Minto pyramid principle. The principle of the pyramid in bodybuilding Which pyramid in powerlifting is better

Pyramid training is one of the fundamental and most effective methods for developing muscle size and strength. Use this guide to create your own Ascending, Descending, and Triangular Pyramid training system!

The history of Western civilization goes back to Ancient Egypt and dates back thousands of years. Egypt's heritage has given us many things, including our affinity for cats. And if you're a bodybuilder, even your training program can be influenced by the architecture of Ancient Egypt, especially if you follow the pyramid principle.

Pyramid training is one of the basic and most effective training schemes. If you are confused by its intricacies, the proposed material will help you transform any set of exercises, sets and repetitions according to the pyramid principle!

Building a pyramid

In strength training, the pyramid is considered a fundamental structure that you create by distributing the sets and reps of each exercise. It implies an easy start with a systematic increase in working weight in subsequent approaches. As the working weight increases, the number of repetitions decreases, which illustrates the inverse relationship between the two components of the training process. Classic pyramid training, also called the ascending pyramid, is not too complicated a science. Below we will look at the ascending pyramid using the example of one exercise -.

Pyramid training has many advantages for the development of mass and strength, but, alas, it is not ideal, which was the reason for the emergence of a couple of interesting variations. Let's take a closer look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of the ascending pyramid.

Virtues of the pyramid

1. Warm-up included

One of the main advantages of the ascending pyramid is that warm-up sets are present by default. You start small and gradually increase the load, which warms up the target muscles and makes them flexible. If you've ever walked into the gym and immediately tried to lift a heavy barbell without warming up, you know that this way you won't get close to maximum weights. You'll be able to lift significantly more weight and reduce your risk of injury if you incorporate progressive warm-ups into your plan.

“When I first started my strength training journey, I didn’t know anything about the pyramid principle, but I used this methodology in my training,” says Abby Burrows, IFBB bikini fitness professional and brand ambassador for BPI Sports. “I always started small to warm up my muscles and finished with the heaviest weight I could lift (ascending pyramid). The system helps warm up the muscles and reduces the risk of injury, while preparing the target muscles for the upcoming extreme loads.”

Warming up your muscles with light weights will prepare you for lifting real weights.

2. Maximum Strength Gain

The Ascending Pyramid is ideal for those looking to increase their strength. Athletes seeking maximum strength gains should not perform nearly as many sets as bodybuilders aiming to increase muscle size, limiting themselves to only 1-2 sets per exercise.

This allows them to generate maximum power in the last 1-2 sets, in which they have to lift the heaviest weight. All previous approaches act as a warm-up. However, it should be noted that none of these warm-up approaches can be performed to muscle failure.

3. Large load volume

The very nature of the pyramid involves a large training volume. By sticking to an ascending pattern and increasing the weight on each subsequent set, you will inevitably perform many sets, which guarantees a high volume of work - a marker of muscle growth.

In terms of stimulation (increasing muscle mass), multi-set training systems are preferable to low-volume programs.

Disadvantages of the pyramid

It's time to say that this training system has two significant drawbacks. First, warm-ups are never performed to failure—not even close. The sheer number of sets can be a real challenge, especially when you're full of energy at the start of your workout.

There is a great temptation to perform a set to muscle failure, but the price for this will be a slight drop in strength indicators in subsequent approaches. If you perform several easy sets to failure, you will move away from your goals, be it increasing strength or muscle mass. You want your muscles to be fresh during your heaviest (last) set. If you are too tired during previous sets, they will definitely not be full of energy. Therefore, all warm-up sets should be completed shortly before muscle failure.

Secondly, the aspect mentioned above forces you to reach muscle failure only on the last set, which is not always enough if your goal is maximum muscle size. Muscle failure is important in terms of stimulating growth processes. In order for muscles to grow, they must be subjected to significant amounts of stress. One set to failure may not provide the growth boost you need.

In short, the ascending pyramid is great for those looking to increase strength and power, but it is not as effective when maximizing muscle size is at stake. This feature is important.

