As a professional rugby player, you may earn a significant wage, but your income could change quickly when your career on the pitch comes to an end. Fortunately, if you invest a portion of your earnings while you are playing, you can build wealth to draw on in the future.
Ultimately, this means you may be better able to achieve your financial goals later in life, even if your earnings fall temporarily.
However, investing always carries some level of risk and it is important to develop a clear strategy. You also need to be aware of common investing pitfalls so you can avoid mistakes that might hinder your financial plan.
With that in mind, here are seven important dos and do nots for investing in 2025.
1. Do: Have clear aims for investing
Before deciding where to invest your wealth, you may want to consider what your aims are.
If you only have a vague desire to grow your wealth without any clear milestones in mind, it is hard to know what level of returns you require from your investments.
Conversely, if you think about the cost of specific financial aims you have, such as supporting family members, funding your retirement, or starting a business, you can create more concrete targets.
Knowing how much wealth you want to build, and the time scale you are working with, could make it easier to create an investment strategy that is suited to your overall aims.
2. Do: Understand your own attitude to risk and tolerance for loss
There is always a chance that your investments could lose value, and it is important to consider what level of risk you are comfortable with.
Often, investments with a higher risk profile could also bring greater returns. You might feel comfortable taking on more risk if it means you could potentially generate more growth. Yet, you may prefer to opt for investments that deliver lower returns but are also less likely to experience losses.
As well as your attitude to risk, you may also want to consider your tolerance for loss. This is the amount of wealth you can afford to lose if your investments do fall in value.
Having clarity about your attitude to risk and tolerance for loss means you can select investments that align with your financial position and approach to building wealth.
3. Do: Diversify your investments
However you decide to invest your wealth, diversification is crucial.
If you put all your wealth into one or two investments and they perform poorly, the value of your portfolio could fall significantly. Conversely, if you spread your wealth across various product types, geographical regions, and industries, your gains from some investments may balance your losses elsewhere.
As a result, the overall value of your portfolio may stay more stable, meaning you can continue generating long-term growth even when certain investments do not perform as well as you hoped.
4. Do not: Check your investments too often
It is useful to track the progress of your investments, so you know whether you are on track to meet your financial aims.
That said, checking your investments too often could be a mistake.
The value of your portfolio will naturally fluctuate and, at times, you may experience losses. Despite these short-term fluctuations, you will hopefully still be able to achieve your long-term objectives if you have a robust investment strategy.
However, if you are checking your investments constantly, regular market movements could worry you and cause you to make reactionary decisions that work against your financial plan.
Instead, you may want to review your investments periodically to ensure you are still progressing towards your goals but avoid looking too often.
5. Do not: Make decisions based on outside noise
In the modern age, we have access to more information about investments than ever before. You will likely see constant news about market movements and stories about specific companies you may be invested in.
You will also see lots of advice from so-called experts on social media and in the news.
It can be tempting to make decisions based on this “noise”. After all, if lots of people are warning that a certain investment is about to fail, or giving tips about the next big thing, you might want to act.
The problem is, many of these recommendations could come from individuals with very little knowledge or training. Additionally, nobody can accurately predict market movements. Even if they could, they do not share your unique financial aims, so their advice is likely not suitable for you.
As such, if you base decisions on outside noise, you might deviate from your own financial plan unnecessarily and potentially harm your returns.
6. Do not: Panic during periods of market volatility
The first half of 2025 has been challenging for investors as stock markets responded to global wars and the introduction of tariffs in the US. If you were invested at this time, you might have experienced losses, and it is easy to panic when that happens.
Yet, despite any apprehension you might feel, selling your investments to avoid further losses, or changing your strategy might not be the most sensible response to market volatility.
This is because markets tend to recover and continue growing in the long term after any short-term dips. We have seen this happen after events such as the Great Depression, the dot com bubble, and the 2008 financial crisis.
If you sell your investments prematurely, you could lock in your losses and miss out on returns when markets bounce back.
Conversely, you may still achieve long-term growth and meet your financial aims if you can avoid panicking and hold your investments during a period of volatility.
7. Do: Seek professional guidance
Navigating the dos and do nots of investing can be difficult, especially when you are already preoccupied with the pressures of a professional sports career. That is why it may be useful to seek professional guidance.
We can build a tailored investment portfolio with your unique situation in mind, and offer ongoing support, especially during a period of market volatility.
This could mean you are better able to achieve your long-term investment aims.
Get in touch
Please do get in touch with DBL Asset Management today if you want to explore options for investing your wealth.
Email enquiries@dbl-am.com or call 01625 529 499 to speak to us today.
Please note
This article is for general information only and does not constitute advice. The information is aimed at retail clients only.
All information is correct at the time of writing and is subject to change in the future.
The value of your investments (and any income from them) can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount you invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.
Investments should be considered over the longer term and should fit in with your overall attitude to risk and financial circumstances.