Preface
Those who take no risks drink no champagne
Where the title came from, why risk isn't the enemy, and who Mario, Dirk and Benny are — people from the warehouse who taught me more than many a course.
I first heard that line from Mario, an Italian on my shift who had a proverb for every occasion. We were sitting on pallets by loading bay number four, it was a quarter to six in the morning, and he was explaining why he'd bought shares in a company no one in the canteen had heard of.
Marioshift mate
Chi non risica, non rosica. Those who take no risks drink no champagne, Bart.
Bartnarrator
And how much will you drink if that company goes bust?
Marioshift mate
Then I'll drink water. But only for the amount I put in. Not for the house.
Back then I didn't realise that his last reply contained the whole philosophy of risk management. Mario wasn't afraid of risk. He was afraid of risk he hadn't calculated.
The people in this book
BartnarratorArrived in Belgium with one suitcase and no financial plan.Marioshift mateA fellow shift worker, loading-bay philosopher, an investor with intuition and surprising discipline.
DirkforemanA team leader from Hoboken. He'd never read books on investing, yet his way of checking pallets became the method behind this book.
Bennyyoung operatorYoung, quick, always with a “sure thing” on his phone. His mistakes are the most valuable lesson here.The champagne in the title isn't a symbol of luxury. It's a symbol of the reward that follows a well-calculated risk. You open it not when you've been lucky, but when your plan has worked the way you designed it to.
2 / 14 · Educational content, not investment advice.