For the past few months, I’ve been trying to challenge myself on my investing strategy and understanding of economics, the markets, and personal finance.

There are many players in the markets:  commercial and investment banks, hedge funds, central banks, insurance companies, retail investors, pensions, and the list goes on and on.

One of these entities is not very well understood: the central banks. In the United States, the Federal Reserve is the central bank and is an institution which many people have no idea about.

On my pursuit of the truth and looking to learn more and more about finance, I came across the book, Fed Up, by Danielle DiMartino Booth.

I thought it was very interesting and helped me understand more about the thought processes and events which took place in the 2000s leading up to 2008, and after 2008.

Many people think that during the next crash that central banks and governments will come to the rescue, but Fed Up reveals why this thought is too optimistic.

The rest of this post includes a summary of Fed Up, my takeaways, and my recommendation for you. Enjoy!

Summary of Fed Up: An Insider’s Take on Why the Federal Reserve is Bad for America

For the past 30 years, the narrative of the global economy has been precisely this when a crash occurs:

Central banks and governments are here to save the day and will do whatever it takes to save the markets . (Even if that means doing ridiculous things.)

Going back less than 20 years gives us two amazing examples of this absurd narrative.

2001, the dotcom bubble burst. The Nasdaq lost nearly 80% of it’s value in a very short amount of time and central banks stepped in to make sure the economy was safe.

In 2001, the Fed Funds Rate (the rate at which banks borrow at), was dropped from roughly 6% to 1%.

The economy was saved! Stocks were back on track!

Fast forward to 2008, and another crash in the markets has occurred.

Again, central banks stepped in and the fed funds rate at the time was dropped from roughly 5% to 0%. In addition, 4.5 trillion dollars were pumped into the system (where before, only $850 billion had been created up until that point!)

10 years later, we sit here in 2018 with the markets seemingly doing amazing. Up 300% since 2008, the day has been saved again.

But sitting here, I can’t help but look back on some of those numbers and feel a little uneasy. Why should you get money for free? Does it make sense to inflate the money supply by 4 times what it previously was before? What are the consequences of these things?

Enter Fed Up.

The Federal Reserve During and After the Recession from the Eye’s of an Insider

Danielle DiMartino Booth worked on Wall Street in the late 90’s and early 00’s, and after a career change to journalism, she found herself in the Dallas Federal Reserve Research Department.

After spending some time on Wall Street, becoming wise to the ways of finance, she then went on to pursue a career in journalism at the Dallas Morning News. As a truth seeker, her insight and warnings in the years preceding the Great Financial Crisis of 2008 were well-documented and stand in stark contrast to the mindset of the Fed and then-chairman Ben Bernanke who “found little evidence to support the existence of a national home price bubble.”

In 2006, she joined the Dallas Fed and worked with individuals there to try to steer the economy in the right direction.

Unfortunately, their efforts didn’t work out. With only an MBA, many economics PhD’s across the central banking system of the United States ignored many of the warning signs presented by DiMartino Booth and didn’t take her seriously.

Throughout the book, she highlights the arrogance and hubris that these academics-turned-central bankers possessed and the control they garnered. Rather than diving in the real-time market data, discussions with business owners, and market talk, economists believed their textbooks, unproven assumptions theories, and complex research papers provided new sophistication and certainty with which to manage the domestic and, indeed, the global economy.

Unfortunately, this didn’t help, as many people experienced after 2008.

An Eye-Opening Take on the Happenings of 2008

What DiMartino Booth describes in Fed Up is years of central bank evolution and growth.

The central bank has been influenced by John Maynard Keynes and nurtured by Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke, and Janet Yellen. The reality, as so well described by DiMartino Booth, is that of an intellectual contagion.

The role the Federal Reserve has assumed today is more like a world superpower than bank. After multiple global financial crises over the past 30 years, the Federal Reserve’s influence and power has adapted and spread to cover all of the developed financial world.

While this book may be a little alarming to you and slightly “alternative in thought”, DiMartino Booth accomplishes what may be a meaningful step in properly examining what’s wrong with our financial system.

Fed Up provides a post-crisis update of how the Federal Reserve runs the country, and provides us with substantial evidence of how short-cuts and manipulations are employed as a means to their ends.

While the Federal Reserve is probably a necessary institution to have in our government, there needs to be a change.

An Insider’s Recommendation for the Federal Reserve

While the book was fantastic at telling the story of the financial meltdown of 2007-2009, the lead up to that meltdown and the aftermath, what I really liked is how the author finished the book with a recommendation for how the Federal Reserve should be changed.

The gist of her recommendations were to change the dual mandate to a single mandate, shake up the staff to include more business people, and foster an environment of real economic growth (not one stimulated by 0 percent interest rates).

Going a little bit more into the details, the author recommends the following:

• Remove the dual mandate of maximizing unemployment and achieving a specific “inflation” target, and instead, have a single mandate tasked with keeping prices stable. 
• Be more transparent in communications with Wall Street, Main Street, and other governments
• Have the Fed get out of the business of trying to force people to spend money. The Fed’s “inflation” comes from debt fueled spending – a bubble waiting to happen – and this just isn’t right or sustainable.
• Slash the research department and send many economics PhD’s who want to pursue fringe topics of research to academia. Hire individuals with real business and “Main Street” experience to hopefully do what’s best for the economy.
• Hire smart people for the Supervisory and Regulatory department, and pay them well. 
• Finally, focus on the big picture and also smaller risks. Focus on systemic risk and regulation. Everything is connected in some shape or form!

With these recommendations, she believes the Federal Reserve can fulfill the role it was created to fulfill – not be a superpower with arguably more power than Congress.

My Takeaways

With all things I do, I look to have some takeaways for me to go and apply in my life.

In the past few years, I had a vague understanding of the how the Federal Reserve worked, but at the same time, really had no idea.

First, I have a view on the world which is completely different than yours – and I recognize this. I’m 26, was in high school in 2008, and honestly, wasn’t paying attention back then. Fast forward 10 years, I’m making a great salary and am living a “middle class” lifestyle – 1 week long vacation a year with a few mini vacations spread out on weekends, live in a fairly nice house, have a car, and can get by financially without too much stress.

Unfortunately, many people don’t have this same experience here in 2018. On average, wages haven’t grown since the 80’s. The participation rate for workers in the United States is only 62.9% – down from 66% in 2008. The stock market is soaring, but only 56% of people are invested in stocks.

Is the economy actually doing well? Or have these wonky monetary policies put in place by the Fed distorted things to unsustainable levels and will surely fail at some point?

I don’t know. I sure don’t think I can trust the Central Bank to take care of me though…

Beware the Expert

Another takeaway I have for myself follows another one of my thoughts which I’ve come to embrace: beware the “guru” and “expert”, and if someone is a “guru” or “expert” in a topic which involves randomness, run as fast as you can the other way.

As the author wrote, Economics PhD’s take an ivory tower view of the world and don’t really know what’s going on. As a statistician in my day job, I had a ton of issues with the assumptions we were taking and it was for this exact reason above.  (That’s one reason why I’ve now moved to role doing web development – a more exact science.)

The world is so incredibly complicated that a simple set of regressions and time series models cannot capture everything. Ignoring other pieces will lead to even more error.

Honestly? I’m worried about what will happen in the next crash. Will it be more of the same or something different? I don’t know. All I can do is prepare and work on practicing sustainability, mindfulness, and resilience.

Our Recommendation for Fed Up

I’ve been trying to challenge myself on my investing strategy and understanding of economics, the markets, and personal finance. As someone who works at a regional bank, I work in a team which is reviewed by individuals from the Federal Reserve, but we never knew exactly what’s going on there.

