Are you a financial Olympian?

“I never had one day that I didn’t want to be on the ice, because I always had an objective for that day. I had a rigorous plan and schedule in place that I had to adhere to. It was a step-by-step process of slowly but surely inching toward the Olympic Games and using every day as a series of goals to be accomplished.” – Apolo Ohno

It might be a year late but it’s time for the Olympics. The possibility that these games also get canceled is certainly a possibility if there is a COVID breakout in the Olympic Village. Even with no spectators for the events, I love watching athletes, who plugged away day in and day out, compete against each other with the drama of who wins. I’m sure that for many of the athletes, empty venues will have an impact. Good or bad I don’t know, but for spectators on TV I think it will have a negative impact, as I think the crowd plays a big role in helping create suspense. How each one deals with the pressure of the moment after training their whole life for an event that may only last seconds is to me incredibly intriguing.

This drama coupled with inspirational personal stories of the athletes makes this a “can’t miss” event for me.

I think the lessons we can learn from these athletes can be applied to our personal lives and especially our finances. First of all, these athletes earned their spot in the Olympics. No one gave them anything (except for maybe some steroids and human growth hormone, but that’s another story).

Laser-like focus

The financial sacrifice made by many families so that their children can “go for the gold” in an era that in many ways lacks that concept of sacrifice is heartening. We learn that hard work, dedication, the fortitude to overcome injury and other setbacks, along with strong will is the recipe for athletic success.

While luck occasionally may be the difference between gold and silver, it plays virtually no part in getting to that stage.

Hope for millennials

It’s now after Tisha Be’av, so it’s wedding season. Personally I’m very excited because as someone who considers themselves old when it comes to dancing, with the new Happy Badge, I am not supposed to get in the hora circle, rather I’m supposed to sit at a table.

A few weeks ago I met with a newlywed couple and was on an emotional high after the meeting.

As I gave my usual spiel on how to budget, the need to be in control of your spending, starting to invest and setting up an emergency fund, the couple asked me about buying an apartment. Now understand that they are both students getting some family financial support, but they are working parttime to bring in extra money.

They said that they have a sixyear plan to save for a down payment. They were laser-focused on meeting this goal and wanted to know how to invest to make it happen. Frugality was the name of the game. They agreed: no more restaurants, not overdoing it on the clothes

shopping and in general living an incredibly simple lifestyle to save for the down payment.

I told them they are going to end up saving more money on their tiny little salary than people making a lot more save. I complimented them on their approach to money. I said that if they meet their apartment goal in six years, they should write a book on how they did it, and once they buy an apartment in five years, they should write a book on how they did that. In many ways, they are following the same game plan as our Olympic athletes: personal sacrifice, strict adherence to a goal, and not relying on anyone else to do it for them.

Stop making excuses

It is said about millennials that they face the most uncertain economic future of any generation in America since the Great Depression. I hate hearing this. Why? Because when I read in a recent survey that over three-quarters of millennials want to have the same clothes, cars and technological gadgets as their

friends, and that almost half “need” to use a credit card to pay for basic daily necessities such as food and utilities, I know they have the wrong priorities and will end in a heap of debt.

Let’s learn from our Olympic heroes and from the newlywed couple that I mentioned above and become much more financially disciplined.

The information contained in this article reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of Portfolio Resources Group, Inc. or its affiliates.

The writer is author of Retirement GPS: How to Navigate Your Way to A Secure Financial Future with Global Investing (McGraw-Hill), and is a licensed financial professional both in the United States and Israel. Securities are offered through Portfolio Resources Group, Inc. (www.prginc.net). Member FINRA, SIPC, MSRB, FSI. For more information, call (02) 624-0995 visit www. aaronkatsman.com or email aaron@lighthousecapital.co.il