Podcast Summary
Investing with Good Values vs. High Returns: It's important to consider both returns and values when choosing where to invest. Trust and ethics matter in the long run, even if it means sacrificing some immediate gains.
The podcast hosts Stig Brodersen and William Green are presenting a new series called Richer, Wiser, Happier, where they discuss what made them richer, wiser, and happier in every quarter. They talk about what they have learned from billionaires such as Ray Dalio and Charlie Munger and reflect on the question of money and happiness. In this episode, they discuss the ethical dilemma of choosing between investing with a high-quality person like Guy Spier, who has good values, but with a lower return than with someone who has bad values and guarantees an 11% return. William Green would prefer to invest with a person he trusts, likes, avoiding the unpleasant or shady ones even with a lower return.
Investing with Trustworthy Individuals: To increase your chances of success in investing, align with trustworthy individuals who have your interests at heart, diversify your investments, and choose funds that give exposure to different parts of the market.
When investing, it is important to align with people who have your interests at heart, who are willing to go against their own interests for your benefit and who have skin in the game. This can be determined by looking at the fee structure of the investment. It is also crucial to diversify to hedge against your own blindness in assessing people. John Templeton recommends owning five or six funds that give exposure to different parts of the market. Investing with people you like and trust, who have proven themselves to be honorable and aligned with you, increases the chances of success in investing.
Importance of Diversification and Finding Ethical Asset Managers: When investing, diversify your portfolio, research past behavior and fee structures of asset managers to ensure alignment of interests. Look for ethical managers like Fred Martin and those willing to prioritize investor benefits.
When investing, it's important to diversify and not put all your trust in one fund, money manager, or asset class. Look for clues in a person's past behavior and fee structure to determine if they have integrity and aligned interests with your own. Investing with people who are honorable and decent is important, but diversification can protect you in case you're wrong about a particular investment. Asset managers may be incentivized to manage as much money as possible, even if it's not in the best interest of investors. Look for someone like Fred Martin who was willing to forego money to keep his small cap strategy small because he cared about his investors. Guy's willingness to put his own interests aside for the benefit of his investors is also a good sign of integrity.
Building a Life that Fosters Decency: Construct a life that encourages ethical behavior by associating with honorable people, living within your means, avoiding debt, and resisting temptation through positive influences like books.
It's important to structure your life in a way that tilts the odds of behaving decently in your favor. This includes partnering with honest and honorable people, living within your means, not having excessive debt, and avoiding temptation to behave poorly. Even decent people can do terrible stuff when under financial pressure. Therefore, it's crucial to invest in the right people, hang out with the right crowd and even read the right books. Buffett once said he doesn't want to face debt as he doesn't want to see what he's capable of doing. This should encourage us to rethink our lifestyles and ensure that we always put ourselves in a position that guards against unethical behavior.
Prioritizing Happiness and Fulfillment in Investing and Life Design: Invest in companies that align with personal values and bring joy, while also considering financial goals. Pursuing fulfilling life choices can lead to financial independence and greater control over schedule and time.
When designing our lives and making investments, we should optimize for happiness instead of just chasing profits. It's important to consider companies and investments that align with our values and bring us joy. While profits are important, they shouldn't be the sole focus. Financial goals should be aligned with personal goals and lifestyle, and investing with talented people and in good businesses can still be important. It's possible to be financially successful while also prioritizing happiness and personal fulfillment. Opting for a life that brings us joy and fulfillment, even if it means less profit, can lead to being financially independent while also being in control of our own schedules and time.
Importance of a Balanced Perspective on Wealth for Financial Independence: To achieve financial security, invest responsibly, diversify, and live within means. Money isn't everything, but understanding its role in our lives is crucial for achieving long-term financial well-being.
To achieve financial security and independence, it's important to start with a desirable destination and work backward to figure out the inputs required. Investing responsibly, diversifying investments, and living within one's means are key inputs. Money itself doesn't guarantee happiness, but it is essential for achieving financial independence. Despite having great wealth, billionaires also face problems like everyone else. Their wealth does not shield them completely from life's challenges. Therefore, it's important to have a healthy perspective on wealth and its role in our lives. Understanding the importance of money in achieving financial independence while keeping a balanced perspective on its role in our happiness is crucial for long-term financial well-being.
