Barnett Helzberg Jr. is a lucky man. He had built a chain of jewellery stores that brought in about $300 million a year. One day, he was walking in New York when he heard a woman say, “Mr. Buffett!” to the man next to him. He was not sure if the man was the famous investor. Helzberg had just turned 60, and he was considering selling his business. So he went up to the stranger and said his name. The man was, in fact, the well-known investor, and the chance meeting turned out to be a good thing. The famous investor agreed to buy his stores a year later. Why do some people always get what they want, while others never get a break? Richard Wiseman, who is a professor of psychiatry, says he has found the answer.
He says, “I wanted to study luck and find out why some people are in the right place at the right time while others have bad luck. I put ads in the paper looking for people who always felt lucky or unlucky. Hundreds of men and women from all walks of life helped me with my study. I talked to them, watched how they lived, and made them do experiments. My 10-year study of how luck works showed that most of the time, people make their own good and bad luck. I found four things that lucky people do to make good things happen in their lives.
Principle 1: Make the most of chances. Lucky people are good at seeing and taking advantage of chances. They do this by making connections, having a laid-back attitude, and being open to new things.
Principle 2: Pay Attention to Lucky Hunches: Lucky people make good choices by paying attention to their intuition and gut feelings. They also do things to improve their intuition, like meditating and clearing their minds of other things to think about.
Principle 3: Expect good luck. Lucky people are sure that good things will happen in the future. These expectations help lucky people keep going when things don’t work out and change the way they interact with others in a good way.
Principle 4: Turn bad luck into good luck. People who are lucky can handle tough situations. They think about how bad things could have been and stay positive to stay in charge of the situation.
The way an investor acts is much more important than the amount of money they put in when it comes to making money. Smaller amounts invested regularly over longer periods of time can make more money than larger amounts invested for shorter periods of time.
In the Table, Thommichan starts a monthly SIP of Rs.5,000 when he is 25. By the time he is 55, he has saved Rs.1.76 crore. Josychan, who starts 20 years later at age 45, invests 3 times as much (Rs.15,000) but only gets to Rs.35 lakhs by age 55. Both invested Rs. 18 lakh, but the total amount they got back was different. Josychan will be seen as unlucky while Thommichan will be seen as lucky, which is strange. However, it has more to do with Thommichan’s behaviour of being consistent, resilient, and focused on longevity than it does with his luck. So, luck is neither a magical power nor something that just happens by chance. People are not born lucky or unlucky, either. Instead, much of their wealth comes from the way they act
Luck or Behaviour
| Particulars | Seeta | Geeta |
| Start investing at the age of | 25 | 45 |
| Monthly SIP | Rs. 5,000 | Rs. 15,000 |
| Returns p.a. (Assumed) | 12 % | 12 % |
| Investment till the age of | 55 | 55 |
| Total Investment (Same principal amount) | Rs. 18 L | Rs. 18 L |
| Accumulated amount at age 55 | Rs. 1.76 Crore | Rs. 34.85 L |
Rate of return f 12% is used for illustrative purpose only, names are fictitious.