The foregoing is only a metaphor, but the reality of any speculative investment is that once you've won, you should try to refrain from betting all your winnings on the next project. The way that most people risk everything is by entering into speculative situations with a lot of money, and by personally guaranteeing debts or leases. When they do this, they put everything they own at risk. The way to avoid doing this is to refrain from making any personal guarantees or incurring any liability when you borrow money. Certainly, this is going to slow you down considerably, but it will also keep you from falling of your own Capital Mountain.
Most people are tempted into speculation by greed. They simply can't resist betting that they can make that next dollar; and the more successful they have been, the more infallible they consider their own judgment to be. They rarely listen to the wise counsel of others who caution them to steer clear of risky deals. Consequently, they are targets for a wide variety of scam artists and promoters who want to risk the money of successful people to enter into speculative ventures, then to share in any profits without sharing in any losses.
It's bad enough to be tempted by merely speculative ventures with a small chance of success, but worse yet are those situations, which are merely scams. It only takes a small lapse of credulity to lose everything. How could that happen? It's happened to me because I didn't do my homework prior to putting up my money. Or I didn't get a full document package. Or title insurance. Or a loan commitment from a lender. Had I been skeptical and insisted that all the formalities be observed and full due diligence be completed prior to investing, I'd have been much further up Capital Mountain than I am now. Hopefully, I'll be able to avoid making these mistakes in the future. Hopefully, so will you.
Bottom Line: A wise man once said, “Once you know you've got it made, don't take any more chances.” A good dose of negative thinking will help you do this.
