Playing the Game

Playing the game is playing by other peoples rules and doing what they say. You are not an adult and are not allowed to make your own decisions. You are not in control and have no freedom.

You go to work and at the end of the month 45% of what you make goes to the man in taxes. If you work at walmart then you're boss makes a profit off of you by paying you minimum wage. Then when you shop for food at walmart your boss makes money off of you again by making a profit on the sale of the food. Then you pay taxes again when you buy anything. Then the rest of your money goes to housing and cable, internet, phone, car, insurance, utilities, leaving you almost nothing to ever save up and make a future out of. So you've just given every bit of your money to someone else and have nothing to show for your years of work. Just to live and survive you work forever without every getting a break or ever having a better lifestyle or more money.

They have you right where they want you.

Also the old concept of retirement in itself has many flaws. Okay so at the end of your life you spend your crappy years sitting on your money living on a lower class budget and doing absolutely nothing until you die. Wow! Is this actually what you want? First of all it doesn't even work financially. By the time you save up 1.5 -2.2 million which is what you need to retire on these days, the inflation will totally annihilate your savings in no time. "Oh, but I'll have it in an investment earning interest" you say? Is your money safe? look at all the people that lost there 401k's in the last stock crash. Are there actual good investments? Definitely not stocks if they fluctuate and can go under. And definitely not bonds if the bonds are not honored by the company or even our defunct government. And your bank will be using your money more then you'll be using it. Have you ever done that and is it possible? And more importantly, Even if it's possible now, think of 50 years from now will the same things be possible? Sounds like speculation to me.

We are living in a new time and we need to lead a new lifestyle. We should actually be taking retirement multiple times during our good years hopefully every year or 2. Save up money and live in another cheaper country for a year on the beach drinking tropical drinks and having butlers. Or work for a while to save up money and take a road trip for a year. Or get on a boat and live that way for a year. Of course you need some job that pays good so be sure to get one that pays twice or 3 times as much as you spend. Become a manager, run your own business. I'll talk about this in another chapter.

So what's the solution? DON'T PLAY THE GAME. You have to bend the rules or work outside of them or around them. This has also been called "walking the line". Playing by the rules only gives other people power and control over you. They tell you what to do and if you don't do it you get in trouble. Wouldn't it be nice to be the guy making the rules?

One way of not playing the game is to be your own boss and make your own business but still you'll be paying taxes and following regulations.

Another way is to be the man. Become a politician or rule maker or part of politics but even then you'd still have other people to answer to and you'd have to do what they say.

Yet another way is much simpler, just move to a small town. When you don't live in the city there are less rules less hassle and people have less control over your life. You also have less stress and there are nicer people. You also have more room for growth potential opportunities and less competition. And there's less per capita crime and less pollution, and less accidents from fewer people on the road. Do I need to go on? If you are smart you will move out to a small town in the middle of no where right this second pack your bags and leave. But none of us are actually smart.

A funny thing about psychology. If you've ever lived in a small town and also in a city you can relate and have experienced this and know what I'm talking about. But an interesting thing that would always happen on my drive out from Seattle to the small town of Stanwood WA is that the whole mood would change on the drive out, and it would feel like a huge weight was being lifted off your shoulder. This of course was purely psychological, and your brain just knew that you were going to a better place. You can tell it's psychological because if it's your first time going to a small town, then you don't get that feeling. It's only when you know the town well.

You may ask, "Why is it that small towns have friendlier people and more relaxed atmosphere?" My own personal theory is that everyone knows everyone. When you know everyone and how they act and their names and their families and jobs and so on, and what to expect. Then you actually talk to them and want to know them. Also people depend on eachother more in the country so they need to work together. In the city there are so many people that there's no way you will know them all so people don't care to know you, or even be nice to you, and it spreads and grows until everyone is afraid and paranoid of everyone else and assumptions take over every bit of gossip and news and people start to be uncomfortable talking to anyone because they've been hurt so many times. So I believe that when everyone knows everyone then there is less paranoia and fear and things become relaxed and since people start being nice to you, you become nice to them.