Danielle DiMartino Booth lifts the curtain a little bit and gives us a first hand account of life in the Federal Reserve. Most books about finance are very technical, but Danielle does an amazing job of distilling the topics into everyday speak. I only found myself re-reading one or two paragraphs in the entire book!

I’d highly recommend Fed Up for anyone who is an investor or a student of personal finance. Many people think that during the next crash that central banks and governments will come to the rescue. Honestly? If you seriously believe that the government is going to act in the best interests of the average consumer, you are a little bit too optimistic.

Fed Up reveals why this thought is too optimistic, and gives an amazing view into inner workings of the mystic Federal Reserve. Check this one out at the library or get it on Amazon. I don’t think you’ll regret reading about something which affects you and everyone else around you.

Jeff Bezos, the CEO and founder of Amazon, recently hit $80 billion for his personal net worth. As a student of entrepreneurship and personal finance, I’m awestruck by his success with his entrepreneurial pursuits and want to understand his thought processes. Bezos requires many of his employees to read books off his reading list. My reasoning is, if I’m looking to think like one of the richest humans on earth, I should consume the same information as him. First though, I needed to learn more about Bezos and his company – enter the book, The Everything Store.

The Everything Store, by Brad Stone, looks to uncover the history of Amazon. Stone interviewed over 300 people – former and current employees, and other executives from the industry, to get an understanding of the last 20 years at Amazon. The results are very interesting and I couldn’t put the book down!

In this post, I give a brief summary of The Everything Store, my takeaways, and my recommendation for you.

Summary of The Everything Store

Brad Stone interviewed over 300 people, current and former Amazon employees, and Bezos family members, and provides us an in-depth look into life at Amazon. Jeff Bezos wanted Amazon to become the everything store: a store which would offer everything at a great convenience to the customer. In his pursuit of the everything store, he developed a corporate culture of relentless ambition, little work/life balance, and success at the highest level.

The Early Years

The Everything Store goes into the beginning of Amazon, where it was just Bezos and a handful of employees working out of a garage in Seattle. At first (mid 1990’s), Amazon was just a bookseller and was literally buying books from various publishers and then sending them out whenever a customer purchased one off their website. This process was clunky and needed refining.

Over the next few years, distribution centers were set up and the website became better equipped to handle the customer orders.

Expanding into Different Product Categories

Jeff Bezos didn’t want to stop at being the best bookseller – he wanted Amazon to be an everything store. By the late 1990’s and into the 2000’s, Amazon ventured into different product categories. Starting with movies and electronics, then getting into toys. Over time, if Amazon wanted to get into another product category it wasn’t already in, it would look to buy a successful company in that space.

For example, Zappos was a very successful shoe company in the mid 2000’s and Amazon wanted to start selling shoes. Amazon offered to buy Zappos, but Zappos executives declined. Amazon then applied a tenacious tactic – they started selling shoes and dropped the prices extremely low. By cutting prices, this put tremendous pressure on Zappos. Finally, Zappos agreed to sell, and Amazon was able to expand into the shoe industry. This strategy was performed multiple times over Amazon’s history and shows how tenacious they were and are.

The Everything Store also details the battles of Amazon and many other retail companies: Barnes & Noble, Target, Walmart, Toys ‘R’ Us, Best Buy, Circuit City, etc.

Diversification of Income Streams

In the early 2000’s, Amazon started focusing more on technology – both surrounding supply-chain management and the distribution of goods, but also on software and infrastructure. Amazon created Amazon Web Services (AWS), which allowed all businesses to tap into the power of cloud computing. This was a game changer for Amazon and now is a huge income stream.

In addition to the software and infrastructure, Amazon created the Kindle in 2007. E-readers were experimented with in the early 2000’s, but flopped after the hardware was not good enough for mass production. Amazon created a superior product and had a massive launch for its e-reader, the Kindle. By producing and selling Kindles, Amazon strengthened itself as a major player in both physical and digital books.

The Culture of Amazon

The culture of Amazon is modeled after Jeff Bezos’ style: never give up, be frugal, be resourceful, always look to serve the customer, and be consistent. Many employees have left Amazon because the work/life balance was horrible. Jeff Bezos doesn’t care much for work/life balance; he wants to create something great and will not stop at any cost to do so!

Former Employees and Family Members Chime In on The Everything Store

When I was preparing to write this book review, I read the customer reviews on the Amazon page for The Everything Store. There were multiple reviews from different executives and key players in the book.

Mackenzie Bezos, Jeff’s Wife, chimed in and said there were many inaccuracies. She gave it a 1 star rating.

While numerous factual inaccuracies are certainly troubling in a book being promoted to readers as a meticulously researched definitive history, they are not the biggest problem here. The book is also full of techniques which stretch the boundaries of non-fiction, and the result is a lopsided and misleading portrait of the people and culture at Amazon. An author writing about any large organization will encounter people who recall moments of tension out of tens of thousands of hours of meetings and characterize them in their own way, and including those is legitimate.

Employee #1, Shel Kaplan sang a different song. He gave it a 4 star rating.

Since Mr. Stone did not have access to Jeff Bezos for this book, but had to rely on previous interviews and the accounts of others, it would be surprising if there weren’t a few mistakes regarding his thought processes. As part of my agreement to be interviewed for this book, I was allowed to read a draft of the chapter which covered the time I was there, and I offered a number of corrections, some of which Mr. Stone was able to verify and incorporate. To the extent I am quoted, my quotes are, while not complete, fair and in context. I don’t love or agree with everything that Mr. Stone wrote about me — especially his broader conclusions regarding the circumstances of my departure from the company — but I do think it was fair and reasonable.

Being a writer myself, I can understand why Brad Stone would stretch the truth a little bit for a more enjoyable read. Hopefully in the future, Bezos will allow himself to be interviewed and give a real, unadulterated glimpse into his thoughts and career. If you pick this book up, just be aware of these criticisms.

My Takeaways

With all books I read, I look to have takeaways and action steps. Jeff Bezos is someone I look up to as a role model in business, but also in my personal life. He has been married to the same woman for many years, saves his money, and looks to make the world a better place. In addition, he is tenacious and always looking to help – all qualities I’m looking to embody in my life.

In my business pursuits, I’m looking to provide value to my readers and customers, and make sure that the experience is enjoyable for all parties.

Amazon’s Take on Frugality

Amazon is constantly searching for ways to reduce costs and pass on those savings to customers in the form of lower prices. This is embedded in their leadership principles:

Frugality

We try not to spend money on things that don’t matter to customers. Frugality breeds resourcefulness, self-sufficiency and invention. There are no extra points for headcount, budget size or fixed expense.

This principle comes from Bezos himself. Frugality is something I look to apply in my life, and as a personal finance blogger, it’s equally important to note that it’s not what you make, but what you save! I personally love the wording of the principle above, what do you think?

Our Recommendation for The Everything Store

I really enjoyed The Everything Store. Frankly, my review doesn’t give the book enough credit – the details the author goes into are at a very low level (he talks about legal battles and those outcomes!) While some of the key players working for Amazon have came out and said there are some inaccuracies in the book, I still believe it was worth the read. The Everything Store gives us a behind the scenes look at the making of the behemoth now known as Amazon, and a picture of Jeff Bezos’ management style.

For me, I’m going to constantly focus to provide value to the customer (you the reader), be frugal and careful with my funds, and work diligently each and every day towards my goals. I’m excited to read the books off Bezos’ reading list! Look forward to those in the coming months!

Would you ever open an online store? Are you a member of Amazon?Save

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What if you only had one more day with a loved one? Would you do anything different than what are you are doing today?  For One More Day is the story of a mother and son, and about a relationship that lasts a lifetime.

For One More Day, by Mitch Albom, explores the following question: what would you do if you could spend one more day with a loved one?

If you only had one more day to spend and have fun with a loved one, how would the day look?