Autonomy and Trustworthy Relationships: Key Elements of Happiness: Building strong relationships with trustworthy people and having autonomy in how one lives and invests can lead to greater happiness and fulfillment.
The key to happiness may lie in great relationships, autonomy, and living in a way that suits one's idiosyncrasies. Bill Miller, an American investor, embodies this by having great people around him that he trusts and autonomy in his investments. He invests in a way that suits him fully and has concentrated portfolios in risky assets that have had a tremendous payoff for him. He wears the same black T-shirt and jeans every day and dresses the way he wants. Having autonomy and control over one's time may be a key element of happiness that people can strive towards, and building strong relationships with trustworthy people can be an essential part of achieving this.
The Importance of Structuring Your Life for Happiness and Success: Build a life that aligns with your values, allows you to do what you love, work with people you enjoy, and find a balance between work and life. Money alone doesn't bring happiness, find a bigger purpose and give back to causes you believe in.
Structure your life in a way that suits you, your values, and your unique way of being. The happiest investors are those who do what they want, work with people they like, and have autonomy. Money alone does not bring happiness; it must be accompanied by a bigger purpose and the element of sharing. Bill Miller, a successful investor, structured his life to suit his idiosyncrasies, invest in intellectually enriching work, work independently, and give back to causes he believes in, such as the study of complexity science and philosophy. Happiness comes from doing what you love and finding a balance between work and life that suits you.
The Importance of Autonomy over Wealth.: While money can provide psychological benefits, prioritizing autonomy and pursuing passions is vital for a fulfilling and meaningful life, regardless of financial status. Billionaires like Howard Marks and Ted Turner value ideas over material possessions.
Money can provide a sense of autonomy and freedom to structure one's life according to their passions and ideas. However, it is important to prioritize autonomy and not become constrained by the responsibilities that come with wealth. Billionaires like Howard Marks and Ted Turner value ideas and autonomy over material possessions and use their wealth to pursue their passions. The key takeaway is that money can provide psychological benefits, but it is important to prioritize one's autonomy and passions in life to live a fulfilling and meaningful life, regardless of one's financial status.
The True Value of Relationships: Wealth isn't everything, relationships are. Choose your friends wisely and invest in your relationships for a truly rich and abundant life.
Money cannot buy everything, especially happiness. The relationships you build and cultivate throughout your life are more important than the amount of wealth you accumulate. Rich people can be poor in other aspects of life, such as peace of mind and family relationships. It is important to choose your friends wisely as they have a huge impact on your life. The greatest investors and successful people in the world understand the power of partnerships and relationships. When you look back at the end of your life, you want to feel that you have had a truly abundant life, not just financially. So, invest in your relationships and strive for a truly rich and abundant life.
Investing in Relationships and Peace of Mind for a Happy Life: Good relationships and peace of mind require time and effort. Structuring investments, schedules, and activities with exercise, meditation, and proper sleep leads to progress. Reflection and diversifying bets improves decision-making and balances audacity with humility.
Building good relationships and having peace of mind are important aspects of a happy and abundant life. To have good relationships, one needs to invest time and effort. It is important to structure investments, schedules and activities in a way that brings peace of mind. This includes exercise, meditation, and investing in a way that allows one to sleep. Ray Dalio shares that pain plus reflection equals progress and every encounter that feels like a puzzle can help us learn a new principle or way of improving our lives. Learning to diversify bets and reflect on life can help improve our decision-making and balance our audacity with humility.
Pain and reflection are crucial elements for progress: To achieve great success, embrace discomfort and seek out those who can guide and support you. Reflect on experiences and learn from them to develop skills and avoid relying on luck.
Pain plus reflection equals progress - this is what Ray Dalio believes in. Many times, we fear taking risks and staying in our comfort zone, but to achieve great success, we need to cross the jungle of risks and threats. It's essential to go on a mission with people who can protect and help us navigate through all the ups and downs. From his personal experience, Dalio learned that pain is the opposite of gratification, and the things that are good for us don't always give instant pleasure. It's crucial to reflect on reality and learn from the lessons that life teaches us. In investing, reflection can help us grow and develop our skills, not just believe in luck or bad luck.
