• Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • Podcast
  • LWM Blog
  • Tim’s Top Links
  • Meet Tim
  • Contact Us

Living With Money

Helping You Make Better Choices With Your Money

  • Home
  • Podcast
  • LWM Blog
  • Tim’s Top Links
  • Meet Tim
  • Contact Us
You are here: Home / LWM Blog / You Can’t Take a Financial Mulligan

You Can’t Take a Financial Mulligan

July 21, 2020 by Tim Mullooly

Share this post!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • LinkedIn
  • Email

There’s a million different ways to do it but, at the end of the day, golf really is all about getting the ball in the cup.  It doesn’t matter how you do it or what it looks like.

I’ve been playing more and more golf over the years and getting better and better along the way.  Naturally, as an advisor, there’s a few key lessons you can learn from golf that tie in directly to successful personal financial management.

The Equipment

A very important lesson to learn early on in golf is that it’s RARELY the equipment’s fault if you play poorly.  If you don’t know how to swing a golf club properly, it doesn’t matter if you’re swinging a $500 club or a $35 club.  Going out and buying the most expensive, brand new, state-of-the-art golf equipment isn’t going to change the fact that you haven’t grasped the basics of the game.

Can you have success swinging the very best clubs money can buy? Absolutely.  Can you have success swinging the same generic brand clubs you’ve been playing with for years? Again, absolutely.

What’s most important are the habits of the person swinging the club, not how much that club costs.

Buyer beware: 

There will ALWAYS be a new brand claiming to have the latest and greatest technology in “maximizing driving distance and efficiency” or some other gimmick.  You don’t NEED it.

The same thing goes for your finances.  If you don’t understand the very basics of personal finance and money management, the best vehicles and products in the world won’t help bad behavior.

Can you have success using strategies and accounts with all of the bells and whistles imaginable?  Sure.  Can you also have success using plain vanilla strategies and keeping things very basic?  Absolutely.

What’s most important is the individual’s behavior and not necessarily what the elaborate strategies they use are.

Similar to golf equipment, there will always be financial salespeople pitching you on the “biggest and best” new strategies that you HAVE to take advantage of.  You don’t need it.

On the Course

When you’re on the golf course, A LOT can go wrong.  Trust me.  When I was playing with my brother Casey one day, he said that being good at golf is really all about “damage control”.  It’s all about making the least amount of mistakes possible.  Let’s face it.  You’re going to hit bad shots.  Even the professionals do.  What sets good golfers apart from bad golfers is minimizing those mistakes.

The same could not be more true in finance.  There will be mistakes along the way.  The most important thing you can do is to try and minimize those mistakes, and not let them you completely off track.

Every professional golfer goes into a round with a game plan.  They’re constantly trying to make the next shot easier by thinking through where and how to hit the current shot.  You should approach your financial decisions the same way.  Each decision will be easier if you think through all of the options BEFORE you “hit the ball”.

Mulligans don’t exist in the financial world. 

I think one of the most important lessons for me to learn on the golf course is that swinging harder does not equal better shots.  When I was learning to golf, I thought in order to hit the ball as far as I could I had to swing as hard as possible.  That worked for me about 1 in every 15 shots.  The other 14 were never seen again.

Keeping the ball in play, hitting the ball straight and playing smart golf meant reigning in my swing and staying under control.  To use a baseball analogy, I didn’t need to hit a home-run every time I stepped up to the plate.  Just doing the little things right was enough to make me a significantly better golfer.

You guessed it, the same is true with your money.  You don’t need to try and drive the ball 350 yards every time.  Sometimes laying up is the smarter move.  Making sound, smart, methodical decisions with your money and sticking with the game plan will benefit you more than rolling the dice on some crazy, risky investment idea.

Practice makes perfect

I will say this: if you’re going to splurge on anything when it comes to golf – splurge on LESSONS!  Working with a golf professional is a great way to master your swing and get the basics down before you hit the course.  The same thing goes for financial planning.  Working with a planner is a great way to make sure you have the basics of money management under your belt before you start making big moves with your finances.

Share this post!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • LinkedIn
  • Email

Filed Under: LWM Blog

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Tim’s Top Links – 11/7/24
  • Tim’s Top Links – 11/4/24
  • Tim’s Top Links – 7/15/24
  • Tim’s Top Links – 7/10/24
  • Tim’s Top Links – 4/17/24

Don't Miss A Post!

Never miss a post...and we deliver!

Get our updates delivered right to your inbox. Sign up today!

Success! Now go and check your email to confirm your subscription.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

We won't send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time. Powered by Kit

Archives

  • November 2024 (2)
  • July 2024 (2)
  • April 2024 (3)
  • March 2024 (3)
  • February 2024 (6)
  • January 2024 (8)
  • December 2023 (3)
  • November 2023 (5)
  • October 2023 (5)
  • September 2023 (7)
  • August 2023 (3)
  • July 2023 (6)
  • June 2023 (8)
  • May 2023 (8)
  • April 2023 (12)
  • March 2023 (16)
  • February 2023 (13)
  • January 2023 (15)
  • December 2022 (15)
  • November 2022 (15)
  • October 2022 (14)
  • September 2022 (12)
  • August 2022 (19)
  • July 2022 (17)
  • June 2022 (16)
  • May 2022 (14)
  • April 2022 (19)
  • March 2022 (12)
  • February 2022 (10)
  • January 2022 (14)
  • December 2021 (22)
  • November 2021 (6)
  • October 2021 (7)
  • September 2021 (18)
  • August 2021 (13)
  • July 2021 (8)
  • June 2021 (9)
  • May 2021 (20)
  • April 2021 (20)
  • March 2021 (21)
  • February 2021 (17)
  • January 2021 (19)
  • December 2020 (16)
  • November 2020 (20)
  • October 2020 (19)
  • September 2020 (20)
  • August 2020 (16)
  • July 2020 (22)
  • June 2020 (23)
  • May 2020 (21)
  • April 2020 (22)
  • March 2020 (27)
  • February 2020 (23)
  • January 2020 (25)
  • December 2019 (26)
  • November 2019 (21)
  • October 2019 (29)
  • September 2019 (21)
  • August 2019 (27)
  • July 2019 (25)
  • June 2019 (22)
  • May 2019 (23)
  • April 2019 (26)
  • March 2019 (26)
  • February 2019 (7)
  • January 2019 (5)
  • December 2018 (4)
  • November 2018 (5)
  • October 2018 (4)
  • September 2018 (4)
  • August 2018 (6)
  • July 2018 (4)
  • June 2018 (4)
  • May 2018 (5)
  • April 2018 (4)
  • March 2018 (5)
  • February 2018 (4)
  • January 2018 (4)

Recent Posts

  • Tim’s Top Links – 11/7/24
  • Tim’s Top Links – 11/4/24
  • Tim’s Top Links – 7/15/24
  • Tim’s Top Links – 7/10/24
  • Tim’s Top Links – 4/17/24

Archives

  • November 2024
  • July 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018

Archives

  • November 2024
  • July 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018

Copyright © 2025 · Lifestyle Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in