cream cat

How can poor people become rich? By working hard? That's a joke. Many poor people work hard day after day, but do they become rich by the time they die? Of course not. Because poor people can have nothing, but they cannot keep accumulating debt. Poor people can go all in, but they must set boundaries based on what they currently have, without borrowing money or having negative net worth. Because once they have negative net worth, there is "negative compound interest" that will make it take longer for them to turn their lives around. So the first priority is to work hard and pay off debts, and then they can have the qualification to take risks. Otherwise, they simply don't have the qualification to take risks. Do poor people have to gamble?

Because if you look at all the rich people, none of them became rich by "slowly getting rich". It is correct to slowly get rich, but if you want to rely on slowly getting rich to obtain your first pot of gold, you will definitely not achieve it even by the time you die. So since you are very poor, what you should look for is something that may result in a 100% loss of capital, but with returns of more than 100% and unlimited potential. What if you lose all your capital? Just start over, anyway, you don't have much money, it's easy to earn it back through work, and then you have another chance. When your asset-to-income ratio is high, you should do safe things because once you lose, you cannot maintain your current social status. But if your asset-to-income ratio is low, you should do extremely risky things because you can quickly replenish the ammunition you lose.

Once, when Andy Lau had the opportunity to play the male lead in a movie, he heard that Chow Yun-fat had turned it down, so he went to find Chow Yun-fat and asked him why he declined, if there was any trap. Chow Yun-fat said, "I am here now" (making a high gesture), so every step I take must be careful. But you are here now" (making a low gesture), what do you have to lose? At most, you start over from scratch. Andy Lau suddenly realized this and became famous overnight. For poor people, the importance of participating in opportunities is much greater than the traditional meaning of working hard.

So why is this gambling not gambling? Because gambling is always a zero-sum or negative-sum game. In other words, in gambling, you cannot increase your winning rate through skills. If you can, then it's not gambling, it's investment or something else. For example, lottery tickets, no matter how many you buy, you cannot increase your chances of winning. This is pure gambling and a place where the house has a high edge. Any person with a brain should not touch it. In addition, gambling is a game with equal probabilities. What does that mean? It means that you cannot increase your ability and winning rate through multiple games. In contrast, investment and entrepreneurship, I used to joke that these are the first choices for squandering because their success rates are very low. But compared to gambling, where the long-term success rate is always zero, they are still better. For example, someone who has started multiple businesses is different from someone who is starting their first business. You can tell just by chatting casually, their comprehensive thinking and depth are not on the same level.

So what should poor people do to turn their lives around? They must gamble, but they should gamble on things with a small probability of success, rather than things where the success rate remains unchanged after repeated games. Today, I can fill my stomach with one steamed bun, tomorrow I should be able to fill it with half a bun, that's called optimizing efficiency. If today I can only fill my stomach with one steamed bun and tomorrow I still need one to fill it, then what I am doing today is not optimizing efficiency, but merely coping with life and maintaining survival. The benefits gained from doing things are not just tangible benefits, but also the shaping of one's own abilities. A person becomes smarter, wiser, and broadens their horizons through doing things. Poor people already have a low starting point, if they don't optimize efficiency by doing the right things, they will be poor for a lifetime.

Finally, the definition of success certainly does not only refer to becoming wealthy, but in this world, 99% of problems can be solved with money. That's why I don't think it's wrong for people to play memes. The losses are limited, and the returns are unlimited. That's when gambling becomes meaningful, don't you agree?