For most of human history, money was seen as something of a burden. How many times have we heard expressions such as “making ends meet”, “saving for a rainy day”, or “debt slavery”? How would our lives change if we perceived making and managing money as an infinite game?

Gaming is a universal activity. Some games are finite - they have a beginning and an end, and some are infinite games; on the other hand, they have no end.

In gaming terms, the financial ballgame is infinite - it lasts as long as we live. By thinking of money as a game, we can change our perception of it from something that burdens us to something that can enrich our lives.

Let’s explore the mechanics of the financial game.

The UI of Finance

We live in the best time to be alive, the age of real-time simulations. We interact with the interface of finance every single day. Your credit score is nothing but a “level” - a metric that determines what in-game purchases you can make. Your bank balance is your “ XP” or “currency”. Gamification works because we crave progression and a sense of achievement.

When we think of our finances in terms of a game, the only “bad” numbers are those we fail to progress with. Metrics are vitally important to how we approach money as a game.

Revenue is great, but if it doesn’t translate into sustainable cash flow, it’s a meaningless number - you’ve achieved a high score, but the game is over.

Mechanics of The Game: Rules and Systems

Any game has its basic mechanics - the fundamental rules that describe how it operates. When it comes to money, the laws of finance are universal and unchangeable. Let’s discuss the most important rules every player needs to learn.

Compounding is the “level up” mechanic of money. It is the only force in the universe that bends exponentially. It is vitally important for any player to understand compounding and when to utilize it. The secret to exponential growth is to invest your time and money into processes that will, in turn, invest back into you.

The same goes for risk. Risk management is a “defense” stat in the game of money. You can’t avoid all risks, just as you can’t avoid all obstacles in a game.

The best way to manage risk is to utilize diversification as a damage mitigation tactic. In other words, put your money into multiple “classes” so that if one gets destroyed (stocks, crypto, etc.), the others will be there to save you.

The Psychological Trap of the Money Game: Loss Aversion

When it comes to losing in the game of money, finance players are the worst. Why? Because we’ve evolved to fear loss much more than we crave gain. From a psychological standpoint, that’s completely normal - our primal brain believes that any resources lost could endanger us.

In real-time simulations, loss aversion manifests in players being afraid of spending in-game money on upgrades. That keeps them in the “early game” with little equipment, instead of letting them buy better armor and weapons to advance to the “end game”.

The best finance players understand that “losing” is an inevitable part of the game - and losing small amounts, strategically, allows them to “iterate” and eventually win.

The worst players, on the other hand, think that they should never lose anything. These are the people who live paycheck to paycheck. They fear losing their income, so they put all their money with a single provider instead of diversifying their income streams. They are stuck in the early game, unable to move on to the end game.

The Classes: What Type of Player Are You?

As in many RPGs, several types of finance players utilize different tactics to achieve their goals. Here are the three main classes.

The Conservators are the safest type of players. They focus on liquidity and avoid all types of risk. They utilize safe, albeit boring, government bonds to slowly make their money grow. Their end-game goal is to never lose.

The Builders are much more aggressive. They seek to grow their wealth by investing it into assets that make money. They take calculated risks to make their money work for them. They understand the game, its systems, and the mechanics behind them.

The Speculators are the riskiest type of all. They seek to exploit weaknesses in the system to make large sums of money quickly. They are high rollers who seek to play the game in the easiest possible way - the speed-running class of finance. Their results are the most rewarding, but also the most perilous - one wrong move and they lose everything.

The End-Game: Winning Conditions

Perhaps the most important detail about an infinite game is that it has no winning conditions. In most games, the player can tell when they’ve reached the end - they’ve scored a certain amount of points or defeated a particular boss.

In the game of money, many people fail because they believe they know what the end is. In truth, the game of money’s end is much more elusive.

You see, in order to truly win the game of money, you need to create your own end-game. You need to determine what you want your financial life to look like. Once you’ve achieved financial independence, your money should no longer control you. Your money should serve you - it should be the inventory in your RPG, not the XP counter. The real end-game condition of the money game is playing a different infinite game instead - the game of relationships. The winning move in the money game is realizing you need to stop playing it and focus your time and effort on something else you value more.

If you don’t set your own financial end-game, the system will set it for you - and it will most likely involve you playing and surviving until the very end.

Conclusion: Play the Game of Money

Money is a game with rules, systems, classes, and mechanics. It is an infinite game that only ends with our death. As such, it’s important to think of it in terms of a game. We need to set our own rules, define achievable goals and objectives, and understand the risks and rewards of every move we make. Only then can we truly master our financial game and realize our goals. Look at your finances and ask yourself: am I playing for the XP or for the loot? What items do I acquire that keep me from buying the equipment I need to advance to the end game? How much time am I willing to spend grinding for cash when I could spend that time learning new skills? Your financial game is one of infinite possibilities. It’s time to start playing it right.

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