[Book Review] Tools of Titans
Tools of Titans
Do not read this like a normal book, in the age of Netflix the urge to binge is strong, but you won’t be able to absorb all the tools.
With 736 pages you have some great tips both they are lost in the ‘good’
This book and by extension the Tim Ferriss podcast has lead to some behavior changes such as Headspace that lead to Jewish meditation and making my bed in the morning
This book is much more expensive than $18 hardcover on Amazon.
I’ve bought the following based on Podcast + book
- 5 Minute Journal
- replaced with regular Journal
- Athletic greens
- 2 months worth then canceled
- Wealthfront
- not really a purchase but I am parking my IRA money here instead of Betterment
- Aromatherapy Diffuser
- Box of Sardines
- Tera’s Goat Whey
Would have been much more expensive if I had to buy most of the books recommended thankfully I could find most on overdrive.
30 Books I read because of Tim
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The magic of thinking big
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Choose Yourself
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Brain rules
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High Output Management
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Total Recall
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The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
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Zero to One
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The Fish that ate the whale
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Antifragile
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The Alchemist
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How I lost 170 Million Dollars
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Grain Brain
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Atlas Shrugged
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The Innovators Dilemma
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Ogilvy on Advertising
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Sapiens
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The Obstacle is the way
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Smartcuts
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Meditations
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The Martian
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Daily rituals
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Tao Te Ching
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The Monk and the RIddle
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The Purple Cow |
| Art of Learning |
Thinking Fast and Slow
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Doing Good Better |
| Snow Crash | Cats Cradle | Total Recall |
If you heard all the podcasts, yes its repetitive as quotes “the good shit sticks”
If you heard the podcasts buying tools of titans makes a great bathroom reader to read a bio or two to refresh yourself with new tools.
Someone made Toolsfortitans to organize all the resources which can be found in the book
[Book Review] I Will Teach You To Be Rich
I Will Teach You To Be Rich
A great book on personal finance, the title is a bit of a turn off, but the content is real, and I had great results following his advice.
“One of the key differences between rich people and everyone else is that rich people plan before they need to plan.”
The book is broken into “Six Weeks of Action Steps”
WEEK 1:
You’ll set up your credit cards and learn how to improve your credit history (and why that’s so important).
I use Credit Karma to check in every quarter, and I get an email alert if any large changes happen. Ramit shows that having excellent credit can save hundreds of thousands of dollars over a life time on your mortgage, by being proactive in trying to up my score I have a 760+ Credit Score. There are also sections on how to get out of Credit Card debt which thankfully I have never been in.
Current Credit cards:
- Capital One Quicksilver: 1.5% cash back on everything, no annual fee and no foreign transaction fees. This was my first card as I had a Checking account with Capital one
- Chase Freedom: Rotating rewards, highlights are 5% back on Amazon and groceries, no annual fee
- Chase Sapphire Preferred: I got this card because I knew I had a large purchase coming up and wanted to get the sign up bonus. 95$ annual fee after the first year, but I did the math and the card is worth the fee with the amount of purchases I make on travel and dining.
In the last two years I have earned $2,000 in rewards.
Set up Autopay, this was a no brainier for me, automate whenever possible. I never miss a payment and check in every month to see that nothing on a high level looks wrong.
These are the factors that determine your Credit Score
- Credit card utilization
- Payment History
- Derogatory Marks
- Age of Credit History
- Total Accounts
- Credit Inquiries
Ramit then writes about paying off debt aggressively. For my student loans I set up autopay which reduced my interest rate by 0.25%. Also he shows how an extra $100 a month can save years off repayment.
WEEK 2:
You’ll set up the right bank accounts, including negotiating to get no-fee, high-interest accounts.
“We need to set up accounts at a reliable no-fee bank and then automate savings and bill payment.”
I switched from my normal “Smart” Saving account at .05% APY, to the Capital One 360 Savings at 0.75% (2016 Numbers). Also my Checking account went from 0% to .20% APY.
$10K at .05% over 5 years would show 25$ in growth, compared to $382 at .75%. A win of $70 a year for a 10 minute call sounds good to me.
WEEK 3:
You’ll open a 401(k) and an investment account (even if you have just $50 to start).
At work I’d always take full advantage of the match offered for the 401(k). I opened an IRA with Betterment as they have no minimum to start. A diversified portfolio, clean UI, and great customer service.
WEEK 4:
You’ll figure out how much you’re spending. And then you’ll figure out how to make your money go where you want it to go.
Use Mint! Find out where your money is going.
Negotiate a raise: Youtube Playlist. After a quarterly review I used the tactics in this book for a $10K salary raise.
Ramit is against the cut back on lattes to become rich strategy.
“Spend extravagantly on the things you love, and cut costs mercilessly on the things you don’t”
WEEK 5
You’ll automate your new infrastructure to make your accounts play together nicely.
Discussed above, I am a big proponent of Autopay.
WEEK 6
You’ll learn why investing isn’t the same as picking stocks – and how you can get the most out of the market with very little work.
