It’s been an exciting year full of goals and entertainment in the English Premier League (EPL), undoubtedly one of the most popular football leagues in the world. Liverpool dominated throughout the 2024/2025 league campaign and eventually ran out as league champions last month.
Given the tactical skills of the current crop of the Premier League’s top teams, it’s perhaps no surprise that there are many similarities between football and investing styles.
Some teams, such as Liverpool and Manchester City, like to be on the front foot and be attacking-focused, with the free-flowing creativity of midfielders and attackers providing the goals.
However, there are teams like Arsenal – which conceded the fewest goals in the most recent EPL season – that tend to have a rock solid defence and have a resilient back line and goalkeeper protecting the goal from opposition attackers.
So, when thinking about football, we can also link various positions to our style of investing. Let’s take a deeper look about how football positions can explain how you invest.
Read Also: Why Investing In The STI Is Like Watching The English Premier League (EPL)
Let The Goals Flow With Growth
Playing “up top” means being a striker or attacker in the football team. Being the focal point of an attacking side can mean having to take more risks, making runs into spaces and holding your nerve under pressure when in front of the goal.
Investing wise, that can be very similar to how growth investors operate. For Singapore-based investors, that could mean looking to higher growth companies on the Singapore Exchange (SGX).
That could include being comfortable investing into solid “growth-like” stocks like Sembcorp Industries Ltd (SGX: U96), which is up over 240% in the past 5 years, and has been building a growing portfolio of assets focused on renewable energy generation.
While Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min are no longer together in the Premier League, they formed one of the deadliest attacking partnerships in recent Premier League history during their time together at Tottenham Hotspur.
Strikers need to operate in pairs so diversifying your “growth stock” focus could mean buying into another solid striker on the SGX – perhaps a company like Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd (SGX: S63). That company has been benefitting from increased defence spending more broadly and its shares have risen over 128%, alongside new contract wins and a bulging pipeline of projects.
Anchor Stocks In Midfield
Of course, in midfield, there needs to be the core of the team – someone like an Alexis Mac Allister of Liverpool. In terms of how that would be similar to investing, we could look at some of the more reliable real estate investment trusts (REITs) or exchange-traded funds (ETFs) listed on the SGX.
These can provide us with both income and also a reliable foundation on which to build our portfolios. REITs like Keppel DC REIT (SGX: AJBU) or Frasers Centrepoint Trust (SGX: J69U) offer investors both regular income and some tactical soundness.
Meanwhile, on the ETF side of the midfield, investors could opt to have a more core midfield holding by going for an ETF that exposes them to broader growth in a basket of equities, whether that’s the SPDR Straits Times Index ETF (SGX: ES3) or the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SGX: S27).
Defence And Goalkeeper Are Crucial
All great footballing teams have a solid back four and goalkeeper because – as important as scoring goals is – not letting too many in is crucial to the team’s overall success.
With that in mind, if you are more defensive-minded in your investing, then more conservative instruments found on the SGX could be suitable.
These “defenders” can include bond ETFs, such as the ABF Singapore Bond Index Fund (SGX: A35), which can let you sleep easy at night knowing your goal (i.e. portfolio) is well protected.
That could also be extended to other potentially-defensive ETFs like the SPDR Gold Shares Trust (SGX: O87) (SGX: GSD).
Finally, your “goalkeeper” in the overall portfolio allocation could be your emergency cash fund – which should be anywhere from 6 months to 12 months’ worth of your expenses.
Read Also: [2025 Edition] Complete Guide To ETF Investing in Singapore
Play To Your Investing Style
Whatever your preference for investing, find a (footballing) position that fits with your approach and ensure you stay aligned to it.
Whether it’s the excitement of banging in goals and finishing off slick moves (growth stocks) or having a rock-solid defence that lets you sleep easy at night (bond/gold ETFs), you should be comfortable with your position.
That’s because the best footballers (and investors) recognise why they’re so good and build on their strengths to continually improve their game.
Join Our EverydayInvestor Event: How To Manage Your Portfolio Like A Winning Football Team
By having the right investment approach, understanding the type of investor you are, anyone can kickstart their investing journey and grow their savings over time. If you want to make investing a part of your everyday lives, come join our Flagship EverydayInvestor event on 19 July 2025, Saturday, from 10am to 3pm, at the SGX Auditorium.
During the event, the DollarsAndSense team will speak on investment concepts with the incorporation of football analogies. In addition, the event will also feature other prominent speakers:
Loo Cheng Chuan, founder of the 1M65 movement, will be speaking on “Are You A Fair-Weathered Investor?”
Dawn Cher, better known as SGBudgetBabe, will be launching her first book at the event! She will be talking about “How To Take Back Control Of Your Money”
Bringing the topic closer to home, we can also hear Former professional footballers, who will share their experiences about “Beyond the Game: Financial Lessons From Being A Professional Athlete”
Registration for this event is $5, which comes with lunch, refreshments, a goodie bag packed with treats, and a shot at winning exciting prizes – either at our interactive booths or in our lucky draw.
EveryDayInvestor (join the movement here on Telegram!) is an initiative by DollarsAndSense to make investing a daily habit.
Our vision is simple: everyone can be an investor, and not just those who studied finance or work in the industry. Just as staying healthy is a life skill that anyone can adopt, building good investing habits is also a valuable skill.
The Everyday Investor event – Manage Your Portfolio Like a Winning Football Team, is proudly organised by DollarsAndSense, with the generous support of our event sponsors, SGX and Tiger Brokers.
Seats are limited, and registration will close once all slots are filled. Be sure to secure your spot early. Register here.
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