Basketball Coaches, Investors-It Just Takes Once

Once Is All It Could Take To Ruin Everything

By: Brendan Magee

Like just about everyone else, I have seen the video above involving Neshaminy High School Basketball Coach, Jerry Devine and the ref, who according to your interpretation of the video head butted or chest bumped the ref causing him to fall to the court. As of today reports are that Mr. Devine has been suspended from his coaching duties pending further investigation.

According to all the talk of the local radio shows Mr. Devine has been a respected member of the school's faculty and basketball coach for 10 years, and nothing on his record shows behavior that would be of concern. It's just that in the heat of the moment, he crossed the line, and from this point on his life will be changed forever. The dust hasn't settled yet and the outcome is still to be determined. Who knows, he may lose his coaching job. He may face a law suit or criminal charges. That is all to be determined.

One thing is for sure though, incidents of this sort will eventually fade from the public conscious, but from this point on Mr.Devine's life will not be the same. Should he apply for any other coaching job, this incident will be taken into consideration. When he walks into a social function and talks to people about what he does for a living the incident will come up again. I have never met Mr. Devine and have no reason to question his moral integrity.People don't stay in coaching and teaching positions for any length of time unless they are competent and well thought of.

At this point, I only have the video, and you can't help but have an interpretation about Mr. Devine. Some times all it takes is once, have your emotions get the better of you, you react, and from that point everything changes. Unfortunately, the consequences of those changes can last for a lifetime.

Any where there is human involvement, there will be emotional reactions. This is true whether it be basketball games or investing. Similar to basketball coaches and referees, the same can take place between investors and their advisers. You sit down with an adviser to go over your portfolio. You have a lot of pride in what you have been able to save and feel good about your nest egg. During the meeting your adviser points out a few short comings in your portfolio or decision making process.

You think you have a conservative portfolio and he or she points out you have 60% in U.S. Large Company  Stock and gives evidence that your portfolio is not nearly as conservative as you thought. You don't like hearing your decision making process is flawed. You might not head butt the adviser, but in your mind you are saying, "Screw you. Get out of my office!" 

Another example, you think you've got the inside track on the next Micro Soft. You are not seeking constructive criticism as much as validation of your investing genius. Your adviser tells you it's a bad idea to put all your eggs in one basket. He reminds you that in spite of all the research you have done, your decisions about the stock are speculative. You don't know what the future is going to bring and what the impact will be on your stock pick. He reminds you that you made a commitment to hold your current portfolio for 20 years and you are dumping it after just five years. "Well who the hell are you to tell me what to do with my money! I made it. I'll do what I want with it!"

Staying with a fundamentally flawed portfolio or putting way too much of your money in one stock can have dire consequences on not only your financial security, but your life as well. Ask yourself, when you are under financial stress, are you the father, mother, sister, employee, boss, friend, you should be? Do others feel the impact of your stress? Some times not only is the money and financial security affected, but the relationships can be damaged forever as well.

I don't know if Mr. Devine's assistant coaches could have prevented him from going after the ref or not, but if they would have, his day today would be going a lot differently than it is now. Investors who have a coach who they entrust to keep their money from being impacted by their instincts and emotions would be well served as well.

Brendan Magee is the founder and president of Inevitable Wealth Coaching. With questions or comments e-mail brendan@coachgee.com or call 610-446-4322. For more educational material go to www.coachgee.com.