Swimming and Investing: Staying the Course for Success

Brady Rothschild works in the operations team at EasyEquities. He studied business management in the USA on a swimming scholarship, followed by an MBA at Lenoir-Rhyne University in North Carolina. Know more about his success at the SA Masters Swimming Championships.

Brady sent us the following article about the mid-March swimming championships he participated (and excelled) in:

The 38th SA Masters Swimming Championship took place in Mbombela from 15 to 18 March 2023. This competition brings masters swimmers (aged 18+) together every year from all over the country and even a few of our neighbouring countries as well. The event was enjoyed by over 300 participants grouped into various age categories, with the oldest swimmer being 91 this year. There are also ex-Olympians and World Championship competitors forming part of the field.

SA Masters proves that swimming is not only an individual sport, but also a team sport with the swimmers competing in relays for their clubs, creating a great team atmosphere. There is even a spirit award up for grabs! The competition is also themed to add to the atmosphere, with this year’s theme being “Under the African Skies”.

Swimmers compete over eight sessions in four days, with all events being timed finals, and a dash for cash at the end of the pool competition for the top eight (Men 50+, Women 50+, Men 49 and under and women 49 and under) in the chosen event that year. This year the dash was the 50m butterfly. The competition then moves to the open water for a 3k, 1k and a relay event.



This reminds me of investing. You have done the work, the research, the understanding of why you wanted to start investing, you’ve put your money into the market in something you believe in and now it is about staying the course, keeping in line with what you prepared for any maybe making small adjustments to keep you on that course.

This was my second SA Masters Championships and I competed in six individual pool events, all relays, the 3k open water and the open water relay event. This was a great test of my physical and mental endurance. Staying focused on your goals is key to keeping going when it gets tough, and you feel like you can’t move your arms or legs anymore. The training you did all year has built up to this.

There is also no feeling like it when those goals are achieved, and you feel like you have accomplished what you set out to do. For me this week turned out well. I missed a couple of goals, but achieved a lot more. It’s hard not to be pleased with the week overall as I took home 11 golds and two silvers, and broke two South African records for relays in the mixed 4x 50 and 4×100 medleys, and making it into the dash for cash.

It takes a team, and I am very proud of what our team achieved over the course of the week. I personally like to think that investing is a team sport as well. Build a community around you with your investments of likeminded people who understand your goals, keep you accountable and push you towards these goals. As in swimming, we share new ideas and what we think is going to happen. Push your investing team mates to keep learning and make better decisions as a group.

As I start my off season break for a couple weeks, before I shift my focus again to next year, I will enjoy the successes of this season, learn from what went wrong and prepare myself for next year’s Nationals at home in Johannesburg at the St. Stithians Pool.

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