No One’s Crazy Your personal experiences with money make up maybe 0.00000001% of what’s happened in the world, but maybe 80% of how you think the world works. So equally smart people can disagree about how and why recessions happen, how you should invest your money, what you should prioritize, how much risk you should take, and so on. We all make decisions based on our own unique experiences that seem to make sense to us in a given moment.
Confounding Compounding If something compounds—if a little growth serves as the fuel for future growth—a small starting base can lead to results so extraordinary they seem to defy logic. It can be so logic-defying that you underestimate what’s possible, where growth comes from, and what it can lead to. If you want to do better as an investor, the single most powerful thing you can do is increase your time horizon. Time is the most powerful force in investing.
Getting Wealthy vs. Staying Wealthy Good investing is not necessarily about making good decisions. It’s about consistently not screwing up. The ability to stick around for a long time, without wiping out or being forced to give up, is what makes the biggest difference. This should be the cornerstone of your strategy, whether it’s in investing or your career or a business you own.