How Do You Play the Game?

This is something I read over the weekend. The lesson may not be new to people in the 90% Guardian, but I love how the story is told by the author of the book.

The story goes like this:

The author of the book, when he was young, loved to play the game MONOPOLY with his family. He noticed something very strange about his cousin: When his cousin plays, she never buys any properties, and only go around and around collecting the $200 as she passes GO.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that there is no way the cousin can win by playing this way, so the author talked to his cousin:

Author: Why do you never buy any properties and only collect the $200 dollars?

Cousin: I want to make sure I am able to pay the rent when I step on other players' properties.

Author: But if you don't buy any properties, you will never win the game. You know this is a losing strategy.

Cousin: Yeah, but at least I get to play longer. 

According to the author, his cousin grew old and became broke, and she also became bitter at the success of others.

Now let's think of ourselves. Are we currently playing this financial game of life with a winning strategy? How many people are just doing what they were told they should do, so they get to "play the game longer"? How many people are playing a losing strategy, and yet don't even recognize their strategy leads them to nowhere.

I am not saying I am a know-it-all. Quite the opposite. I have always been pretty "conventional" in my plan. Go to school, find a job, work hard, move up the corporate ladder, and save money for retirement. We all heard those words. The strategy doesn't feel right, but for some reasons I always thought things would work out at the end, and I am somehow smarter than others who are doing the same and will win this game. It took the financial meltdown back in 08-09 and a loss of $10,000 for me to start increasing my financial intelligence and see there are more strategies to play this financial game called Life.

Ask yourself what your goal is, what you want to achieve, and see if your strategy aligns with your goals and will help you win. There is nothing worse than playing a losing strategy thinking you can win, or be willfully ignorant to play a losing strategy "just to play longer".

I don't know what your winning strategy will be, but it's certain that increasing your financial intelligence helps you form a better strategy. With higher financial intelligence, you can solve more financial problems, which helps you unlock the chest of opportunities. Always remember: If you want to be average, do what the average does. If you don't want to be average, be different than the average.

We are living through history. The greatest fiat currency experiment known as the US Dollar Reserve is slowly collapsing in front of our eyes. Never before has human civilization tried this at a global scale, it had never ended nicely, and this one is no exception. The average and unprepared will likely lose a lot, while those who are prepared will acquire massive wealth. Your choice is simple: Either you PANIC like everyone else and get frozen, or SEE THIS AS THE GREATEST OPPORTUNITY OF YOUR LIFETIME. The ticket to this greatest opportunity of human history is called financial intelligence. Increase your financial intelligence now, and this will be like a roller coaster ride. It will be thrilling and fun because you have your financial intelligence to hold you in position, while others may fly out of the cart because they are unprepared.

History is being made, and you bet this decade will be a decade remembered by historians. When your kids and grand kids ask you, "What were you doing during the greatest wealth transfer in the history of mankind?"

"I was sucking my thumb on the couch watching TV, my dear", surely will not be good enough.