For One More Day is a story about a man who becomes unconscious and “lives” a day with his passed away mom.

In this post, I share with you a book summary of For One More Day, takeaways from For One More Day, and a reading recommendation for you.

Book Summary of For One More Day

At the beginning of For One More Day, we meet Charley “Chick” Benetto: a former baseball player turned salesman and an alcoholic shunned by his wife and daughter.

Chick is tormented by his past decisions surrounding his early adulthood and his relationship with his mother and father.

Exploring Chick’s Youth

During the first few chapters of For One More Day, we are introduced to Chick and learn more about his youth.

When Chick was about 5 years old, his father told him, “You can be a momma’s boy or a daddy’s boy, but you can’t be both.” Chick decided to be a daddy’s boy, and this decision turned out to be the wrong one.

His father and mother become divorced when he was about 10 years old. Through the rest of his childhood, his mother protects him and looks to steer him down the right path.

For One More Day is the story of the missed opportunities Chick had during his youth, and the consequences of not being there for his loved ones.

Chick Tries to “End it where it started”

After learning about Chick’s past, we are brought back to the present day.

Chick’s daughter is getting married, and Chick is fed up. He is sick of his unfulfilling work, and when he finds out his own daughter didn’t invite him to her wedding, he gets even more depressed.

Upset and sad, Chick decides there is no point of living anymore and will drive to his hometown to “end it where it started.”

After getting drunk, Chick hops in his car to drive back to his hometown. He is almost to his hometown and misses the exit. It is late at night, and frankly, Chick doesn’t care about his life. He does a 180 and starts driving the wrong way – right into a semi-truck. Chick is ejected from his vehicle, he hits the wet grass and goes unconscious.

At this moment, he starts his last day with his mother (who passed away 8 years ago).

A Last Day with Mom

When Chick becomes unconscious, his thoughts take him to his childhood house. There, he sees his mother.

His mother cooks him up some breakfast and is cheerful as ever.

“Posey” Benetto is a social magnet, a darling, and always looking to help out. Early in life, she grinded to make ends meet and was loved by many. Given Chick’s decisions in childhood, it is sad he didn’t show respect to such an amazing woman.

Sometimes, when someone is given the world, they might not realize how good they have it until it’s gone.

Throughout the rest of For One Last Day, we learn more about Chick’s childhood, his relationship with his mother and father, and the actions he took in adulthood which lead him down a rough path.

During his dream, his mom takes him along with her to visit some friends who are dying. While she has been passed away for 8 years, she says she is still alive through other people’s memories.

Chick Wakes Up and Changes his Ways

After seeing others dying, seeing a different perspective, and learning more about his family, Chick becomes remorseful and decides to change his ways.

At the end of the book, he wakes up in the arms of a police officer and swears off drinking.

After recovering from his car crash bumps and bruises, he gets back in touch with his daughter and wife, and becomes a great contributor to society.

For One More Day is an inspiring story which shows that it’s possible to change your life for the better if you so choose.

Takeaways from For One More Day

With every book you read, it is a must to have takeaways and actionable items to implement in life.

The main takeaway from For One More Day was that life is short and spending time with the people who matter most to you is so important.

Last Easter, I was with my sisters, parents, grandparents, and my 93-year old great-grandpa.

I love my family – they are fun loving, nice, and supportive of my life. We went to church, did an indoor and outdoor Easter egg hunt, ate lunch, and played badminton and basketball outside throughout the day.

The one thing that stuck in my mind was saying good bye to my great-grandpa. I hugged him good bye and he grabbed my hand.

I could see the sadness in his eyes, almost to say to me, “I wish I was your age again.” Being 93, it’s unfortunate, but his days are numbered.

After reading For One More Day and interacting with my great-grandpa, I’m trying not waste days doing things I don’t want to do.

It’s easy to say things like, “Life is short, don’t waste any of your days”. But, how many people actually implement this thought and live intentionally?

With loved ones, it’s important to set time aside and look to make an effort to spend time with them.

Our Recommendation for For One More Day

In For One More Day, Mitch Albom turns a story of a broken man trying to commit suicide into a beautiful tale examining the mother-son relationship.

Mitch Albom is a fantastic storyteller and writer. For One More Day has influenced my thoughts and actions to not waste time on Earth.

I was reminded it’s important to work on cultivating relationships with people closest to you, no matter what. Family is #1 – your parents, grandparents, kids, and siblings are some of the only people who will be with you throughout your entire life.

For One More Day is a must-read for everyone.

What would you do if you had one more day with a lost loved one? 

Becoming better at learning, aka learning to become a better learner, is a skill you can improve and grow. Learning about learning isn’t some silly endeavor, but can be a fantastic strategy for getting to your goals faster.

Do you want to reach your goals faster? What if you could unlock a more efficient way to be successful? What would it feel like if you could be proficient in anything you try?

Learning how to become a better learner, and leaning how to become better at learning is possible with the right framework.

In this post, you will learn how to become a better learner.

Learning How to Become Better at Learning

Can you actually become better at learning?

It sounds bizarre, but there’s actually a science to becoming a better learner.

Why should you care about learning how to become a better learner?

I’ll give an example from something I’m doing at my 9 to 5: learning web development.

When I first started, I had no idea what I was doing.

HTML? CSS? What are these things? And they work together in some magical way?

Slowly, but surely, over the last year, I’ve learned how to build the front-end of a website. Now, at work, I’m learning React JS and putting that into practice. Since I already knew some Javascript, and the fundamentals of HTML and CSS, learning React has been a little easier to pick up, but there’s still so much to learn.

What if I could speed this process up 10%? What about 100% faster? Wouldn’t this be nice?

That’s why learning how to learn is important: you can speed up your time to proficiency, and get to doing great work (instead of banging your head against the wall and struggling to continue to figure out what’s important and what’s not important).

Before doing ANYTHING in life, it’s important to define a few things and set expectations.

What is your end goal? Knowing your end goal will help with the next steps in learning, which is why it’s critical.

Let’s first talk about goals briefly, and then we will get into a framework for meta-learning and learning how to learn more effectively.

What’s Your Learning Goal?

Before starting any endeavor, it’s critical to ask yourself about what you want to accomplish.

In particular, why are you interested in learning and personal development? Why are you interested in learning about whatever topic you are interested in learning?

A few questions you should ask yourself before starting:

• Do you want to be an expert in a certain field or topic?
• Do you want to become a little more knowledgeable to round out your wisdom?
• Are you looking to get a job or new role from your studying?
• Is there a certain test or level of proficiency you are after through your actions?

Your answers should come from within – you have taken control of your life and are now on the path to success.

An example from my life is from sports. I love playing sports, and in particular, playing basketball.

One skill I’ve worked on considerably the last few years is my dribbling.

What were my goals for my dribbling?

I wanted to be able to dribble with both hands comfortably. I wanted to be able to comfortably go between both legs, around my back, and when in trouble, be able to keep the ball without it being stolen.

These were my goals for the skill of dribbling.

Figuring out your goals is step 0a before diving into learning. After finding out your what, let’s move on to step 0b: figuring out your why.

What is Your Why for Learning?

Without a why, there’s no point to doing anything.

If you don’t care about some action, then there is literally no point to doing it.

It’s critical to have a why, or you will not put full effort into your work, Without full effort, your results will be sub-par.

With a why, you can do anything.

What’s your why?

• Do you want a better career?
• Is it you want to increase your income?
• Do you want to have more fun in your hobbies and unlocking a new skill will do help this?
• Are you competitive and just want to learn to be better than your friends?
• Do you just enjoy what you are learning and want to learn more casually?

Your why could really be anything – as long as you are aware of it, you will be on track.

