I saw an advetisement for Nike that showed soccer players in the World Cup becoming either heroes or forgotten people based on whether or not they score an important goal. This made me think that small moments and the choices we make greatly influence the course of our lives. This is especially true in our investment portfolios.

Most studies show that it is very difficult to succeed by being an active trader. Most people don't have the ability to choose the correct stocks because there are too many factors that influence stock prices.

There certainly are a handful of great investors who have made the right decisions on a fairly consistent basis. The number of people who are considered great investors is a very small percentage of all investors. Some of these "great" investors got lucky. Others are very knowledgeable about markets and made the right call at the right time.

For most of us, we are making our investment choices the best we can. Sometimes we win and sometimes we lose. Even if we think we have as much information as possible, something can happen in the world that sweeps away the logic of our analysis.

One thing I took away from this frustrating thought is that soccer players can't score the winning goal if they are not in the game. It is difficult to put together a "great" investment portfolio, but we won't have the chance to succeed if we don't play the game.

Active and passive investment philosophies have a chance to lead us to our goals. We all will make the choices that will determine the outcome of our investment efforts. However, the most important choice is to start saving and investing on a consistent basis as early in life as possible.