Years ago, I had a friend friend who owned a Mazda Rx-7. We were car guys” which means we spent way too much time oogling our rides and tuning engines for performance gainz.
My friend’s engine, however, was super hard to work on because it was a Wankle engine. In case you’re not a car person, a Wankle engine is a rotary engine. Most engines in most cars are piston engines. So when you hear something like a “4-cylinder engine” or a 6-cylinder engine”, that refers to the number of cylinders and pistons in the engine.
Wankle engines don’t have pistons or cylinders. They have a rotor or maybe 2 rotors. Because of this, they have a distinct advantage over piston engines. They have a very high power to weight ratio and far fewer moving parts. It’s basicly a triangular-shaped rotor inside a rotary housing which can spin really (REALLY) fast so it makes a lot (A LOT) of power very quickly.
… which is very good when you’re a young punk who likes to drive fast and take chances.
But… Wankle engines also have a distinct disadvantage over piston engines — they are far far less reliable.
They are prone to oil burning, flooding (due to apex seal failure), and a bunch of other problems and… they are very difficult engines for mechanics to work on.
Probably why my buddy drove his Rx-7 for only a few years.
Anywho, what does this have to do wih the price of tea in China?
Plenty, if you’re thirsty for knowledge.
Like this knowledge:
High-powered financial plans don’t always mean better and, many many times, they are worse than a low or moderately powered financial plan.
What do I mean by that?
Well, it’s become fashionable to stuff retirement plans with a lot of mutual funds… especially equity mutual funds.
All the goo-ruse agree that you can average 12% returns a year in those mutual funds. But… 12% average doesn’t mean you’ll make a lot of money nor does it mean you’ll have enough to create a stable income.
Believe it or not, making high returns on your money comes with significant risk (and high probability) of complete failure.
