Making Cents: Marathons and your money

A FRIEND of mine ran a half marathon in September of last year and he said it was horrific.

He didn’t train much for it and the run was connected to an initiative his employer was involved in and promoting.

He didn’t have to take part in the run either, but when others were saying they were going to do it, he said he would as well.

He thought he was reasonably fit and that he didn’t need to train much for it, and he didn’t.

But less than 5km into the run he knew it was a bad idea.

He knew he was going to suffer for the 18km that remained and suffer badly he did. And 2 hours 40 minutes later as he crossed the finish line, he said to himself, that’s it, never again.

And that’s what a lot of people say, but a week or two afterwards some change their mind and want to do another, but this time they promise themselves that they’ll do it better and do things differently.
And that’s’ exactly what happened to my friend because a week after the run, he applied to do the London marathon and luckily for him his name was pulled from a public ballot and he was in.

He had about eight months to train and prepare and even though the race distance was twice as long as the one that recently floored him, it didn’t matter because his mindset was that this run was going to be different. He was going to enjoy it, he was going to train for it, and he was going to do things properly this time.

And I’m glad to say he did, and he ran the marathon in April in a great time of 4 hours 35 minutes but more importantly for him, he really enjoyed the run because he prepared well and did things the right way.

You might be wondering what any of this has got to do with personal finance, but I think it has because when I spoke with him recently and he was telling me about everything he’d been through, I thought there were some similarities when it comes to running and dealing with your finances, and my learnings from him and how we can apply them to our finances were as follows:

Get help and put a plan in place
My friend told me he had no idea how much he should be running each week in preparation or how often he needed to be training and he did something that I actually told him to do, and it was very simple – he googled how to prepare for a marathon.

When he did, there were thousands of results, but he followed one that he thought would suit him best and it was a schedule developed by a man named, Hal Higdon.

I was glad he chose him because before my knees gave up on me and when I used to run, I followed this same guys plan.

So, there it was all laid out for my buddy and what he should be doing for the next 8 months.

If he tried to do it himself, he might have been running too much or not often enough, but here was a tried and proven plan, written by an expert. He didn't have to write it, or second guess it. All he had to do was follow Mr. Higdon’s plan.

And when it comes to your finances, whether that is trying to get out of debt or preparing yourself to make a mortgage application for the first time or you want to retire at 60 or whatever it is, my advice is to get help. Find out from the experts what you need to do in advance so that if you follow through on their advice, you’ll be guaranteed the outcome you want.

If you want to be mortgage free at 55, an expert can tell you how much you need to overpay each month or each year by. If you want to retire at 60 with an income of €3,000, an expert will be able to tell you how much you need to be saving each year, what your annual return needs to be and what your end savings number needs to become.

If you want to get approved for a mortgage an expert will tell you exactly what a bank will be looking for and what they will want to see, so you’ll know amongst other things how you should be managing your accounts before you make an application.

The idea is if you follow the plan and do what the expert/adviser tells you to then whatever you’re looking to achieve, you’re guaranteed success it’s that black and white.

And maybe retiring at 60 is like running a marathon in 2 hours 30 minutes in that it’s beyond you, but that’s okay as well, maybe the plan based on your finances is more like retiring at 63 because 60 is too fast and beyond your current ability, but at least you now know what the plan is for you.

Set a goal and stick to the plan
It’s easy to deviate from a plan especially when you mightn't be particularly fond of what you are doing, and I wasn’t particularly fond of running. BUT when I was I had two goals and the first was to get in shape and the second was to run a 10km in under 50 minutes.

You see I wanted to set a goal that would challenge myself and something I would be proud of, and yes it was going to be a big ask, but if I didn't create a big enough goal for myself, I don't think I would have trained as hard as I did.

And when it comes to your finances you have to set a goal that is going to challenge you, something that will motivate you to keep going. If you want to save a certain amount or you want to get rid of debt, you must set yourself a goal that is challenging but also one that’s achievable.

I could have set myself a challenge to run in 10km in 45 mins, but it wouldn't have been possible for me, and I could have set myself a goal to run it in 90 mins as well but that would have been too easy.
So, the timing of when you want to achieve a financial goal is critical. You need to get into a rhythm that suits you, it's like the pace you run at.

If you want to save money there’s no point in saving too much too quickly and then end up burnt out and you end up saving nothing at all because you started off at a pace you couldn't sustain. It’s pointless saving for example €1,000 each month if it puts you under huge pressure, so much so that in 4 months you stop saving altogether.

You’d be better off starting with saving say €500 each month and being able to continue to save it in months 4, 5, 6, 7 etc. and then over time you could gradually increase the amount over time.

So, what am I saying, I’m saying pace yourself.

And finally my mantra is that you can achieve anything if you put your mind to it. If I can run a 10km in 53 minutes (I never did break that 50 min target) then you can retire or semi retire at 60, or have your mortgage paid 10 years quicker or save €10,000 or you can achieve whatever it is you want to, IF, you put your mind to it that is and you’re realistic and you take action and you follow the advice given and you stay committed to the plan.

There will be times when things get tough and pressing the pause button on the plan can be the easy option. It’s easy to stop overpaying on your mortgage, easy to cut back on pension contributions, easy to stop saving into your emergency fund, but I’d say before you consider doing any of these things, look at other ways you can save money that doesn’t impact your long-term plan.

So be prepared for the little voice in your head that will tell you this is too hard and why are you doing this at all, and that there’s an easier way and you don't have to go training tonight and you can start saving next month (whisper ....buy it.......whisper.......save next month) but don't give in, and listen to the other voice in your head telling you why you are doing it, and how much better off you are going to become.

And when my friend crossed the finish line back in April, he told me it wasn’t the time he ran it in, that he was most proud of, it was more the fact that he prepared better, and he overcame those negative thoughts that he’d never be able to run a marathon. So, for him it was more a mental success than a physical one, and no matter what you try to do whether that’s running a 10km or a marathon or become mortgage free in 10 years or less, I think you first have to overcome your limiting beliefs that it can't be done, then get expert advice and find out what needs to be done and if it’s possible based on your circumstances, you’ve got to follow through and stick to the plan.

Liam Croke is MD of Harmonics Financial Ltd, based in Plassey. He can be contacted at liam@harmonics.ie or www.harmonics.ie