Inverted pyramids

So, if an ascending pyramid is not the ideal choice for mass work, what is? Take a descending pyramid, sometimes called an inverted pyramid. The name very accurately conveys the essence of the technique: you start with a maximum weight, perform a few repetitions, then reduce the weight and do more and more repetitions in subsequent approaches. This is simply an inverted copy of the bench press pyramid discussed earlier.


With the reverse pyramid, you are more likely to reach muscle failure, which means you gain more mass.

I propose to dwell on some of the advantages that come with using an inverted pyramid.

1. You start with the hardest thing

In the inverted pyramid, you load the target muscle as much as possible in the first sets, when it is still full of energy. With fewer sets expending your strength before lifting the maximum weight, your heaviest set will recruit the maximum number of muscle fibers, resulting in more growth.

Burrows notes that the descending pyramid is better suited for serious muscle development tasks. “I really like the descending pyramid because it allows you to start with the hardest ones without doing sets that build up fatigue,” she says. “Today I train in an inverted pyramid with at least four different weights. I get the most tired when I train like this.”

2. Maximum muscle growth

The inverted pyramid is ideal for bulking because you are more likely to reach muscle failure. When you're working for strength, you don't want to train to failure as often, but working for mass requires a different approach. With this type of pyramid, you reach failure from the very first set, and you reach it much more often. From the first set to the last, you can work to failure, and this is important when stimulating the mechanisms responsible for muscle growth is at stake.

“Training to failure is important for building muscle because you are breaking down muscle fibers,” says Burrows.” “By training this way, you get more micro-tears in your muscles.”

3. Volume and intensity

The descending pyramid guarantees high training volume, but it also allows you to train with greater intensity and load. Adding up the total amount of work—sets and reps—in each exercise creates a greater degree of intensity and stress for the target group with the inverted pyramid.

“I try to train this way as often as possible,” adds Burrows. “This is influenced by the degree of muscle soreness. I typically use this approach for the lion's share of the upper body muscles, especially the shoulders. I also love pyramid squats, but after that it’s too hard to walk for the next week!”

If you've been paying attention, you'll remember that lifting heavy weights requires a thorough warm-up. Obviously, the descending pyramid does not include warm-up approaches.

Although there is no warm-up in the classic inverted pyramid, it would be a big mistake to ignore it. As with the ascending pyramid, the warm-up is never performed to muscle failure. Immediately after warming up, move to the maximum working weight and then stick to the inverted pyramid scheme.

Triangle - the union of two pyramids

You might think it's unfair to do warm-up sets but not include them in your main program. I can't agree with you. It’s just that in this case you follow a technique called the “triangle” and combines the features of an ascending and descending pyramid.

With triangles, you perform a couple of warm-up sets, each increasing the weight and decreasing the number of repetitions, but without reaching muscle failure. After the maximum weight, you switch to a descending pyramid and work with decreasing weight and increasing reps in subsequent sets, each performed to muscle failure.

This technique provides the volume and intensity needed to gain muscle mass. After the first two exercises for each target group, you can discard all warm-up sets and immediately begin the descending pyramid. For those who are looking for muscle growth, this type of pyramid is one of the best training methods.

Pyramid training without problems

Ready to integrate pyramid training, in all its possible variations, into your strength training program? Learn a few simple tips and then put them into practice with one of these sample workouts!

  • When training in an ascending pyramid, never perform warm-up sets to muscle failure. A warm-up is any set in which you continue to increase the weight, which means that the number of repetitions decreases in each subsequent set of the workout.
  • Once you reach your maximum weight—indicated by the minimum number of repetitions in each exercise—work until muscle failure.
  • Bodybuilders and people seeking maximum muscle volume should perform several approaches to failure, and therefore in this case the most popular are the descending pyramid and triangle.
  • Note that the descending pyramid does not include warm-up sets. Do them as often as you feel necessary, but never take your warm-up approach to muscle failure.

