Recently, I saw this image on Facebook…
Being a know-it-all, I assumed I know the “right” answer.
I shared my thoughts, and invited the thoughts of others, and discovered that I did find the right answer for me, but that it’s dependent on where one is in life.
My initial thought was that the $1,000,000 was the right way to go. With the 50/50 shot had a 50% chance of getting nothing, and the money, effectively deployed, could create massive traveling opportunities and give me the chance to hang out with whoever I wanted.
On further reflection, I’ve found that each choice is correct at a certain place in life.
$1 million in cash
This is a great choice… if you have the knowledge and discipline to use it correctly.
With that kind of money, you have money to pay the bills for long enough to effectively deploy the rest of the cash to develop additional assets.
However, there are some people for whom this would be a terrible choice.
If your thought is “I want a million bucks because I could buy a house and a car and take a vacation,” then you shouldn’t choose this.
Why? Because you want to buy liabilities.
When the money is spent, you’ll find yourself worse off than before. That house will need maintenance and incur taxes. The car will cost taxes and require maintenance.
Likewise, if you already have over a million dollars in assets, then the million is just your next million.
50% Chance of Winning $200,000,000
A comment from a real estate investor friend made me realize the value of this choice. His worth is over a million dollars, so a million dollars would just be another million.
If he lost this bet, he’d still be in good shape, and if he won it, it would take him straight to the next level.
On the other hand, for someone who doesn’t have wealth, the downside risk doesn’t make sense.
Hang Out With The Richest Person on Earth for Three Years
If you know what to do with a million dollars, then you could leverage that into increasing wealth and it would give you the opportunity to hang out with whomever you want.
However, if you’re still in the place where you think about buying liabilities rather than assets with the money, spending time with the rich person would teach you how to use money to create wealth rather than to get things.
One person commented that they’d want to be paid to hang out with the rich person, which completely missed the point. People waste hundreds of thousands of dollars to get “education” at college, but they wouldn’t take the opportunity to get the massive opportunity of hanging out with the right people for free.
Heck, if you have the opportunity to carry the bags of a billionaire in exchange for hanging out with them and no pay, that’s still a fantastic deal.
Lifetime of Traveling For Free
At first I thought this one didn’t fit. I thought it was a wrong choice, but I recognized two scenarios in which this would make sense.
The first is for someone who is very young and immature. If you are not in a place where you would recognize or appreciate what the rich person could teach you, the travel gives you the opportunity to develop that maturity.
The other is someone who is just done. Life has beaten you down so much that you just want to go on vacation forever.
This is the one of the four options that does not directly lead to the next level of opportunity. However, it makes sense for someone who either isn’t prepared to receive and leverage the other three, or someone for whom this is the final step they’re seeking.
What do you think?
Do you agree with this reasoning?
What would you choose?