What do snooty rich guys know that you don’t? Besides the difference between a 1990 and ’91 St.-Emilion Bordeaux, they also know one simple secret—that you succeed at the money game using the same strategies that win tennis matches, earn promotions, and enable you to emerge unscathed from a “talk about where things stand” with your girlfriend:
• Avoid unforced errors;
• Never pass up the chance to earn an easy point;
and, above all:
• Never, ever substitute emotion for intelligent analysis.
In fact, taking the easy way in makes a lot more sense than driving yourself nuts crunching numbers all night and obsessively managing your E*Trade account. Here are three somewhat counterintuitive money moves that will burnish your portfolio and pay off handsomely in your future. (You can use the proceeds to buy a nice bottle of 1990. The ’91 is vinegar.)