If people are not versed in these subjects, then obviously they must follow standard dogma, which is to play it safe, diversify and only invest in secure investments. The problem with "secure" invest- ments is that they are often sanitized. That is, made so safe that the gains are less. Most large brokerage houses will not touch speculative transactions to protect themselves and their clients. And that is a wise policy. The really hot deals are not offered to people who are novices. Often, the best deals that make the rich even richer are reserved for those who understand the game. It is technically illegal to offer someone who is considered not "sophisticated" such speculative deals, but, of course, it happens. The more so-called sophisticated I get, the more oppor- tunities come my way. Another case for developing your financial intelligence, over a lifetime, is simply that more opportunities are presented to you. And the greater your financial intelligence, the easier it is to tell whether a deal is good. It's your intelligence that can spot a bad deal, or make a bad deal good. The more I learn-and there is a lot to learn-the more money I make simply because I gain experience and wisdom as the years go on. I have friends who are playing it safe, working hard at their profession, and failing to gain financial wisdom, which does take time to develop. My overall philosophy is to plant seeds inside my asset column. That is my formula. I start small and plant seeds. Some grow; some don't. Inside our real estate corporation, we have several mil- lion dollars' worth of property. It is our own REIT, or real estate investment trust. The point I'm making is that most of those millions started out as little $5,000 to $10,000 in- vestments. All of those down payments were fortunate to catch a fast-rising market, increase tax free, trading in and out several times over a number of years. We also own a stock portfolio, surrounded by a corpo- ration that my wife and I call our personal mutual fund. We have friends who deal specifically with investors like us that have extra money each month to invest. We buy high- risk, speculative private companies that are just about to go public on a stock exchange in the United States or Canada. An example of how fast gains can be made are 100,000 shares purchased for 25 cents each before the company goes public. Six months later, the company is listed, and the 100,000 shares now are worth $2 each. If the company is well managed, the price keeps going up, and the stock may go to $20 or more per share. There are years when our $25,000 has gone to a million in less than a year. It is not gambling if you know what you're doing. It is gambling if you're just throwing money into a deal and praying. The idea in anything is to use your technical knowledge, wisdom and love of the game to cut the odds down, to lower the risk. Of course, there is always risk.