I had my draft for my fantasy baseball league I’m in earlier this week. I’ve been in the league with these particular guys now for over five years. It’s not a money league but we’re real competitive nonetheless. I gotta say I’m real excited! Not only is real baseball starting soon (go Mets!!) but I was able to draft Jose Reyes this year. I think my team has a real strong shot at contending this year.
As I was going through all of my work for the draft I realized that fantasy baseball is a lot like personal finance.
Without further ado here are five ways fantasy baseball is like personal finance:
- Research - No successful fantasy baseball can survive without good research. There are 30 baseball teams and each has a 40 man roster. In my league we draft 23 players. You have to go through a lot of information ranking players, doing research on who will be playing and who will be good. There’s injuries, position battles, prospects…if you don’t keep up and do your research you won’t rise to the top! ***Personal Finance - With PF research is also integral to success. You need to know where your money is going and keep up with funds and companies you may be invested in. What is your credit score? What is the interest rate? Are there expense fees? These are just a few questions we try to answer when doing research for our personal finances.
- There are tons of experts out there - There are so many sites out there that have “experts” telling you who to draft and who will be the next big thing. Who do you listen to? Brandon Funston? Mathew Berry? Pete Becker? Brendan Roberts? Truth is none of them can tell you for sure what will happen in the baseball season. They work with the same statistics and basically give you their opinion on what will happen and what would be the best players to pick. A player can get injured or be great and then flop. Sometimes there’s no rhyme or reason behind a player’s performance. Best thing to do? Find a few of these experts who tend to have the same ideas as you. Listen to them but follow your gut with their advice and come up with an approach that’s best for you. ***Personal Finance - Please, who can count the number of experts in the personal finance realm? Do I listen to Suze Orman
? Dave Ramsey
? Robert Kiyosaki
? Jim Cramer
? Bejamin Graham
? Again, they all work with known information but each has their own spin on things. Find the people whose approach you can relate to and use that to create your own approach to personal finance.
- Look for value - There are baseball that everyone knows are great. Johan Santana will be a great pitcher. Jose Reyes will steal bases. Albert Pujols will hit home runs. Barry Bonds will be controversial. But the way to get ahead in fantasy baseball is to find the real values, guys who aren’t superstars yet but whose stats show they might be. Or those players who were great but got injured so people don’t value them as much. I drafted Preston Wilson his first year in Colorado somewhere in round ten in my league. He ended up being first round value and helped me to first place (something like 150 RBI’s). It’s about finding those fundamentally sound players who are about to take their game to the next level. ***Personal Finance - Value is important in personal finance as well. In stocks you may be interested in those companies that have been consistently growing and they are about to take that next leap. In being frugal it’s about getting the most value you can for your dollar. You don’t want to pay for hype. It’s about finding value.
- It’s easier when you’re around like minded people - I mention fantasy baseball to some people and they look at me like I have three heads. Or they just roll their eyes like my wife (luv you hon). But when I get around other people who are as psyched about fantasy as I am… We can have long in-depth discussion on why certain players are bound to do well or why we hate certain players because they cost us a championship. Friends who play fantasy baseball keep me excited about it. I try to share any new research or info I have with them and they do the same in return. ***Personal Finance - It can be real tough keeping a reign on your personal finances when your friends, family, and neighbors are the “Joneses.” Who can keep up with the new cars, big houses, and name-brand items? When your friends have the same ideas about PF as you do it’s easier to keep things in check. You have people you can talk to and discuss issues and ideas with. In the blogging world we have places like BeingFrugal, Cash Money Life, Moolanomy, Brip Blap, Mrs Micah, Mommy Gets Paid, My Investing Blog, and so many others where we can go to share ideas about personal finance.
