This is a guest post from The Rogue League.

There are many ways to invest your money. To me, the stock market has always been the most interesting. I offer a few of my thoughts on investing in stocks here. And since I like fantasy baseball, I’ll offer examples of how these principles would apply in that realm. Note that I’m not actually offering investment advice here, and it’s important to remember that these are general principles– certain situations may require specific actions that go contrary to conventional wisdom.

1) Be Interested - this means to educate yourself on some general economic principles. It means to keep a level of interest in your investments sufficient that you will be aware of all the market forces that can affect it. Ideally, it would be in a company that you are naturally interested in, or perhaps already purchase products from. In terms of fantasy baseball, you have to be aware of what all is going on in major league baseball, enough so that you can make roster moves as needed.

2) Practice Patience - a good stock is a good stock. Hopefully you were able to buy it at a bargain. But perhaps it’s not doing so well right now. In terms of fantasy baseball, if you have Alex Rodriguez on your team, and he hits only .220 in April, would you drop him? You’re not a fool, are you? You keep him, because you know he’ll come around and get you good stats. If you have a good stock, but it’s struggling a bit, give it some time. That’s not to say there aren’t instances where the stock is tanking, and really you just need to get out and cut your losses. Many times, however, people panic prematurely. If you can avoid being one of those guys, you can profit off of them.

3) Embrace Change - sometimes one stock opportunity will have dried up when another is presenting itself. Don’t be afraid to re-evaluate your portfolio and make changes. Indeed, change is a constant in our economy. Our ancestors in the 1920’s could not have dreamed of the internet. However, today’s latest technology will be obsolete tomorrow as new products come to market. How we respond to change is the key. This may seem contrary to #2, but really what it’s saying is, once you’ve made the determination that you’ve been sufficiently patient, now, adapt to the differences. In fantasy baseball terms, once you’ve finally come to the realization that Mike Mussina is simply not, and no longer will be, the player he once was, don’t be afraid to drop him and grab a promising rookie off the waiver wire.

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