The Importance of Self-Reflection and Embracing Your Flaws: Take an honest look at your values, strengths, and weaknesses. Don't be ashamed of flaws, accept them as obstacles and learn from painful experiences. Be process-driven, deal with obstacles, and write down principles to face reality.
One of the great lessons from Dalio is that you need self-reflection. You must look at your wiring, values, strengths, and weaknesses in an honest way. Instead of being ashamed of flaws, accept them as obstacles and deal with them. You must lean into the pain and lean into the failures because the painful experiences are the most valuable lessons. If you are easy on your habits, life will be hard on you. If you are hard on your habits, life will be easy on you. Your brain is wired to be lazy, so you must force it to work hard. Most people choose not to reflect and die sooner than think. Be systematic, process-driven, and deal with the obstacles. Deal with the encounters with reality by writing down principles.
Surrounding yourself with complementary strengths to achieve success.: Embrace your weaknesses and seek out partnerships with those who have complementary strengths to achieve success. This is not about trying harder but leveraging the strengths of others to achieve shared goals.
To mitigate our weaknesses and deficiencies, we need to surround ourselves with people who have strengths where we are weak. Understanding our own wiring through personality assessment tests can help us identify our strengths and weaknesses. Rather than feeling ashamed of our deficiencies, we should see them as part of who we are and seek solutions to work around them. It is not about trying harder, but finding the right people who can complement our own strengths. Creative thinkers, for example, may lack organization and structure, but partnering with team members who possess these qualities can be incredibly helpful. Embracing our own wiring and seeking partnerships to fill in gaps can help us achieve our goals more effectively.
The Importance of Understanding Personality Types in the Workplace: Knowing your employees' personality types can help managers communicate more effectively, understand their strengths and weaknesses, and support them in ways they need. Personality tests serve as a tool for self-awareness and improved relationships, leading to a better work environment for all.
Knowing your employees' personality types can help create a better work environment. It allows managers to understand their strengths and weaknesses, communicate more effectively, and support them in ways they need. Personality tests are not meant to box people in or label them, but to serve as a tool for self-awareness and improved relationships. Ray Dalio's book Principles emphasizes the importance of understanding oneself, including flaws and weaknesses, to structure one's life in a way that works best for them. Autonomy, independence, and quality focus are desirable traits, but they also need balance. Being organized and working with someone who complements your personality can help you achieve your goals and be successful.
Self-Assessment, Building Structure and Partnerships: Understanding one's personality, building structure around oneself, and seeking partnerships with independence and support can enable focus on suitable paths and skills. Delegating where possible and accepting flaws are also crucial for personal and organizational growth.
Understanding one's flaws, foibles and idiosyncrasies is a valuable thing. Personal assessment of values, priorities and goals can be helpful. Life is about understanding one's own personality and preferences to pick suitable paths. Building a structure around oneself can help free up time and enable focus on things better suited to one's skills. Accepting the worst possible cards when it comes to organizational and structural abilities is important and trying to delegate where possible can be helpful. The ability to break rules and do things one's own way while caring about what people think is a difficult position to be in, but being aware of it is important. Having independence and autonomy along with support is important in partnerships.
Importance of Self-Discovery for a Fulfilling Life: Knowing yourself and staying true to your strengths and priorities is key to leading a fulfilling life. Prioritizing long-term goals, trust, and transparency in relationships, and understanding others' games allow you to be your best self.
It's important to figure out who you are, what you care about and what suits you the most before choosing a profession or structuring your activities. One needs to play to their strengths and priorities to lead a fulfilling and abundant life. It's a banal but profound truth. The deferral of gratification and thinking more long term is valuable. Trust and transparency in a long-term relationship are crucial. Understanding the fact that people are playing different games enables one to be the best version of themselves. It's simple, but not easy as one needs to make a conscious effort to bring these insights into practice.
The Power of Kindness, Respect, and Trust in Building Strong Business Relationships.: Building successful and sustainable business relationships requires partnering with honorable and decent individuals while prioritizing kindness, respect, and trust. Focus on building strong relationships and partnerships to achieve success in business and in life.
Partnering with honorable and decent people is essential to building successful and sustainable business relationships. A partnership built on kindness, respect, and trust can go a long way. Charlie Munger's philosophy of 'If you want to have a good partner, be a good partner' is a valuable lesson in building strong relationships. Although lack of structure and systems can be a vulnerability, being kind, respectful, and thankful can help overcome it. In the business world, one may be surprised at how similar it is to the physical world. Instead of rational thoughts and ideas, one must focus on building strong relationships and partnerships to achieve success in business and in life.
