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I chose this book for two reasons. One, Jim is a billionaire investor who started the Quantum Fund with George Soros and two; he is an older father of two daughters. Jim has traveled the world and was curious to see what advice he would have for his daughters.
Why is this important to me?
I am not doing this summary to waste your time. My vision is to provide concise action steps you can take right now to improve your life. I am a big believer in OPE (Other People’s Experience). If I can learn one thing to get to my goals faster, it’s worth reading a book.
I want my money to work harder than me. Jim has done this since he retired at 37. He is a billionaire investor who knows how to maximize his time and doesn’t trade his hours for dollars. One way to truly understand his success is to understand the advice he gives his children.
There is very good advice throughout this book. For reasons of time, I am going to talk about three of the most important.
1. Trust your own intelligence: Half of the knowledge we know today will be proven wrong in the future. The path of knowledge is presented like this: one, it is ridiculed, two, vehemently opposed and three, understood as pure truth. When someone laughs at your idea, don’t despair because you may come up with something great.
2. On investing: Attention to detail and doing the work: If you’re going to invest in stocks, read all financial reports and scrutinize the notes carefully. Call the company and talk to management, customers, the competition, and employees. The more you know, the better your chances of success. Getting the job done is critical and this is where 90% of people fail. It is very easy to simply put money into an account and buy mutual funds based on the advice of a financial planner. The problem with doing this is the herd mentality. The sheep are slaughtered. As George S. Patton said, if everyone thinks the same thing, someone is not thinking.
3. Change always happens. One thing that is constant is change. Be a student of history because nothing is really new. It has happened before and you can work out the result as a student of history. The great tulip bubble is different from the internet boom and housing bust. People got caught up in hysteria and raw emotion/greed took over. This is how all bubbles end. Really study the change and understand that the more secure something is, the less profitable it is.
A gift to my children is a quick read with good advice. Jim Rogers is an interesting person. He has traveled the world and usually does his radio interviews on his treadmill. He understands that the most precious asset is time and he doesn’t waste it.
I hope you found this short summary useful. The key to any new idea is to work it into your daily routine until it becomes a habit. Habits are formed in as little as 21 days. One thing you can take away from this book is PEO leverage. I stress this in several of my book summaries because it is so vitally important. Jim retired at the age of 37 because he too took advantage of the experience. Tony Robins became a billionaire when he was twenty years old because he tapped into his associations and the experience of highly successful people who achieved the goals he desired.