It is said that one of the wonders of the world is the power of compound interest. The purchase of Manhattan Island is said to be one of the greatest bargains of all time. New York was purchased for $24 in trinkets jinxi. beads. Yet, if that $24 had been invested", at 8 percent annually, that $24 would have been worth more than $28 trillion by 1995. Manhattan could be repurchased with money left nonetheless, it's still a tragic military defeat. They got their butts kicked. A failure if you will. They lost. So how do Texans handle failure? They still shout, 'Remember the Alamo!' " Mike and I heard this story a lot. He always told us this story when he was about to go into a big deal and he was nervous. After he had done all his due diligence and now it was put up or shut up, he told us this story. Every time he was afraid of making a mistake, or losing money, he told us this story. It gave him strength, for it reminded him that he could always turn a financial loss into a financial win. Rich dad knew that failure would only make him stronger and smarter;. It's not that he wanted to lose; he just knew who he was and how he would take a loss. He would take a loss and make it a win. That's what made him a winner and others losers. It gave him the courage to cross the line when others backed out. "That's why I like Texans so much. They took a great failure and turned it into a tourist destination that makes them millions." But probably his words that mean the most to me today are these: "Texans don't bury their failures. They get in- spired by them. They take their failures and turn them into rallying cries. Failure inspires Texans to become winners. But that formula is not just the formula for Texans. It is the formula for all winners." Just as I also said that falling off my bike was part of learning to ride. I remember falling off only made me more determined to learn to ride. Not less. I also said that I have never met a golfer who has never lost a ball. To be a top professional golfer, losing a ball or a tournament only in- spires golfers to be better, to practice harder, to study "What I like best is the Texas attitude. They're proud when they win, and they brag when they lose. Texans have a saying, 'If you're going to go broke, go big.' You don't want to admit you went broke over a duplex. Most people around here are so afraid of losing, they don't have a duplex to go broke with." He constantly told Mike and me that the greatest reason for lack of financial success was because most people played it too safe. "People are so afraid of losing that they lose" were his words. Fran Tarkenton, a one-time great NFL quarterback, says it still another way: "Winning means being unafraid to lose." -'--- In my own life, I've noticed that winning usually follows losing. Before I finally learned to ride a bike, I first fell down many times. I've never met a golfer who has never lost a golf ball.