We’d known it was coming. For weeks, social media whipped us itself into a fever pitch of excitement about what hits would be performed. So many of us gasped with joy at the heartwarming pre-event advert celebrating Rihanna’s phenomenal journey from a schoolgirl in Barbados to performing on the biggest of world stages. And still, none of us could have been prepared for the big reveal.

It wasn’t just that she started the performance with B***ch Better Have My Money (not quite the rainchq motto but one that we ultimately respect)

Nor was it the fact that we were watching a visibly pregnant woman live her best life and perform on what is arguably the biggest and most lucrative stage in the universe.

It wasn’t even the performance itself.

As noteworthy as all of these things were, what really stayed with me was just how much the performance could teach us about investing. No seriously. In the midst of belting out her classics, marketing her products and reminding us all of the wonders of womanhood, Rihanna was also inadvertently doling out pearls of money management wisdom.

Lesson one
Although one of my all time rules is to say a firm no to any suggestions of pay in exposure rather than cash, it turns out that Super Bowl might just be the exception, because performers for the half time show typically don’t get paid. However, the advertising eyeballs from over 150m global viewers and the billions of social impressions more than make up for it. Who else clocked Rihanna using her own Fenty compact to powder her face mid performance, and dress her dancers in her own clothing brand? With searches for Fenty Beauty, reportedly, already rocketing by several hundred percent since her performance, how many products do you think have been sold since Sunday?! (Word on the street is many retailers sold out in the immediate aftermath).

The long term gains, or in Rihanna’s case the advertising revenue, product and album sales are going to prove far greater and much more worthwhile than the short term win of a one-off pay day. Ring any bells with investing advice about playing the long game instead of trying to bag quick and fast returns?