Risk versus reward is an important idea worth investing some of your time to learn. Many people make a decision not to learn certain things...it is a decision each one of us has to make. There are people who analyze risk and reward, and there are people who willfully keep themselves in the dark about it. Among all other common knowledge ideas, your feelings about risk and reward determine if you work a job your whole life, or if you have what it takes to change course and become financially independent.

Most people think investing is risky. These people have not looked closely enough at the risk and how it relates to the reward. They have chosen not to invest their time to learn these things. By telling themselves "investing is risky", they have taken the easy way out. This group of people no longer has the burden of gathering facts and looking at proof...they have already told themselves investing is risky. Instead of investing or learning, this group of people is most likely to save.

People who do compare the relationship of risk to reward in different financial situations will realize an important lesson. By investing time to learn the details of any investment, you can lower the risk involved in the investment in relation to the possible rewards. This leads to the idea that it does not take money to make money investing, it takes knowledge...knowledge you gain from research and from personal experience.

As far as rewards are concerned, there are short term rewards and there are long term rewards. Most people are short sighted and do not plan far enough into the future. Most people have large commitments of their time focused on short term goals and rewards. Again, people choose to willfully keep themselves ignorant instead of taking the time to educate themselves. The people who keep themselves ignorant remain focused on their income and expenses, tied to a lifetime of working for money. The people who increase their knowledge and base their decisions on the logical comparison of risk versus reward ultimately change their focus. This change in focus determines a plan...a path of continual improvement, with a final goal being your own financial independence and philanthropy to your friends, family, and community.