If there’s one thing I’ve learned from financial people, it’s that they have a way of deciding everything about strategy. Whether you’re discussing fantasy football at happy hour or trying to bribe the bouncer at Automatic Slim, it comes down to assessing risk, minimizing losses, and never overinvesting.
This was made clear to me last weekend when I was out with a group of friends. After successfully navigating a table in a crowded sports bar, the conversation eventually turned to a recent date one of the brothers had gone on. “Yeah, I like her, but I’m not going to text her until after the weekend,” Kevin said, looking at the game above him. When asked why, he shrugged. “I was with my sons and it was only our second date…If she thinks I’m too interested, she’s the one who loses interest.” There’s a strategy at work. I was there. The chorus of nods of agreement from the other men told me that dating here wasn’t about connection. It was about maintaining their sense of agency.
So, as someone who has built a career on translating financial terms into dating, I turned to my father, my financial mentor in life. “That’s the principle of least profit,” he surmised. At the end of the day, it turns out that those who don’t care much always come out ahead, just like the brokers who hedge their investments.
In any trade, whether between companies or brokers, the party with the least amount invested has more power.
