3. The Role Played by Luck and Risk ( The Psychology Of Money )

Luck and risk, Bill Gates requires no introduction. One of the richest men in the world. He is known to almost everyone. Often, we think how did Bill Gates became so rich. Let us understand this from the story of Bill Gates. Bill Gates was born on 28th October 1955 in Seattle Washington. Since his childhood, he was attracted to technology. At the age of 13 years, he was admitted to the Lakeside School. It was the only School in Seattle, that had a computer. Even the big Universities in Seattle, did not have computers. At the Lakeside School, Bill Gates became friends with Paul Allen. Who along with Bill Gates, became the co-founder of Microsoft. Initially, computer education was not part of the goats; it was a part of co-curricular activity.

Both Bill Gates and Paul Allen had a great interest in computers. And the two of them used to spend free time, they had sitting in front of a computer and gradually, they became experts in computers. Once both of them were doing some work on the computer. When suddenly Paul Allen grabbed the fortune Magazine and showed it to Bill Gates, and asked him to implore what a big deal it would have been to be one of the Fortune 500 companies. In reply to this, the 13 years old, Bill Gates, said that someday they too will have a computer company and it will be on the list of Fortune 500 companies. And today, all of us know about the success of Microsoft.

For us, the thing to ponder over is that when Bill Gates said this, at that time, they were 303 million children in the world aged 13 years. In the U.S.A., there were Two Lacs Seventy Thousand children, 13 years of age. And at Lakeside alone, there were 300 children of 13 years. It is noteworthy that out of those 303 million children, it was only Bill Gates who had that much knowledge of computers, and who at the age of 13 years was capable of purchasing a computer, and thought of having a computer company. Bill Gates believed that if he had not lived in Lakeside, then there would have been no Microsoft today.

We can say that, if Bill Gates has achieved this height in his career, it is also in some way due to his strong luck. While we aren't saying that bill wasn't a hardworking person. He was also very hardworking, but the level that he has reached today is mainly because of his luck. Now, let us talk about another friend of Bill Gates, Kant Evans. Bill Gates and Kant Evans became friends when Bill was in eighth, grade. Bill Gates, Paul Allen and Kent Evans these three used to dream since childhood, that they would together form a company. They would even discuss who would be the CEO or the manager? But destiny had other plans, and Kent Evans died during mountaineering.

What is surprising is that they were only 36 deaths during mountaineering in the whole USA, and the chances of someone dying during mountaineering were one in a million. When Bill Gates had luck on his side, Kent Evans had risk in his Destiny. Kent Evans faces the risk that is phased by one in a million. Both Bill Gates and Kent Evans had the same energy, the same magnitude and the same dream, but the directions became different. Luck and Risks are like siblings. That is, they are like as brothers and sisters are. If you are to believe then you must believe in both of them. Luck and Risk are important aspects of life. Sometimes we get lucky, and sometimes we face risks. But it is difficult for us to measure and accept either of the two.

The author says, if we see someone wealthy, we must never assume, that the wealth he has was a masked by him through Hardware. It is quite possible that he might have gotten lucky. Also, if he sees some wealthy person, we must not have the perception that he became rich because of his luck; possibly, he took great risks to be wealthy. So, basically, we must never form a perception about someone's wealth. While one may be rich due to his luck, and another may be rich due to his sheer hard work. The uniqueness of money is that it can come to both of them.