Getting on the Court with the Best in the World

I took a tennis lesson last week. I have never played tennis before but I always wanted to learn. I have been going through a phase of wanting to shift my workouts to something more exciting than a run or trip to the gym while at the same time doing something that is a bit more social and competitive.

So for an hour and a half my group and I worked on various drills for hitting a forehand (got this one pretty quickly), a two-handed backhand (does not feel comfortable to me, needs a lot of work), vollies, slams, etc…

I really enjoyed the lesson and liked playing tennis, so when I arrived home, I called up Novak Djokovic’s agent and said that I would like to challenge the number one player in the world to a match. Wait what? Sure, I took a lesson. I have been to the US Open so many times that I have lost count, why can’t I get on the court with the best player in the world?

We all know the answer…the agent hasn’t returned my call. But seriously, what would happen if this was a real story. I think it is safe to say that we could tie Novak’s dominant hand behind his back and he would still make quick work of me in straight sets. How could I possibly expect to compete?

This is not much different than investing, except the agent calls back and says “sure, let’s do it. Meet us at 9:30am tomorrow at the corner of Wall and Broad.” Everyday, new investors enter the market and that’s great. I am all for people learning how to invest. But too many times, I hear about someone who opened an account, read a book and then started buying and selling stocks. It is pretty easy to do. But what is overlooked is that the market is full of Novak’s. Pros who are more than happy to take the money from the unsuspecting newbie! People like Jim Simons, Steve Cohen, Stanley Druckenmiller, Dan Loeb and Bill Ackman to name a few.

What sometimes follows are stories about how the market is rigged against the “little guy” and in favor of “the suits.” This is what came to mind as I was reading this article yesterday. I do not think that markets are rigged against any one type of investor. I do think that there is a very steep learning curve to investing. I also think that the only way to learn is to put real capital risk. But that means getting on the court with the best in the world every day. Should you, as a new player, expect to win in that environment? If you lose, is the game rigged or are you simply still learning?

I love the market. I also love to talk about it. I teach a class on investment analysis. Investing is hard and simply opening an account and getting out there does not guarantee that you will succeed but that does not mean the game is rigged. It just means that you are climbing that learning curve and that’s a fun, exciting and often frightening process. But it is a process and we all have to go through it. It is not easy. Yes, there will be times when it feels easy. December and January were like that. Now, it’s not very easy. It takes work and it takes discipline. But it is worth it in my opinion.

During that time of learning many might find out that DIY investing is not for them, thankfully there are pros out there who can manage their funds and grow their wealth for them!

By the way, I am going back for another lesson this week…I have Novak in my sights.

---

*Nothing on these pages should be considered investment advice.