Going back to my dribbling example, my why was quite simple. I wanted to be better at dribbling so I could be a reliable teammate (someone who wouldn’t lose the ball when I started moving around) and also, I wanted to be able to imitate some of my favorite players in the NBA with their moves.

With your why and goals, you are now ready to start learning and growing.

Before starting, it’s important to define what’s your end goal and why you are doing something.

Without a goal, you won’t know where you are going, and without a why, what’s the point?

Now that you have your destination in mind, and your why, let’s get into becoming better at learning.

A Strategy to Become a Better Learner

When learning about different topics, books with techniques and strategies for success can be incredibly beneficial for your progress as a person.

Recently, I read The 4-Hour Chef.

The 4-Hour Chef is a book all about learning and how to become a better learner (and at the same time, teaches you how to cook… but that’s not what we are going to focus on in this post).

In the book, Tim Ferris explains how anyone can be an expert in anything in 6 to 12 months, and if practiced effectively, even 6 to 12 weeks.

In his teens, he was a student in Japan and had to learn Japanese on the fly to perform well in school. Over the next few months, he struggled, but finally it clicked.

Instead of trying to memorize and learn the entire language at once, he figured out patterns and tricks to “unlock” the language more effectively.

After scoring at the highest level in his Japanese tests, he wanted to see if his strategy could be applied to other languages. Now, he has mastered many languages – some he learned in as little as 2 weeks!

At this point, you are probably wondering, how can you learn anything in 6 to 12 months? What’s this amazing learning strategy? What are his secrets?

Let’s get into The 4-Hour Chef Learning Strategy.

The 4-Hour Chef Learning Strategy

The 4-Hour Chef Learning Strategy is simple. Complexity is what trips up many people when they go to learn.

Ever heard of keep it simple stupid? K.I.S.S.?

The 4-Hour Chef learning strategy is simple as well: DiSSS.

DiSSS stands for the following:

• Deconstruction
  • What are the smallest learnable pieces of information or tasks which you can break the learning into?
• Selection
  • From those smallest blocks of information, which ones should you focus on? (20/80 Principle)
• Sequencing
  • What is the correct order you should go about applying the important small blocks?
• Stakes
  • How can ensure you follow the program? Can you set-up a system where if you don’t do the tasks you identified that there are real negative consequences?

Next, there are some advanced techniques we need to cover to give you a full strategy and framework to learn anything.

The advanced techniques are represented by the acronym CaFE:

• Compression
  • How can you compress and condense all of the information into a cheat sheet which is simple and not complex?
• Frequency
  • How long should you practice? What is the right time period for your studying and doing for maximum effectiveness?
• Encoding
  • How can you make your ideas and thoughts stick for the long term? Can you represent your thoughts with images or sounds for maximum retention?

For the rest of the post, let’s go into each of these in more detail.

Deconstruct Your Goals to Figure Out Your Path

In the DiSSS acronym, deconstruction is step 1.

What is deconstruction?

Essentially, deconstruction is exploration.  To deconstruct something is to dig around, get the lay of the land, and understand what there is to learn to become an expert.

After getting a feel for what is out there, the next step is to try to figure how the smallest learnable blocks which you will be learning and performing.

How can you find these blocks?

Tim Ferris recommends the 4 following methods:

• Reducing
  • What are the common patterns, strokes, actions, etc. which make up the desired skill?
  • Figure out the mechanics of the skill, and try to break it down:
    • For example, in running, there have been countless studies on how to bring your foot up and then bring your foot down, for maximum power.
    • Without this knowledge, just going out and running probably won’t get us to our goals as fast as possible.
• Interviewing
  • Who are the experts in the skill you want to become better at?
  • Better yet, who are the people and practitioners who aren’t just talking heads, but actually have practiced and became better over time?
  • Find out from others who have been successful – stand on the shoulders of giants!
• Reversal
  • Have you ever heard of reverse engineering? Essentially, you go from a finished product, back to the bones.
  • This method works well with physical objects: cooking, electronics, etc.
• Translating
  • Are there any parallels you can draw to the current task at hand from previous experience?
  • The method of translation works well with languages: both spoken, but also in programming.

Some of these methods will be better than others, so thinking critically about which one makes the most sense for you will be important.

Select the Best Actions by Applying the Pareto Principle

After figuring out what is necessary, now it’s time to apply the Pareto Principle, and select which 20% of actions are going to lead to 80% of the results.

The goal with learning is proficiency and excellence in the shortest period of time; why do somethings which will only get you 5% of the way. when you could do something which will get you 50% of the way?

In other words, what can you learn today which will bring a large percentage of the results?

First, what is the Pareto Principle?

The Pareto Principle is an observed pattern which shows most things in life are not evenly distributed.

Also known as the 80/20 principle, the Pareto Principle states that 80% of the output comes from 20% of the input – and this is observed in many areas:

• 20% of workers produce 80% of the work
• 20% of the customers produce 80% of the sales
• Applied to this learning series, 20% of your actions and things you learn will bring 80% of our results.

The next logical question then is how do you find the 20% of actions? How do you figure out what is completely necessary, and what can wait?

These are difficult questions to answer. Each learning situation is different.

For me, when I’m learning something new, I dive down the rabbit hole.

I watch a couple YouTube videos, do a bunch of Googling, and try to better understand what will result in a headache and what will result in success.

Experimenting and doing my best to get an overview is the first part, and then I start to pare down the results.

Again, each learning situation is different and if you find yourself getting a headache and not seeing results with one methods, then maybe it’s time to try another one.

After setting your goal and deconstructing what you want to learn, figuring out the best course of action is critical.

What are the 20% of actions which can bring 80% of the results? What are the core things you should learn first which will help you get to proficiency fastest?

After figuring out the core pieces to your puzzle, it’s time to order them for your learning success.

Optimally Ordering Your Actions for Success with Sequencing

After figuring out our goals and breaking down these goals into smaller, learnable blocks, figuring out what’s most important is key for success in your learning.

It’s now time to optimize your actions by looking to answer the questions, “how can I best sequence my actions to get the best results?”

The goal with learning and doing is not just to find the right pieces of the puzzle, but also, find how those pieces fit together.

Let’s say you are looking to bake a cake.

It’s probably not optimal to put the pan in the oven without any of the eggs or flour in the pan…

While this is an overly simplistic example, if you don’t do the things you are learning in the correct order, you may get sub-optimal results.

Ultimately, the purpose of this exercise is to ensure you are doing things and having continuous small wins. Many training programs have huge expectations up front and as a result, leave many people in the dust.

How do you optimally order your actions for success?

There are a few strategies for figuring out the optimal sequence of actions:

1. Go in reverse
   • Reverse engineering is a great strategy for understanding how things work.
   • If you can take it apart, you can put it together
2. Inventory what others have done
   • You do’t need to reinvent the wheel – copying others’ paths work!
3. Ask yourself if there’s anything in your past which you can leverage for your future

What’s the best way about going towards your goals? While it’s great to know what the pieces of the puzzle are, it’s also equally as critical to figure out how these pieces of the puzzle fit together.

Again, ultimately, the purpose of this sequencing exercise is to ensure you are doing the right things and having continuous small wins.

After performing the exercise of asking yourself these different questions and thinking critically, you are now equipped with a plan.

Taking action is the next step.

After you’ve figured out your master plan for learning the new skill, you need to guarantee a way you’ll do the work.

Why Stakes are Critical for Learning and Work

Have you ever started something and a few weeks later, the spark had faded?

Starting off, you were really excited to be doing something new. Then, for whatever reason, the habit didn’t completely form, or your priorities shifted.

How come it seems incredibly difficult to stick with something for more than a few days, or weeks at a time?

What went wrong?

What if I told you there was a way to guarantee you get your work done?

I have a question for you: would you work harder to make $100, OR work harder to avoid losing $100?

