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Baseball Meets Finance ⚾💰 | Build a Winning Investment Strategy Like a Pro | Future of Finance S2 Ep.26
15 Plays4 days ago
What do baseball and investing have in common? More than you think.
In this fun and insightful episode of The Future of Finance, Marissa Wood and Lisa Greene break down financial strategies using baseball analogies—from spring training and home runs to bullpen management and the ultimate grand slam.
If finance has ever felt confusing or boring, this episode makes it simple, relatable, and actually enjoyable.
⚾ Learn how to “round the bases” in your financial life
📈 Understand diversification through hitters, pitchers, and game strategy
💡 Discover how to avoid costly financial “errors” that can follow you for life
⚾ What You’ll Learn
- Why diversification is like building a winning baseball team
- How to balance aggressive growth with steady income
- The biggest financial mistakes to avoid (and how to recover)
- Why your strategy should evolve as you move through life
- How to create a “grand slam” financial future
💬 Which tip are you starting with this week? Drop a comment and let us know.
👍 Like, subscribe, and share if you want more money strategies made simple.
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Transcript
Introduction & Episode Theme
00:00:09
Speaker
Hi, everyone. Welcome to the Future of Finance podcast, where we break down investment strategies to help you live a better financial future. I'm your host, Marissa Wood, one of the owners of Union Financial Services and Financial Advisor. And today I'm joined by my business partner, Lisa Green. And together, we're going to discuss some investment strategies through the lens of baseball. And if you enjoyed our past fantasy football episode, you're also going to love this one. But before we get started, I'd ask you to please subscribe if you're watching on YouTube or your favorite podcasting app. It really does help us. So welcome, Lisa.
Linking Baseball to Finance
00:00:45
Speaker
Always great to be here, especially talking about sports and finance. I know. That seems today we are go to go-to. What brings us so much joy in life? we We got such positive feedback, as you said, about the fantasy football that, hey, it's baseball season. Let's give it a try. Let's go. Yeah. And I mean, when we were discussing talking about baseball through financial perspective, you had started listing off all the baseball phrases and wording. And oh, my gosh, there's so many terms in baseball. Yeah.
00:01:21
Speaker
It is a world in of itself. There are at least off the top of any list, at least 150 slang words, jargons, phrases, terminology with baseball. It's so funny that when you start digging into it, that's when we started saying, well, we can compare these terms with some financial terms and some investment terms. So that's one of the reasons we're going to do this. This is, this is to help people that maybe find finances, whether it's intimidating or boring or just tedious over and over again. We want to just do something fun and maybe resonate with some people that are sports fans. Yeah. And I mean, if you understand baseball, you actually might understand finance and you just don't know it yet. But we're going to shed some light on that today. So with baseball, of course, it's all about rounding the bases and getting home safe.
00:02:18
Speaker
And I think that's our job as well as that general manager to help the client through each life phase, which could be each base, and then get them to that end goal safely. Makes sense.
00:02:31
Speaker
So we want to start off this episode by starting out.
Planning & Strategy
00:02:36
Speaker
the way the season starts in baseball and that's spring training and it's something we love here in the tampa bay area too because there's so many spring training facilities that we can go to to watch with family and it really is fun because it's less serious than and regular season game and we want to remind you that of course with spring training and baseball you don't win the world series in march when the season starts
00:03:04
Speaker
That's when we lay the foundation, start practicing, start finding out what works, what doesn't, makes making some changes before the real season starts. um And so it really is about that consistency and patience with both finance and starting the season in baseball.
00:03:20
Speaker
That's right. it's It's practice in baseball, and it is ah consistency in finance. We always talk about having that slow and steady, you know good plan to to lean on. so baseball teams, this is when they, spring training is when they start planning on how they're going to go through the season. So we talk about home run hitting sometimes and and hitting singles. And how can that compare to finance? Well,
00:03:55
Speaker
The home run hitter is always going to be, say, the big stock that that gives great returns. Now, home run hitters also strike out a lot.
00:04:08
Speaker
So we want to have that nice combination of those exciting home run hitting stocks. Okay. versus some nice steady singles because singles do win games a lot.
00:04:23
Speaker
What would you say the singles would be? Like index funds, index annuities, something with slow and steady returns? Slow and steady returns, some some some safe type investments. You know, those singles will will get you to round those bases. Right.
