The Power of Leveraging

Had a craving for mahjong this weekend. And ended up having a foursome with Wifey, bro-in-law and mum-in-law.

I lost most of the games, but ended up having a small nett profit, thks to a "5 tai zhi mo".

For the unfortunate few who are ignorant about the rules of mahjong,
1 tai win gives you x dollars (where x is a positive number agreed upfront).
2 tai win gives you 2x dollars.
3 tai win gives you 4x dollars.
4 tai win gives you 8x dollars.
5 tai win gives you 16x dollars.
And if you pick your winning card (zhi mo), its an extra 1 tai.
And my "5 tai zhi mo" (32x dollars) basically covered all my loss.

That's the power of leveraging using exponential calculation.
The basic laws of economics - The higher the risk, the higher the returns.

It can be compared to our Rat's Race. The regular salary earners like us are those winning 1 tai or 2 tai. Its regular income, but we never have enough in our lifetime to feel contented.

The luckier guys end up with a higher paying job. And thats worth 3 tai. Such jobs are harder to come by, and are probably the results of job hopping.

And those who always aim for the 5 tai (or even 5 tai zhi mo) are those willing to take the risk. They are like the guys who set up their business, with people working on them. To get 5 tai, you have to leverage on the 4 tai, which in turn leverage on the 3 tai and so on (most of the time).

They can lose time and time again trying to make their ambitious fortunes. But when they do, they will be the the guys who can win enough to have a great meal.