I wrote this post back in February 2022 after the Los Angeles Rams won the Super Bowl. With football season back in full swing, I thought it would be a great time to reshare it with those of y’all who never got the chance to read it. Hope you find it entertaining and a little useful.
This post is 1,174 words a 6-mins read.
In American Football, there are two sides to a team.
The Offense whose objective is to score as many points as possible
The Defense whose objective is to prevent as many points as possible
Around the NFL there are different types of teams.
You have some teams like the Kansas City Chiefs that have an amazing offense and can run the score up on anyone.
Regularly, you’ll see some crazy amazing plays that Mahomes and the offense make
However, their defense SUCKS!!
You also have teams like the Patriots who rely heavily on their defense to win games.
The Offense is just required to not lose the game.
Because of this, you do not see a whole lot of highlights from them.
Watching the Super Bowl on Sunday; it really stood out to me that although the Bengals and the Rams have good teams. Neither team was the best in either Offense or Defense. They were just good enough on both sides of the ball to win games that got them to the Championship (Yes, I know there were specific things that happened and luck was involved but just play along with me please). Now understand both teams have great players, but overall neither team was known for doing one thing really well.
Then it occurred to me that the best teams are never too heavy-handed on one side or another.
The best teams are BALANCED!
Their offense compliments their defense. Which allows both sides to play at their best all the time. Both sides know that the other side can carry the weight if something is not going well for them. The offense does not feel pressured to try and score a touchdown on every play. The defense does not feel like it’s the end of the world if they allow a team to score a touchdown. Both the offense and defense can ignore mistakes and keep playing to the best of their abilities.
This got me thinking about our personal finance as well (yeah, my brain is weird I mean it’s called Rambling Mind for a reason).
We can think of the Defense in personal finance as being:
Frugality
Maximizing our savings
Investing in Boring Index Funds
Trying to get the best bang for our buck
Coupon clipping
Sacrificing by cutting out items
Delayed Gratification
Tracking our expenses
Making a monthly budget
All the not so not glamorous parts of Personal Finance
The Offense on the other hand is more exciting and much more glamorous. This is:
Making more money
Buying whatever you want
Giving
Investing in sexy things like crypto or single stocks
Spending time with friends
Generally making your life more enjoyable and pleasant.
However, just like with football teams that are heavily reliant on one side of the ball. There will always be pressure for that side to not make a mistake. There will always be a fear that one wrong move and everything will END!
If you are only ever playing defense with your money. Always trying to find the best deal, cutting costs on everything, always relying on a spreadsheet for any decision. You end up living a life full of regret.
Your relationships can suffer because you refuse to spend the time with them to actually build a relationship.
You may also be limiting your potential because if you only focus on the downsides of everything you will never take risks. Whether that be career-wise or investing-related.
You may have money in a bank somewhere but what is it worth when you are about to pass away with nothing but empty memories?
On the other hand, if you are so focused on racking up those points. Always trying to live your best life. Always buying everything you see. Spending all your free time hanging out and partying. You invest in the most speculative asset that you heard about from a random guy on the bus.
Life will be a perpetual boom and bust cycle.
You will always be chasing an ever-evading goal.
Because remember it’s not about how much you make. It's about how much you keep.
So you may be making more and more money but if you are living a lifestyle where for every dollar earned you spend 2.
You will always be on the knife's edge of survival.
You cannot have one without the other and expect to be okay.
Be mindful of what you are spending your money on but also free enough to use the money to enjoy life.
Invest but use wisdom and protect the downside by having an emergency fund and not going “ALL-IN” on random things you do not understand.
Build relationships but not to the detriment of other parts of life.
You Only Live Once But You probably ain’t dying tomorrow either.
Both sides should complement each other.
Are there times when your offense might be stronger than your defense?
YES
Or times when your defense is needed more?
YES
But that does not mean we do not work on strengthening both sides.
To strengthen both sides, we have to go back to the basics. In football, everything is built on Blocking on Offense and Tackling on Defense. If this is not right, nothing goes right.
In our finances, blocking and tacking is understanding our cash flow. Understanding what is coming in and what is going out.
When you have this understanding it allows you to either tighten up and go on lockdown mode or allows you to be free and get creative.
But I will be honest with you all. It is not easy to be both offensively and defensively minded. I struggle with this regularly. But the hard things are what makes life so beautiful.
So we do the hard things so that when the time comes we can stand on top of that podium of life as Champions just like the Rams did at the Superbowl.
Thank you for reading.🙏🏾
I hope you all have A WONDERFUL week and weekend. Go subscribe to Rambling Mind Podcast for more personal finance and investing thoughts. You can also catch me on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube daily.
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God bless Each and Everyone of y’all
✌🏾