Psychology of Money
Morgan Housel
Summary
Timeless finance and investing lessons as told using our own psychology
Rating: 5/5
Notes
Financial success is a soft skill where how you behave is more important than what you become
‘History never repeats itself, man always does.’ - Voltaire
We think we know how the world works but we’ve only experienced a tiny bit of it
Nothing is as good or bad as it seems
Enough. Rich people always want more but what’s enough?
There is no reason to risk what you have and need for what you don’t have and don’t need
The hardest financial skill is getting the goal post to stop moving
Compounding: a small starting base can lead to results so extraordinary they seem to defy logic
Buffet’s skill is investing but his secret is time
Good investing is not only about good decisions, it’s about not screwing up
Money success = survival. Avoid ruin at all costs
You can be wrong half the time and still make a fortune
A small number of events account for the majority of outcomes
Controlling your time is the highest dividend money pays
‘A wise old owl lived in an oak, the more he saw the less he spoke. The less he spoke, the more he heard. Why aren’t we all like that wise old bird?’
Wealth is what you don’t see
Building wealth has little to do with your income or investment returns and lots to do with your savings rate
Savings without a spending goal gives you options and flexibility
Aim to be pretty reasonable in investing instead of coldly rational
‘Things that have never happened before happen all the time.’
What’s happening can be tied to a handful of events that were impossible to predict
The correct lesson to learn from surprises is the world is surprising
The most important part of every plan is planning on your plan not going according to plan
You can’t prepare for what you can’t envision
Everyone underestimates how much our desires change in the future
‘Every job looks easy when you’re not the one doing it.’
You need to convince yourself 20% drawdowns are worth it. It’s the price of admission for playing the game
Every investor in the market has different goal and timelines than you
Stories are more powerful than statistics
The more you want something to be true, the more likely you are to believe a story that overestimates the odds of it being true
Everyone has an incomplete view of the world but we use narratives to fill the gaps
Less ego, more wealth
Manage your money in a way that helps you sleep at night
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Free E-book download here
Make Something Wonderful
Steve Jobs
Summary
The life of Steve Jobs in his own words
Rating: 5/5
Notes
Make something wonderful and put it out there
‘You appear, have a chance to blaze in the sky, then you disappear’
When you’re a stranger in a place, you notice thing you don’t otherwise (Jobs after India trip)
Whenever you start with nothing, always shoot for the moon. You have nothing to lose.
You never achieve what you want without falling on your face a few times
Never be afraid to fail. You never achieve what you want without falling flat on your face a few times
We are never taught to listen to our intuitions, to develop and nurture them. But if you do pay attention to these subtle insights, you can make them come true
Creativity equals connecting previously unrelated experiences and insights others don’t see
Believe that some of what you follow with your heart will come back and make your life richer. And it will. And you will gain even firmer trust on your instincts and intuitions
Make your avocation your vocation. Make what you love your work.
The journey is the reward. The reward isn’t in the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, it’s in crossing the rainbow
To find A+ talent, if experienced, look at their track record and results
The world we know is a human creation and we can push it forward
The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do (read whole ad ‘here’s to the crazy ones)
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act but a habit - Aristotle
Hire people better than you are
You can’t plan to meet the people who will change your life
It’s impossible to connect the dots looking forward, but they make sense looking backwards so you have to trust the dots will somehow connect in your future
Everything around you that you call life was made up by people no smarter than you
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Free E-book download here
