There are 100 men seeking security to one able man who is willing to risk his fortune.”
- J. Paul Getty
“If all I have is ten dollars and I risk it, I am much braver than when I risk a million, if I have another million salted away.”
- Reminiscences of a Stock Operator
“This is where we sort the wolves from the does, the prey from the predator and you from a lifetime of wage slavery.”
- Felix Dennis
JS comment:
If you enjoy inspiration, autobiography, hard-nosed wisdom from real life success stories, and excellent writing, you should read “How to Get Rich” by Felix Dennis. Awful title, wonderful book, from a guy who has walked the walk (hundreds of millions from scratch) and pulls no punches.
In his book, Dennis (who is British) runs some numbers on how many fellow Britons are actually “in the race” to get rich. The number he comes up with is 3 percent, tops, which he further suspects is “a massive overestimate.” Most people are simply concerned with day-to-day security, as J. Paul Getty points out, or find themselves otherwise permanently distracted.
If you actually set out to build wealth, then, and are serious enough about it to avoid the obvious pitfalls, you are going up against perhaps 3 people in 100, or maybe just 1 person in 100. Those who just want a job with a safety net, or a career with prestige attached, or who talk the talk but are really just screwing around, don’t actually count as competition in the marketplace battle for wealth. This makes the odds significantly better than one might realize… in part because one must be intrinsically odds-beating by nature, in both drive and temperament, to be in true “competitive position” in the first place.
How different is it in trading I wonder. When you ponder all those who approach markets, think about the vast percentage who:
It’s like the difference between the semi-professional poker player, who doesn’t play poker for a living but takes the game very seriously — and always plays to win — and the slightly toasted businessman who sees poker as a fun way to blow off steam on a vacation, along with a few drinks and pretty cocktail waitresses and the hopes of getting lucky. The first guy is applying a series of accumulated edges with high-precision consistency. The second guy, all things being equal, would be better off at the craps table.
J. Paul Getty suggests there are very few men willing to risk their fortune. Elon Musk is one of those guys, which is why he’s a billionaire in the first place. But you don’t have to be wealthy to “risk your fortune.” As Jesse Livermore points out (via Reminiscences), you can “risk a fortune” by putting a very small amount of capital on the line (if it’s all the capital you’ve got).
So why is it that so many would-be traders who only have the equivalent of ten bucks, figuratively speaking, refuse to risk even that? I’m talking mental capital here, not financial. Why do so many approach trading and investing as a hobby or an entertaining pastime only, instead of with real seriousness in pursuit of real and powerful goals?
I submit it may come down to ego risk, which is a different type of “risking one’s fortune” than the possibility of losing money. If you approach something as a hobby and it doesn’t work out, there is no significant ego loss. After all, you were just dicking around. It was just your hobby, something you do to pass the time. Alternatively, if you always put off “getting serious” until tomorrow, you can justify your lack of success here and now by telling yourself “I just haven’t gotten serious yet.” Postponing that upped ante commitment level is a means of forever preserving the ego from hard-nosed exposure to failure fears.
When you really take trading seriously, though — or any endeavor at the life-changing level — something powerful happens. A key shift in mental mindset occurs. All of a sudden there are real stakes on the line — not just financial stakes, but ego stakes. When you put your heart and soul into something — when you genuinely say “I will take on this challenge, and I will prevail” — you show a boldness that few men can countenance. A boldness that, in large part, has been bred out of modern society by a constant cacopohony of molly-coddling and we-know-best finger-wagging and nanny state safety constraints.
(As an aside, it may be just me, but the culture of treating the average trader or investor like a mentally deficient twelve-year-old drives me nuts. Don’t be dumb with your money, don’t be stupid now, blah blah blah. Fine, maybe the vast majority of people will be dumb with their investment choices forever and always. As Yojimbo put it, “No cure for fools.” But if that’s the case no matter what, can’t we just shut up a little and let it go already?)
At any rate, it’s an intriguing question: What are you willing to risk?
Not just in financial capital terms, but ego and self-image terms. How much are you willing to put on the line? How serious are you about achieving your goals, taking the bold steps — and the personal emotional risks and training hardship risks — to “get it done” on a level commensurate with your dreams? Does the next level frighten you? What does that fear mean? Is it helpful in shaping your game, or harmful in holding you back? Are you one of the few actually competing with real intention for the prize… or one of the many just killing time?
- J. Paul Getty
“If all I have is ten dollars and I risk it, I am much braver than when I risk a million, if I have another million salted away.”
