CHAPTER
3
A
GAME OF MONEY
Dan
sat at the table drinking coffee. It
had been a month since he had last seen Nevada.
He had not even gone to the casino during this time.
He had managed to get his old job back.
He had gotten lucky. His old
boss had been shorthanded. Besides
that, he had begged for the job. Dan
had gotten his first paycheck yesterday and had called Nevada at the casino.
Nevada had agreed to meet him at the coffee shop today.
Dan
was reflecting on his last conversation with Nevada.
Nevada had said they would be discussing money management the next time
they met. There wouldn't be much
that he could do in that area, because he had barely managed to catch up the
rent and had very little left over from his check.
He didn't know how in the world money management would help him play the
game anyway. Dan wished he could
get it through to Nevada that all he needed was a couple of quick poker lessons
and he would be on his way. Dan
tried to think of a way he could just bypass this money management thing and get
on with the real meat of the game.
As Dan poured his second cup of coffee, he
continued to ponder his dilemma. He
knew there was no way he could convince Nevada that he already knew about money
management. Nevada was too smart
for that. It was quite evident to
almost everyone he knew that he couldn't manage money.
It was also becoming evident to him.
He sat and reflected on his experiences with money.
These experiences were not good. He
thought of the many times that he had thought his time had come; that he was
finally going to get ahead of this money thing, only for something to happen and
send him back to square one. He
seemed to have some kind of blockage when it came to money.
Dan
put his cup on the table and walked into the bathroom.
The time was getting close for him to meet with Nevada.
He removed his clothes and stepped into the shower.
He stood under the shower for a good long time.
He finally stepped out of the shower to towel dry himself.
He then shaved and brushed his teeth.
He sat on his bed and smoked a cigarette before dressing.
As he sat there, he continued to think of ways to avoid the humiliating
experience of admitting to Nevada that he knew nothing about money.
As
Dan drove to meet Nevada, he also continued to think of ways to shorten this
learning thing. Nevada had
indicated that this was going to take some time and he didn't like that.
He wanted to play the game, and he wanted to do it right now.
Of course, he always thought this way about everything he had ever done.
As he looked back on his life, he could see where he had made some
mistakes doing it this way.
Dan
had been married and divorced twice. Now,
at age 39, he was paying child support for two children that he never saw and
would do that until he was 43. Two
marriages and divorces had cost him a bundle of money and the child support were
still costing him. He had to start
over after both divorces. He also
had a couple of girlfriends since his last divorce that had cost him money.
He was an expert on starting over.
Nevada
was already seated when Dan arrived at the coffee shop.
He looked up from the menu and smiled as Dan approached the table.
He was dressed in his usual attire, a western shirt, and Levi's with his
cowboy hat and boots. He greeted
Dan with a, "Hi kid”.
Dan
felt strange, as he reached for the menu. He
was not his usual self. A lot of
his cockiness seemed to have disappeared. For
some reason, he felt very humble in the presence of Nevada.
He had noticed this before, but today it was even stronger.
Dan returned Nevada's greeting.
"So,
what kind of job did you get?" Nevada
asked.
"I
got my old job back as an auto mechanic," replied Dan.
"That's
progress." Nevada stated.
"I
really want to get on with some poker lessons.
Is all of this other stuff about money management really necessary?"
asked Dan.
"I
found it necessary," replied Nevada. "Although
I didn't begin to learn it myself until I was 36 years old.
You see poker is a game of speculative investments.
To do any speculative investments, one should have a bankroll above and
beyond his basic necessities of life. One
cannot play the game of speculative investments on short money.
If he tries, he soon learns the truth about this.
He finds that he makes hasty and even panicky decisions those he later
regrets. The game is a series of
one decision after another and to make these decisions in haste and without all
the facts, can be very devastating to one's well being.
"But,
how do you build a bankroll beyond the necessities of life?"
Dan asked. "It seems
that I have never been able to do this and I don't know where to start."
The
waitress interrupted their conversation at this point, to take their orders.
Nevada ordered a BLT and Dan had a cheeseburger and fries.
They both enjoyed the view as the waitress returned to the kitchen.
"You
have already started," said Nevada, as he picked the conversation back up.
"You have a regular job to build with.
The great banker in the sky has provided each of us with an account with
all the money that we need for life's necessities and beyond.
All we have to do is make a withdrawal every day.
He knows that we would mismanage the money if he gave it to us in one
lump sum, so he has to set it up so we have to make withdrawals on a daily
basis. If we miss a day of making
our withdrawal, we lose that money."
"Well,
that's all fine and dandy, but this great banker in the sky failed to mail me an
ATM card or checkbook”, Dan retorted sarcastically.
"Oh,
he mailed it to you, but you threw it out in the garbage.
You thought it was junk mail. First,
you have to learn what money really is before you can recognize it."
Nevada answered.
"I
know what money looks like. It's
green and has a picture of past presidents on it or it comes in the form of a
credit card or checkbook," Dan said disgusted.
"You
only mentioned a very few of the forms that money comes in, and you even left
out one of the most important ones for a poker player to know.
If you don't know that poker chips are a form of money, then you don't
have any business playing the game."
"Oh,
I guess I have some idea of that. I
just hadn't made it upper most in my mind.
When I think of money, I think of something that you can spend." Dan
said.
"That
is one area that you have to change your thinking.
You must begin to think of money as something you earn.
I have discovered that work and money are directly related."
stated Nevada.
"That
is an ugly thought!" exclaimed Dan.
