This is a picture of my son’s soccer team.
My wife and I coached the team this past summer.
Once upon a time I considered myself a pretty decent soccer player.
As a kid, soccer was my one true passion.
It was the center of my universe.
That’s probably why I can recall almost everything my coaches taught me, and very little of what my school teachers taught me.
The brain has a funny way of turning on and absorbing things when the information is something of interest to us.
One of the most basic, yet effective lessons one of my coaches taught me was at the age of 9.
It was the K.I.S.S principle.
For those of you that don’t know, K.I.S.S stands for Keep It Simple, Stupid!
Could you imagine a coach saying that to a 9 year old today lol.
Nonetheless, although this may not be the most profound teaching of my life, this really did shape me both as a soccer player, and later in life as a coach.
For those that aren’t familiar with the game, like most sports, the game of soccer is a series of many split second decisions.
9 times out of 10, when faced with that decision on the field, I would Keep It Simple, Stupid!
And as a player, it worked for me.
By no means was I blessed with god given natural ability, but I was still able to have a pretty accomplished soccer career given the way I CHOSE to play the game.
Please don’t confuse the simple decision with the easy way of doing things.
Nobody ever gets ahead always choosing easy.
I define the simple decision as the one that has the probability of giving you the best possible outcome given the circumstances you are faced with.
I’ve taken this same approach in business, real estate and personal finances.
Believe it or not, all three of these areas can be very simple.
And they can also be very difficult and complex.
If you oversimplify it, then you often end up just doing what the masses do – I.E. save a portion of your pay cheque and invest in a “diversified” portfolio of stocks, bonds and mutual funds.
This is easy, and remember, easy gets you nowhere.
On the flip side, you can very easily over-complicate investing, and complication usually results in frustration, anxiety and undue risk.
The trick is to create a system for yourself, designed around the K.I.S.S principle.
A simple to follow step-by-step system that allows you the flexibility to make investing decisions that have the probability of giving YOU the best possible outcome given the circumstances you are faced with.
If you need help getting started, I would be happy to share my simple plan with you.
Feel free to reach out, to discuss.
Best,
Vince
