Subject: Yugonomics or Money Management for Angsty People, by Joe Mello Yes, this is a rich kids rant. No, I am not a rich kid. For all thouse people who think Yu-Gi-Oh is being corrupted by the almighty dollar, you're half right. After all, Collectable Trading Cards is a profitable business. But using the word "corrupted" is a bit overdoing it. You need money to buy cards, and the more money you have, the more cards you can buy. Isn't that simple? Well, it may be, but for those who aren't satisfied with that response, I'll delve in a little deeper. All right, boys and girls. Now Today's Special Word is "Disposable Income." This is the amount of money a person has after paying for all of his or her necessities, like food, clothing, shelter, etc. 99% of the time, unless you are paying your own way through college, 100% of the income of a person ranging from about 0-19 is disposable. That means you can do whatever you want with it. You can buy books, CD's, a prostitute, or, perhaps Yu-Gi-Oh cards. Wow, we have just come full circle! Now the point of all this is that, yes you may have less disposable income than a so called "rich kid," (However, even though I only have one working parent and one retired parent, both working/worked in schools and me having no job, I could about $6,500 in my hand if I wanted to.) But that doesn't mean the rich kid has a larger percentage of disposable income. The important thing is what you do with all that disposable income. This brings us to our second special word. It's called "Budgeting." In other words, how you spend your money. If you want so badly to be the very very best in Yu-Gi-Oh, then you would budget most of your money towards that. If you're a casual collector/gamer like I am, you don't budget as much money as other things and you normally wait for a card show at your local mall in order to buy cards, and save your money for other things (like manga). Rich kids are no different. They will budget their money towards what they want. The exception is if they don't have a brain and they just buy lots of cards to prove that they can. So, actually, it's pretty much a level playing field. Of course, all this money talk means absolutely nothing if you don't have skillz. Why? I admit this: I've been off and on Pojo's Ladder for maybe about a year now, and I am 0 FOR 20 in Ladder matches. I have every card at my disposal in an unlimited quantity, and I am 0 FOR 20. Fear not. I have won individual duels and I can beat just about anyone at my high school with my crappy deck. (but only because I have a 45-card deck while theirs are much larger) So, what have we learned today, boys and girls? -Disposable Income is money that you can use to buy items you don't really need. -Every child has 100% disposable income. -If you have an interest in something, budgeting your money can help you buy things based on that interest, and yet save money for other things. -Yu-Gi-Oh Champions have more Dueling Skillz, not more Dollars and Cents. -Joe Mello has a fat bank account, but his chances of winning are slim. And now you now how to handle your money better than the United States Government. Isn't that exciting?! Well, see you later, boys and girls! This rant disgusied as a CCG Tip has been a Joe Mello-Black Panther Production. For more, e-mail me at joemello04@yahoo.com Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software