The Summer Olympics have been officially postponed until 2021. Does anybody believe the top athletes will stop training? Don’t bet on it.
Top-level athletes are the best for a reason. They train day in day out and eat, live and breathe their sports year-round, not just near the time of competition.
Now, even as NBA, NFL, and MLB players wait for their seasons to resume or start, if or when it happens, the top players are still training and keeping their skills sharp – prepared for that day their commissioner announces we’re back in business.
The wannabe athlete may think stretching on the day of a race will be enough to win, but we all know that’s an illusion. If the athlete doesn’t train well before the race, they’ll lose.
There’s just too much competition from athletes who are far hungrier than the complacent ones ever to give slackers any hope of succeeding.
Take, for instance, Johnny Manziel, aka Johnny Football. He set the college football world on fire at Texas A&M with his breathtaking play as a quarterback. Brash and talented, he was taken in the first round of the 2014 NFL draft by the Cleveland Browns.
He never lived up to his potential. It wasn’t because of a lack of talent. It was because of a lack of preparation.
Johnny Manziel thought he could party all week, ignore the playbook, then show up on Sunday yet hungover and still win games. His lack of preparation was his downfall. He ended up winning only seven games and lasted only two seasons before being released. He would never play in the NFL again.
“If you fail to prepare, you’re prepared to fail.”
– Mark Spitz
“It’s not the will to win that matters – everyone has that. It’s the will to prepare to win that matters.”
– Paul “Bear” Bryant
Investing is not much different from elite sports. You must prepare and be ready from the start, and you must be prepared for all the different economic scenarios you may encounter.
Smart investors must be prepared for when the starting pistol goes off, just like the athlete. Like top athletes who have already played every game scenario in their heads before actually stepping on the field, smart investors are always prepared for whatever comes their way.
Have you heard of muscle memory?
Take Major League pitchers, for example. They practice certain pitches over and over and over to the point that by the time game day rolls around, that slider, that curveball, all become automatic. The practice was at such a high level that on game day, the athlete is almost like on cruise control.
The top athletes of the investing world – institutional and ultra-wealthy investors – prepared long ago for the recent pandemonium triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. They weren’t prepared for the coronavirus, but they were prepared for economic shocks, no matter the cause.
A majority of ultra-wealthy investors surveyed last year anticipated a recession this year. How did they prepare?
They doubled down on income-producing tangible assets that would continue to cash flow through a downturn with downside protection. They also hoarded cash to go bargain hunting when panicked investors started heading for the hills. They were prepared for all this chaos. All they’ve had to is put their plan on cruise control.
So while mainstream investors all went on the defensive and retreated when the Stock Market dropped as much as 33% in March, the smart investors went on offense, adopting Warren Buffett’s famous refrain to “be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful” in the face of recession.
Smart investors are already prepared for the economic rebound. They know it’s coming because the market has always recovered following a downturn.
By snapping up assets now at the bottom of the market, smart investors will be in golden position on the upswing as they maximize profits while their assets appreciate and appreciate. The investor who does not take action to prepare now will not see this kind of growth and will not win the investing game.
There’s a lot of talk about the economy opening soon.
Top investors are already prepared. It’s not too late for everyone else. The longer you wait, you may miss out on the prime opportunities now and have less time to allow your assets to grow.
But don’t just prepare for this rebound, prepare for all future rebounds – just like the smart investors. What if you invested in cash-flowing assets now like smart investors?
You’ll be able to pad your war chest for the next downturn. Then instead of sitting on the sides, you’ll be able to snap up bargains and watch those bargains grow on the upswing just like the ultra-wealthy.
So invest early and prepare now instead of waiting.
Eric