Focused on personal finances. Humans don’t do things pure rational actors may, and that’s okay because it serves other needs we have. A lot here felt like it echoed the values my Mom tried to raise me with growing up, so the themes here didn’t feel to groundbreaking
My Notes
People shouldn’t trust the same sources of advice. Others may tell say you are being exploited, mistreated, or overworked when your experience deviates from this. Ex. After Times article on sweatshop labor, a nephew of a Chinese laborer said she viewed factory labor as an improvement to working as a prostitute. Americans view her situation unfavorably, while she herself found it a net positive. People often underestimate others’ abilities to make rational choices when those choices would be different from the ones they would personally make.
When you see a nice car, you don’t think “The guy driving that car is cool” you think “if I had that car people would think I’m cool.” People don’t find others’ wealth admirable; they use it as a benchmark for their own desire to be admired.
Keep growing the gap between your ego and your income. This is how to continually save more and more.
Intelligence has become a less reliable differentiator in a globalized winner-takes-all world. Flexibility has become more valuable, as new skill requirements change more often.
The correct lesson to learn from surprises is that the world is surprising.
Investors taking cues from others with different goals can create a misfortune and a bubble. Long-term investors taking on the same position as day traders leads to one party getting burned. Know your goals and time horizons, and the rationale position to take on becomes clearer.
You can be wrong half the time and still make a fortune.