I have been playing a Facebook game called the Castle Age and I have learned a lot of real life lessons from it. In this article I am sharing all the lessons I have learned.

Make friends to grow your army.

Having a huge army is very important in this game. Not only will it increases the players offensive and defensive capability, it serves as a deterrent from potential invaders. However, the only way to increase army size is to recruit real players to join my army. Here comes the problem.

When I first started this game, I sent out invitations to all the people in my list to join my army. Unfortunately only a few responded. I was limited with a very small army. I envied others with huge armies.

One day, I got an idea. Why don’t I make friends with the other players and join forces with them? Thus I begin my campaign to click on other players in the Forum and the Battle pages to ask for alliance. As a result, I have a huge army count. I triumph in my attacks and I am able to defend myself against invaders. I am now a powerful force, thanks to my huge army.

The real life lesson here is, I must learn networking. Someone has correctly stated that your network is your net worth. I used to be quite shy but I don’t think I can afford to be shy anymore. Anyone who wants to achieve great success and acquire abundant prosperity must be willing to make friends and form great networks. The world is too complex for any individuals to create huge results. However, if I can have a network of like-minded people coming from various backgrounds, talents and view points, it is possible for us to be organized into a powerful team that is capable of achieving great things.

This shall be my main agenda.

Stashing of cash.

The game allows players to stash their cash and charges the fees of 10% from the amount stashed. This is quite expensive but the alternative is worst. If I leave my cash unstashed and I am attacked by a stronger army, I am going to be robbed. Not only that, the money will attract more attackers. I will be in a worse situation of losing my money and being attacked repeatedly.

However, if I stash all my money, my money will be safe even if I lost in a battle. The guy who beat me will not get any money. This will discourage any further attacks.

The lesson here is, I need to take defensive actions to protect my power base. I have always believed in thinking positive and looking ahead but that does not mean I should disregard the risks involved. In fact, I have practised this in my automated trading account.

I have an automatic trading account in forex trading where I choose which system to use and the amount for each trade. I choose my systems based on their past records in producing profits but that is not all. I look at the potential loss as well because nothing is perfect.

Automated trading systems are designed to predict the movements of markets. They cannot control the market especially the forex market which is the biggest market in the world. Each time, an economic data is announced or a politician or a central banker says something, the market will move. No software can predict such events. As such, I need to look into potential loss as well.

So, I always make sure that my account size can absorb losses so that I will not be wiped out in the event my systems loss in their trades. The bottom line is, always be prepared for the worst case scenario.

Investment properties.

In this game, I bought a lot of lands. Lands are investment properties, which provide a yield of 2% every hour. This is a good way of accumulating cash. Even when I am not playing, I am still making money. The current term for this is passive income. Passive income simply means the income you will always receive without having to work for it. Examples of passive income are rentals from properties, dividends from shares and interests from bonds.

In fact, I define financial independence the situation where your passive income exceeds your expenses. You may be earning a lot of money right now but if your earnings are dependent on you, you are not financially independent. The moment you stop working or losses your job, you will have trouble maintaining your present lifestyle.

It is important for all of us to start building our sources of passive income if we want to live in a stress free environment. As for me, I have started an automated trading account where computer programs trades for me. I am planning to acquire some rental properties and start accumulating shares. My objective is to build many sources of passive income so that I can do anything I want without having to consider the issue of how to get money to pay my bills.

Planning ahead.

Quests are the riskless way to gain money and experience points. However, the players need to fulfill strict requirements in order to qualify for them. They require minimum energy points and specific personnel. Some of these personnel can be quite expensive. When I am in one quest, I always look at the next one to find out its requirements so that I can prepare for it. I will prepare a budget to save money to hire the necessary personnel in order to qualify for next one. This is an example of planning ahead.

I believe this is applicable for all of us in real life. Apart from looking at where you are now, it is important to look at where you will be in the future. What type of future do you want? Do you have what it takes to get there? If you don’t, do you intend to acquire the necessary items that can help you to reach the future you want to go to?

Choose you battle.

I do not attack people at random. I choose my target. I like those with very small army. When my huge army fights with a very small army, my victory is guaranteed. This is why I always win in my battles. I also like to attack those will leaves a lot of cash unstashed. When I attack them, I get a lot of money.

When I find myself gaining a lot of money after the first attack, I will keep attack