World Cup 2026

EganSoccerWords

Registered
Elite Donor
Seasoned Supporter
Aug 9, 2015
3,138
6,156
303
38
With the Team (North) America a good bet to get the bid, I have started an investment account on Betterment entitled: World Cup 2026: Road to Affordability.

  • Goal: $3000
  • Current Balance: $0
  • Period of Time: 9 years
  • Allocation: 62% Stocks / 38% Bonds
  • Monthly Autodeposit: $21.82
I just picked $3000 out of the air to get started. I guess I have nine years to budget the exact amount.
 
With the Team (North) America a good bet to get the bid, I have started an investment account on Betterment entitled: World Cup 2026: Road to Affordability.

  • Goal: $3000
  • Current Balance: $0
  • Period of Time: 9 years
  • Allocation: 62% Stocks / 38% Bonds
  • Monthly Autodeposit: $21.82
I just picked $3000 out of the air to get started. I guess I have nine years to budget the exact amount.
Very smart and foresighted. What are you looking for the Goal to cover? One ticket to any closest game? All US games? Multiple tickets or multiple games? Some travel? Late knockout game(s)?
 
  • Like
Reactions: NYCFCfan
Unforunately because of my profession, I can't do weekday games until the end of June. #1 goal would be for every possibile U.S. game I can go to and then late knockout rounds. In order to stay married, I would probably stay on the East Coast except for the Final. Probably aiming for 2 tickets.
 
Unforunately because of my profession, I can't do weekday games until the end of June. #1 goal would be for every possibile U.S. game I can go to and then late knockout rounds. In order to stay married, I would probably stay on the East Coast except for the Final. Probably aiming for 2 tickets.
$3k seems as good a guess as any then. Like you said you'll have more info as time goes forward.
 
  • Like
Reactions: EganSoccerWords
I'd calling it the North American World Cup Agreement or, NAWCA.

I'd say $5K-7K is a better goal in mind depending on your target in terms of travel, hotel, and tickets. And you'll be 10 years older so your professional standing should gain over that time.

If you just want to keep it safe, go into a low fee mutual fund through Vanguard or an ETF with a market wide view.

Additionally, the more you put in now the better due to compound returns.
 
Last edited:
I'd calling it the North American World Cup Agreement or, NAWCA.

I'd say $5K-7K is a better goal in mind depending on your target in terms of travel, hotel, and tickets. And you'll be 10 years older so your professional standing should gain over that time.

If you just want to keep it safe, go into a low fee mutual fund through Vanguard or an ETF with a market wide view.

Additionally, the more you put in now the better due to compound returns.
The game within a game is going to be when does my wife recognize the monthly deductions. I have a kid on the way in June and just bought a car so unfortunately the lump sum is not an option right now. Once the bid is locked up for sure hopefully next year, I will come up with a real budget.

Betterment is basically just a fancy frontend for Vanguard and Bond ETFs. I'm not the greatest DIY Investor so an algorithm is probably going to make better choices than I could ;). I have used them the last 4 years to manage my safety net (15% Stock/85% Bonds) and I have been very happy with the performance compared to a savings account. If you don't know how to invest, but want to with a minimal learning curve, its a great option IMHO.

If you would like to see more details:

worldcup2026roadtoaffordability.PNG
portfolio.PNG
 
With the Team (North) America a good bet to get the bid, I have started an investment account on Betterment entitled: World Cup 2026: Road to Affordability.

  • Goal: $3000
  • Current Balance: $0
  • Period of Time: 9 years
  • Allocation: 62% Stocks / 38% Bonds
  • Monthly Autodeposit: $21.82
I just picked $3000 out of the air to get started. I guess I have nine years to budget the exact amount.
Funny - I did the same thing with Fred Jr. who actually won't be all that junior by then.
 
The game within a game is going to be when does my wife recognize the monthly deductions. I have a kid on the way in June and just bought a car so unfortunately the lump sum is not an option right now. Once the bid is locked up for sure hopefully next year, I will come up with a real budget.

Betterment is basically just a fancy frontend for Vanguard and Bond ETFs. I'm not the greatest DIY Investor so an algorithm is probably going to make better choices than I could ;). I have used them the last 4 years to manage my safety net (15% Stock/85% Bonds) and I have been very happy with the performance compared to a savings account. If you don't know how to invest, but want to with a minimal learning curve, its a great option IMHO.

If you would like to see more details:

View attachment 6872 View attachment 6873
I had a whole thing typed out about investment advice, but then I realized this isn't your retirement fund and just for tickets.

You should try and move out of the bond funds with fees over .20% unless the return is that much higher than the other ones where it's worth it to you, though in my experience it hardly ever is.
 
I had a whole thing typed out about investment advice, but then I realized this isn't your retirement fund and just for tickets.

You should try and move out of the bond funds with fees over .20% unless the return is that much higher than the other ones where it's worth it to you, though in my experience it hardly ever is.
Especially with Betterment tacking on another .25%.
 
The game within a game is going to be when does my wife recognize the monthly deductions. I have a kid on the way in June and just bought a car so unfortunately the lump sum is not an option right now. Once the bid is locked up for sure hopefully next year, I will come up with a real budget.