The Constant Evolution of Business: Lessons for Investors: Investing in a broad index can help investors avoid the risk of investing in individual companies that may not survive in the long term, emphasizing adaptability and flexibility for success in business and beyond.
Practically everything in business dies or changes, just like in the natural world. Companies that were once dominant and seemed eternal can end up collapsing, and even the most talented and hardworking individuals may still fail. This understanding is essential for investors, who must recognize that businesses are constantly evolving and that no eminence lasts forever. The rise of passive investing is one way that investors are adapting to this reality. By investing in a broad index rather than trying to pick individual securities, investors can avoid the risk of investing in individual companies that may not survive in the long term. Ultimately, the key takeaway is that adaptability and flexibility are essential for success in both the natural world and the world of business.
Active vs Passive Investing: Choosing the Right Path for You: Before investing, consider your goals and circumstances, weigh the potential outperformance against the opportunity cost of time spent managing investments, and choose an approach that aligns with your priorities and values.
Investing actively or passively depends on individual preferences and circumstances. While some may find it worth spending time and effort to actively invest, others may prefer a more hands-off approach and invest in passive index funds. It's important to consider the trade-off between potential outperformance and the opportunity cost of time spent reading, researching, and managing investments. Additionally, personal financial goals and circumstances, such as being in need of funds for college or medical bills, may also impact investment decisions. Ultimately, each approach has its pros and cons, and it's up to each individual to find a balance that aligns with their priorities and values.
Tips for Successful Stock Investing: Investing in stocks can be enjoyable, but it's essential to have a competitive advantage and not delude oneself. Follow William Green's approach of investing in active and passive funds with low expenses and diversification, and find an approach that works best for your personality and investing style.
Investing in the stock market can be compared to going to a casino - it's okay to lose a little money if it's for a hobby that you really enjoy. However, before investing, it's important to have self-awareness about whether you have a competitive advantage and to not delude oneself. It may be helpful to follow the example of William Green, who resolved his ambivalence by investing in both active and passive funds with low expenses and diversification. In addition, it's important to remember that investing strategies - like driving styles - can be unique to one's personality, making it important to find the right approach that works best.
The Benefits of a Balance Index Fund and Investing with Rationality: Investing in a balance index fund with stocks and bonds is a simple, low-expense solution to investing, while emotional investing may not serve well. Rationality and discipline are key to successful investing, along with finding a person with good values and the ability to outperform the market.
The ultimate in simplicity is to get a balance index fund that has bonds and stocks in it. This is a low-expense solution to investing and creates an elegant portfolio. Many star fund managers have proved to be comets, lighting up for a moment and then burning out, so it's not easy to beat the market. The greatest investors tend to be calm, rational, analytical, disciplined, and super competitive. Investing with intuition and emotion may be beneficial in some aspects of life but may not serve well when it comes to picking stocks or cryptocurrencies. It is better to merge a person with good values and who can outperform the market like Mohnish Pabrai.
How to avoid personal biases when making investment decisions.: Stay rational by recognizing biases, taking a cooling-off period, and investing diversely for long-term gains. Don't make investment decisions based on emotions or external validation, and don't chase quick returns.
It's important to be aware of personal biases and not make investment decisions based on emotions or external validation. One should recognize their own flaws and irrationalities and hedge against them. Having a cooling-off period before making an investment decision can be a good idea after meeting with company management. It's also crucial not to be prone to due calls resulting from personal biases. Rational reasons should back up every investment decision, and one should invest diversely. Even if an investment decision goes wrong, one needs to be mindful that it is not something that will significantly impact their financial situation. Instead of chasing quick returns, one should focus on long-term investments in markets that are beaten up.
Overcoming Bias and Fallibility in Investment Decisions: Acknowledge your biases and outsource investment decisions to index investments to hedge against idiosyncrasies. Develop a 'five-year rule' to prevent impulsive decisions and re-litigate situations before making changes. Be open to changing your mind.
