The Queen's Gambit

The Queens Gambit is arguably one of Netflix best produced dramas.  Based on the Walter Tevis novel of the same name, it’s a young girl’s journey from neglected orphan to chess champion and follows her battles with family relationships, addiction, mental health and a male dominated game.

The show inspired me to look into how many different game combinations there are within chess.  Interestingly in 1949 American mathematician Claude Shannon published a paper on the complexity of Chess.  He concluded once each player in a game has moved a piece 5 times, there are deemed to be 69 trillion possible games.  That’s a lot of options!

I should add a slight caveat, in that Shannon’s research paper which arrived at this figure stipulated the number of games in relation to the development of computer chess, however I confidently believe the human brain could, through Neurogenesis over time (millennia) and a multitude of games, play out these scenarios. 

So what exactly has chess got to do with your money?

I’m glad you asked!   When it comes to investing, much like chess, there are lots of options.  Global capital markets have an estimated 630,000 publicly traded companies, with an average of 3,000 investment funds available to pick from, not to mention which tax wrapper to use and when. 

How do you choose?

I’ll answer this question with another; what is your end goal or plan?

If you don’t first know what the goal or plan is for your future, none of the preceding information matters. 

Start with a plan for your future and write it down.  It will be a best guess at this stage, life is not linear and every individual has a different journey.  Once you’ve formulated your plan everything else will become clearer and your money can be aligned with what you and your family are hoping to achieve. 

Every time you are making a decision about your money or life, refer back to your plan.  Does it align with what you want to achieve, what’s changed (good or bad), does the decision make sense or are you harming your plan?

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