for all issues that may have tax or legal consequences.
