The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need
Andrew Tobias
Summary
Packed with information, this gives you a rundown and everything you need to know about investing and personal finance
Rating: 4/5
Notes
Never ever trade in commodities
Always buy things in bulk
Use priceline.com for cheap travel deals (and biddingfortune.com to check)
Trust no one and take responsibility for your own affairs
Never buy corporate bonds
For kids, always put the savings in their name (not taxed)
Roth IRA better than normal IRA
Never buy annuities
Buy a place where the rent covers your mortgage and expenses
Put 5-10% of your money in timber (yes wood) - only if you’re old
If you’re going to charity, set up a charity fund account (fidelity)
The market does best when earnings and dividends are getting dribbled and worst when they are zooming
Adding to your investment fund a bit every month is the key to financial security
Invest in a broad weighted mutual fund
Check out magicformulainvesting.com
Look for businesses that have a high return on capital yet sell at low multiples relative to other businesses
Professional money managers do no better than throwing darts at a wall in picking stocks - never use them
Don’t use brokers
Hot tip: if you hear one, don’t buy
Don’t short stocks, buy puts on stocks instead
Commodities always lose money
Teach your kids early about the value of saving and investing
Re-read book if you inherit 1M or more
Choose no-load mutual funds (invest it all with Vanguard)
Look at Vanguard ETFs in emerging markets
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Buy the book here
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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Buy the book here
Free E-book download here
