Episode description

Have you ever looked at a situation, or a person, and wondered if and how luck plays into success?

Luck is real, as is risk. And these two factors show us the reality that every outcome in life has forces that exist in addition to, and beyond our individual effort.

Fact is, they both play a role in life and must be respected. We don’t know how much luck plays into anyone’s success. As Housel says, “when judging others, attributing success to luck makes you look jealous and mean. Even though we know it exists. And when judging yourself, attributing success to luck can be too demoralizing to accept.” (end quote)

If we try too hard to pick apart what is due to luck and what is due to risk, versus what is do to the decisions and actions a person takes we find it far too complex. As I like to say, you’ll never truly understand another person’s situation fully. The influences, motives, all of the variables that went into a person’s upbringing and adult life.

We’re all trying to learn what strategies work best, with money, business, getting wealthy (or financially independent). We try to make it simple by looking at what someone did and copying it. By reading a checklist of these 5 things or 7 things or 50 things that one must do. But we can’t see clearly what was brought forth by decisions and repeatable actions and what things have been affected randomly by luck and risk.

“The difficulty in identifying what is luck, what is skill, and what is risk is one of the biggest problems we face when trying to learn about the best way to manage money.”

And remember along the way, nothing is as good or as bad as it seems.