As they say in poker, if you cant spot the sucker at the table, take a look in the mirror!

You're playing poker- don't show your cards befor you place your bet. 

All my homes have heated pools, two have putting greens and the third has a games room (complete with poker table, cards and necessary chips!). 

The number one rule orf REI is much like Poker...to "stay in the game".  

The income has given me a ton of freedom, and it sounds like that's what you're looking for.btw, I played poker professionally for about 5 years but I don't consider that gambling :-)

Even in high stakes poker there are things that are borderline technically within the rules of the game but considered angle shoots, and there are some players who build reputations doing stuff like this.

@Joe Villeneuve That is a great analogy using the poker chips as an example.

Most people look like the dealer on a poker table after they got their paycheck: just handing it out to everyone in front of them, every single round.Once you really and intuitlvley understand compounding effects you see how silly most people behave.

In fact, as someone who perfectly is comfortable sitting at a poker table with enough money to buy a house, I personally am certainly not risk-averse. 

I play poker with him on occasion (and we've had a few RE conversations over the last couple of years).