fantasy football finance

It hit me this week, if you are good at fantasy football, you should be equally good at your investments.

If Peyton Manning has a bad game, that doesn't mean you're going to trade him or drop him on Monday. We know well enough that he is one of the best QB's in the history of the league and he more than likely will make up for it over the course of a season. So why do we get worried when a multi-billion dollar company has a bad quarter? Part of being a long term investor is being able to ride the waves. We all know this, but we can't help it.
Something else to think about. Every league has "that" guy who is always playing some one you have never heard of because he got a hot tip on a fantasy message board. He is annoying and it only works 1 time in 10. But he will rub it in your face when it works. "See I told you Seattle's back up running back was a lock, the starter has gotten injured 4 out of the last 6 Octobers, and they were playing in his mother's home state, too bad for you!!!" I mean seriously? It sounds so dumb, but how many of us buy into some hot stock or mutual fund with the same amount of credibility? When is the last time you heard Warren Buffet is buying a pharmaceutical penny stock that may be on the verge of curing restless leg syndrome? Never.
The guys (and girls, just using guy generically) who finish in the top quarter of their leagues every year are the ones who do a couple of things. They go with proven stars for their first few pics, the players with multiple seasons of great results who will end up scoring 80% of all your points. Then they go for value. This year Mark Clayton of the Rams was a good value depending where you could draft him. Nobody was talking about him, but he was playing with his college quarterback who as a rookie was going to start week 1. Who do you think Bradford was going to throw to as the Rams offensive line collapsed over and over? Or if you picked up LT further down in the draft. A hall of fame running back on a team with a good line and a young QB, could have been big time value. The guys/gals who finish at the upper end of investing do it the same way. A solid base of big time companies with long track records, no Ryan Leafs or Alex Smiths, and a keen eye for value companies that make logical sense.
I guess the irony in all this is that we will spend 10x as much time worrying about who to start on Defense this week than we will be thinking about the new fund options in our 2011 401ks. If only Schwab and Merrill Lynch would let us design our own logos.... Then maybe we would check it out more often.


Thanks for the read.
Wish me luck, just took over first place with 4 games to go. Gedubs all the way this year.