do you recommend it?
Not strongly to someone who is older. I would say that I learned very little. That said, part of why I checked out from the library (i.e. wanted to read it, but not own it), is because I heard a long interview with him on Tim Ferriss show and thought he was a finance guy who saw the world much the way I do. That has its obvious pitfall. To a large extent, I felt like it was an exercise in confirmation bias.
Basically
- time matters more than money
- the purpose of money is to buy freedom, not luxury
- Don't try to buy status. Nobody is impressed by your car. They don't look at your cool car and say, "that guy is cool." They look at your car and say, "I want that car so people will look at me and think I'm cool." So the only reason to buy a fancy car is because you really enjoy fancy cars.
- staying wealthy matters just as much as getting wealthy
- mediocre strategy over a very long run beats a great strategy over the short run
- live within your means; don't buy stupid sh##
- don't buy useful sh## if you can't afford it unless it is basic food and shelter
- save for no reason at all (he says even some wealthy people only save "for" something like a house or a car or a yacht; his point is that the purpose of saving is so that when things go bad, you do not lose the independence and freedom and security that they money bought you in the first place).
He talks about how, personally, he paid down is mortgage ASAP even though he knew that was not a financially optimal strategy in an environment of low interest rates and a bull market, which is basically exactly what I did. Quote:
Academic finance is devoted to finding the mathematically optimal investment strategies. My own theory is that, in the real world, people do not want the mathematically optimal strategy. They want the strategy that maximizes for how well they sleep at night.
For better or worse, all of this speaks to me. Again, maybe I'm just looking for validation from a crackpot who happens to agree with me. That said, he is a very successful and educated investor, which is not my case. So even if just for validation, it's nice to know that at least one well-informed crackpot managed to land on top using this approach.
Very basic with a lot of good anecdotes/stories, and personally I learn and teach best through story, so that appeals to me too, whereas some reviewers say the anecdotes weigh down the text.
I'll attach my exported Kindle highlights...