Life has certain errors and events (negative) that can drastically change our lives for the worse. I observe life and share these tips for you to avoid
1. Various Types of Traffic Accidents
Getting into a moderate to severe accident can make life several times harder. To experience this, try living in a wheelchair for a bit. Or try doing everything with one hand or no hands. Or lie in bed unable to move. A 7 to 10-day trial will show you how much harder the game gets. And this is just a demo - the real thing is even more brutal. This change doesn't just affect you but also your whole family, including elderly parents, young wife, and kids.
If you cause an accident, especially under the influence, the guilt of changing someone else's life and family can be incredibly heavy. Living with that is extremely tough. Before healing, ensure you don't cause or get hurt first.
I believe in fate, but you can minimize risks by driving moderately, not speeding or driving recklessly, avoiding drugs or alcohol while driving. Personally, I avoid crowded or chaotic traffic areas, take longer routes if needed, slow down when tired, and always leave extra time to avoid rushing.
The driving game only has penalties up to severe punishments if you play recklessly. Gaining a few minutes by speeding isn't worth it. "Fast by a minute, slow for a lifetime."
2. Violence and Brawling
Before fighting, your face is red; after, it turns yellow like turmeric.
Movies give us the idea that you can be violent and walk away unscathed. But in reality, if you hurt someone badly, even if they provoked you, you're the one in trouble. In severe cases, you might end up in jail, losing years of your youth.
To avoid violence, steer clear of places where it commonly occurs, like bars where egos are unchecked due to alcohol or drugs. These places often create situations where not fighting back loses you respect among peers. Going with a crush to such places is even riskier.
On the road, apologize and move on if there's a minor accident. Don't road rage.
Resolve conflicts early and peacefully. Once hands are involved, it's hard to face each other again.
Avoid bad friends who can subtly drag you down. Find friends who are educated, disciplined, and honest. If none, being alone is better.
3. Addiction
Never try drugs, even once.
Don't play with addiction. It sucks out your soul, sanity, and everything good. It drains money and performance at work.
If you're rich, it's less devastating, but if poor, it's a disaster. This post isn't about consequences everyone knows but about personal credibility.
The label of an addict sticks with you forever. Even if you recover, neighbors will always bring it up. People might analyze your addict behavior when drunk. You might not suffer, but your parents, wife, and kids will.
Some recover and rebuild their reputation, but it's incredibly hard. Earning a living is hard enough, let alone making a positive impact.
Avoid addiction and friends who might encourage it.
4. Bonus Tips with Serious Consequences (but slightly less severe):
Losing control and showing anger at work, especially in an office setting or to your boss.
Saying hurtful things to loved ones.
Abortion. I won't discuss deeply due to sensitivity, but the mental scars are significant.
Betraying friends or mentors.
...Add more if you have them, haha.
Funny but true meme. Live cautiously and responsibly, avoid so many unnecessary pitfalls. Live safely and stably before aiming for wealth or success. The saying "an cư lạc nghiệp" (living in peace brings joy in work) is never wrong.
Investing or gambling in the financial market are two concepts that share many similarities, where both involve profit and risk. Many people enter the financial market with the intention of investing; however, they often do not realize that their "investing" actions are essentially equivalent to a form of "gambling." The main difference between "investing" and "gambling" lies in the ability to achieve long-term profits.
The purpose of this article is to provide those who have been and are currently investing in the financial market with a perspective to reassess whether your investment process is truly investing or just gambling.
Feel free to let me know if you need further assistance!
Gambling with Knowledge
Edward Thorp, a legendary mathematician and investor, famously said, "Gambling with knowledge is investing, investing without knowledge is gambling." He applied mathematical principles to beat casino card games, profiting significantly. His creation of the Card Counting method for Blackjack allows players to predict winning probabilities quite accurately, giving them an edge. With enough games where the calculated win rate for Blackjack is >51% up to 52.5%, you can make huge profits. (For more details, you can watch the movie Twenty One - 2008).
Without "knowledge," specifically in Blackjack, the Card Counting method, a typical player's win probability is 49.65%. With games where the win rate is under 50%, the more you play, the more you'll lose over time. This is called "gambling" without knowledge. From this example, ask yourself: Does your "knowledge" suffice to turn "gambling" into "investing"? Conversely, is your "knowledge" in "investing" enough to avoid it becoming "gambling"?
Disclaimer: I provide a real example from the US to explain the point, not to encourage illegal gambling activities.
Investing Without Knowledge is Gambling The financial market is increasingly complex, requiring investors to have more knowledge to beat the market and achieve sustainable profits. In the stock market, while it's a legal investment channel, crucial in the economy and recognized in many countries over years, in Vietnam, many still consider stock investing as "gambling."
Vietnam's stock market is young, with millions of retail investors, many new in 2022 when over 1.5 million new accounts were opened. Most of these novice investors (F0) entered the market without sufficient financial, stock, or investment knowledge; they followed the herd based on recommendations from supposedly "reputable" sources. After the easy profit growth in 2021, 2022 was a knowledge test for new investors as VN-Index dropped over 35%. Many investors faced losses, account depletion, and returned to dust. Typical were those who bought at the peak, holding onto garbage stocks like TGG, ROS, AGM... They realized then that without experience and knowledge, driven by greed and lack of seriousness, investing was just "gambling."
Complex financial products, described by Newall and Weiss-Cohen (2022) as "designed to decrease the likelihood of investors using them to make long-term profits," include high-frequency trading and high-risk derivatives. Research shows only 5% of daily traders are profitable. Thus, the average investor's win rate in this market is far below 50%. For ordinary investors without "knowledge," complex financial products in Vietnam like derivatives or warrants, due to their complexity, randomness of price movements, and high transaction fees... are designed on gambling principles. Knowledge transforms "gambling" into "investing." So, what is this knowledge? How can it be equipped? This is a question not every investor can answer. Many serious investors study diligently to invest in the stock market. However, they fall into basic knowledge traps, overconfident in what they've learned, thinking it can beat the market. An investor learns technical analysis, trading based on the Relative Strength Index (RSI), a popular indicator. It sounds systematic, but RSI has a relatively low predictive power, with a win probability of about 45% (according to my backtest research). They invest based on one or a few basic indicators, and over time, they lose money. In a downtrend market, they realize, "We just found out we knew nothing" about stock investing.
So, what "knowledge" is sufficient to beat the market and provide long-term profits? There are various types of financial knowledge, including micro, macro, investment, risk management... which ordinary investors can easily get lost in, unable to find the right knowledge like Thorp's Card Counting method. However, many effective tools support individual investors, specialized courses designed for stock investing... can supplement useful knowledge and skills for investors. Ultimately, after mastering this knowledge, the investor must:
Measure relatively the win probability of this investment as a percentage, and if it's over 50%.
Calculate the Profit/Risk ratio per trade.
Answering these two metrics accurately lets you determine if you're "investing" rather than "gambling."
If your trading method, tools, and knowledge don't answer these questions, then in reality, you're just "gambling"!
