4 Financial Lessons You Can Take From the FIFA World Cup

The FIFA fever is finally in its ultimate stage and as Germany readies to meet Argentina this weekend, football fans world over are going to be talking about the magic moments till months after. Suarez, Ochoa, Messi, Neymar have dominated conversations among football fanatic till date, but did you know apart from the thrills and excitement that the World Cup 2014 provided, it also had some great lessons for you in personal finance.

Wondering what will life be like when FIFA gets over? Well here is some food for thought that can actually help you augment the value of your portfolio.

Know your opponent:

The most important part of managing money is getting a hold on your expenses. View your expenses like an opponent like they do in football. You need to pre-empt the moves of your opponent and the way to start doing it is by breaking down for your fixed and flexible and semi fixed expenses. These may include your loan payments, your bill payments and the miscellaneous expenses that you thought were nominal but can actually add up to quite a bit when accounted to the last rupee. Once you have identified your discretionary expenses and make a conscious effort to curb them, its half the battle won.

Keep a close watch over your strategy:

After you have studied your opponent carefully, i.e gotten a hold on your expenses its time for you to fix your strategy. Like in football, you have to play offensive at times and sometimes play in the defensive. This will depend upon how situations present themselves. Likewise, you need to keep a constant check over your portfolio and rebalance it when the need arises. Your financial position in life and market conditions should determine if you need to reassess your asset allocation across various asset categories.

Have a strong bench:

Like in this fascinating game, accidents can happen anytime and God forbid if the Neymar of your team is injured, your finances should not be decimated like it was in the semi finals between Brazil and Germany. It is therefore necessary for you to have a strong bench in terms of emergency funds. In case of a situation like a sickness, loss of job or an accident you should have enough emergency funds to take care of at least three months of your expenses.

Heed the word of the manager:

In a football team, a manager's presence is of utmost importance. He is responsible for everything between planning the strategy of the game to handling the media for the team. The team also relies on his words of motivation and changes its strategy when the game is in progress. Likewise, when it comes to managing your money, it's best to rely on the expert advice of your financial planner. If you do not have the time to track all market activity yourself, rely on his expertise and watch your money grow.
So, as you can see your favorite game has not only given you all the entertainment you sought for the last month, it has actually driven home some important money managing tips. Now it's up to you to implement them.

Disclaimer: All information in this article has been provided by Creditvidya.com and NDTV Profit is not responsible for the accuracy and completeness of the same.