The Minto Pyramid is a text writing technique based on abstracts from Barbara Minto’s book (can you hear where the name came from?) “The Minto Pyramid Principle. Golden Rules of Thinking, Business Writing and Oral Presentation." The book was published in 2008. It is worth noting that the author of the book became the first female consultant at McKinsey. Barbara's ability to write persuasively and effectively was recognized by management, so she was transferred to London to help develop the same business writing skills in the London division. It was this period of her work that served as the basis for the formation of the principles of the Minto pyramid. These rules are suitable for composing business letters, public speaking speeches and other written texts.

In her experience, Barbara Minto was convinced that the reader perceives the text better if every thought, every idea is closely connected with each other by logic and at the same time built according to the principle of a hierarchical pyramid - from the general to the specific. In other words, human thinking works like this: when listening to a report, reading a book, talking with friends, we first want to understand the main thing, to understand what they actually want to tell us.

Principles of the Minto pyramid - how to build texts

Like the three pillars on which the earth supposedly stands, the Minto Pyramid is based on the following golden rules:

  1. An idea at each level should generalize the ideas grouped at the level below.
  2. Ideas in each group should always be of the same type, interconnected, united on the same basis.
  3. The ideas in each group should go in a logical sequence, which happens:
    • deductive - movement from general provisions to particular conclusions;
    • chronological (aka temporal) - the time aspect is taken into account, suitable for describing any sequential actions or phenomena;
    • structural - based on the systematization of knowledge, the ability to combine objects into one class (Don, Volga, Yenisei, Ob - rivers);
    • classification-comparative - distribution of objects according to degree of significance.

The pyramid consists of three main parts:

Part 1. Introduction. This is where the reader needs to be brought up to speed. Raise and identify the main issue that you want to convey to the recipient of the message. Select and use facts known to the reader. You can build the introductory part according to the following scheme:

  1. Define the situation. It should sound extremely simple and not raise any additional questions for the reader.

Example: WelcomeWorld School of Foreign Languages ​​announces enrollment for evening English courses for adults.

  1. Illustrate a problem or difficulty that might arise from the situation described. The problem must be formulated clearly, in measurable terms.

Example: Only 11% of the Russian population speaks English. The rest experience difficulties when traveling abroad, finding a prestigious job, or studying professional literature.

  1. Ask a question that naturally arises after recognizing the problem.

Example: Why don't adults learn English? After all, there are many courses and offers.

  1. Answer the question, offer a solution to the problem. This will be the main idea of ​​your text.

Example: The reasons cited by the vast majority are lack of free time and fear of starting (I won’t succeed, everyone will laugh at me, etc.). Foreign language teaching for adults should be structured differently than for children, teenagers or students.

Part 2. Main statement. As we wrote earlier, the introduction ends with an answer to the main question raised in it or a solution to the problem. By the way, Barbara Minto herself calls this element the Main Statement. This is what you have to justify further.

Example: Therefore, the Welcome World School of Foreign Languages ​​has developed a special program, and classes will be held in the evenings.

Part 3. Groups of minor statements. They are necessary to argue and prove the main statement. An important point is that there can be several levels of detail in the Main Statement, however, all of them must also be closely related to each other logically.

There may also be several levels of detail or argumentation. There are two types of arguments.

Horizontal level
(method of induction or deduction)

Vertical level
(form of dialogue)

Don't forget about subheadings. The user, seeing the text for the first time, first runs his eyes diagonally across it. Accordingly, subheadings should be short, succinct, and simple. You shouldn’t equate a subtitle with an idea, but it is what arouses the reader’s interest.

If you have several groups of arguments, do not forget to put clear logical transitions between them so that the reader does not lose the thread. Following the structure of the narrative, it is important that he understands that a transition is now taking place from one idea/group of ideas to another. Barbara Minto suggests that in such cases, at the beginning of a new section of the text, indicate the main conclusions from the previous one.

Example: Since most people indicate that they do not attend English courses due to inconvenient class times (open until 18:00-19:00), Welcome World offers classes from 18:30. This is convenient - you won’t have to ask your boss for time off, and classes will be conducted without compromising your work activity.