If you are like me, I’m guessing you would work harder to avoid losing $100.

Naturally, humans are loss averse, meaning, humans would prefer to avoid a loss than seek the equivalent gain.

When learning something new, or doing something new, there have to be stakes. An easy example of stakes is at your day job: if you don’t show up, you’ll be fired.

A way to guarantee you’ll do the work from The 4-Hour Chef is the concept of donating to an “anti-charity”. 

Let’s say, for example, you are anti-gun and hate the NRA.

How motivated would you be if you had to donate $10 to the NRA every time you didn’t do what you said you were going to do?

Another example of stakes include an accountability partner where the loser has to buy dinner. There are many possibilities to use stakes, and you can structure this however you want.

At the end of the day, you have to figure out what the best way to get the work done is for you.

By using stakes, you can ensure you get the work done.

Now, let’s take a look at a few advanced things to consider when learning something new.

Retaining Information through Compression and One Page Cheat Sheets

The first advanced how to become a better learner topic is compression.

Every new subject and topic can be overwhelming when starting.

What if there was a way to retain what you’ve learned in an effective way?

Many subjects are incredibly complicated and have so much information. What’s important in your subject? What doesn’t matter?

One of the ways to retain what’s important in a topic is to compress the information into a one page cheat sheet.

Two different types of cheat sheets which the 4 Hour Chef recommends are the following:

• Prescriptive cheat sheets
  • Writing out all of the principles and rules for a subject so you can go back and build from there
• Practice cheat sheets
  • Writing out real world examples which will lead to the principles after examining those examples

For example, a prescriptive cheat sheet for driving a car might have the following information:

• Hit the right pedal when you want to accelerate, hit the left pedal to stop.
• Try to accelerate and decelerate smoothly.
• Come to complete stops at a red light or stop sign.
• Drive the speed limit.
• Pass on the left.
• Yield to other cars on your right.

Following these rules and principles would probably get you to becoming a fairly decent driver.

Of course, there are many other rules and regulations on the road (and these are very important to follow…), but the concept is the same when learning any other subject.

Being able to take a concept, break it into simple blocks, and then remembering the most important pieces, will allow you to learn anything at a fast, but low stress, pace.

What’s most important for success? Everything which isn’t important is not necessary to remember.

At the end of the day, a key to learning and becoming better is to always be compressing.

How Often and Long Should You Practice and be Learning?

Have you ever been in the middle of learning something, taken a short 5 to 10 minute break, came back, and everything clicked?

Sometimes, the best thing to do when you are in a rut is to stop digging and take a break.

One of the simplest, yet confusing questions is how long should you practice for progress.

Can you grow only doing 5 minutes a week? OR, should you be doing 25 minutes a day?

There are many studies on this, but it just comes down to figuring out what works best for you and for your goals. If you want to become awesome at something fast, you will have to practice every day for at least a little bit.

One way to keep your level of engagement and efficiency at a high level is to take breaks.

If you are going to train for 30 minutes or more, then a break here and there will vastly improve your results.

One other pro learning hack is based on the Von Restorff effect: learning something and associating it with something crude or inappropriate will allow you to remember and keep going at a high level.

When figuring out the frequency for your practicing and learning, it’s important to critically think and figure out what’s best for you.

The Power of Imagery and Association: Remember More with Encoding

What if there was a way to remember anything you wanted?

Think back to your favorite memories: can you remember those moments like they are a movie playing in your head?

Let me ask you a question: Is it easily to remember a string of letters or numbers, OR is it easier to remember a string of images?

The answer is images, right?

What are the 7 colors of the color wheel?

Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet.

I bet you had that right at the tip of your tongue the second after reading that question.

Why? Simple, when you were in art class many years ago, you encoded ROY G BIV in your mind to never forget the color wheel.

There are a few strategies for encoding:

• Mmenomics
  • A mmenomic are a pattern of letters, ideas, or associations that assists in remembering something
• Chunking
  • The strategy to remember a phone number is to use chunking: chunk it into zip code, the first 3 digits, and then the last 4 digits.
• Imagery
  • Can you create a picture in your head which represents the concept at hand? If there is a graphic representation of what you are learning, you will remember it more effectively.

Using these strategies will allow you to remember and recall information much more effectively and efficiency in your studies.

Become a Better Learner with The 4-Hour Chef

Becoming better at learning is a great skill to learn and improve upon.

The 4-Hour Chef is a fantastic book and guide for learning the skill of meta-learning. The DiSSS and CaFE framework provided will help you get to your goals much faster.

Learning how to learn, becoming better at learning, and growing as a learner all will make your job in this fast paced world so much easier and more efficient.

Do you have a content based business, or want to build a following through content marketing?

The majority of start-ups around the world begin their journey in exactly the same way as every other company. Product first, and then build a following.

Why do companies continue to make the same mistakes over and over? The formula for business must change.

Have you thought about building a following through content?

Whether you are a solo start-up or an innovative group within a large enterprise, the Content Inc. strategy can and will work with patience and the right content plan. Content Inc, by Joe Pulizzi, discusses a new way on how to build a business and brand.

First, build an audience. Then, create the product.

Traditionally, businesses have tried to do the opposite, and the track record speaks for itself: 90% of start-ups fail.

With the Content Inc. strategy, you will instead be first building an audience and following through a platform of your choice, listening to your customers and audience, and then monetizing your products.

The rest of this post includes a summary of Content Inc., takeaways from Content Inc., and a reading recommendation for you.

“A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.” – David Brinkley

Book Summary of Content Inc.

Content Inc. breaks down the business startup process into six steps, making it simple for your to visualize, launch and monetize your own business. These steps are:

• The Sweet Spot
  • Identify the intersection of your unique competency and your personal passion
• Content Tilt
  • Determine how you can “tilt” your sweet spot to find a place where little or no competition exists
• Building the Base
  • Establish your number one channel for disseminating content (blog, podcast, YouTube, etc.)
• Harvesting Audience
  • Use social media and SEO to convert onetime visitors into long-term subscribers
• Diversification
  • Grow your business by expanding into multiple delivery channels
• Monetization
  • Now that your expertise is established, you can begin charging money for your products or services

The Sweet Spot

“The sweet spot is a place where a combination of factors results in a maximum response for a given amount of effort.” – Wikipedia

The Content Inc. strategy begins with a sweet spot, the intersection of your knowledge or skill area and your passion.

While it’s possible to develop a sweet spot without a passion point, it’s the passion that gives us our drive to continue until we employ a successful Content Inc. strategy.

What do you love, are passionate about, and know? That is your sweet spot for content marketing.

Content Tilt

“Everything under the sun has been said… you have to find a new way to say it.” – Henry Winkler

The majority of content developed every day is just like everything else out there. It does nothing for the reader or the producer.

It doesn’t matter the frequency or delivery or the channel you deliver the content through: if the content doesn’t tell a different story, it will most likely be ignored.

Be unique and original! No one wants to hear the same thing they always here.

Building the Base

“It is not the beauty of a building you look at; it’s the construction of the foundation that will stand the test of time.” – David Allan Coe

Choose an appropriate platform for your audience.

• Are you comfortable making videos?
  • YouTube might be your best bet.
• Do you enjoy writing?
  • Start a blog!
• Maybe you enjoy taking pictures?
  • Instagram is the way to go!

Just be aware, you give up control when you move to certain platforms. If YouTube changes their algorithm, you might be out of luck.

With a blog or mailing list, you are in complete control of who you can reach with your content.

Harvesting Audience

“You can only build something massive by starting with something small to effectively close the distance.” – Danny Iny

Without an audience, your Content Inc. strategy will not work. If there is no one looking at your website, blog, YouTube Channel, how will you make any sales?

There are a number of ways to build an audience, but not all subscribers are created equal.

