I Ching Wealth Reading: Can’t Get 3-Year-Old Loan Back? The Waiting Hexagram Isn’t About Debt Collection — It’s About Sincerity and Trust

I have an old classmate who lent 200,000 yuan to his childhood best friend three years ago, with the agreement that the money would be repaid in six months. Now three years have passed, not only has the money not come back, but their relationship is also on the verge of collapsing. In wealth-related scenarios, the Waiting hexagram refers to this kind of situation as "waiting in the mud." He told me that what he dreads most now is the Lunar New Year, because they have to meet during the holiday, and he has to pretend everything is fine when they see each other.

I asked him how many times he had pressed for repayment.

He said seven or eight times. The first few times went okay, but after that, the other guy just stopped picking up his calls.

I said, "You're not pressing for a debt. You're just yelling at someone from inside a mud pit."

That's exactly what the Waiting hexagram addresses in wealth matters. It doesn't teach you how to demand money back; it teaches you how to figure out where you stand while you wait.

Clouds in the Sky, Money on the Way

The Waiting hexagram has Kan / The Abysmal above and Qian / The Creative below. Clouds are in the sky, but it hasn't rained yet.

This image is incredibly accurate when applied to wealth and finances.

The money exists. It's on the way, up in the sky, sitting in someone else's account. But it hasn't landed in your hands yet.

The Hexagram Judgment reads: 有孚，光亨，贞吉。利涉大川。 (Sincerity and Trust, brilliant success, perseverance brings good fortune. It furthers one to cross the great water.)

"Sincerity and Trust" means having a solid, grounded sense of certainty. In wealth scenarios, these two words are the core of the entire hexagram.

What does "Sincerity and Trust" really mean? It's not "I believe he'll pay me back" — that's just wishful thinking.

"Sincerity and Trust" means: I clearly understand why this money will come back, what it will come back through, and roughly when it will arrive. I have a clear roadmap in my head.

Without that roadmap, your waiting is just suffering through it. With that roadmap, your waiting is a strategic arrangement.

The Most Inauspicious Line: Nine in the Third Place — Waiting in the Mud, Brings Bandits

Among the six lines of the Waiting hexagram, the one people most often stumble into in wealth matters is the Nine in the Third Place.

需于泥，致寇至。 (Waiting in the mud, brings bandits.)

Waiting in a mud pit will draw robbers to you.

Translated plainly into financial terms:

As soon as you're short on money, get anxious, and start complaining to everyone, every person you deal with will reevaluate your worth.

That's exactly what my classmate did. By the fifth time he pressed for repayment, he started complaining to mutual friends. When the complaints reached his childhood friend, the guy's first reaction wasn't "I should pay him back" — it was "This guy is making me lose face."

After that, the matter shifted from "owing money" to "holding a grudge."

He didn't get his money back, and he gained an enemy on top of it. That's what "brings bandits" means.

Six in the Fourth Place: Waiting in Blood, Coming Out of the Cave

Next comes the Six in the Fourth Place. 需于血，出自穴。 (Waiting in blood, coming out of the cave.)

Blood has already been shed. But "coming out of the cave" — climbing out of the pit.

This is the turning point. It doesn't mean things are getting worse; it means you've hit rock bottom, and it's time to start climbing out.

In wealth scenarios, what does "coming out of the cave" mean?

It means accepting that the money most likely won't come back, and stop pouring your emotions into filling that pit.

I knew a construction boss who was owed more than two million yuan. He made a decision: he packaged the debt and sold it to a professional debt collection company for 30% of its value.

Everyone called him an idiot. He said, "If I don't sell it, I'll still be tied up with this two million for the next two years. And in those two years, I can make more than the 1.4 million I'm losing now."

Two years later, his company had doubled in size. That old debt? Still tied up in someone else's lawsuit.

"Coming out of the cave" isn't about admitting defeat. It's about pulling yourself out of the pit.

Nine in the Fifth Place: Waiting with Wine and Food, Perseverance Brings Good Fortune

The best line of the Waiting hexagram is the Nine in the Fifth Place. 需于酒食，贞吉。 (Waiting with wine and food, perseverance brings good fortune.)

Wait over a feast. Eat well, drink well, hold your ground, and it will be auspicious.

In wealth scenarios, this is the most counterintuitive part.

How can you eat and drink well when your money hasn't come back yet?

Because when the money comes, you have to be there to receive it. If you wear yourself out waiting, you won't be able to catch it even when it arrives.

I know someone in foreign trade whose client held back payment for six months. During those six months, he did three things: cut his team from 12 people to 7, moved to a smaller office, and took his kid hiking every Saturday without fail.

The payment came in the seventh month. He told me, "The only thing I did right those six months was not letting myself become a desperate person."

Desperate people can't close deals. People can see it the second they look at you.

Three Rules for Wealth Assessment

First, before you lend money, ask yourself: if this money doesn't come back for three years, can I still get by?

If you can't, that's not a loan — that's a gamble. The Waiting hexagram says "it furthers one to cross the great water," but you need a boat to cross a great river. If you lend your boat away, how are you supposed to cross yourself?

Second, when pressing for repayment, act with "Sincerity and Trust," not anger.

A sincere, grounded approach means: lay out the facts clearly, present a solution, state the consequences plainly, then stop pushing.

For example: "This loan has been outstanding for X months as of the end of this month. Here's my current situation. Do you think a payment plan works, or do you have another arrangement? I need a clear answer."

An angry approach sounds like: "How can you have no conscience? We've been friends for so many years."

With the first approach, the other person has to face the actual debt. With the second, they only have to deal with your emotions — and emotions are easy to drag out.

Third, assess whether this debt has already turned into a "cave."

The standard is simple: has the time you've spent on this money already exceeded the interest it would have earned?

If it has, it's time to "come out of the cave." Sell it at a discount, take legal action, write it off, move on — anything works. The only thing that doesn't work is standing in the pit waiting for the sky to clear.

Six at the Top: Uninvited Guests

The final line of the Waiting hexagram reads: 入于穴，有不速之客三人来，敬之终吉。 (Entering the cave, three uninvited guests come. Treat them with respect, and in the end there is good fortune.)

You fall into a hole, and three uninvited guests show up. Treat them respectfully, and it will turn out well in the end.

Applied to wealth, this line is particularly meaningful.

When you're at your lowest, the people who show up are rarely noble benefactors. More often, they're random people and odd situations. Someone comes with a partnership proposal, someone comes to borrow money, someone comes to give you unsolicited advice.

Most people's first reaction is to shut the door. "I'm already miserable enough, don't bother me."

The Waiting hexagram says: treat them with respect.

Because you never know which one is the way out. When it comes to wealth, money rarely comes back along the path you planned. It often walks in through a door you never expected.

What Happened Later

My classmate did something last year. He invited his childhood friend out for a meal, and didn't mention the money at all. They talked for two hours about their kids' schooling.

When they were leaving, he said one thing: "That 200,000 yuan — pay me whenever it's convenient for you, I won't press you anymore. But I need you to give me a timeline."

His friend was silent for a long time, then said, "Next March, I'll give you 50,000 first."

This March, the 50,000 arrived. In May, another 30,000 came through.

He said to me, "Bro, I pressed for three years and got nowhere, but one meal fixed everything."

I said, "It wasn't the meal that worked. It's that you finally stopped yelling from inside the mud pit."

At the end of the day, the Waiting hexagram's lesson for wealth matters boils down to one sentence: before the money comes back, don't lose yourself first.

People with sincerity and trust can afford to wait. And only those who can afford to wait will get their money back.