I've never met people who have fallen in love who have never had their heart broken. And I've never met someone rich who has never lost money. So for most people, the reason they don't win finan- cially is because the pain of losing money is far greater than the joy of being rich. Another saying in Texas is, "Ev- eryone wants to go to Heaven, but no one wants to die." Most people dream of being rich, but are terrified oTlosing money. So they never get to Heaven. Rich dad used to tell Mike and me stories about his trips to Texas. "If you really want to learn the attitude of how to handle risk, losing and failure, go to San Antonio and visit the Alamo. The Alamo is a great story of brave people who chose to fight, knowing there was no hope of success against overwhelming odds. They chose to die instead of surrendering. It's an inspiring story worthy of study; stocks. It is a safe and sensible portfolio. But it is not a win- ning portfolio. It is a portfolio of someone playing not to lose. Don't get me wrong. It's probably a better portfolio than more than 70 percent of the population, and that's fright- ening. Because a safe portfolio is a lot better than no port- folio. It's a great portfolio for someone who loves safety. But playing it safe and going "balanced" on your invest- ment portfolio is not the way successful investors play the game. If you have little money and you want to be rich, you must first be "focused," not "balanced." If you look at anyone successful, at the start they were not balanced. Bal- anced people go nowhere. They stay in one spot. To make progress, you must first go unbalanced. Just look at how you make progress walking. Thomas Edison was not balance He was focused. Bill Gates was nolHbaTanced. He was focused. Donald Trump is focused. George Soros is focusecTTJeorge Patton did not take his tanks wide. He focused them and blew through the weak spots in the German line. The French went wide with the Maginot Line, and you know what happened to them. If you have any desire of being rich, yoLLrrjusUbcus. Put a lot of your eggs in a few baskets. Dojioi do what poor and middle class people do: pjjtjhejrjfewegs in many baskets. If you hate losing, play it safe. If losing makes you weak, play it safe. Go with balanced investments. If you're over 25 years old and are terrified of taking risks, don't change. Play it safe, but start early. Start accumulating your nest egg early because it will take time. But if you have dreams of freedom-of getting out of more. That's what makes them better. For winners, losing inspires them. For losers, losing defeats them. Quoting John D. Rockefeller, "I always tried to turn every disaster into an opportunity." And being Japanese-American, I can say this. Many peo- ple say that Pearl Harbor was an American mistake. I say it was a Japanese mistake. From the movie Tom, Torn, Tom, a somber Japanese admiral says to his cheering sub- ordinates, "I am afraid we have awakened a sleeping giant.