It has been quite some time since I wrote a book review and I finally had the time to read an investment book. Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World’s Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life is penned by William Green. The author wants to show the readers how a tiny minority beats the market in the long run.
Layout of Richer, Wiser, Happier
Richer, Wiser, Happier has an introduction (Inside the Minds of the Greatest Investors), eight chapters and an epilogue (Beyond Rich).
Each chapter features a successful investor. The author will talk about the lessons he gleaned through interviews with the featured investor and also includes some other investors with similar traits in the same chapter.
Highlights
Investing is waiting for the right moments when the odds of making money vastly outweigh the odds of losing it. Thus, it should not be a frenetic activity. In both investing and life, we must consciously and consistently seek to maximise our odds of success.
Risk is unavoidable – the goal is to bear risk intelligently while never forgetting the possibility of an unpleasant outcome. This applies to both investing and life. Insurance helps us to manage the risks in life when used appropriately.
There is no shame in cloning successful people in the field. Pabrai Mohnish admits that he copies from the best. Nonetheless, he adapts the method to make it work for him.
The investors in this book generally do not care about gaining social acceptance or approval, but care about being right and winning. Thus, they avoid the herd mentality and in turn greatly improves their chance of success.
We should ditch complicated strategy because what drives us to the top is often a profound mastery of what may well be a basic skill set. By mastering the fundamentals, it is often enough to get an edge.
However, it does not mean that we should stay still. There is always the need to continuously improve. One of the investors that resonates with me is Tom Gayner. He says that we do no need drastic changes because moderate, incremental changes are more sustainable. As the world is evolving, our strategy should also adapt to the changing environment. There is no need for drastic changes and we could improve in an incremental manner.
By studying the investors spotlighted in Richer, Wiser, Happier, we can learn not only how to become rich, but also how to improve the way we think and reach decision.
The ultimate lesson is still the same: you should find an investing strategy that suits you. However, by learning about how the pros work, we might be able to refine our strategy and improve our own odds of success.
Conclusion
The investors featured in this book are all contrarians. I do not recognise all the names but their insights are helpful. To be successful in both life and investing, it requires hard work and a bit of luck. However, if we consistently improve and evolve, we should be able to have sizeable gain down the road. A little advantage will make all the difference.
The Notes on Sources and Additional Resources also contain some knowledge points, so you should not miss this part. I also plan to find more books to read from here.
As usual, I will end with some quotes from the book.
“Investing is a constant process of calculating the odds: “It’s all probabilities. There is no certainty.””
“The only way to beat the market is to diverge from the market.”
“Any asset, however ugly, can be worth buying if the price is low enough.”
“Resounding victories tend to be the result of small, incremental advances and improvements sustained over long stretches of time.”
“Nothing matters more than averting obvious errors with the potential for catastrophic consequences.”
Recommended book
If you are interested in Richer, Wiser, Happier, you may get the book through the link below*.
Get the book here from Shopee Malaysia
*Disclosure: The link above is an affiliate link. If you buy the book using this link, I might get a small commission from your purchase.