If you have a choice, go for email first. Web traffic and social media shares are great, but if you are not building an audience, those may be meaningless metric.

Focus on the metrics that help you build an opt-in audience.

Diversification

“Career diversification ain’t a bad thing.” – Vin Diesel

As you diversify your platform, be sure to look beyond digital for hidden opportunities. The greatest media brands in the world leverage not only digital, but in-person and print components as well.

The most successful Content Inc. entrepreneurs focus on a blog, a book, and public speaking.

All three of these in combination will help take your Content Inc. strategy to the next level.

Monetization

“Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.” – Albert Einstein

There are many ways to make money from your content and subscribers:

• Affiliate Marketing
• Paid Products
  • eBooks
  • Courses
  • Physical Products
  • Premium Content
  • Coaching
• Advertisting

It’s important to explore many different revenue generation sources because your audience may be receptive to other products.

Some of the best Content Inc. models employ multiple ways to make money from their audiences. (Just like financial investing, it’s important to diversify!)

Takeaways from Content Inc.

With every book you read, it is a must to have takeaways and actionable items to implement in life.

The main takeaway from Content Inc. is how people in the 21st century are crushing it by writing articles, producing videos, and publishing podcasts.

Content Inc. is very inspiring to me as a content creator on this blog. It also was very informative as it provides detailed steps to start, grow and monetize content based businesses.

By following the six steps discussed above to set-up a content based business, you’ll be on your way to success as a blogger, YouTuber, or podcaster.

“Never look back unless you are planning to go that way.” – Henry David Thoreau

Our Recommendation for Content Inc

For writers, business owners, and marketers, understanding how to create content to connect with readers is so critical for success online.

Content Inc. is a fantastic read for marketing executives and managers looking to increase the number of leads coming to their business.

If you are looking to start or build a content based business, I’d highly recommend Content Inc.

Are you interested in using content to build an audience and business? What steps are you taking to build your email list? Which channel (blog, video channel, social media, etc.) interests you most?

Becoming rich in a short amount of time is a tough goal to accomplish, but possible. With entrepreneurship, it is possible to get rich fast and become wealthy at a young age.

In The Millionaire Fastlane, MJ DeMarco provides us ideas and a detailed framework for you to start a business and become rich.

Is your financial plan destined for greatness or mediocrity? Is your financial plan tied to variables you can’t control, such as the stock market or your job?

Why spend 40 years working 40 hours a week so you can be rich in a wheelchair? It doesn’t make sense.

MJ DeMarco built a large lead generation company in the early 2000s and sold it for multiple million dollars. He busted his butt for a few years so he could enjoy an early retirement. The story of his life is truly inspiring, and his tips and actionable items are extremely valuable.

Entrepreneurship might not be for everyone, but if you are looking to build extreme wealth fast, you must consider starting a business.

Below is a book summary of The Millionaire Fastlane, takeaways from The Millionaire Fastlane, and a reading recommendation for you.

“What if I told you ‘insane’ was working fifty hours a week in some office for fifty years at the end of which they tell you to piss off; ending up in some retirement village hoping to die before suffering the indignity of trying to make it to the toilet on time? Wouldn’t you consider that to be insane?” – Steve Buscemi

Book Summary of The Millionaire Fastlane

Starting off in The Million Fastlane, DeMarco presents why people should look to start a business if you want to become rich fast.

DeMarco discusses the three financial roads people are on: the Sidewalk, the Slowlane, and the Fastlane. Each of these financial roads are governed by a certain wealth equation.

The Sidewalk Wealth Equation

The Sidewalk wealth equation is:

Wealth = Income + Debt

Sidewalkers create their lifestyle in direct proportion to their income and supplement that lifestyle with extensive use of debt.

People in the personal finance community would identify these people as those who try to “Keep up with the Joneses”.

The Slowlane Wealth Equation

The Slowlane wealth equation is:

Wealth = Job + Market Investments

Under this wealth plan, income from a job funds both lifestyle and market investments. The problem here is your wealth is tied to variables which you cannot control (namely, the stock market).

In addition, you can only work so many hours in a day. It is physically impossible to work more than 24 hours in a day.

Therefore, the two parts of the equation are governed by variables you cannot control.

The Fastlane Wealth Equation

The Fastlane wealth equation is:

Wealth = Net Profit + Asset Value

where Net Profit = Units Sold x Unit Profit and Asset Value = Net Profit x Industry Multiple

All businesses leverage this equation. A Fastlaner builds wealth by providing value to their customers. They can increase their wealth by selling more units, or profiting more from each individual unit sold.

In addition, as profits increase, the underlying business asset increases in value. You can see how it is possible to get rich fast (not to be confused with “Get Rich Quick (Easy)).

If you want to get rich at a young age, you have to start a business and become an entrepreneur.

It is impossible to really rich by saving 10% of your paycheck, buying a used car, cancelling the movie channels, quitting drinking expensive Starbucks mocha lattes, saving and penny-pinching your life away, and trusting your life savings to the stock market.

“By working faithfully 8 hours a day, you many eventually get to be the boss and work 12 hours a day.” – Robert Frost

Why The Slowlane is Not the Safe Way to Go

Many of us are taught how the Slowlane will result in happiness and financial stability. Contrary to this popular opinion, DeMarco argues there are 6 reasons why The Slowlane is not a safe way to building extreme wealth:

1. Trading time is trading life
   • We only have roughly 100 years to live. Why should we spend 40 hours a week at a job we don’t like?
   • In a job, you sell your life for money.
2. Limitation on experience
   • How do you gain experience? You gain experience by doing.
   • The problem with a specialized skill set is, it narrows your useful value to a confined set of marketplace needs.
   • I’ve learned more in the last two years of blogging than I did in the past year at work!
3. No Control
   • The economy tanks and you get laid off? Nothing a Slowlaner can do about it! To add insult to injury, your 401(k) balance is significantly lower and stock portfolio is hurting!
4. Linda’s Bad Breath
   • How many of you have co-workers you don’t like?
5. A Subscription to “Pay Yourself Last”
   • “Pay Yourself First” is a Slowlane doctrine. Guess what? You pay the government first, then your insurance, then your 401(K), etc.
6. A Dictatorship on Income
   • Guess what will happen if you were to walk into your boss’s office and demanded a 100% raise? How about an 1,000%? You’d get laughed at.

While I understand DeMarco’s points, I want you to be aware that these points are trying to get the reader uncomfortable and considering alternative viewpoints.

Is Entrepreneurship a Golden Goose?

DeMarco rips on having a 9-5 job for the majority of the introduction of The Millionaire Fastlane. It was a very interesting section to read and think about as I have a 9 to 5 job and think it’s fine for now.

However, when thinking about ways to build wealth and live a happy life, there are many downsides of a 9-5 job. Some downsides include having little to no control on who you work with, what you get paid, and what you are able to work on.

By becoming an entrepreneur, you can do what you want each day and look to provide value to your customers (without the unnecessary bureaucracy).

While it seems the Fastlane is a great way to build wealth, there are also nuances and other variables to this discussion.

While, I do agree with his stance that the stock market is a casino and people shouldn’t be so eager to tie a majority of wealth to equities, there are many risks to entrepreneurship.

Starting your own business is risky and can lead to losses if you aren’t careful. I’ve personally found entrepreneurship to be very difficult and not for everyone.

However, if you have an idea and a strong plan, it’s possible to make it.

As The Millionaire Fastlane goes on, DeMarco provides us a framework for building a successful business.

