{"id":808,"date":"2012-04-02T02:05:49","date_gmt":"2012-04-02T10:05:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/?p=808"},"modified":"2012-04-14T18:48:23","modified_gmt":"2012-04-15T02:48:23","slug":"spring-training-for-your-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/spring-training-for-your-money\/","title":{"rendered":"Spring training for your money"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_811\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-811\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Spring-training-Money.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-811 \" title=\"Spring training Money\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Spring-training-Money-300x272.jpg\" alt=\"Are you getting in shape for the money season?\" width=\"300\" height=\"272\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-811\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Are you getting in shape for the money season?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The point of spring training for baseball is so that players can shake the rust off after a long off-season, work on their fundamentals, and lets coaches evaluate what players will work best on the baseball team.\u00a0 I&#8217;ve written with the baseball analogy with respect to <a title=\"Secrets of Fantasy Baseball that can help your finances\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/2012\/02\/23\/secrets-of-fantasy-baseball-that-can-help-your-finances\/\">fantasy baseball<\/a> before.\u00a0 If you follow the same process for real baseball and have a spring training for your money, you\u2019ll be ready for opening day too.\u00a0 Just remember though, there\u2019s actually no off-season for your finances!<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Pitchers and catchers report first<\/strong> \u2013 These are the first to report to spring training mainly because they will touch the ball more than all the other players combined.\u00a0 Take the most important part of your finances and money, and get them to report to spring training first.\u00a0 This could be any of the big areas, like the mortgage, managing your credit card debt, or a new job.\u00a0 Focus on the financial players on your team that touch the ball most often.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Work on the basics<\/strong> \u2013 Players work on throwing, running, catching and hitting.\u00a0 Do the same, make sure your budgets are set, you\u2019re <a title=\"8 ways to reframe your way to super savings\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/2012\/01\/28\/8-ways-to-reframe-your-way-to-super-savings\/\">saving by spending less than you earn<\/a>, your emergency fund is set, you pay the bills on time, you avoid bank fees, and you have a plan.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Mechanics of the swing over results of the at-bat<\/strong> \u2013 Remember to focus on having solid mechanics, and don\u2019t focus overly on the results of any particular at-bat.\u00a0 For your money, this means having good processes and habits.\u00a0 If you always have a sold reason for making investments and a <a title=\"Tactical Asset Allocation (TAA) Portfolio\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/2012\/01\/25\/tactical-asset-allocation-portfolio-intro\/\">proven system that has worked well<\/a> in the past, don\u2019t worry about what happens the next time you buy an asset.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The stats don\u2019t count<\/strong> \u2013 During spring training, the stats don\u2019t count.\u00a0 Try and set up a safe zone where you can work on the basics, try out new pitches, and not worry whether you\u2019ll make the team or not.\u00a0 Lower the amount you\u2019re trying things out with, start with minimums.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Coaches try new lineups<\/strong> \u2013 Be like the coach, try out new players and new lineups.\u00a0 Will that new credit card with the $500 signup bonus work every day?\u00a0 Try it for 3 months.\u00a0 What about that online site to manage all your financial data?\u00a0 Give it a try.\u00a0 Try the tax software instead of the accountant.\u00a0 Need a new accountant because you\u2019ve got questions on your rental properties.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Are you going to retire from the game?<\/strong> \u2013 Just like players, some want to see if they could come back for another year or if they should retire.\u00a0 Maybe you want to give retirement a try, but you\u2019re not sure?\u00a0 Try and arrange for a 3 month break.\u00a0 Plan activities that you would like to try in retirement.\u00a0 Set your expenses and income to what you would have in retirement.\u00a0 Can you hack it in retirement, or will you strike out?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Work on the basics, make sure your swing is in big-league shape, and try out some new lineups to see what works best for your team.<\/p>\n<p><em>Readers, any ideas about how you get your finances in big-league shape?\u00a0 Are there any annual steps you take to make sure you\u2019re on top of your game?<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The point of spring training for baseball is so that players can shake the rust off after a long off-season, work on their fundamentals, and lets coaches evaluate what players will work best on the baseball team.\u00a0 I&#8217;ve written with the baseball analogy with respect to fantasy baseball before.\u00a0 If you follow the same process [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":811,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,48],"tags":[33,34,32],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}