AS the 109th ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Championships winds to a close, I thought it would be fitting to deviate a bit from the usual educational style article and do a motivational article to remind you that if you want to be an investment champ — treat investing like a marathon not a sprint!

I am sure you have heard that advice before.

However, the sad reality is that we are living in a time when answers are always a quick search or click away, so many of us have become perpetually impatient and are always in a hurry.

It is therefore no surprise that investors bring that same attitude to investing — looking for shortcuts, quick profits, and instant gratification.

There are many quotes that caution against this approach. Some famous ones are: “Rome wasn’t built in a day” and investment guru Warren Buffet’s “You can’t get a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant!”

Some things in life just take time and patience, and investing is one of those things.

But my favourite quote of all is probably the one that says that it’s all about “time in the market, not timing the market” because it emphasises two things. Firstly, the importance of a long-term view when investing — generally speaking, the longer you are in the market, the larger your eventual gains. And secondly, that you shouldn’t try to time the market. It is impossible to know exactly where the market will be decades from now but you can hypothesise that, at some point in the future, it will likely be higher.

Once you start investing, you start thinking like an investor instead of a consumer. And so instead of viewing money as a means to buy products or services, you start seeing money as a tool for potential financial gains, making it harder to throw it away on expensive cars or fancy gadgets you never end up using!

This is not to say that you shouldn’t enjoy life and treat yourself if you can afford it. I am just saying that once you start making investment a priority you will be surprised to see how other aspects of your finances also improve.

In spite of constantly being told to invest- many people are intimidated by investing and simply never start because of fear. What should be scarier to these people is the realisation that if they are not putting their money to work they are inevitably getting left behind because of inflation.

If you have your money in a bank account, your cash is losing value as the cost of living increases.

Even though it was almost three decades ago that I used to represent my school in track, I very clearly remember that the strategy was to try to have at least one member of the team in every race and event because if you weren’t in the race you had no chance of earning a point.

Similarly, with investing, you have to be in the game to even have the chance of earning a return. So start investing now to avoid kicking yourself years later.

Since I have killed you with quotes today it is only fitting that I end with one. Well, it is not really a quote but rather a brand slogan that I am sure you will recognise.

When it comes to getting started with investing, “just do it!”

Call a financial advisor now and ask how to get started. They will be happy to advise you and cheer you on in your quest to become an investment champ.

Toni-Ann Neita-Elliott is the AVP, Personal Financial Planning at Sterling Asset Management. Sterling provides financial advice and instruments in U.S. dollars and other hard currencies to the corporate, individual and institutional investor. Visit our website at www.sterling.com.jm

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