There have been people who’ve asked, “Wait, isn’t what you’re doing gambling or betting?” Or: “How’s your betting today?“

Well, I don’t consider this gambling or betting. I read scouting reports when I’m sitting inside an Uber and when I have a couple moments to do research. I look at trends and statistics. I look at patterns. Heck, when a game is on (doesn’t matter whether it’s basketball, football, hockey, or baseball), the “betting” lines are prominently shown on the screen and analysts even give their picks before the game about whether or not Jayson Tatum (or whoever) will get X number of points or assists in the game that the network is about to show.

But a lot of research goes into it before making specific investments.

It’s not the same as what people do at the casino — one Uber driver told me recently that he picks up passengers from the casino all the time, and one passenger apparently told the driver that he’d lost $20,000 gambling that one night.

No, I am doing smart investing.

I need to do so to finance things around me. For instance, I have a mortgage to pay every month, and my sibling has chosen to live with me on the property but is paying well below market value. And this month (today is the 7th of April as I’m typing this) my sibling hasn’t paid this current month’s rent money yet. The funny thing is my sibling has actually asked me for a loan this month so that the (below-market value) rent can be paid to me.*

What the heck is that?

Well, I am employed and I am kept busy at work, but this smart investment helps to pay for many expenses, that’s for sure.

Hey, it will even come in handy if my sibling (who’s older than me) decides to stop paying (below-market value) rent altogether. When one of your own bosses plants this idea into your sibling’s head (jokingly or not) — my boss’s exact words to my sibling were, “If K.P. bullies you, don’t pay him any rent!” — well, you never know.

*Speaking of “funny” things, when my sibling found out I was doing these investments, my sibling actually asked me for a cut of my profits — but doesn’t want to contribute any funding or research/knowledge. My sibling’s idea is that I should fork out several hundred dollars out of my own pocket, invest on my sibling’s behalf, and then actually give cash payments to my sibling directly on the profits made. Isn’t that “funny”? And my sibling acted as though I was insulting my sibling when I didn’t want to do it.