Oran Hall | The intersection of sports and financial planning

Tina Clayton has every reason to be exultant. She is the Class One Girls’ 100 metre champion, having beaten into second place Brianna Lyston, who, three hours earlier, had beaten her in the semi-finals at the 2022 edition of the ISsSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships.

That earlier defeat did cause some doubts to arise in her mind, but with encouragement from her mother and her coach, she regained her confidence and the will to win. That her sister, Tia, finished third in the finals alongside her, made the victory sweeter.

We see winners in individual sports like athletics regularly, but even athletics has room for team effort in the form of the relays.

Tina did not win on a whim. She prepared for it. She has trained hard over time and has some way to go before she reaches the pinnacle of her sport. She has realised one goal, but there are many more ahead of her, on the international stage, where she is the World Athletics Under-20 100m champion.

I am not able to recall his name or the school he represented, and the reports are not helping me, but the male athlete who stumbled, almost falling to the ground, and regained his balance and pushed to the finish line stands out in my mind. He did not make the top three but what an effort!

So I am encroaching on Hubert Lawrence’s ground, you are no doubt thinking, and are probably asking what all of this has to do with personal financial planning. A lot.

First of all, financial planning is about realising your goal – the ultimate being financial independence, if not at every stage of life, certainly at retirement. Goal achievement does not come on a whim. It requires careful, disciplined planning and effort.

There will likely be failures along the way as happened to Tina when she placed second in the semi-final, but she bounced back to win the final.

Setbacks will almost certainly come. Perhaps there will be stumbles, but the young male athlete showed so very well that you can regain your balance, refocus and push to the goal.

Commitment is required to achieve the goal. There must be dedication to the cause, and so many athletes across the various disciplines have shown repeatedly that giving up takes you nowhere. Thus, Tiger Woods is back on the golf course after a major accident and is competing in the Masters.

Tiger Woods is modelling what a comeback means as well. When there are setbacks, the situation can change and you can get back on course with hard work, focus, and determination.

Sports people will tell you, practice makes perfect. West Indies cricket coach, Phil Simmons, knows this well. He knows there is a weakness against spin by his charges, so time must be spent working on this weakness. Likewise, we must identify the weaknesses in our strategies and correct them for better decision-making, for example, in managing our investments.

It will get better over time.

Teamwork is important. Sports people have coaches and other support staff who must work together for the success of the person or the team. Some sports are team sports by their very nature. All must work well together for success to be realised.

Financial planning generally requires team work. Sometimes it means working with a coach or working with a professional, such as a financial adviser, or with members of the family to achieve the desired results.

Athletes take stock to determine where they are in relation to where they plan to be and take corrective action when necessary. Financial planning requires the taking of stock – evaluating where you are and taking corrective action if the evaluation suggests that such action is necessary.

Sports people must let best practices be the hallmark of their operations lest they destroy their career. Financial planning requires the same. Unethical practices can easily derail your financial programme and your life plan.

Sports people must keep their stocks high. Likewise, financial planning requires that your stocks are kept high, so, for example, a bad credit rating can be disastrous to your financial programme.

People serious about sports must eat right, follow their exercise programme slavishly, keep harmful substances out of their bodies, and get adequate sleep and rest to reduce the risk of injury and illness,as well as to achieve peak performance. Financial planning must include effective risk-management strategies for optimal outcomes.

Successful sports people reap many benefits: financial independence from good income and endorsements, for example, scholarships, fame, valuable after-sports careers and influence.

Sports has been life-changing for many. Financial planning, effectively done, can be life-changing and yield long-lasting benefits, although, like sports, there will be peaks and troughs.

Sports makes personal financial planning absolutely necessary as some successful sports personalities tend to lose so much of what they have earned. Perhaps Tasha Pinnock and her twin daughters, Tina and Tia Clayton, in their celebration, are visualising the financial plan they will create.

- Oran A. Hall, author of Understanding Investments and principal author of The Handbook of Personal Financial Planning, offers personal financial planning advice and counsel.finviser.jm@gmail.com