00:04:40
Speaker
You know, and then you have that that every now and then there's going to be that NVIDIA or that home run hitting stock that that just hits the ball out of the park.
00:04:51
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's once again that diversification on a team with different types of batters and then also with your financial plan. That's a really good analogy and it's simple to understand, I think. I hope so. Yeah. One of the other phrases um is finding that gap when you're hitting.
Identifying and Filling Gaps
00:05:10
Speaker
Okay, there's that. It's our job. What you mean by finding the Okay, so when a hitter comes up to the plate, you want to be able to hit the ball where he can make a run. He can get a single. Okay, so in between two outfielders or right in between the infielders. You know, we don't want to be hitting directly at, you know, the center fielder because it's going to be caught. Yeah, true. So finding that gap in investments or hitting that gap, you know, there's there's plans that can have some guaranteed income.
00:05:50
Speaker
That is hitting that gap. That is filling that gap with guaranteed income. And, you know, you may need some additional funds that you're – Maybe your pension or your 401k is not providing in, you know, we're talking a little bit down the road in retirement. So you need to fill that gap. You need to find the gap.
00:06:13
Speaker
Our job to find the gap for our clients and fill that gap. Yeah, and that's, I think, one of the best parts of our job and most rewarding is because it's all about having income in
Avoiding Financial Errors
00:06:30
Speaker
retirement. That's how you have a healthy, happy retirement. And so when we meet with a client and we go through what their expenses are, that's number one. What is your monthly expenses? Do you anticipate them going Yeah. Is there going to be a major change in them? What can we absolutely count on that you're going to have to pay every month? There's no cutting it out. And then what does the income look like from Social Security, pension? We're talking guaranteed income.
00:06:59
Speaker
And then say if there's a gap of $2,000 a month that we need to cover with additional income, well, that's our job to make that happen with the assets you have.
00:07:11
Speaker
True, true. And that and that's that's sometimes ignored by clients. They don't want to know about, well, it is a gap, but I'm i'm going to figure it out.
00:07:24
Speaker
You're not going to figure it out on your own, but there are tools and investments that can absolutely fill that gap, help you figure that out, and help you sustain that lifestyle that you want. Yeah. So if you're listening to this and you're thinking, well, that would be a nice peace of mind for me to know that I have no gaps in retirement and I'm not quite sure what my expenses and guaranteed income are going to be and if my assets will cover that, just head to our website, union-financial.com, click schedule a meeting. You can book a call with Lisa or i or an in-person meeting. And we can sit down with you and provide you our expense template and give you some ideas on if you're going to face a gap and how we could fix that.
00:08:07
Speaker
Always complimentary. It's just good knowledge to have. So I would recommend anyone wondering if they have that covered, just go to our website and let's have a conversation. Great info. Yeah.
00:08:19
Speaker
Yeah. So another term in baseball is the sweet spot. I don't think I know that Now, the sweet spot is a location of on the barrel of the bat. ok there's there There's a location on the barrel of the bat that if that batter can hit that sweet spot, he's going to be pretty successful.
00:08:42
Speaker
And I like to think about the sweet spot in investing By having that perfect balance of protection, growth, and income, that is a sweet spot.
00:08:56
Speaker
That is where we want to be able to hit some balls. You know, protection, growth, and income sounds pretty happy, right? Yeah, I would say so. Sweet spot. Yeah, I would say so. Yeah. um So those are some of the good parts about baseball, you know, finding the gap, hitting the sweet spot on the barrel. But let's talk about some errors because errors do happen in every game. And unfortunately, with an error, it does follow the player, not only through that game and the season, but honestly, their entire career.
00:09:34
Speaker
Those errors, they don't go away. So let's talk about some errors that people do make in their financial decisions in life.
00:09:46
Speaker
What's the biggest error that people make? I mean, the standout one that comes to mind first would be withdrawing from a retirement account before age 59 and a half. Mm-hmm.
00:09:57
Speaker
And it's an error for multiple reasons. The first one, of course, is they're getting hit with that early withdrawal penalty of 10%. And that is a government penalty that happens anytime you withdraw before 59 and a half.
