What learning to make pizza can teach you about investing!

By: Mark Shimkovitz

In March I bought an outdoor pizza oven. I love to cook and experiment with food. I especially love to grill, smoke and cook outdoors, so I was pretty excited to add pizza-making to my repertoire. I expected a pretty short learning curve. I was wrong. Now four months later, while I’m still trying to perfect my pizza making, I’ve also come to realize that learning to make pizza has a lot to teach us about investing.

Here’s why.

Focus on the things you can control: Making pizza in an outdoor oven is impossible on a windy day. You can have everything right – the dough, the sauce, the toppings … but if the wind keeps blowing out the flame in the pizza oven, you’ll end up with a soggy mess. When it comes to investing it’s important to focus on the things we can control: Have you set goals based on your priorities? Is your savings strategy aligned with your retirement goal? Are you minimizing the taxes you pay? We can’t control what the markets do from day-to-day but remaining focused on what’s important and staying true to your strategy for the long-term will generate the best results.

Ask for help: Everyone who knows me, knows that I research everything. Even before I bought my pizza oven I was reading up on how to make the best crust and sauce. But the thing about pizza making is there are so many tricks you learn along the way. Once I joined a community of other aspiring pizzaiolos, and began reaching out to ask questions, I benefited from their experience and began to make some progress. When it comes to wealth management and investing, the same holds true. Whether you are working with a financial advisor or not, asking questions and educating yourself about investing is an important ingredient to feeling confident and being successful.

Patience is a virtue: As a wealth advisor I implement a disciplined process for long-term success. My clients often hear me say that it’s a marathon, not a sprint. The same goes for pizza-making. First, figure out the combination of ingredients that best suit your personal taste. Give your dough the time to rise. Home-made sauce tastes better the next day. Let the pizza oven get nice and hot. Rush any of the steps and you’ll get a less than optimal result.

Enjoy the journey:  With every soggy or burnt crust, I’ve learned what not to do and how to improve. It keeps me moving in the direction of my goal. Our family has had a lot of fun pizza nights enjoying new and different toppings. A nice bottle of red wine thrown in hasn’t hurt either. Similarly, life always has its ups and downs; it’s never a straight path to the finish line. Once you have figured out your priorities, set your goals, and built a strategy to get you there, you can focus on the things that matter most to you.

If I can offer any advice, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Mark Shimkovitz is a Wealth Advisor with Raymond James Ltd. Information provided is not a solicitation and although obtained from sources considered reliable, is not guaranteed.  Raymond James advisors are not tax advisors and we recommend that clients seek independent advice from a professional advisor on tax-related matters. The view and opinions contained in the article are those of the author, not Raymond James Ltd.  Raymond James Ltd., member of Canadian Investor Protection Fund.