In addition to convenient evening times, Welcome World suggests not combining adults and, for example, teenagers in groups. Then, during classes, you can touch upon and raise interesting and relevant topics, without looking back and without worrying about the fact that there are minors among the listeners.

If any of the sections of your text turned out to be too long and complex, then at the end it is better to repeat the main points again. Don't forget to draw conclusions.

Here are some tips to help you create persuasive copy using Minto's pyramid:

In general, Barbara Minto recommends constructing texts for business correspondence, public reports and speeches in this way. However, we have found in practice that the pyramid is also suitable for informational articles when you need to inform users about a new product or service. We write such texts as part of crowd marketing or registration in catalogues, search engines and directories. However, you must not forget to clean the text from garbage, errors, logical and speech repetitions. By the way, we have articles on this topic on our blog.

The principles of the Minto pyramid are great for articles that you plan to publish on third-party resources. However, just in case, we remind you that before sending a text to a particular site, be sure to evaluate its quality. How to do this - read.

Minto's Pyramid is a useful structure for constructing texts. However, this does not mean that you only need to use it and nothing else. Not sure if this technique is right for your product or brand? Write to us - we will help you figure it out!

Financial Pyramide- a common phrase that appears in hearing from time to time. Having heard it, many will remember MMM, the story of Bernard Madoff and other examples. However, these are only examples, and a general view of what financial pyramids are and what they are like is rare.

It must be said that there is no established and universal definition of financial pyramids, and often one can only find descriptions like “uncontrolled investment schemes” or “unsustainable business models.” What this “instability” consists of and why it arises, we will explain in this article.

There is a lot of history known financial pyramids, which were presented under certain signs, and the structure of which at first glance seems very diverse. However, everyone financial pyramids there is a common characteristic principle that also explains why they all eventually collapse.

The general principle of financial pyramids is the “bag game”

So, the main feature financial pyramids is that in the course of their work the monetary contributions of the participants are simply redistributed. In other words, the funds that participants invest in the pyramid do not participate in the production of goods or services, and therefore the total amount of funds always remains equal to the total deposits - only the owners of the funds change. It simply looks like collecting money in a bag, and then sequentially distributing these funds to the participants in the game according to certain rules. It is clear that all participants will benefit from such games "in the sack" they cannot: in the best case, everyone can stay with their own, but more often the pyramids are designed in such a way that the first participants receive more than they invested, and therefore the last ones simply have nothing left. Now it becomes clear why any financial pyramids sooner or later they must collapse - it is impossible to make everyone richer simply by transferring funds.

Arrange such games "in the sack" is considered fraud and is illegal in most countries (including Russia and Ukraine). However, financial pyramids under one guise or another arise despite the restrictions of the law - why? Most of the organizers of financial pyramids use the promise of very high profits to attract players, and the participants in the game, because of their gullibility, fall for this bait, without checking the legality of the game, and often do not even understand that they are participating in a game of “sack” with an inevitable ending.

Two main types of financial pyramids

All financial pyramids can be divided into 2 types:

— multi-level pyramids;
— .

Multi-level pyramid

This scheme is based on the fact that each new participant in the pyramid, a novice, first makes his entrance fee. This fee is immediately divided between the participant who invited the newcomer, as well as those who invited the inviter, i.e. earlier participants in the pyramid. After the entry fee, the newcomer must invite two or more people, whose entry fees will already go to his benefit and to the benefit of the earlier participants. This continues from level to level.

Depending on the rules pyramids: the amount of the entrance fee and the number of new participants that each “newbie” must bring - the promised income may vary, but they are usually quite large.

The amount of entry fee and the number of participants a newbie must bring varies depending on the rules of the pyramid. So, for example, if according to the rules you need to invite 3 people, and the entry fee is 1000 rubles, and this fee is divided in half in favor of the inviter and the one who brought the inviter into the game, then simple arithmetic suggests that if successful you will spend 1000 rub. to “entrance” and in the end you will receive 6,000 rubles. (1500 from the three participants you invite and another 4500 from the 9 they invite). Thus, the profitability of the scheme will be 500%, which is really impressive compared to a bank deposit.