00:10:13
Speaker
Plus, they're getting taxed on that money. Right. which could change their tax brackets that year or just cause them to lose some of that account due to taxes and penalties. And then probably the worst of all is that once that money is out of that investment account,
00:10:33
Speaker
it no longer is in their earning and compounding for their future. Had they just left it alone, it would have compounded and snowballed. And then it's too late to pay it back 10 years from then. You lost all those years of earning. Talk about an error that will follow you.
00:10:50
Speaker
That is an error that can affect the rest of your life. you know We've heard of some people, some young people, that they'll leave a job and they cash out their Well, that's that's a big error. That's there for their future. That is not ah checking account money.
00:11:08
Speaker
so So that is probably the biggest error that we see in finance, and it has lasting effects. Yeah, and it goes down to being diversified. you cannot have all of your money in retirement funds, especially when you're in your 30s and 40s and early 50s. You have to have an emergency fund and non-retirement assets to withdraw from so that you don't blow up your entire plan when a big expense comes up. So true.
Patience in Downturns
00:11:37
Speaker
Yeah. yeah What's another error that we see? so So that is the biggest error, but there are quite a few. And, and you know, people do make mistakes. and And one of the reasons to have a financial advisor for that financial advisor to talk you out of those mistakes. yeah Just like a manager, you know, can can help a player with errors. You know, we laugh sometimes players don't make errors because they don't go after the ball. You know, dropping that ball is an error. yeah so So that manager is is there to guide the players, of course, and to coach them.
00:12:18
Speaker
We as financial advisors are here to guide people to not make errors that's going to affect their future. Yeah. And if errors do happen to help them get back on track.
00:12:30
Speaker
hmm. inevitably some things will go wrong throughout their life, but we need to steer them back on the course and hopefully rectify that error so it doesn't keep happening.
00:12:42
Speaker
Do people tend to ah make mistakes with their investments in the market when the market yeah down? Yeah, I would say so, if especially when they're investing on their own. And it's very emotion driven when you're doing it yourself. um It tends to have a little bit more logic when you have an advisor, a third party involved in the plan. But ah yeah, a huge error when you're investing in the market is selling or making drastic changes to your plan when the market's down.
00:13:12
Speaker
and I'll give everyone an example of this because it's something that I've seen actually happen recently. And I was able to correct it before it happened because it was a client of mine. And about a year ago, this client... We did his risk profile questionnaire, and he scored as an aggressive investor. We spoke about his goals being very aggressive growth. This was money he didn't plan on touching for at least 10 years. And so that was how the portfolio was designed. It was pretty aggressive.
00:13:45
Speaker
About two months after the account was opened, the market experienced a bit of a dip. Not a recession, not even a correction, just it had a couple down weeks. And the client panicked. I got a couple panicked phone calls. Oh my gosh, I'm losing the gains that I just earned. Is my principal going to start losing? i can't take it anymore. i don't want to be aggressive anymore.
00:14:10
Speaker
And we sat down and we had a conversation that this is part of being invested. You're going to have down weeks. And if we sold when the market was down and we moved into a very conservative strategy two months into the account being open, the problem would be then when the market does recover, which it did, he would not have reaped those gains.
00:14:35
Speaker
because he would be on the sidelines realizing that loss. And so he left it he left it alone. He stayed patient. and within about two months, his account recovered the loss and has since earned a lot. It's actually up a lot right now, only several months later.
00:14:55
Speaker
But we had to stay patient, and we had to have that conversation. Very similar to when players, batters, go into a slump. Yeah. teams go into losing streaks. Do we just, you know, fire that player because they're not batting?
00:15:10
Speaker
No, you ride it out, you work through it, and then you improve upon whatever that situation may be. You know, if if you needed to make some tweaks to that client's portfolio for the future, fine, but you don't want to panic. Just like players are going to go through so streaks, hot streaks,
00:15:31
Speaker
slumps, and we have to stay consistent. We have to stay patient and stay with them. Yeah. Imagine if every great player quit when they were in a slump. So many amazing things that have happened wouldn't have happened right because they wouldn't have been playing anymore. So yeah, it really is about having that patience and then having the lines of communication open just as players do with their coaches, our clients should with us. yeah um What's one more error that you've seen?
Managing Debt
00:16:01
Speaker
a very high credit card balance with incredibly high interest rates. We hear about this more often than I could ever imagine. So I know that we've had this conversation.
