Every July a bunch of dudes with skinny arms and thighs the size of a genetically enhanced bull get on bikes and ride around the rural flats and mountains of France. This is otherwise known as the Tour de France. Here in the United States interest in the tour can only ever be summed up in one name: Lance Armstrong. In fact, interest in cycling all around the world is centered on our man from Texas. Linked here is a graph of Google Search traffic for “Tour de France” since 2004. Naturally it spikes every summer. However it doesn’t spike nearly as high in years Lance did not ride (06-08).

If you’ve ever wondered how Lance was able to win a record 7 straight tours, many believe he was able to rebuild his body to be a perfect cyclist following his cancer treatment. Imagine getting a fresh start to redesign your body. Of course many attribute his success to drugs, but he’s never tested positive, and during this 2009 ride he’s being tested much more often than other riders and even posting the results online for full transparency. But enough background about the tour and my unexplained fanboyism towards Armstrong. My “six lessons _________ can teach you about money” has returned, and we’re going all the way to the Champs-Élysées.

He Who Wins Today May Not Win Tomorrow: The Tour de France is actually a series of 21 races called stages. The stages take place over 23 days with each one varying in length and difficulty. Each stage has winners who receive points and these are tallying up in a similar way that points are in NASCAR. Basically, the more points the better. However you don’t need to win any stages to win the Tour de France. All you need to do is have the best total time of all the stages. Greg LeMond won the Tour de France in 1990 and he didn’t win a single stage, he was just the fastest overall.

With investments it can always feel like someone is doing better than you. Someone is saving more or making more money. Someone has a bigger house or payed of their loans faster. No matter what you do someone is beating you. You can’t let that discourage you. You’re in this for the long haul and can’t be distracted by the short-term successes of others. The riders in the tour have clearly defined goals and stick to them for the whole journey, so should you. Ignore the noise.

Don’t Try To Beat The Pack: These daily races are often made up of people riding in groups. You’ll often see a pack fo 1-10 bikers break off and try to win a specific stage, however for the most part everyone stays in one group. This main pack is called the Peloton. Many of the riders that try to break away from the Peloton are absorbed back into the group because they catch up.

The Peloton is just like the S&P 500. Don’t try to beat the market, just stay with the market. So many people will hurt themselves trying to beat everyone else that those who stayed the course end up being the true winners in the end.

Winning is a Team Effort: Lance Armstrong didn’t win all these tours without the help of his team. The team consists of other riders, coaches, mechanics, doctors, and others. The riders are there to work together, they create wind tunnels and help pace eachother. Many times one team member must sacrifice themselves for their leader. Regardless, no one is winning any tours without the help of a team.

You also can’t manage your money on your own. Eventually it has to be trusted to a mutual fund manager, a bank, a financial advisor, and most importantly, a spouse. Your team is working together and it’s important that everyone has the same goal in mind. Trust me when I say that good money managers and banks actually do want you to make more money. The business models are designed so that if they help you make more money, they make more too. Sometimes your goals aren’t aligned, and this can happen often with a spouse. If you don’t keep your goals in line, the whole team might blow up. We might see something like this in the tour this year. For once Lance is not the team leader, another guy is. They are equals in terms of skill and Lance is a crowd favorite, at some point the team will have to make a decision, hopefully they don’t split down the middle. Surround yourself with a team that has your goals in mind, or otherwise you might end up losing the race.

Efficiency Matters, But Most Of Progress Should Be Automatic: The riders in these tours are efficiency nuts. Their bikes, helmets, shoes, clothes, and water bottles are all designed to maximize their efficiency. Efficient riding allows you to save your energy for when you really need it. So much science has gone into this racing that so much of it is now automated for the riders. The only thing they really control is their body movement. When you start accelerating or pushing hard, you still need to maintain good body control. Too often the riders get too emotional and get sloppy.

Your money should also be efficient. You should find some deals, practice frugality, and save. However you should make most of this automatic. Use direct deposit, automate some bills, and save money on expenses when it’s easy. Then you can focus your energy on squeezing out any additional efficiency you need to get ahead. Definitely don’t let emotion get control of your money, or you’ll get sloppy too.

You Have To Take A Break Once In A While: Even though most of the races are back to back every day, the riders do take a break. There are two rest days during the tour. The riders will rest up and give their bodies a break. In theory they could push through and ride all 1 stage per day for 21 stages but this helps avoid injury too. With the batteries recharged everyone gets back on the bike and has a good, energized race that is more fun to watch and easier on the riders.

You and your money need a break too. Sometimes it might come in the form of a vacation, and other times it might simply be to go blow some cash on an iPhone or fancy purse. If you don’t take a break from the monotony of saving money, you start to get bored with it. Money is meant to be spent, so go spend some. You’ve earned it. Naturally you don’t want to go overboard, but taking a break in moderation is perfectly acceptable, and encouraged.

Ignore The Commentators: Phil Liggett is arguably the best commentator in all of sports. He’s covered the Tour de France for as long as I’ve watched it. With a distinct voice and fascinating insight half of the fun of watching the tour is just listening to him. However he is only providing a play by play of 3 hours of racing daily and for the most part should be ignored. You’ve got better things to do. If you’re around a TV sure leave it on, but know what’s going on every second of the tour is overkill and doesn’t add value to the experience.

Just like Phil you should ignore anyone that is offering a play by play of your money. You don’t need to watch CNBC all day, or at all for that matter. They don’t add any true value. If you’re very interested in the daily performance of your investments then go to a website like finance.google.com and save you favorite tickers there. You don’t need analysis and you don’t need commentary because ultimately all these people are here to do is make the material more exciting than it actually is.

Bonus: One Way The Tour de France Is Very Different From Money: Okay I have to throw in one way the Tour de France and your money are not related. Sportsmanship. In the tour if you’re in the lead and fall down, you might expect your competition to ride on, not so. They Peloton will slow down to let leaders catch back up. No one wants to win on a technicality like that, they want to win because they earned it.

Down on Wall Street you can only count on yourself. Everyone will stab you in the back to make an extra buck. It’s a “dog eat dog world” as they say. In no other sport do I see so much friendship and camaraderie as I do in cycling. I don’t ride myself (I’d like to) but I’m simply drawn to the sport because of all these fantastic qualities.

By The Weakonomist

The Weakonomist is the founder of Weakonomics. Clicking the picture of the puppy will tell you more about him. If you like what you're reading consider subscribing to the blog, following him on Twitter, and checking out the related posts below. Please consider a donation if you really enjoy Weakonomics.

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