However, we discussed at the beginning why any game "in the sack" ends. The reason why it's collapsing multi-level pyramid, is that the number of participants in the scheme must grow very quickly (exponentially) for it to work. At such a fast pace, often even the entire population of the country is not enough to provide the first 10-15 stages of new participants. It is not surprising that as a result, those who paid their entry fee, but did not find new participants, receive nothing. According to statistics, the participants who are left with nothing are usually more than 80-90%.

Financial pyramid - Ponzi scheme

The scheme received its name from the American Charles Ponzi, who organized this type of pyramid in the United States back in the early 1920s. Although similar schemes had been known before, it was Charles Ponzi's scheme that first involved so many people that it became widely publicized in the United States.

The essence of this type of game “in the bag” is that its organizer invites participants to invest money and at the same time promises a very high and often “guaranteed” income after a short period of time. There is no need to attract new participants - you just need to wait. The organizer pays high percentages of income from his personal funds to the first few participants, after which rumors about a “working” scheme with excellent returns usually spread, and new investors themselves go to the organizer. Then the organizer simply pays old investors with funds that come from new ones - game "in the sack" works. It is clear that as the first participants actually receive the promised income, the number of applicants grows, and in addition, old participants begin to invest again - the organizer experiences an increase in the influx of funds.

Financial Pyramide The so-called Ponzi scheme ends for a simple reason: each investor expects to receive more than he invested, while the organizer receives no other income except these contributions - thus the scheme is doomed to collapse. Usually the organizer himself understands this best, so often at the moment when the flow of new depositors begins to “weaken,” the organizer appropriates all the deposits already made and disappears.

Interestingly, the widely known MMM and the investment company of Bernard Medoff used Ponzi schemes.

Comparison of Ponzi scheme and multi-level pyramid

In principle, both schemes are a redistribution of funds, only with different rules and speed of outcome. Here are the main differences:

For a snack

Organizers financial pyramids are quite creative in how they can present the game of “sack” in order to convince people to participate in it. Thus, the organizers of multi-level pyramids, in order to disguise the essence of the game, often come up with additional attributes of a “serious matter”. For example, trading goods 1 or even growing flowers.

The author of this article knows one interesting Ponzi scheme, in which participants were asked to invest money not in magical funds or projects, but simply to grow unique flowers. At the presentation, potential participants were told that some scientists have developed amazing flowers that help in the treatment of serious diseases. Currently, there are few such flowers and therefore they are very expensive. Participants were offered a unique opportunity to grow such flowers at home.

Each participant had to buy seeds from the organizing company at a price of $500 apiece, and then plant a flower at home, which after 3 months grew and the organizing company was ready to buy it back at a price of $1000. Information about wonderful flowers and the income from growing them spread very quickly and soon many were queuing for $500 seeds.

It is clear that the organizing company paid the first participants from funds received from the sale of seeds to new flower lovers. At some point, the organizers felt that the “boom” of new participants had passed and that an influx of participants with already grown flowers would soon begin. The organizers decided to maximize profits and disappeared.

1 It should be noted that in this way the organizers disguised as legitimate network marketing schemes, which are not fraudulent, as they provide certain services for the distribution of goods. A clear distinguishing feature financial pyramids disguised by the distribution of goods, is often that the goods themselves are worth much less than the entry fees of new participants. That is, goods are just “chips” in the game of “bag”.

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Imagine that there are some secret principles, using which you are doomed to success. You manage to convey information to a client, partner, boss, spouse, your child, an opponent, a neighbor... or any person so that he signs an agreement, makes a purchase, raises your salary or gives you a new position, agrees to all your conditions, and so on, in general, you get the desired result. Is this possible? Yes. Your secret weapon is the Minto Pyramid. Use it in negotiations, correspondence, polemics, your publications, in any form of communication with other people, and the consequences will pleasantly surprise you.

