It is so much easier to learn to play checkers than chess. With checkers, you can only move forward one step at a time, or get to be “kinged” and then move in any direction one step at a time. Checkers is still fun and takes strategic thinking, but it is simple compared to chess.
Chess is much more dynamic and hard to learn. For example:
- The Queen can move many spaces and in any direction.
- The King can only move one place at a time. However, the King has many resources including its Pawns, Bishops, Knights, Rooks, and the Queen.
- Chess requires strategic thinking and planning far in advance of any moves in order for play to be successful. This is why chess is so fun — because it is so challenging.
Now, contrast playing checkers versus chess with your personal finances. What kind of a player are you? Are you a simple one-move-at-a-time person, like a checker-player? Or are you more like the Bishop in a chess game and can rapidly move on a diagonal? Maybe you are like the Pawn, very cautious and can only take one or two steps forward at a time? Maybe you are like the Queen and are confident enough to move in many directions. Are you like the King, in the sense that you have many resources running interference for you? How well do you know your support system that backs you up when you do make a financial move? Do you like your finances to be one-dimensional such as in checkers, or do you look for many opportunities to multiply your money and resources as in chess?
In checkers, the game lasts only a few minutes, but a chess game can go on for hours and hours. In checkers you have your play pieces to back you up, but they are limited to only move one square and one turn at a time. A good thing with checkers is that your opponent has the same limitations. In chess, anything is possible.
In my experience, most people are playing checkers with their money, 
while their opponents — banks, investors, credit card companies, mortgage lenders, etc. — are all playing chess with it! Most people do not know the complex rules of the financial games they are playing and are often assuming they are in a simple game of checkers when in reality, they are playing a game of chess, so to speak, without any real knowledge, strategy, or experience for playing the game on equal ground with their opponents.
The only way to even the playing field is by learning time-proven principles of financial mastery. Money Mastery teaches these principles — principles that can help protect you from making dumb moves. The 10 Money Mastery Principles are simple, yet powerful concepts that teach you how to play sophisticated financial games and come out the winner — every time.
Learning to play chess well can take many years, and so can learning how to manage your finances appropriately. It takes time and practice to learn how to apply foundational principles. However, the Money Mastery system with its 10 step-by-step principles helps make that process simpler and more understandable. It helps reduce the time and stress of learning the rules of the game and ensures success much more quickly than if you attempt to go it alone or to continue deluding yourself into thinking you can play complex games, such as having a mortgage or using a credit card, using a checkers mentality.
I love to play checkers because the game is simple and goes quickly. I can play three fun games, laugh it up while competing for two out of three wins, and have dessert all before I can get halfway through a game of chess. Checkers may be easy and fun but it’s not always as rewarding as learning how to make the most out of more challenging games, such as chess.
Learn How to Play the Game
What kind of a person are you, financially speaking? You don’t have to stay in the game of checkers financially, so to speak, even if you want to keep things simple for yourself. You can still play chess with the big boys and keep it simple all by taking on the role of the King — you may only make one move at a time, but you can arrange to have support systems all around you with the Money Mastery Principle, a good financial mentor such as a Money Mastery Coach, a trusted tax adviser, etc. Keep it simple, but still play the complex game of money very competitively with help from experts who know what they’re doing.
Learning and living the Money Mastery Principles is exciting and very rewarding. As you learn to use all your resources efficiently, complex moves become easy and will help you win more often at the game of money. Winning the game includes things like the satisfaction that comes from always having a cash surplus for emergencies, or the thrill of arriving at retirement with adequate income so you can wake up in the morning and decide to work… or not. It means knowing you have what it takes to get out of all debt, even your house, in less than 10 years so you can put your saved interest expense to work for you to make more money. It means being able to travel when you want, setting up philanthropic ventures, or knowing you won’t have to be supported by your children in your old age. It means having passive income so you can invest in that next great opportunity the minute it arises.
Your senses run high when you have the money to freely explore more of life’s many options… learn what it takes to have those options now by exploring Money Mastery more fully today.
