Having Bad Luck Today? At least you didn’t buy TB12’s “Final Touchdown” Ball

Unless, of course, you did and you happen to be in the Ship 30 sphere.

Tom Brady’s first touchdown ball sold for $418K. His final one sold for over $500K. The only issue is he’s coming back next year for another season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Unless he warms the bench the entire season, the owner of this final ball threw a ton of money down the toilet.

But he probably had a lot of money to begin with and $500K to him is similar to $500 to me. It’s all about scale.

Here are some key takeaway we can learn from this $500K lesson:

1. Invest only what you’re willing to lose. Although $500K is a ton of money to the average person, it probably is budget dust to this person. It still doesn’t take away the sting of the situation.
2. Invest in what you know. This is a Warren Buffett maxim. He’s lost out on massive gains because he didn’t invest in tech stocks. But he’s not in a bad position for staying away from these. If you don’t invest in what you know, mitigate your risk by adhering to takeaway #1.
3. Learn when to cut your losses. Tom’s career from here on will influence this ball’s value over the years. Cutting losses, by selling, must be assessed. With the current press exposure, this ball’s value should drop immensely.
4. Factor in all variables when assessing value of an asset. If this person is wealthy enough to throw away $500K on a ball, he (or she) knows a thing or two about assessing asset values. But this is still a good thing to consider for the layperson assessing assets within our price range.

Investing in non-traditional markets is tricky. Remember takeaway #1 and you won’t destroy yourself financially.

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