Minto Pyramid Principles

The author of this method, Barbara Minto, worked for more than 20 years at the number one American consulting company McKinsey. Not all deals were successful, and she wanted to understand why, understand the reasons for success or failure in negotiations with clients, and what to do about it. As a result, she concluded that it was not at all a matter of the qualifications of the company’s employee. The main reason for obtaining a particular result is the way the information is conveyed to the client.

Barbara Minto started with the basics - the features of thinking. Based on how a person perceives information, she developed her own pyramid system. Thanks to it, people can clearly, concisely, competently and effectively structure their speech, compose reports, write letters or other texts, give presentations... And, of course, you yourself understand how all this can increase your efficiency and, accordingly, the quality of life...

So, Minto's Pyramid is a way in which information is presented in a strict hierarchy according to the principle of a pyramid, where at the top is the main idea, and at the base are clarifying details. And this is not without reason - the human brain perceives data this way, it is designed this way, and, you see, it would be unreasonable not to use such knowledge to achieve your goals.

The success of presenting information in a pyramidal way also lies in the fact that the essence is indicated at the beginning, and then everything else. By doing this, you save time for yourself and your interlocutor - for various reasons, he may not listen or read to the end of your work, or you may be interrupted, but the main idea will already be conveyed, which means your goal will be achieved.

The Minto Pyramid is a multi-level system. The first level, the peak, as we have already defined, is the main idea, the essence of your narrative. At the second level, you divide the idea stated “above” into parts. At the third stage, the postulates of the second level are decomposed into more detailed components. On the fourth - third and so on.

An important point is that at each individual level, thoughts must be interconnected and proceed in a logical sequence (deductive or inductive, chronological, structural, classification and comparative).

The pyramid can have as many “tiers” as you like, as long as you have something to say. However, keep in mind that human perception has limits, the brain can get tired and lose concentration, so do not overuse it. 3-4 levels of the pyramid are considered optimal for a small performance.

How to build a Minto Pyramid

Let's move on from theory to practice. So where to start and how to present information according to Barbara Minto's principles?

It is customary to build a pyramid in two ways: “top down” and “bottom up”. It is believed that the first is the most effective. However, if your thoughts are confused and you don’t know where to start, act in the second way and, above all, decide on the details and details that will ultimately lead you to the “top”.

At first glance, the system may seem complicated. In fact, for your information to line up in a pyramid, you just need to answer a series of questions.

To create a top-down pyramid, you can ask yourself the following questions (they are very approximate, general, they need to be adapted to your specific topic):

First level

  1. What will we talk about? (Item).
  2. What problem are you solving? (Question).
  3. What is the solution to your problem? (The answer is the main idea of ​​the speech).

Second level

  1. What is the current situation in this area?
  2. What are the difficulties?
  3. Has the problem been identified and is it being resolved somehow?

Third level

  1. What new questions arise after answering the previous one?
  2. What is the best way to answer, inductive or deductive?
  3. For the inductive method, what is the unifying feature of grouping thoughts?

For the next levels you can use questions from the third...

Building a bottom-up pyramid is justified when you have all the information, a lot of ideas, and you find it difficult to put them into a coherent narrative. Therefore you need:

If you are preparing information according to the principles of the Minto Pyramid, do not neglect the following recommendations:

  1. Put the postulates of the main idea in the title, avoid generalizations here.
  2. Building a pyramid “from top to bottom” is the most effective.
  3. The first level should contain information whose truth is obvious to the reader/listener (situation, problem, question).
  4. All statements require justification until questions about them disappear.
  5. Information must be structured (divided into subheadings, in italics or bold, use hierarchical numbering).
  6. If possible, you need to visually formulate the postulates of the narrative according to the principle of a pyramid.

Remember, using these simple principles, you will easily master presentation and general communication skills, and even become a master.

Often, after the closure of an investment project, you can hear the words that it was a financial pyramid. But not everyone knows what it is. And few people think that this can be called any unstable business model, and that even in the state there are pyramids. In this article we will understand what a financial pyramid is and whether it is possible to make money from it.

What is a financial pyramid

In the economic sense, a financial pyramid is a way for its members to make a profit by attracting money from new participants to the project. In other words, people who joined the project today bring income to those who joined earlier.