- There’s no one approach to winning - Do I draft for speed? Do I draft more hitting? Pitching? Do I go with steady, consistant players or try to draft the hot prospects? Do I draft A-Rod or Johan first? Just as there are many experts there are many ways to win a league. In fact you may start off with one strategy and end up following another. Your strategy may change based on the other people in your league. If everyone values hitting more then maybe it’s worth it to value pitchers higher. ***Personal Finance - Stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETF’s, real estate, 401(k)’s, IRA (traditional and Roth)… There’s no one way to get ahead. Your approach may combine all of these or maybe only include a few. Everyone’s idea of personal finance is a little different. There’s so many ways and ideas and you have to find what works best for you. Odds are the strategy you have now will change over time.
There you have it - Five ways fantasy baseball is like personal finance! Can you think of any more?
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{ 11 comments }
In both, you buy a blue chip (Pujols) then they unexpectedly tank and you want to curl into a ball and cry.
I’m not a fantasy baseball picker, but I can see how they relate for sure. Mainly the last bullet: There’s no one approach to winning.
How true that one is in investing!
All excellent points.
Some people say that any expert will get you there, but there are a few I don’t trust at all. Otherwise, #2 fits in quite neatly with #5. I just wouldn’t want people getting their investing advice from Kiyoaski or Cramer. I think everyone should listen to Bogle on that. 
I really find having link-minded people comforting and encouraging. It also gives me new ideas. And knowing that there isn’t one perfect way is also comforting.
These are all great points and I do see the correlation between finance and fantasy baseball-(although my Hubby is a Fantasy Footballer) Especially the research; you really have to do the homework if you want to make the best choices for YOU, not the best choices for someone else.
Having like minded people around is very important in most things and I think even more so in personal finance. If you are a saver, being around willy-nilly spenders probably isn’t going to go over well.
I TOTALLY agree with “no one way of winning”-there are so many ways to win and everyone has their own ideas of winning. Winning means something different to everyone, so there is no one right way to go.
Excellent Post!!!
Take Care
LJ
diversify, diversify, diversify.
That’s how to win your championship! 10 Adam Dunn’s will win you the HR category, or a team full of the likes of Reyes, Crawford, Taveras, and Piere will get you SB’s… but you need a little bit of everything to win.
I am more of a footballer but I have to agree because I noticed how building a team through the draft and via free agency can impact the finances of the team.
Great post.
Like thelocomono, I’m more of a football fan, but that’s a great analogy. I disagree slightly with Mrs. Micah - I’d have Kiyosaki on my team, but he’d be a designated hitter or something along those lines - not a focus of the team, but there to hit when something a bit more “out of the box” is needed. And Patrick’s right - diversify!
@ Grey - Yeah, Pujols is a big question mark this year. You have to hope the Cards do well so they need him the entire season. If they fall back too far then he may be visiting the dreaded Dr Andrews. The rule here - Can’t have all your eggs in one basket!
He could be a great value pick next year if he gets the surgery earlier than later….
@ Hank - I think the fact that there’s no one way is what makes personal finance so hard for some people.
@ Mrs Micah - You definitely have to trust what your “expert” says. Some experts know how to make themselves rich real well more than others. Still, even listening to bad advice can be useful so long as you know it’s bad and why.
@ LJ - Thanks for the kind words! Seems more people are playing fantasy football.
If only there were one way. But that could be boring too.
@ Patrick - Now here’s someone else who’s played fantasy baseball! Dunn looks like a great player to have but you won’t have any kind of average. And if you count K’s forget it. Good for OBP though. Everything has it’s benefits so long as the bad parts are balanced out you can be OK with players like Dunn.
@ Loco Mono - Thanks for the comment. Your words show that any plan can be amended, hopefully for the better!
@ Brip Blap - Nice analysis of Kiyosaki. He could be a situational lefty you bring out of the pen.
Cool article. I am a fantasy baseball junkie. One suggestion. I think you should do a little more research off the beaten path when looking for finance advice. While you list some big talking heads, the only one that I would trust fully is Dave Ramsey when it comes to personal finance.
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@ MLB - It’s all personal taste. You could say the same thing about researching fantasy baseball…which analyst do you like and trust more?
What a creative read - unfortunately, it might be more profitable right now investing in fantasy baseball than it is the stock market.
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