Jordan Spieth & Investors-Becoming Seasoned Is Painful

Jordan Spieth & Investors-Becoming Seasoned Is Both Painful & Priceless

by: Brendan Magee

Last week in watching the Masters Tournament I was really happy to see Danny Willet win his first major golf tournament. He's newly married, just became a new dad, and seems like a very likeable guy. That being said, I couldn't help but feel sorry for the runner up, Jordan Spieth.

Spieth, is just 22 years old.. He has already won two majors and last Sunday he is standing on the 10th tee of the last round of the tournament with a five stroke lead. Not to many people could envision Spieth not becoming the youngest golfer to win back to back Masters. Not only did he proceed to lose the tournament, he also had to endure the pain of placing the green jacket on Willet's shoulders. Talk about adding insult to injury. Your heart just had to go out to the guy.

As Jack Nicklaus points out, Jordan is young and he will learn from the difficulties he went through. Painful as it is, it is part of the process people go through in becoming a seasoned and experienced golfer or investor.

As it is with golf, there are certain rules that investors pay a big price for when they are broken. Own equities, diversify, buy low/sell high are the rules. They are not difficult to understand. Keep the ball in the fairway and don't three putt are the rules in golf.

As a caddie growing up I saw plenty of average to below average golfers kill their rounds by trying to squeeze a five iron  through a six inch hole in the trees and make birdie when a bogey was easily in hand and would have had them shooting a respectable 85. Unfortunately, with their perspective and aim completely of whack they were left shaking their heads at how they could have possibly shot 105. Believe me, I have seen those golfers and been that golfer who is leaving the course where all you want to do is crawl under a rock.

I can also remember a former client who back in the late 1990's telling me he no longer had to worry about diversification. The stock market had changed he said. This was a very smart guy who rose to the ranks of a vice president within his company. He had a nice house at the Jersey Shore, played golf three four days a week, and was living a great life.

Unfortunately, he also had 70% of his portfolio all in U.S. Large Company Stock. We spoke, better yet I pleaded with him, about the need to diversify. He was positive he would be o.k.  Between 1999 til 2002 his $1 million dollar portfolio dropped to $700,000.  He couldn't believe he could lose so much money. From that time on I never heard the man offer any opinions about the stock market. I think he was too embarrassed to talk about his experience.


As it is with anything, the thing that gets us to operate outside of rules, is ourselves. A golfer can't be forced by anyone to play a shot they do not want to execute. An investor isn't forced into imprudent investment decisions. There aren't investment police who drag us off to jail if we don't make certain investment choices.We do it all on our own. Some times, as golfers and investors we have to make the same mistakes multiple times before we get we are not bullet proof.

Now if the cost of imprudence were only money. It's the pain of embarrassment, frustration, lost opportunity, feeling as if you let yourself and your family down, and loss of confidence that is the real pain. Thank God the good Lord gave us the ability to experience those emotions. Those are the sensations that allow us to relive those feelings of pain and frustration and prevent us from making the same mistakes again in the future.

Unfortunately, as golfer or investor, this is something you have to go through on your own. There is nothing that can replace going through experiences like Spieth or becoming a scarred investor. Don't worry though. The pain is temporary. The experience and wisdom gained as a result are priceless and they will last a lifetime.

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.