With the IPL fever on, we are all rooting for our favorite team to win. May the best team win the league. 

But what about the investing game? How do you succeed in this investing game? What does winning in investing even mean? Is it earning outstanding returns or beating the market? Or Financial independence?
Investing is a game. It’s just not the one you think it is. Investing is an infinite game.
Philosopher James Carse’s book, “Finite and Infinite Games,” in 1986, established that two types of games unfold in the world: finite and infinite. Examples of finite games include chess, football, or a game of Monopoly.

In 2019, Simon Sinek published his business book, The Infinite Game, as a mindset guide for business leaders. An infinite game is not bound by a specific set of rules or conditions but has an open-ended and ongoing nature. It is a game played to continue playing rather than striving to reach a particular outcome or endpoint. Examples of infinite games include language, education, business, and relationships, with no set endpoint, specific winner, or clear rules.

Financial planning deceptively looks like a finite game. You know your current financial position and have well-defined financial goals. You know the game’s rules – Spend less, save more, and invest well. Thus it should be simple, but it’s not. Financial planning goalposts move with your life. After accomplishing one milestone, you can see another. Rules change based on your circumstances. How much money you must save, invest, earn, and use is subjective. It depends on your ever-evolving goals, personal priorities, and what you want to do with your time and energy.

Furthermore, investing has no end date or predetermined outcome. In an infinite game of investing, the focus is on the process of making investments rather than on the immediate gains or losses. Investors are constantly seeking new opportunities and adapting to changes in the market to ensure continued success over the long term. Investing aims to create and maintain wealth over time by learning and adapting to changing market conditions.

Investors need to be patient, persistent, and adaptable to changes in the market. They must also be able to manage risk and maintain a diversified portfolio to maximize returns over the long term. Ultimately, the goal is not to beat the market or achieve a specific rate of return but to build a strong and resilient portfolio that can weather market fluctuations and generate consistent returns over time. Successful investors view investing as a journey rather than a destination. They always look for ways to improve their strategies and achieve better outcomes. There are known and unknown variables in the game that will impact results.

When investing, you must participate in the market with your number-one priority set to continue participating for as long as possible. That’s the only way compound returns can work for you. That’s the only way you exponentially grow wealth. Stay in the game as long as possible. Give yourself every opportunity to continue to play.

Be a good player in this infinite game.

Don’t view yourself only as a winner or loser but as a wealth creator – for yourself and future generations. There is no single right decision. There’s only the best choice for you, entirely dependent on context.

Be on the journey of financial independence and let the financial returns be the byproduct of successful investing

The point isn’t to “win,” whatever that means anyway. The point is to keep playing the game.

Keep the game alive rather than win or lose.

Best Regards

 
Dr. Tarunika Jain Agarwal Ph.D. 

Alpha Research