Favoured Team Factor

As part on the ongoing process of improving my approach, I have found that I have a tendency to allow my liking for certain teams to influence my investment decisions.

Last week in the Wembley game, I allowed my support for the San Diego Chargers to persuade me that they were good value to come out in the second-half and stage a comeback. It didn't happen. I know that if it were say, the Cleveland Browns and the New York Jets, I would have stayed on the sidelines.

Then on Thursday night, I backed the Dallas Mavericks (who have been my NBA team for many years) to beat the Houston Rockets at home, at a shorter price than I should have done. They lost.

It seems to be impossible to remain completely impartial when one of 'my' teams is involved. There's a little voice in my head urging me to back my team so that I can enjoy watching my investment win at the same team as my team.

It's as if my mind doesn't want to countenance the possibility of my team losing, and I really need to either stay away from such games altogether, or learn to overcome the 'favoured team' factor, which I suspect is easier said than done.

On the other hand, knowing certain teams better than others should give me an advantage on occasion. I need to start tracking my P/L by team.