Betterment is basically just a fancy frontend for Vanguard and Bond ETFs. I'm not the greatest DIY Investor so an algorithm is probably going to make better choices than I could ;). I have used them the last 4 years to manage my safety net (15% Stock/85% Bonds) and I have been very happy with the performance compared to a savings account. If you don't know how to invest, but want to with a minimal learning curve, its a great option IMHO.

If you would like to see more details:

View attachment 6872 View attachment 6873
For all my nitpicking around the edges, good on you for thinking about what you need to do now to be able to afford to go.

Can't endorse the hiding it from the missus though. :D:D:D

#positivepost
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ulrich
Can I just say that I appreciate how much of this thread has been devoted to the merits of different investment companies, portfolios, etc.?
 
I had a whole thing typed out about investment advice, but then I realized this isn't your retirement fund and just for tickets.

You should try and move out of the bond funds with fees over .20% unless the return is that much higher than the other ones where it's worth it to you, though in my experience it hardly ever is.

Don't worry you gracious taxpayers from the City of New York are paying for my retirement ;)
 
Thread Of The Year nominee.

I seriously need to do this especially because I have 2 sons who will want to go as well.

NOTE: I already have money set aside for their college tuitions and local fees so no need to light my Father Of The Year votes on fire.

For someone who knows virtually nothing about investing in the market (state pension and I make bi-weekly contributions to a 457 and Roth IRA) what's my best play here?

I will also have a game within the game with my spouse who will think this is the worst allocation of resources ever.
 
Thread Of The Year nominee.

I seriously need to do this especially because I have 2 sons who will want to go as well.

NOTE: I already have money set aside for their college tuitions and local fees so no need to light my Father Of The Year votes on fire.

For someone who knows virtually nothing about investing in the market (state pension and I make bi-weekly contributions to a 457 and Roth IRA) what's my best play here?

I will also have a game within the game with my spouse who will think this is the worst allocation of resources ever.
If you aren't comfortable with DIY investing, I would check out Betterment. You don't have to do any research on what to buy or when/how to rebalance your portfolio. It will automatically give you a diversified portfolio based on your goal and what you want that is automatically maintained by them. Here is a profile from Bloomberg:

I am not discounting the comments made by others here who probably know what they are talking about more than I do, but I know I would do a worse job on my own. They do take their fee but IMHO in my case the benefits in time and effort outweigh that cost. The fee is lower than a flesh-in-blood financial advisors, who also in some cases have an incentive to manage your money in a way that doesn't give you the greatest benefit.
 
For someone who knows virtually nothing about investing in the market (state pension and I make bi-weekly contributions to a 457 and Roth IRA) what's my best play here?
***not a financial professional***
If you have the minimum already, just get a Vanguard index mutual fund with a low expense ratio and good morningstar ratings.

If you don't have the minimum, find a Vanguard index ETF with the same criteria that you can buy without commissions.

Just buy one fund/ETF. For the amount of money we're talking about, splitting it up among a bunch of different funds is more likely to give you headaches than make you money, and can inadvertently screw up your attempt at diversifying.
***still not a financial professional***
 
Just go to Vanguard and buy their Target 2025 mutual fund (ticker:VTTVX). You can also buy this through many brokers. It is extremely low fee (0.14%) and will automatically adjust to be more and more conservative as the target date approaches. Right now it is 65/35 stocks over bonds, but as an example, the Target 2020 fund is 56/44.

If you're more conservative, you could just put it in the 2020 fund now and it will mimic a portfolio for someone who is retired starting in 2020.

You don't want to be heavily in stocks as the date approaches as a single downturn in the winter of 2025 could ruin your plans.

The only issue is that these all have $1000 minimums to start.

A tool like Betterment makes more sense if you are planning for the longer term -- it's overkill for shorter term planning.
 
To ballpark the 2026 costs, I would look at how much you spent (or would have) on the most recent Copa America. Check out ticket prices, airfare, hotels, etc. to go to whichever games you would have wanted. Remember that you will have an 8-9 year old that might want to come too. Then tack on 3%/year for inflation - or 30% for 9 years - and you have your budget.
 
  • Like
Reactions: adam and CatNYC
To ballpark the 2026 costs, I would look at how much you spent (or would have) on the most recent Copa America. Check out ticket prices, airfare, hotels, etc. to go to whichever games you would have wanted. Remember that you will have an 8-9 year old that might want to come too. Then tack on 3%/year for inflation - or 30% for 9 years - and you have your budget.
Good guide but I would also expect WC to cost at least 1.5 time CA beyond inflation.
 
  • Like
Reactions: adam and SoupInNYC
So i thought about how this bid would work if North America wins the right to host the 2026 World Cup, which I hope it will.

Based on what we know, Canada and Mexico are expected to host 10 games and the USA will host 60 games including all the games from the Qtr finals onwards.

We also know there will be 16 groups of 3.

Back in 1982, the second stage of the World cup had groups of three with all group games being played in the same stadium. Concievably, that is one approach they could take.

This would benefit fans as they only need to be based in one city during the group phase and would cut down on costs. The downside is that part of the charm of the World Cup is being able to see different cities.

However the more stadiums/cities you have, the larger the expense for everyone involved.

How would you approach it ?