The problem was, he couldn't find an equivalent job that recognized his seniority in the old com- pany. As a result, he is overqualified for the jobs he cur- rently has, so his salary is lower. He now works three jobs to earn enough to survive. I have watched people playing CASHFLOW complain- ing that the "right" opportunity cards are not coming their way. So they sit there. I know people who do that in real life. They wait for the "right" opportunity. I have watched people get the "right" opportunity card and then not have enough money. Then, they complain that they would have gotten out of the Rat Race if they had had more money. So they sit there. I know people in real life who do that also. They see all the great deals, but they have no money. And I have people pull a great opportunity card, read it out loud and have no idea that it is a great opportunity. They have the money, the time is right, they have the card, but they can't see the opportunity staring at them. They fail to see how it fits into their financial plan for escaping the Rat Race. And I know more people like that than all the others combined. Most people have an opportunity of a lifetime flash right in front of them, and they fail to see it. A year later, they find out about it, after everyone else got rich. Financial intelligence is simply having more options. If the opportunities aren't coming your way, what else can you do to improve your financial position? If an opportu- nity lands in your lap, and you have no money, and the bank won't talk to you, what else can you do to get the op- portunity to work in your favor? If your hunch is wrong, and what you've been counting on doesn't happen, how can you turn a lemon into millions. That is financial intel- ligence. It is not so much what happens, but how many different financial solutions you can think of to turn a lemon into millions. It is how creative you are in solving financial problems. Most people only know one solution: work hard, save and borrow. So why would you want to increase your financial in- telligence? Because you want to be the kind of person who creates your own luck. You take whatever happens and make it better. Few people realize that luck is created. Just as money is. And if you want to be luckier and create money instead of working hard, then your financial intelli- gence is important. If you are the kind of person who is waiting for theright" thing to happen, you might wait for a long time. It's like waiting for all the traffic lights to be green for five miles before starting the trip. As young boys, Mike and I were constantly told by my rich dad that "Money is not real." Rich dad occasionally re- minded us of how close we came to the secret of money on that first day we got together and began "making money" out of plaster-of-paris. "The poor and middle class work for money," he would say. "The rich make money. The more real you think money is, the harder you will work for it.