- Reminiscences of a Stock Operator
“This is where we sort the wolves from the does, the prey from the predator and you from a lifetime of wage slavery.”
- Felix Dennis
JS comment:
If you enjoy inspiration, autobiography, hard-nosed wisdom from real life success stories, and excellent writing, you should read “How to Get Rich” by Felix Dennis. Awful title, wonderful book, from a guy who has walked the walk (hundreds of millions from scratch) and pulls no punches.
In his book, Dennis (who is British) runs some numbers on how many fellow Britons are actually “in the race” to get rich. The number he comes up with is 3 percent, tops, which he further suspects is “a massive overestimate.” Most people are simply concerned with day-to-day security, as J. Paul Getty points out, or find themselves otherwise permanently distracted.
If you actually set out to build wealth, then, and are serious enough about it to avoid the obvious pitfalls, you are going up against perhaps 3 people in 100, or maybe just 1 person in 100. Those who just want a job with a safety net, or a career with prestige attached, or who talk the talk but are really just screwing around, don’t actually count as competition in the marketplace battle for wealth. This makes the odds significantly better than one might realize… in part because one must be intrinsically odds-beating by nature, in both drive and temperament, to be in true “competitive position” in the first place.
How different is it in trading I wonder. When you ponder all those who approach markets, think about the vast percentage who:
- never make the mental leap to actually take trading seriously
- never cultivate the mental discipline to execute on a real plan
- never develop the humility to learn from their mistakes
- never put serious capital to work (always stay hobby level)
- never show the guts to really and truly pursue their dream
It’s like the difference between the semi-professional poker player, who doesn’t play poker for a living but takes the game very seriously — and always plays to win — and the slightly toasted businessman who sees poker as a fun way to blow off steam on a vacation, along with a few drinks and pretty cocktail waitresses and the hopes of getting lucky. The first guy is applying a series of accumulated edges with high-precision consistency. The second guy, all things being equal, would be better off at the craps table.
J. Paul Getty suggests there are very few men willing to risk their fortune. Elon Musk is one of those guys, which is why he’s a billionaire in the first place. But you don’t have to be wealthy to “risk your fortune.” As Jesse Livermore points out (via Reminiscences), you can “risk a fortune” by putting a very small amount of capital on the line (if it’s all the capital you’ve got).
So why is it that so many would-be traders who only have the equivalent of ten bucks, figuratively speaking, refuse to risk even that? I’m talking mental capital here, not financial. Why do so many approach trading and investing as a hobby or an entertaining pastime only, instead of with real seriousness in pursuit of real and powerful goals?
I submit it may come down to ego risk, which is a different type of “risking one’s fortune” than the possibility of losing money. If you approach something as a hobby and it doesn’t work out, there is no significant ego loss. After all, you were just dicking around. It was just your hobby, something you do to pass the time. Alternatively, if you always put off “getting serious” until tomorrow, you can justify your lack of success here and now by telling yourself “I just haven’t gotten serious yet.” Postponing that upped ante commitment level is a means of forever preserving the ego from hard-nosed exposure to failure fears.
When you really take trading seriously, though — or any endeavor at the life-changing level — something powerful happens. A key shift in mental mindset occurs. All of a sudden there are real stakes on the line — not just financial stakes, but ego stakes. When you put your heart and soul into something — when you genuinely say “I will take on this challenge, and I will prevail” — you show a boldness that few men can countenance. A boldness that, in large part, has been bred out of modern society by a constant cacopohony of molly-coddling and we-know-best finger-wagging and nanny state safety constraints.
(As an aside, it may be just me, but the culture of treating the average trader or investor like a mentally deficient twelve-year-old drives me nuts. Don’t be dumb with your money, don’t be stupid now, blah blah blah. Fine, maybe the vast majority of people will be dumb with their investment choices forever and always. As Yojimbo put it, “No cure for fools.” But if that’s the case no matter what, can’t we just shut up a little and let it go already?)
At any rate, it’s an intriguing question: What are you willing to risk?
Not just in financial capital terms, but ego and self-image terms. How much are you willing to put on the line? How serious are you about achieving your goals, taking the bold steps — and the personal emotional risks and training hardship risks — to “get it done” on a level commensurate with your dreams? Does the next level frighten you? What does that fear mean? Is it helpful in shaping your game, or harmful in holding you back? Are you one of the few actually competing with real intention for the prize… or one of the many just killing time?
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