Over the years I have read dozens of blog posts from some of my favourite financial bloggers. When you read such a high number of quality content it is difficult to point to which of them has most impacted your investment philosophy. However, one of the ones I keep coming back to is When Your Financial Plan Gets Thrown Out the Window by Ben Carlson.

Now there are some people to whom investing is a game but not me. Investing to me is about gaining knowledge to maximize my potential and improve the probability of a comfortable outcome for myself and my family. The reason I love Ben’s post so much is that he exudes that same thinking about the implications of investing. It is nice to get the finer things in life but how does that matter if it leaves you unable to meet the important expenses (like health, childcare, education) when they catch you off guard?

I would not want to get too far into Ben’s post because I think you should read the whole thing for yourself. However, I would discuss the general investment philosophy that I think his post falls under. And why I subscribe to that philosophy.

In his bestselling book, Outliers, Malcom Gladwell explains how a combination of factors like birth place, birth date, the economic or technological conditions in the era one was born, education, upbringing and so on determines much of a person’s socioeconomic outcome. From the Beatles to Bill Gates, Malcom shows how a combination of advantages combined to make them major successes. Now although I do not agree with everything Outliers claimed and I am not totally resigned to a fatalistic view of the world, it is irrational to think that statistically one’s outcomes are not limited by their background.

With this reality in mind, one can think about investing as a way of making the best out of opportunities one is given. Put away the dreams of billions of dollars for a minute (but not forever!) and think about planning for a comfortable retirement.

Think about money as a tool for making life easier. Like any other tool we need to spend time to learn how best to wield it in order to have the best results. That is how I see investing. I do not see it as a get-rich-quick scheme or even as a get-rich-slow scheme. I do not see it as a dice game. I see it as a lot of learning everyday, taking advantage of the new knowledge, deciding on priorities, setting goals and trying to figure out how to make it all work. That sounds boring, but then, that’s why it’s so difficult.