"I
also have discovered that the man who writes the check also writes the rules,"
Nevada added.
"That's
an even uglier thought," said Dan. "I
really hate that rule!"
"I
am not making these rules up as I go along, I am merely reporting them”,
Nevada reminded Dan.
"These
rules seem unfair and need to be changed," said Dan.
"It
seems that this is the way a lot of people think.
That is why they fail to make their withdrawals on a regular basis.
They seem to spend more time trying to figure out how to avoid work than
they do working and they lose money every day that they spend on this train of
thought. People who spend their
time looking for the free ride end up without a ride at all," Nevada
commented.
"That's
sad," said Dan, appearing deep in thought.
Nevada
replied, "What you and so many other people seem to miss is that money
means freedom. Freedom and
responsibility are twins, not enemies."
"Isn't
there any other way to earn money, other than working?"
Dan questioned.
"Yes,
there is, but this is the easiest and simplest way.
The majority of people with money began this way.
The great banker in the sky gave us talents and abilities to do for our
fellow man, yet we waste them away because of our selfishness, and in turn, we
go without. We fail to realize that
the basic law of the universe is that one has to put in before one can get
anything out. There is no such
thing as perpetual motion. Energy
out equals energy in minus friction, "Quotes Nevada.
"What
are the other forms money takes on?" asked Dan.
"The
simplest formula for money that I ever heard was given to me by a gentleman that
had a lot of it. That formula was money
equals labor plus capital plus ingenuity.
After hearing this formula, I began to examine it.
I saw that two of these variables could equal zero and you still had a
positive figure. I also saw that
money was directly related to the sum of all these," Nevada remarked.
The
waitress returned with the food and placed it on the table.
She smiled and gave Nevada that usual second glance, as she asked,
"Will there be anything else?"
This
time the waitress was almost unnoticed by either of them, as they both shook
their heads no, and continued with their conversation.
Nevada
continued, "Money has come in many forms throughout time.
At one time, it was cattle and produce.
The Vikings got tired of hauling cattle around and invented metal coin.
Even the coin became too heavy for man, so paper money was invented.
Then we didn't even like to carry paper, so came the plastic card.
We will eventually all have computer chips installed and our personal
finances will be computed automatically. When
that happens, lying and cheating will be almost nonexistent, but I'm sure
someone will find a way."
"I
didn't come to you for history lessons or prophecies.
I merely wanted to learn to play the game," Dan impatiently said.
"And this is what I'm trying to teach you in the only way I know
how. I didn't volunteer for this
job. You are free to find another
teacher at any time you choose or quit learning altogether if you so desire.
I told you that the path was a rough one and it was going to take some
time. There are no short cuts.
Those exist only in your mind. You
must think that I'm a tourist that got off the bus yesterday.
We don't have to continue with this.
I can think of a lot of things that I would rather be doing than teaching
some snot-nosed kid the elements of the game."
Nevada snapped as he wiped his face with a napkin and threw it on the
table.
"I'm
sorry, that's not what I intended to imply.
It's just that I wanted to try and speed things up and get on with
playing some poker." Dan
responded, trying to soothe things over with Nevada.
"Some
things you cannot rush and this is one of those things.
You must learn to have patience with the game; to rush is a fool's way.
I suppose we will have to cover that with you before we go on to anything
else. That is, if you really want
to continue with this." Nevada
stated as a fact.
"Oh,
I want to continue learning and I hope you will continue to be my teacher."
Dan responded with hope.
The
waitress had perfect timing as she returned with coffee and water refills.
It gave time to clear the air between Nevada and Dan.
They both sat in silence as she wiped a spill from the table.
Nevada
broke the silence with, "Where were we?"
Dan
responded with, "We were talking about money and how I could build a
bankroll”.
"Nevada
said, "You can continue working at your present job unless something better
comes along and cut your expenses to have a positive balance.
It becomes very simple mathematics after that.
Remember the formula of energy out equal's energy in minus friction.
Your earnings become your energy in, your foolish spending becomes
friction, and the balance is energy out. If
the friction is more than the energy in, then the results are a deficit or
negative balance. This is the
formula that our government seems to have the most problem with."
"First
history and prophecies, now government, math and science, is there going to be
anything else that I'm required to learn?" asked Dan.
"We may have to throw in some other subjects
as we go along, but I think that will be enough for now.
It really will depend on your learning skills and how much of this you
can get on your own." Replied
Nevada. "There is one more
area you should brush up on. That
area is bookkeeping."
"Bookkeeping?
With the amount of money I have to deal with, I can keep the figures in
my head”, Dan defended his position.
"I
have no doubt of your ability to remember the figures.
The purpose of writing them down is to prevent you from lying to yourself
about which column the figures go into at a later date.
You can lie to others occasionally, but an occasional lie to yourself can
lead to self-destruction. To
thine own self be true, recited Nevada.
"
I think I have had about all I can stand today," said Dan as he pushed his
chair back from the table and stood up.
Nevada
followed suit and prepared to leave. He
reached in his pocket and placed enough money to cover the bill and tip on the
table. As they walked toward the
street he said, "I am going to be out of town for a while.
If you give me your phone number, I'll call you when I return."
"How
long do you plan to be gone?" asked Dan.
"I
don't really know right now. It's
getting too warm for me down here and so I thought that I would head north until
it cools back off." said Nevada.
"That
could be six months or more," said Dan.
"That's
about it," Nevada replied.
As
they walked to their cars, Dan wrote his number on a piece of scrap paper and
handed it to Nevada.