More informational than directly actionable for me, would suggest reading “A random walk down wall street” for more on passive investments..
| Title | I will Teach You to be Rich |
| Author | Ramit Sethi |
| Genre | Personal Finance (Ranked #1) |
| Pages | 266 |
| Cost | $7.88 Kindle |
| First Published | 2009 |
| Reading Time | 4 Hours |
| Rating | Worth the buy; Pays for itself |
There is more information in this book like how to choose the best funds, buying your first car, planning for a wedding and other big ticket items. I enjoy Ramit’s style and he writes great content that’s free.
For more information see his blog at iwillteachyoutoberich.com
Amazon Link: I Will Teach You To Be Rich
2016Q1 Book Review
2016Q1 Book Review
My reading list for 2016 Quarter one. Every quarter I like to read a mix of genres skipping around fantasy, business, and self development
Doing Good Better
How effective Altruism can help you make a difference. This book had a great content and has changed the way I think about charity and making a difference. The Author William MacAskill has a framework of his five questions to ask before donating.
The five Questions
- How many people benefit, and by how much?
- Is this the most effective thing you can do?
- Is this area neglected?
- What would have happened otherwise?
- What are the chances of success, and how good would success be?
Using the quality-adjusted life year metric on where to give the most effectively. I made a donation of 50 nets to the AMF againstmalaria.com to help prevent malaria in Africa. A takeaway I enjoyed from this book is earning to give as a great way to impact the world compared to working at a non profit. My personal charitable practice is 10% of my post tax income to charity, with the bulk going to a local synagogue, then charities that have a 100x Multiplier effect.
Flashboys
Heard a lot about Michael Lewis and this is the first book I read by him. I enjoy his story telling and the way he structured his chapters. Flashboys takes you into the world of High Frequency trading,
Great read, didn’t know much about HFT before. Could have been better by being more balanced instead of an all out attack on HFT.
“The world clings to its old mental picture of the stock market because it’s comforting; because it’s so hard to draw a picture of what has replaced it; and because the few people able to draw it for you have no interest in doing so.”
“Once very smart people are paid huge sums of money to exploit the flaws in the financial system, they have the spectacularly destructive incentive to screw the system up further, or to remain silent as they watch it being screwed up by others. The cost, in the end, is a tangled-up financial system. Untangling it requires acts of commercial heroism—and even then the fix might not work. There was simply too much more easy money to be made by elites if the system worked badly than if it worked well. The whole culture had to want to change. “We know how to cure this,” as Brad had put it. “It’s just a matter of whether the patient wants to be treated.”
― Michael Lewis, Flash Boys
The Magician
Every Quarter I like to read at least one fantasy book. This is the second book in The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel Series. This was a quick and fun read to get me out of my head. I am a big fan of mythologies and this series is worth reading.
Jewish Meditation
I’ve been hearing more and more about mediation these past few years, and bought a 12 month subscription to Headspace in 2015. I did get some benefit from the guided meditation but felt I was ready for an unguided experience. This book is filled with applicable and useful techniques for people that are interested in learning about meditation.
Impact from this book
- Mantra Meditation: nearly every day for 30 days
- More mindful while praying
This is a book I’ll be revisiting from time to time.
Zero to One
Kept hearing about this book on the Tim Ferris podcasts, the library didn’t have this book available in the kindle format and I thought it was worth the purchase.
The perfect target market for a startup is a small group of particular people concentrated together and served by few or no competitors.
Questions Thiel says “Every business must answer:”
- The Engineering Question Can you create breakthrough technology instead of incremental improvements?
- The Timing Question Is now the right time to start your particular business?
- The Monopoly Question Are you starting with a big share of a small market?
- The People Question Do you have the right team?
- The Distribution Question Do you have a way to not just create but deliver your product?
- The Durability Question Will your market position be defensible 10 and 20 years into the future?
- The Secret Question Have you identified a unique opportunity that others don’t see?
Ended up being worth the purchase and would recommend to any entrepreneur
Amazon Links
[Book Review] The Magic of Thinking Big
The Magic of Thinking Big
The Magic of Thinking Big has been mentioned on the Tim Ferriss Podcast multiple times, which bumped the title on my to read list. I am big fan of books that have action summaries at the end of each chapter which condense the steps to take.
Some of my favorite advice
- Get advice from successful people. Your future is important. Never risk it with freelance advisors who are living failures
- Make people feel important, Call People by name
- Tune in Channel P, the Good Thoughts Station. Find qualities to like and admire in a person
- Blend persistence with experimentation. Stay with your goal but don’t beat your head against a stone wall. Try new approaches
“Think little goals and expect little achievements. Think big goals and win big success.” – David Schwartz PH. D
| Title | The Magic of Thinking Big |
| Author | David J. Schwartz |
| Genre | Sales & Selling (Ranked #5) |
| Pages | 238 |
| Cost | $9.00 Paperback |
| First Published | 1959 |
| Reading Time | 3 Hours |
| Rating | Worth the buy |
ℵ
A book on thinking big, positive and proactive goals to help you grow.
The top two lessons I took from this book were tune into the “Positive Channel” and an important question to as myself during the rise of the machines “What is the human way to handle this?”
As well as something perfect for someone with Analysis Paralysis: “Nothing happens just by thinking. Do not worry about problems. You can handle them as they come. Successful people handle problems as they arise. You cannot buy insurance on all problems. Start now.”
Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0671646788/