I think one way to figure that out is to know if what you are doing makes you money in the short or long term.

我认为，有一个方法就是想想你现在所做的事能不能在短期或长期给你带来报酬。

youdao

With our house rented and two one-way tickets to Japan in hand, we set off for what turned out to be a two-year adventure, as our money went much further than we had expected.

把房子租了出去，拿着两张到日本的单程机票，我们开始了最终结果是两年的历程，因为我们的钱比原来预想的要耐用得多。

youdao

One way or another, the wealth in Iceland comes from the fish, and if you want to understand what Icelanders did with their money you had better understand how they came into it in the first place.

爱尔兰的财富来自各种方式的渔业，假如你想理解爱尔兰用他们的钱做什么，你最好尽快理解他们怎样在现场研究它。

youdao

Nor can sophisticated investors trade it in the futures market, but there is a way you can still make money in what appears to be an aggressive uptrend.

FORBES: China Raises Stakes In Rare Earth Showdown

And she wants to know, in this market, what is an appropriate and safe way to save your money and protect your investments?

NPR: How to Weather a Rocky Economy

Then one day, in the heat of a horrible argument, one of them (neither can remember who) came up with the idea of an "investing autopsy"--going back over all their financial and investment decisions, successful and unsuccessful, to determine what patterns they could uncover to improve the way they managed their money in the future.

FORBES: Magazine Article