Investing is a Marathon, Not a Sprint

This past weekend I attended the Derby Marathon in Louisville, Kentucky. As I watched these amazing runners cross the finish line. It made me think that many trained for this 26.2 mile run for 6 months to a year in advance. This quickly made me correlate this to investing. Investing is a marathon not a sprint.

Investors can learn a few things from marathon runners.

· Preparation — just like the marathon runner, investors much be prepared. So this requires taking the initiative to learn and educate yourself on investments, investment opportunities, and risks.

· Patience — 26.2 mile run takes time to complete and you have to be prepared for a long run. It takes patience to complete. It is rare that you invest and get your return back very quickly. You have to be a patient for these returns and stay the course. Do not get off or leave the track!

· Perseverance — You have to be mentally and physically prepared for a marathon long before you even start the race. Investing is no different. You will encounter setbacks, losses, and market changes. But when you can persevere through these, keep to your strategy, and adjust to market changes, you will win.

· Focus — Marathon runners have to have focus and vision of reaching and crossing the finish line. Investors may never see the finish line because of evolving goals, but they have to have focus and vision of the exact strategies they want to execute, the type of risks they are willing to take, and the type of returns they want to achieve. Every investor is not the same, so you need to have a clear vision of the type of investor you are and keep focused on that path.

Investors like marathon runners have to be prepared, determined, and focused. In order to do this, you also have to be very disciplined. Many investors look for the quick return on investment whether it be in stocks, real estate, or other forms of investing, but to be truly successful you have to look at investing for the long term. Warren Buffett is the definition of the marathon investor. He believes, “It’s much easier to invest for the long term because you know what is going to happen. You know, in my view, with a very high probability you know what is going to happen 10 and 20 years from now in a major way, and I don’t have the faintest idea what is going to happen tomorrow or next week”. Let’s all learn and implement the marathon strategy.