Football Fever is truly on. Catching oneself on social media, office lunch tables, restaurants and public transports discussing Football is a chore nowadays. Favorite players, emotions over performance of teams and good ribbing of friends whose team is not doing so well & what not! Once every 4 years, we are transformed into soccer experts. Think further and we can see that Football has multiple parallels to investing. Yes! You can apply your favorite football terminology and team strategy to investing.

Goal: That’s the whole madness about. Without a goal to score, it would be 12 men running aimlessly. Similarly, all your investments should have a goal. Goal could be anything – your responsibilities, bucket list or simply financial freedom.

Coach or manager: Some Coaches can be as famous as their teams. Every winning team has a coach who gets it all together. Similarly, a good financial planner /advisor who is the guru of the money game can help you structure your financial play.

Playing style: Tiki-taka playing style was much in talk as Spain bowed out of the World Cup 2018. Fans pick up their teams based on the appeal of team styles and players. Similarly, investments can be capital protecting debt funds or aggressive fast paced small cap funds. You should pick those that are most suitable to your own liking and profile.

Team composition: Should it be 4-3-3, 4-5-1? We hear this often when fans debate on the ratio of Defenders to Midfielders to Strikers! Given a particular style, this is crucial in getting the strategy correct. Similarly, to score and protect for all your goals you need an investment profile that is well balanced and suitable for you. An aggressive striker equity fund could help you meet your long-term goals whereas a set of defensive debt funds will help you take care of your short term goals. A right mix of equity and debt investments is important to score a financial goal.

The Opposition: Main learning from this world cup is that no opposition can be taken for granted. Many favorites this season have all caused unexpected heartbreaks. Similarly, in investing, ignorance, tax, greed, impatience, spending without saving / investing etc. are prime opposition to achieving financial goals. Learning about them and having a plan to counter them is essential to winning in the financial game. See how you can avoid these common mistakes while investing!

The World Cup: This is the pinnacle. The best team wins. Many stars are born. The football regulars know them well but for the once-in-4-years nouveau re-born football fans, this seems like a sudden rise. But these teams and players have been toiling and working hard for their dream cup. Similarly, having patience and rigor while investing, can make you win the world cup of Financial Freedom.

Mutual Fund investments are subject to market risks, read all scheme related documents carefully.