00:16:16
Speaker
If you can't afford something, Don't buy it. You know, if it's a necessity and you need a new refrigerator, well, of course, you're going to put that on your credit card. Please pay that off as soon as possible because those bills, those minimum balance payments will get you nowhere.
00:16:38
Speaker
We see that. quite often with mostly young people. You know, they they have those high balances and they can't seem to dig themselves out of that hole. So then, you know what they do?
00:16:52
Speaker
They dip into their investments. yeah Even if it's retirement investments, they will dip into that investment. And, you know, it becomes like like a mouse on ah on a wheel. You know, I have to pay it. I have to pay it. And then I have to borrow. And um it's it's not a good thing. So be very aware of that kind of error.
00:17:16
Speaker
it's It can be devastating. Yep. Credit cards are really only good for the points and the miles. But if you cannot pay off the full balance at the end of the month, not a good idea. Right.
00:17:28
Speaker
Right. All right. So we will move on from errors, although I'm sure there's plenty more that we could talk about. We want to keep this positive and uplifting. So talk to me a little bit about bullpen management.
Financial Stages
00:17:41
Speaker
Okay. So the bullpen, you know, the bullpen is is that staff of pitchers.
00:17:50
Speaker
And that staff of pitchers, you know, they they pretty much guide the game. Now you have your starting pitcher who is your ace, and that starting pitcher is super aggressive.
00:18:04
Speaker
Usually, you know fastballs. They are... they are along the same lines of starting your financial career, your financial future. You know, you want to be aggressive in the beginning. You want those strong returns. You want that super exciting kind of portfolio.
00:18:31
Speaker
And so we have that starting picture in for X amount of innings, similar to amount of years in your financial future.
00:18:43
Speaker
And we hope to get we hope to get the most out of that starting pitcher. Usually we do because that that player truly guides the game.
00:18:56
Speaker
Now, in the middle of the game, we'll have our relievers, our relief pitchers. Picture yourself in your middle of your life type thing, and you have some investments that are pretty much solid, that are pretty safe, that will will guide you to the next phase. That's the reliever's job.
00:19:23
Speaker
Let's guide that team, that player, to the next phase. All right? So so we want consistency out of those relievers.
00:19:35
Speaker
We want stability. Okay, we've already gone through the aggressive and the real competitive part. And now we want some stability.
00:19:47
Speaker
And then comes the closer. The closer's job is so important. Those closers need to be precise. They need to be on target. They need to be dependable.
00:19:58
Speaker
And the closing period of our financial life should be dependable, reliable, predictable. That closing period, just like that closing picture, needs to really finish and do the job right. Mm-hmm.
00:20:21
Speaker
And i love i love, you know, when we talk about pitchers, they are so different. And your financial life should be so different.
00:20:34
Speaker
The beginning of the game, the middle of the game, and then that end of that game really should have three different segments just the way just the same way as a game does. Yeah, I mean, that's such a brilliant analogy because it's it's so true. The accumulation phase is going to be different than that distribution phase. And the closer or the closing investment should be protecting what you've built, either throughout the game or throughout your financial life. We don't want to lose what we've spent the whole game doing or what we've spent our whole life earning. We have to protect it. And so those strategies have to change over time. And sometimes your advisor or those mutual funds that you relied on for the accumulation phase of your life
00:21:27
Speaker
might have to be different, probably should be different, not necessarily the advisor, but the strategy should be different once you're in that distribution phase and you need to protect what you truly have built. need to close out that game the way you intended.
00:21:43
Speaker
So true.
Following Rules & Regulations
00:21:44
Speaker
yeah Now, we'd be remiss if we did not address the umpire of baseball, and I like to compare the umpire to the IRS.
00:21:56
Speaker
We might not always like their calls, but we do have to play by the rules. um Good financial planning is knowing the IRS rules and regulations. And just like in the game, you have to throw in the strike zone. You have to play by the rules. And so that is part of our job is informing the client of what tax-advantaged accounts they can use, how they can save on taxes, and how they can plan for distributions from their account, um when to time those distributions, and just the strategy around it, of course, has to be place.
00:22:36
Speaker
In the lines of the IRS guidelines. we We have to stick to it. um Just the way a pitcher can throw however he wants, but if he's not in the strike zone, it's not going to do his team any good.