How to Build a Successful Business

All successful businesses follow the following commandments:

• The Commandment of Need
  • Most businesses fail because there wasn’t a market for the product.
  • There would be no point to start
• The Commandment of Entry
  • How competitive is the market you are interested in?
  • You wouldn’t want to start a search engine company or social media company because there is no chance of rising to the top.
• The Commandment of Control
  • You need to be in control of your income streams.
  • Affiliate and network marketing violate this commandment. What if the companies you are partnering with cut their payout?
• The Commandment of Scale
  • Is it possible to reach millions?
  • The internet is a great example of scalability. My website can run 24/7 and I have the potential to reach people all over the world.
• The Commandment of Time
  • Do you have to be working all day to ensure operations are running smoothly?
  • For example, if you were to start a coffee shop, you probably would have to be up at 3 AM and work all day – not the best option for a Fastlaner.

If you can build a business which does all 5 of these correctly and effectively, you can become rich.

Use The Law of Effection to Attract Wealth

Once you’ve created a business which satisfies the 5 commandments discussed above, now it’s time to tap into The Law of Effection. 

The Law of Effection states that the more lives you affect or breach, both in scale or magnitude, the richer you will be.

To make millions you must serve millions in scale or a few in magnitude.

People ask, how are the Kardasians are rich? They are able to get in front of millions of people on TV. Why is Lebron James rich? He impacts the lives of millions of kids all around the world. Name any famous person and I can guarantee they all get paid very nicely because of the influence they have on many people.

You want to become a millionaire? Sell a $1 item to 1 million people, a $10 item to 100,000 people, or an $1,000 item to 1,000 people – it’s simple math! 🙂

Becoming wealthy is both an exercise in building a business, but also an exercise in changing your mindset.

Change can happen in an instant.

Takeaways from The Millionaire Fastlane

With every book you read, it is a must to have takeaways and actionable items to implement in life.

I have a goal to build extreme wealth at a young age. Since this is my goal, then I should consider starting a business and looking to tap into the Fastlane Equation.

The main takeaway from The Millionaire Fastlane is that is definitely possible to achieve financial freedom in a short amount of time by scaling a business.

Building and scaling a business will be difficult, but it is certainly a possibility over time.

A secondary takeaway is if you are looking to scale a business, you will need to be in a growing or big market.

Making more money involves providing targeted value and being compensated for your value. If you can provide immense value to thousands of people, you’ll become rich – it’s just a matter of time before the money starts rolling in.

To live unlike everyone else, you have to do what everyone else won’t.

Our Recommendation for The Millionaire Fastlane

The Millionaire Fastlane is a comprehensive book for prospective business owners and entrepreneurs.

Building wealth through a business can be difficult, but it can also be a lot of fun and much faster than a corporate job in a cubicle.

Starting a business which satisfies a need and can reach thousands of people are the first steps to creating massive wealth. After you start, consistent and intentional actions will lead to massive success over time.

If you are interested in entrepreneurship, building wealth, or business, you need to read The Millionaire Fastlane.

Are you living unlike anyone else so you can live like no one else? What are your thoughts on the concepts of Sidewalkers, Slowlaners, and Fastlaners? Do think think sacrificing a few years of your life is worth an early retirement?

Do you want to be rich?

How great would it be to be a millionaire and not have to worry about money?

One of my goals is to become a millionaire. I want to not have to worry about money in the future.

How can we achieve these goals? Is becoming rich easy?

What if I told you, there was a one-step formula to follow, to live life and finish rich? 

The Automatic Millionaire, by David Bach, contains a plan for you to retire rich. David Bach argues there is one thing you need to do to finish your working years rich: pay yourself first.

Pay yourself first? Yes. It’s that easy.

In The Automatic Millionaire, Bach talks about why paying yourself first will enable you to become a millionaire, automatically, and lays out a 7 step plan for financial success.

The rest of the post includes a summary of The Automatic Millionaire, takeaways from The Automatic Millionaire, and a reading recommendation for you.

Book Summary of The Automatic Millionaire

The Automatic Millionaire is all about automating your personal finances so you can focus on living life. There are so many solutions through technology that after setting up, you can forget about and grow your wealth.

Let technology handle the transfers from your paycheck to savings, investment accounts, debt pay accounts, and charity, and live life worry free.

The #1 Tip for Becoming Rich: Pay Yourself First

Paying yourself first will enable you to become an automatic millionaire.

What’s paying yourself first mean? Many us pay ourselves last: we first, pay our rent, then utilities, then grocery bill, the government through taxes, the local bar we love to frequent, and the list goes on and on.

At the end of the month, whatever we have left, we maybe put into savings. There has to be a better way to save right?

Pay yourself first.

In The Automatic Millionaire, paying yourself first means putting money in a traditional retirement account – saving your pre-tax income for the future.

Paying yourself first means prioritizing your savings and investments first, before anyone else gets your money.

Using The Latte Factor to Save More Money

Bach’s trademarked idea for building wealth is what he calls “The Latte Factor.”

The Latte Factor is all of your small daily expenses which have the potential to add up over time.

Spending $3.50 on a coffee and $1.50 on a bagel daily for breakfast at Starbucks is already $5 for the day. That’s even before lunch and dinner! If you aren’t careful with the small expenses, you can end up spending quite a bunch of money.

Bach recommends examining your expenses, and really thinking hard about what you need. $10 a day can add up drastically when saved over 30 years for your retirement.

With a 10% market return, you can become a millionaire by saving $10 a day!

The Automatic Millionaire Blueprint

Throughout the The Automatic Millionaire, Bach talks about numerous ways to build wealth and become rich over time.

At the end of The Automatic Millionaire, Bach provides us a blueprint for becoming an automatic millionaire:

1. Pay yourself first automatically.
   • By investing 10% of your salary and income, you will increase your odds to nearly 100% of becoming a millionaire at retirement.
   • Bach recommends using the pre-tax option to make it easier to get 10% into savings.
2. Deposit your paycheck automatically.
   • Set up direct deposit so you never see your paycheck.
3. Fund your “rainy day” emergency account automatically.
   • Having an emergency fund is essential. What happens if you lose your job? What happens if something breaks in your house?
   • Make sure to transfer your cash over automatically to your emergency account so you can make sure it happens.
4. Fund your dream account automatically.
   • Similar to #3, what are you looking to do in the next 2-3 years that will require a nice cash payment? Want to take a nice vacation!
   • There’s nothing wrong with spending your hard earned cash!
5. Pay your credit card bills automatically.
   • Get out of debt! After destroying your debt, make sure to pay off your credit card each and every month.
   • Interest is a waste of money!
6. Pay all your monthly bills automatically.
   • Schedule all of your utility and monthly bills automatically so you don’t forget.
7. Give to charity automatically.
   • After growing your wealth, you have a great opportunity to give back and make a difference. You can give back with your time or with your money.

Following these steps will get you on the path to financial freedom.

Takeaways from The Automatic Millionaire

With every book you read, it is a must to have takeaways and actionable items to implement in life.

The main takeaway from The Automatic Millionaire is making sure you are staying on top of your Latte Factor.

If you are not spending your money on things which bring you joy and value, you can waste a lot of money fast.

Making coffee in the morning, instead of buying it at Caribou Coffee or Starbucks, could lead to hundreds of dollars of savings over time.

Similarly, cutting down on snacks or eating out could result in accumulating wealth very fast.

The secondary takeaway is the importance of AUTOMATION.

Technology has allowed humans the ability to do so many things. The same is true for personal finance. We can automate almost all of our payments, bills, and investment contributions after a one time set-up.

Spending money is harder when the money is automatically invested for you month after month. Do yourself a favor and automate your personal finances. You’ll be on your way to building wealth in no time.

Our Recommendation for The Automatic Millionaire

The Automatic Millionaire is a easy and quick read with many actionable tips for personal finance success.  I’d highly recommend it for you if you are interested in becoming financially free.

Financial success is so simple, but yet so many people don’t take the necessary steps to making it work for them. Tracking your income and expenses, and automating your finances will do wonders for your financial situation.

