Fantasy sports involve a lot of statistics and knowledge of specific sports. You need to follow the performances of the individual athletes, choose the players for your fantasy teams, and then play against other players. The games are decided by the real-life performances of the actual athletes and teams in the sport that week. If you apply these same skills to your personal finances, financial improvement is bound to occur.
Some people actually make significant money through fantasy sports, and it takes a lot of time, diligence and knowledge to be successful at it. The same can be said for personal finances. However, financial planning is often deemed too complicated and too intimidating by the same people who excel at fantasy sports. Multiple reasons exist for this, and most of them center on emotional attachment.
It is simpler than ever to stay up-to-date on accounting technology that makes financial tracking easier and more efficient. However, you can get intimidated by financial information when you are not familiar with it. While fans of fantasy sports take the games seriously, they do not have as much at stake as they do with their own finances, even if they have money invested in the sports pool. Getting picks wrong in a fantasy game means you lose the game. Betting wrong in the financial markets could mean the disappearance of a savings account or a 401K if investments are not made conservatively. As a result, people get scared off from tracking financial information and getting actively involved in the markets, even when they are generally skilled with numbers.
Some financial experts have parlayed their expertise into a successful living in fantasy sports. There is no reason this cannot work in the opposite direction. You just need to use the same level of dedication and diligence you bring to your games to study and learn about how financial markets work. Once you get familiar with those markets, you can start influencing your finances in a positive way. Go slowly and invest small amounts to gain experience. Study the day-to-day market activity, and look at the financial numbers as stats. Stocks are the same as players, and they have ups and downs in how they perform. Track those trends, and create a fantasy team known as a portfolio. Seek professional assistance when necessary and start enjoying the finance world in the same way you enjoy the sports world while improving your finances at the same time.
The first step in understanding accounting and finance is to not be frightened or intimidated by them. Fear comes from a lack of knowledge and experience. The more time and experience you get with financial statistics and information, the less you feel anxious. As you start to gain experience and profit from it, just like in fantasy sports, your confidence grows and you do even better. Never get overconfident, but trust your data and instincts.
(Photo courtesy of Ambro / freedigitalphotos.net)
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