How the NHL Lockout Can Make You a Better Investor

On one hand, I spend, somewhat freely, because I like to live. I like to do things for myself and my wife. And vice versa. And we both like to provide our daughter with worthy experiences.

So, we travel frequently, but never at the meaningful expense of anything important. At least I don't think so.

But, man, looking at it another way -- I am going to Manhattan, Phoenix and Wisconsin whether they play hockey there in October and November or not. As much as I love hockey, these trips will hardly suffer without it.

That extra $2,100 could go toward travel-related upgrades, but it likely makes more sense to put it in the bank. Or in a stock.

If I had invested $2,100 in Apple (AAPL) around this time last year, I would be up approximately 84%. Using $380 as an entry price, my 5.5 shares would be worth $3,850 with AAPL at $700 a share. That calculation doesn't even take the dividend into account.

Right. So then, why would I allow a game, run by freaking Gary Bettman, to impact my future in any way, shape or form? With this time to reflect during the lockout, I really cannot come up with a suitable answer.

At the time of publication, the author held no positions in any of the stocks mentioned in this article.

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This article is commentary by an independent contributor, separate from TheStreet's regular news coverage.