However, the traditional system of doing business can develop into a pyramid. This happens when a businessman miscalculates profitability. The company is going into the red and is barely self-sufficient. The owner cannot return loans or investment contributions. To stay afloat, he takes out new loans, and with these funds he pays off old debts. When the amount of payments becomes greater than the number of new receipts, the pyramid collapses (i.e. the company goes bankrupt).

Financial pyramid and its types

In MLM structures, each new participant contributes a certain starting amount. The funds are distributed between the person who invited him and earlier members (i.e. people who invited the inviter). In turn, the new participant must invite other people to the financial pyramid, whose contributions will become the basis of his profit. This is repeated at every level.

Pyramids built according to the MLM structure collapse because the number of members in them must constantly double. It is obvious that there will not be enough residents of the entire state to provide even 10 levels. As a result, participants who fail to attract new members may be left without income. As the finale approaches, the organizer tries to hide, and the structure he created collapses (happens).

This structure got its name from the resourceful Italian Charles Ponzi (Ponzi), who created the first pyramid in the United States. It did not require participants to recruit new members. The organizer pays the first investors with their own money, and when the time comes to pay out profits, he uses the money received from new participants.

To understand what a Ponzi scheme is, look at the picture. For a certain time, the scheme of paying profits to investors using the funds of new members works. But apart from fundraising, the company does not conduct any other activities. Therefore, it physically cannot pay out more money than people invested in it.

At a certain point (when the organizer decides that enough money has been collected, or when the number of payouts exceeds the amount raised), the pyramid collapses. The organizer takes all the remaining funds and goes on the run. This is exactly how most modern financial pyramids operate.

Comparison of the principles of a multi-level financial pyramid and a Ponzi scheme

To help you better understand what a financial pyramid is and how its types differ, I suggest familiarizing yourself with the following diagram.

It is obvious that a financial pyramid, regardless of its type, is beneficial only for its organizer and the first half of the participants. And if you decide to participate in the pyramid, try to enter it as early as possible so as not to end up in the second half :)

Financial pyramids in the state

Most people have a negative attitude towards pyramids and their participants. I would like to note that there are many who earn decent money by participating in such structures and diverse ones. My blog is dedicated to this type of earnings. Since 2014, I have been making money in projects and pyramids, and teaching partners how to do this.

All pyramids can be divided into 2 types: legal and illegal.

The first type recognizes the state and promotes their development, because they feed it - these are banking institutions, pension funds, and insurance companies. If you understand what a pyramid scheme is, you will see obvious similarities. But it is difficult to imagine modern life without banks, funds and insurers.

Pyramids that are illegal do not feed the state and cannot be controlled. Therefore, such structures are subject to constant persecution, and many people consider their participants to be scammers - this has been instilled in them.

However, according to the principle and rules of organization, all pyramids are similar to each other. It’s just that legal ones are held in high esteem by the authorities and enjoy the trust of people. And with those organizations that are not approved by the state, everything is quite the opposite.

There are many among you who believe that a bank deposit is a reliable and proven way to protect your money. But there are no banks in the world that are able to return all their clients’ investments. They simply don't have that kind of money.

After all, the bank borrows funds from some clients at 5-10% per annum, and gives loans to others at 25-30%. That's the whole point of their work. Many institutions collapsed and became insolvent. The situation is the same as in financial pyramids: the bank collapses when the payments become greater than the amount of investments.

You automatically join another type of pyramid when you start officially working - a pension fund. You make contributions for 30-40 years, and only when you retire do you start receiving interest. Some people just don't live up to this point. And even more so, there are few lucky ones whose payment amount exceeds the amount invested. As you can see, the pyramid is a universal scheme that has been thriving in the world for several centuries.

Summary

To more clearly understand what a financial pyramid is, we can draw the following analogy: a bag into which all participants threw money to be distributed in a new way. Those participants who are at the upper levels receive greater profits. And if participants understand how the pyramid works, then they manage to withdraw money on time and earn money. You need to enter the pyramid with sober calculation, and not with passion and hope for luck.