Bonuses & Advantages
00:22:50
Speaker
That's right. One of the fairly new rules for a regular season game is that ghost runner.
00:22:58
Speaker
Now, the ghost runner is when you go into extra innings and you're allowed, your team is allowed to put a player on second base.
00:23:11
Speaker
And I kind of think about that when, like, when you were a kid and and you were going to have a race and one of the other kids said to you, I'll give you a head start.
00:23:22
Speaker
Mm-hmm. You know, and you're like, okay, sure. So we have this ghost runner on second base. And I am really comparing that to some of our investments that we have available right now give you a bonus.
00:23:39
Speaker
They give you a head start. I like to call it a jump start. Just the way that runner is on second, You can open up an investment and get a head start with a cash bonus that really will give you a leg up. It'll really give you a jump start to your future.
00:24:01
Speaker
Way better chance to win. Ghost runner. When you have that jumpstart. That's awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Everyone loves a bonus. Sure. Sure. Always fun to have as part of the plan. People will say, wait, I i get to ah get extra cash by investing in this particular product, by signing my name.
00:24:20
Speaker
i will get cash. Yes, you will. Pretty sweet. Yeah. And that ghost runner gives you the jumpstart on second base. Yeah. So, I mean, of course, there's probably hundreds of other phrases that we can go through, and this might even warrant a part two, and I'm sure we can continue our sports series. But to close this out, Lisa, what would you say the ultimate play in baseball is?
Achieving Financial Goals
00:24:45
Speaker
The ultimate play, in my opinion, will be the Grand Slam. I mean, how exciting. If you've ever been in the stadium and so have witnessed a Grand Slam, it's so cool. It's so exciting. it's It's iconic, and and it's it's not it doesn't happen that often. And those players that get a chance to hit those Grand Slams and the people to get a chance to watch it.
00:25:12
Speaker
It is so cool to see. And I want to compare that to a complete diversified portfolio. And if you have the right manager, and if you if you make the right moves, you can hit that grand slam in life. You can hit that grand slam in your financial world.
00:25:34
Speaker
And you can live that life that you intended to be, to to live. You know, that grand slam hitter that's running around those bases has got to feel so good, you know, that he was able to do that. We want our clients to feel so good that they are able to have that retirement. You know, this is all about the future. Investing right now is great for,
00:26:02
Speaker
Or, you know, if you want vacations and if you want to spend, you know more freely. But it's all really about the future. We want to have that kind of feeling that a grand slam hitter will feel.
00:26:16
Speaker
Yeah, and I think a lot of our clients have felt that Grand Slam as they're as they're leaving legacies to their grandchildren and as they're taking those cruises around the world and getting to live out the things that we spoke about doing for the last 10 years. We have a lot of people now that that are few years into retirement, you know well into retirement or just retired, and it's wonderful to hear them say,
00:26:46
Speaker
We're fine.
Conclusion & Call to Action
00:26:47
Speaker
We just came back from that cruise. And, you know, we want to take another one. we so and And everything is because it's our job to ask about, you know, well, how are your finances going with your bills? You know, is there anything? No, we're all good. Yeah, we're good. It's a true pleasure.
00:27:05
Speaker
Well, you know, baseball, it really is a long-term strategy and so is financial planning. You don't need to have the flashiest team. You just need to have the one that shows up consistently and plays that long game.
00:27:16
Speaker
And so if you have specific questions you would like answered or you'd like to hire us as your financial manager, feel free to go to our website, union-financial.com and click schedule a meeting where you can book a time to have a phone call, Zoom call, or in-person meeting with Lisa or myself.
00:27:33
Speaker
And if you know someone that loves baseball and stresses about money, we'd love if you could share this episode with them. It really does help us. Now, Lisa, thank you so much for coming on another episode. and It was fun. I mean, like I said, we want to just keep people's interest. Yeah. And sports.
00:27:51
Speaker
There's a lot of sports fans out there. You're always a wealth of knowledge with sports and money. Now, thank you all for tuning in to another episode of the Future of Finance podcast.
00:28:02
Speaker
I'm your host, Marissa Wood, and we look forward to helping you live a better financial future.
00:28:09
Speaker
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