乾财道

小时有小蓄，潜龙要潜意。
初九遇人要存力。
二爻田龙大人见，多看多学多磨炼。
有小利以乾乾，惕无咎过好年。
无咎无大过，小错不成祸。
下卦有花丛，上卦有风景。
四九跃龙门，天时地利人和等。
我待蓄势乘风暴，一轮又遇地母爻。
此时无咎不夸张，天天都有馊主张。
不是买楼就买车，需以禅凉抗头热。
如今快入九五地，飞龙在天立。
有资粮扮六一，虽不福也得意。
君王教导小王爷，狼头领班勤在野。
自警上九亢龙欲，提防大错要自律。
— 10/02/24

Commentary: The first of the 64 卦 in 易经 is 乾卦, representing emperor, kingdoms, or anything worth building; including careers, assets, etc. Each 卦 has 6 unbroken or broken lines representing 阳 and 阴, respectively. 乾卦 is made up of 6 unbroken lines (6 阳 lines) – the maximum of 阳. The number for unbroken or 阳 line is 9.

The 爻辞 of the 1st line from the bottom is called 初九 is 潜龙勿用 (hidden dragon, do not use). In my financial road, this was the starting point where I was in secondary school and saved up my first $1000 or so. Hidden dragon is to store power. This is why 诸葛亮 was called 卧龙 – the dragon lying low, to represent his 10 years as a farmer – not doing nothing but to learn and store power.

The 爻辞 of the 2nd line from the bottom is called 九二 is 见龙在田，利见大人 (dragon is seen in the field, time to see the great man) – this was the time when 诸葛亮 met 刘备 (the 大人 that allowed 诸葛亮 to use his talents. In my financial road, this was the time where I created my own 大人 by reading lots of investment books from Warren Buffet to Peter Lynch to George Soros etc, and learnt the mistakes of Long Term Capital Management, Victor Niederhoffer etc. Read and think, then read more and think more.

The 爻辞 of the 3rd line from the bottom is called 九三 is 君子终日乾乾，夕惕若；厉，无咎 (some achievements from hard work in the day and reflections in the night; be careful not to make serious mistakes and you will be fine). In my financial road, this was between 18 to 28 years old when I was investing regularly and with caution. Yes, some mistakes along the way like spending too much money drinking and clubbing during NS days etc but recoverable experiences.

This completes the lower trigram (下卦).

To get the the upper trigram (上卦) requires opportunities (天时地利人和) and I just have to keep storing resources and wait. The 爻辞 of the 4th line from the bottom (also 1st line of the upper trigram) is called 九四 is 或跃在渊，无咎 (wait for opportunity for the fish to leap through the chasm and becomes a dragon). For 诸葛亮, this was 赤壁之战 resulting in 三国鼎立. In my financial road, this was 2007/8 Global Financial Crisis where I got my 1st full time job in SP and aggressively invested every month. The opportunity was having a full time job and a market at its lows – many of my investments then made 100% returns within 2-3 years. Twelve years later, I hit another opportunity which is COVID. I was lucky to continue maintaining 2 part time jobs and good rental proceeds, which helps me greatly to clear my mortgage when we emerged out of COVID. Temptations at this stage is significant – people were telling me to buy condo, buy cars, etc. I had maintain my end goal in mind, and it has to be a rock solid goal that cannot be wavered.

The 爻辞 of the 5th line from the bottom is called 九五 is 飞龙在天，利见大人 (flying dragon in the sky, meet the great man). This 爻辞 is the reason why emperors are called 九五至尊 – a flying dragon. Clearing my mortgage is equivalent to removing the last shackles that prevented me from flying. In my financial road, this is the point of semi-retirement and retirement. I am not there yet but I am near. I will not be rich but that is not my goal in the first place – my goal is ample. I have the resources to pretend to be 六一 (the sufficiency of 欧阳修 when he retires). At this point, there is another 利见大人 (meet the great man), just like in the 2nd stage. In the 2nd stage, the field dragon needs to find his mentors / guides / great man; however, in this 5th stage, the flying dragon is the great man. It is time for him to guide others interested in following his route.

But there is the 6th stage (上九) – 亢龙有悔 (the overindulgent dragon is regretful). Every career, family fortunes, dynasty, empire can trace its decline from overindulgence and over-pleasure. Shang dynasty’s 武丁; Han dynasty’s 汉武帝; Song dynasty’s 趙佶 (宋徽宗); Tang dynasty’s 李隆基 (唐玄宗); and Qing dynasty’s 乾隆; to name a few. Many overnight lottery millionaires also collapsed here. This is the warning.