On a recent Chat with Traders interview somebody I have followed for years Ed Thorpe was interviewed. I highly recommend those that are into Mathematics to listen to it here.
The interview is for an upcoming book release by the famous mathematician and Beat the Dealer author. At the end of the interview he discusses his memoir and how he got started in life and into things like Blackjack, Roulette, the stock market, and the different profit centers that he found along the way. These include statistical arbitrage and a hedge fund that was chronicled in a book that I read years ago called "Quants". He also says at the end of the interview that you can still beat 90% of the investors without doing a lot of work as the majority of people are lazy. It is however important about finding out whats really important in life. Most people in life just don't get it because some people put too much value into work and not into truly living because money truly isn't everything. People get hooked and don't stop working for money because you can never have enough and thats what drives a lot of people to pile up more and more money (not true wealth) and then wondering what it was really for? In the end if you can't go out and enjoy it why did you work so hard to obtain it?
Lesson: Don't just pile up wealth. Do something of value in life. Think about how you will be remembered.