When I’m brainstorming for post ideas I often find inspiration in strange places. As I watch the New York Mets baseball team prepare for the 2010 season I realized I could use them as an example. And not in a good way.
I admit it. I’m a Mets fan.
Please don’t beat me up for it. I take enough abuse from all the Yankee fans running around waving their championships in my face.
I was raised a Mets fan and I’m too just loyal to switch now. So instead of looking forward to a 2010 baseball season where my team has a shot to win it all…I’m just hoping they’ll be able to make some moves that bring them closer to respectability in 2011 and beyond.
Let’s take a quick look at the Mets and see what kind of parallels we could draw to your own personal finances.
1. The Mets appear to have no long term plan at all. While the Yankees always seem to have a coherent plan and multiple fallback options, the Mets are a team in utter disarray and no one within the organization seems able to pull them out of it. They simply throw something against the wall and hope for the best.
Do you have a long term plan to meet your financial goals? Wanting to retire early and travel or play golf is a nice goal. But how do you plan to achieve it? What are you doing now to prepare? Or are you just crossing your fingers and hoping the 401k gods are kind?
2. The Mets are too concerned with what others think of them. Sharing the Big Apple with the Yankees has given them an inferiority complex and they worry too much about what the fans and talk radio guys think they should do. They end up making moves for show instead of addressing their real needs.
Case in point…the Jason Bay signing. The Mets signed Bay to a huge free agent contract this summer and I think it was done mostly to show they could get a big name and keep fans in the seats. But I predict Bay will be an expensive failure.
Don’t get me wrong, Bay is a great player and I wish him well. But the Mets play in a pitcher’s ballpark where the impact of Bay’s hitting will be less than it was in Boston. He’s also getting older and the Red Sox were concerned about his knees holding up. And even if Bay does play well…he Mets really need better pitching to compete. Not another bat.
Do you let other people’s opinion’s cloud your judgement? Do you buy things you can’t afford so you can appear to be more successful than you are?
3. The Mets bid against themselves and paid Bay more than necessary even though he had no other concrete offers on the table and didn’t show any interest in playing for the Mets. They misread the market and didn’t do their homework.
Do you pay more because you don’t understand basic economics? Did the car dealer rip you off because you had no idea what a fair price for your new car was?
4. The Mets built an amazing new stadium. Citi Field is absolutely beautiful. But it cost a lot of money and now they don’t seem to have the cash to pay for upgrades to their lineup. And the more they struggle on the field the more empty seats there will be.
Did you buy more house than you can afford? Are you having trouble making your mortgage payment and paying off your other bills too?
5. The Mets blame their 2009 debacle of a season on injuries, but the truth is they weren’t very good even before their players started marching off to the disabled list. Any Mets fan can tell you that Mets management needs to look in the mirror and accept for responsibility for the mess they’ve made. Only then will they be able to move on and rebuild for the future.
Do you blame everyone else for your financial troubles instead of taking responsibility for them? Of course there can be extenuating circumstances (sickness, death, a job layoff) that led to your current situation. But the first step to turning things around is to stop blaming the world and start forming a plan to get back on your feet.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Mets are ok to me but I hate the Yankees. So I hope your team beats them up bad. I’m a huge SF Giants fan although they have not done much since 2002. I hope with the talented pitching staff that we have, we’ll make a run this year. but next year, the Giants may have to pay huge dividends if they want to keep Lincecum. Hope the Yankees won’t steal him away.
.-= MoneyHoneySF´s last blog ..Where Are the Women on Wall Street? =-.
Hey Money Honey, thanks for the comment. Lincecum is special and he’s fun to watch. Hopefully you can afford to keep him for the long haul.
Another Mets fan here. Grew up about a mile or so from Shea.
I think there’s some kinda weird ex on NY teams with blue and orange colors. The Knicks seem to follow the same pattern.
They need to look at what made them successful in the past – a great farm system, then adding some key vets to round out the team. This is what got them to the ’86 championship. It’s also what got the Yankees going in the mid 90′s.
Lesson – Get your PF knowledge going strong then hire and seek advice of people who really know what they are doing. Oh, and don’t overspend on a name to impress others.
Hey thanks for stopping by and commenting. You get my point exactly…I was worried no one else would get it. LOL