Why not paying costs you money

I learnt the hard way that if, in life, you always go for the cheapest option you never do as well as if you invest in something better. That sounds obvious but people find this difficult and very often skip corners. It is often the difference between success and failure. As a consequence I have always allocated funds to invest in whatever I do, purely to try and get myself to the next level. I'd rather buy something and write it off, than put off buying it to save a bit of money. Let me give you an example.

As you may be aware it is possible to trade sports events without TV pictures. In fact some sites make that a key attraction / selling point of trading; which to some extent it is. However, using all available information available to you, subject to some caveats, often makes sense. I think it also adds a human element to your activity. That's great as long as you have your emotions in control.

I've been meaning to publish this example for a while as it clearly highlights the benefit not only of human intuition, but also why not paying extra for better TV pictures is a bit of a false economy. In the following graph you can see that this selection, in a horse race, was trading just fine then suddenly the price rocketed up without warning. Anybody scalping this would have had a huge shock!!!!

I use the words "without warning" in a slightly underhanded manner as some of us knew exactly what was going on and profited from it.

Kempton Park is covered on Sky channel 432 and to subscribe you need to pay the mighty sum of £13 per month. This evening I was watching the build up to the race when it became obvious that a jockey was struggling to control his mount. As his ride stepped onto the course it suddenly decided the race had started and bolted off like a rocket.

My finger was already hovering over the lay button and the instant the horse bolted I knew the door of opportunity was open. The horse bolted right to the start and at one point looked like he was headed straight on for the stalls. Fortunately the jockey managed to bring his ride under control and the panic was over. The odds still continued to drift as the horse was obviously out of sorts. Without pictures I could not have seen or anticipated any of what had happened.

This is just one of countless benefits of being able to see what is happening on course. For the sake of £13 per month I paid for a years subscription in just a few minutes. Without seeing the developing situation I may have ended up with a nasty loss, instead I achieved completely the opposite. A sensible investment, I am sure you will agree.