Often, when we make investments or any decisions, we need to consider what we stand to gain if we’re right, and what the cost of being wrong might be. We must never focus solely on the expected gains—we must also ask whether we can afford the cost of a mistake. Many people, unable to bear the cost of failure, still choose a path of no return due to greed. I’ve said many times that making money is actually quite simple, because we have relatively certain paths to profit. A major reason many end up losing large sums is their constant desire to seek great wealth through high risk. Of course, I’m not saying this approach is wrong—but can you afford the cost of taking that risk?