Investors should be aware of their fallibility and biases while making investment decisions. It's important not to let personal relationships skew judgement. One way to hedge against these idiosyncrasies is to outsource investment decisions and index investments. However, having some skin in the game can help investors understand the emotions and irrationality that can go with making mistakes or doing well. It's useful to go back and re-litigate a situation before making any changes to an investment portfolio. Creating a timeframe like a 'five-year rule' can also help investors make fewer bets and prevent them from making impulsive investment decisions. Investors should also be open to changing their mind if circumstances change.
The Power of Simple Rules in Decision-Making and Long-Term Thinking.: Setting simple rules for yourself that align with your health or life goals can provide structure for decision-making, while being patient and focusing on lifelong learning can provide great advantages in the long term.
Having a few simple rules in life can be hard but can also be a tremendous advantage. Setting a simple rule for yourself that you can't break can help clarify things and provide structure for decision-making. William Green's example of not eating in the morning until noon and not eating sugar help him with his health goals. Being long-term and patient in a world where most people are short-term is also a great advantage. The Joys of Compounding by Gautam Baid is a good example of how enriching it is to dedicate oneself to the pursuit of continuous lifelong learning.
Investing in a Brand: A Steady Path to Compounding Wealth: Investing in a brand is like investing in any other asset. It requires an initial investment and continuing spending to sustain its established status. But it can produce steady income and act as a path to compounding wealth.
The book 'The Joy of Compounding' by Gautam Baid is highly recommended because it distills and synthesizes wisdom from great minds on various topics like delaying gratification. Gautam Baid is admirable for his continuous learning and modest living. Advertising spending can sometimes be an investment rather than an expense, and a brand is like any other asset that requires initial investment and continuing spending to sustain its established status. Brands like Louis Vuitton are good examples of this. Bernard Arnault, the founder of LVMH, owns many well-known brands, including Louis Vuitton. Investing in a brand can produce income, but it also requires initial investment and continuing spending to maintain its established status.
Differentiating between Brand Value and Economic Value in Investing: When investing, focus on durable brands that generate economic value, avoid overpaying for stocks, and invest in things you understand. Remember that everything is impermanent, and avoid investing in companies prone to obsolescence and destruction.
Investors should distinguish between brand value and economic value. While brand value is the premium customers will pay for a particular brand, economic value is the additional return on investment that the brand helped generate. One should focus on durable brands that are less prone to obsolescence and destruction, rather than investing in companies that are prone to it. It's essential not to overpay for any stock and invest in things you understand. Joel Tillinghast's significant focus is on avoiding standard stupidities like investing in companies with crooks or idiots, going for businesses prone to obsolescence and destruction, and overpaying for any stock. Munger's revelation during the Daily Journal annual meeting where he's just saying, everything dies, and everything is impermanent. So investors should go into investing and life with a sense that things are impermanent.
The Importance of Building a Margin of Safety in the Uncertain World of Investing: To succeed in investing, avoid standard stupidities, diversify, partner with good people, and devote time to becoming a mental athlete. Always seek undervalued opportunities and understand that change is inevitable.
Investing is difficult and unpredictable, and conditions change frequently. The market shifts from fear to greed, overpriced to underpriced, and from lending money for anything to lending money for nothing. To survive an uncertain future, it is crucial to build in a margin of safety by avoiding standard stupidities, not overpaying, diversifying, and not investing in what you do not understand. Partnering with good people is essential to ensure that you are not investing with crooks and idiots and investing in things you understand. To be good at investing, you need to be a kind of mental athlete, driven, and devote time to it. Understand that what is currently ascendant may not be in future, and things that are undervalued now may have their day in the sun.
Embracing Change and Taking Risks with Caution.: Life is unpredictable, so it is crucial to remain open to change and take calculated risks. Watching Free Solo can teach about risk mitigation, an important lesson in investing.
In this conversation, William Green and Stig Brodersen discuss the unpredictability of life and the need to adapt to change. They reference Charlie Munger's statement that change is the only constant in life. Green also recommends watching the movie Free Solo as a lesson in risk mitigation and survival, which can be applied to investing. The film portrays a climber attempting to climb a 3,000-ft granite wall without any equipment, demonstrating the importance of taking considered and intelligent risks. The conversation emphasizes the importance of being open to change, learning from others, and taking risks with caution and thoughtfulness.
