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August 23, 2005
The School of Hard Knocks - Literally!
Have you noticed that big knot on the top of your head that really hurts when you touch it? You haven’t? That’s too bad!
You know the phrase work hard, play hard, right? In a former life, I worked at a company that was the poster child for the work hard play hard mentality. We were all very young, unmarried mostly and very, very ambitious. We had our little rituals that we used to torture new employees. They were part of our culture, part of our lore. Those in the know were on the inside. For those that were the victims of our innocent pranks, it marked their passage from outsider to a member of the club.
One of those rituals was called spoon fighting, which only occurred after too many drinks, up at T.G.I Fridays after work. The uninformed newcomer would be spun this great tale, usually by a senior executive about our long tradition of spoon fighting brought over from England. He would then be told that one of us, who by the way, knew all about spoon fighting – we were informed! – was the reigning spoon fighting champ and that all new employees had to face the champ in a spoon fight. That was the tradition.
Well, no one could resist, what with all of us chanting, "Spoon fight! Spoon fight!" And of course, being a relative newcomer there was a lot of pressure to impress your peers and to fit in so in a drunken fit of machismo (only the guys were coaxed into the spoon fights) they'd say, "I’ll spoon fight! Bring on the champ!"
The rules of the game were explained to each warrior. You had to hold a regular teaspoon between your teeth and whack your opponent on the top of their head with it as hard as you could. Each person got five tries. Oh yeah - there was a catch - both were blind folded.
A napkin was used to blind fold each participant and the new guy always went first. He would put the spoon in his teeth and try mightily to hit his opponent as hard as he could on the top of the head with the spoon. You can imagine us roaring at his clumsy efforts. “Keep going”, everyone would shout in encouragement. “You’ll get the hang of it.”
When it was the champs turn, he would have his blind fold off and he would act as if he had the spoon in his mouth but at the same time the “referee” would have a spoon in his hand and would rare back and thwack the poor blind folded newbie as hard as he could on the top of the head. "Oww," he would cry. "Dang that hurt!" The bystanders would all cheer for the champ, "Yeah! Yeah! Well done!"
This would go on for some time until one of two things would happen. The unaware newcomer would get bashed in the head all the way to the end of the game vowing to practice his spoon fighting skills and come back another day to meet his tormentor, or it finally dawned on him that the game was rigged and everyone else was in on it except him.
Now I freely admit this was a juvenile ritual performed by a bunch of drunks and you may find it appalling, but if you do, so much the better. Are you starting to feel that lump yet? This is the game most of us play with our money. The difference is, in the spoon fight, the victim almost always figured it out. In the financial markets most of us never do. We remain on the outside getting thwacked, paying the penalty that the uninformed must pay until they understand the game as well.
Here is the good news. Learning the rules to spoon fighting is quite simple. You just have to be let in on the secret and you will never be taken advantage of in the spoon fight game. Same is true when it comes to the investment game, the rules are a little more complicated, but still, all it takes is someone who is willing to learn and someone who is willing to teach.
What I want you to do is think about the spoon fighting game. You have the newbie getting whacked on the head, the spoon fighting champ, the referee, and the cheering bystanders egging the whole thing on. Who do each of these groups remind you of in our financial markets? In other words, who dies he represent in the real world? Leave your thoughts below.
Kim Snider, Kim Snider Financial Communications, Chronim Investments and/or Snider Advisors make no representation that the information and opinions expressed are accurate, complete or current. The opinions expressed should not be construed as financial, legal, tax, or other advice and are provided for informational purposes only. Call 866-952-0100 to request the Snider Investment Method™ Owner's Manual, which includes a description of the Snider Investment Method, investment objectives, risks, suitability and other information. Please read and consider carefully before investing. All investments are subject to risk including possible loss of principal.
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Kim Snider is an author, speaker and host of Financial Success Coaching, Saturdays at noon, on KRLD Newsradio 1080, Dallas - Fort Worth. This blog is primarily devoted to empowering individual investors with information to help them be good stewards of their money. Above all, it is about achieving true financial success. Kim's book, How To Be the Family CFO: Four Simple Steps to Put Your Financial House in Order is in bookstores now. Order yours from Amazon or other fine booksellers today.
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