Financial success won’t improve overnight.

But, over time, year by year, your investments, savings, and debt situation all improve.

I’m excited to see you become a millionaire.

Readers: are you paying yourself first? Are you on the way to becoming a millionaire, automatically? Are you following The Automatic Millionaire Blueprint?Save

Financial success is about having enough money to lead the life you want.

How to Think About Money, by Jonathan Clements, tackles the “personal” side of personal finance. His goal is to help readers alter their thoughts on handling money for the betterment of their financial situations. I was drawn to this book because I’m interested in personal finance, for many reasons, but also, I’m interested in the psychology of things. One of the things I’m focusing on in 2017 is experimenting with new things, and any book or experience which will bring new concepts and thoughts into my life is something I welcome with open arms.

Clements spent 31 years thinking and writing about money: 25 years as a financial journalist, and another 6 years as Director of Financial Education at Citigroup. Clements’ goal is to look at our relationship with money and talk about how we can improve our financial situation.

Summary of How to Think About Money

In How to Think About Money, there are five steps to which Clements’ believes should be central to how we handle money:

1. First, we should spend our money in a way which will bring us happiness. Things that don’t bring us direct happiness might not be worth buying, believe it or not!!
2. Second, most of us will live a long time, the life expectancy for people in their 20’s-40’s is more than 85 years old. For this reason, it is extremely necessary to save more early in life.
   • A point Clements makes in the book is our investment horizon is not weeks and months, but years and decades.
3. Third, due to our brains being hard-wired to spend and consume, we fail as savers and investors. Once we change our mindset to a saver mindset, we will be aligned much better for financial success.
4. Fourth, we tend think of our finances in many distinct buckets: loans over here, deposits over there, insurance policies around the bend. We should think about these buckets as multiple parts of a whole.
5. Fifth, we should focus on protecting our assets vs. taking on too much risk. Clements does not suggest taking no risk, but we should be careful with what we have accumulated.

Action Steps

I have a few action steps to take away from How to Think About Money. One of them is to keep leveraging my paycheck to improve my financial situation. What I mean by leveraging my paycheck is using the money I earn in my day job to create multiple income streams for the future. Currently, I have two income streams: my day job paycheck and my house (I have two roommates). I would love to turn this blog into another income stream, with my short term goal to be roughly $500 a month in income.

In addition to leveraging my paycheck to develop more income streams, I want to continue to challenge my thoughts on my financial situation. I will do so by writing posts on this blog and gather feedback from The Mastermind Within community to further my understanding and improve where necessary.

Remarkable Quotes and Passages from How to Think About Money

Here are some impactful quotes, takeaways, and notes in addition to what I have above:

• “Money can buy happiness, but not nearly as much as we imagine.”
• “We place too high a value on possessions and not enough on experiences.”
• In a poll, the worst ranked activity of a person’s day was the morning commute and the third worst ranked activity was the evening commute.
• More money may not make us happy – but not having money could make us extremely unhappy.
• When managing money, we should worry less about dying young, and more about living an astonishingly long life. We should first focus on achieving some measure of financial freedom, then focus on what we are passionate about.
• A question, given a choice, wouldn’t you rather spend your time doing what you are passionate about, rather than devoting your days to work that others deem important?

Given a choice, wouldn’t you rather spend your time doing what you are passionate about, rather than devoting your days to work that others deem important?

• The fundamental value of the underlying corporation does not decline as quickly as the share price of that underlying corporation. Changes in the real economy simply don’t happen that fast.
• You should not invest in the company you work for’s stock. This is to prevent a double whammy from occurring: economy tanks, you are potentially out of a job and your investment portfolio could suffer.
• Having children will make it difficult to become financially free.
• Financial success is about having enough money to lead the life you want.
• Change your thinking: do not ask “Is this the right time to buy stocks?” rather ask the following questions: “How will investing in stocks affect my portfolio? Will I overextend myself from a risk standpoint? How much will this transaction cost in tax and expenses?”
• Focus less on the odds of success or failure, and more on the consequences.
• Ask yourself this question: if I was to start from scratch, would I buy the portfolio I own today?

Ask yourself this question: if I was to start from scratch, would I buy the portfolio I own today?

Our Recommendation for How to Think About Money

If you are looking for a quick read on improving the “personal” side of your personal finances, I’d certainly recommend reading How to Think About Money. A while back I read Money – Master the Game, by Tony Robbins (book review). I’d recommend How to Think About Money before Money because it is 450 pages shorter, is not focused on advertising friends’ businesses, and is straightforward and to the point. While there are a few drawbacks, namely, no pictures or tables, Clements covers a lot of material and have actionable steps to take to be financially successful.

Have you read How to Think About Money? How long is your commute? Did you put off having kids until your finances were set?

Jobs suck because they’re rooted in limited leverage and limited control. Sure, you can have a great job (and a fun one too!) but in the scope of wealth, they limit both leverage and control – two things desperately needed if you want wealth. – MJ DeMarco

You wake up each day between 6 and 7 am. You have breakfast, wash up and brush your teeth, get dressed, get the kids off to school, and get on your way to work. Your boss yells at you for some trivial reason, and you spend the next 8 hours doing work for someone else. After work, you come home, have dinner, spend time with your kids and spouse, and go off to bed to do it again to do it the next day.

Is this what you want? Could there be something more to life? To work? What if you started your own business? What would your days look like then? Would you be happier?

Entrepreneurship is connecting, creating, and inventing systems – be they businesses, people, ideas, or processes. The End of Jobs, by Taylor Pearson, discusses how now is the best time in the history of the world to become an entrepreneur. Pearson spent three years interviewing hundreds of entrepreneurs from all over the world and working with dozens of them to grow their businesses. The End of Jobs is the culmination of Pearson’s interviews and experiences. The End of Jobs is eye-opening, thought provoking, and gives a rough outline of how you could be a successful entrepreneur.

Improved communication technology has made it easy for individuals and companies to find, hire, and manage not just industrial workers, but knowledge workers as well.

Before you read the summary, let me start off telling you while The End of Jobs makes many good points, it also has some scare tactics to hit the reader emotionally and get you excited about entrepreneurship.

Summary of The End of Jobs

In the late 20th century, many United States companies realized cheap labor existed in developing countries in Asia and started outsourcing many jobs. This trend has continued; many companies have full departments in foreign nations. Advances in communication technology has made this possible. Have you had a Skype call with someone on another continent? It’s crazy!

Advances in communication technology allows companies to communicate across continents and tap into a talent pool of 7 billion people. Why can’t we do this as individuals?

Right now, we live in an era where it has never been easier to start a business. We started this blog for less than $150! Why is it so easy to start a business in recent times? A few reasons:

• Production costs have never been lower
  • Like I said above, we started this blog for less than $150 and has unlimited income potential.
• There are countless ways to distribute your product
  • Everyone has a smartphone, an internet connection, and an email account
• There are new markets being created each day
  • Globalization has allowed entrepreneurs the opportunity to consult, sell to, and work with businesses and individuals all over the world. This allows entrepreneurs to solve problems and provide value without being local.

As a result of three points above, Pearson concludes it has never been easier to become an entrepreneur.

Think about it, do you want to write a book or start a blog? Easy! It will take some time, but long gone are the days of working with editors to prove your book is worth publishing. Now, people write books and put them on Amazon for the world to see. eBooks cost nothing to make; leveraging the internet and technology can be very profitable.

Takeaways from The End of Jobs

The End of Jobs proved me right. I knew starting a blog was a good idea 🙂

With this project and a few other projects, I believe the time to quit my day job might be sooner than I thought. It would be awesome not to have to work a 9-5 job and be able to do my own thing each day.

“We assume jobs are safe because they’ve always been safe, not because there’s good evidence they will be in the future.”

3 Profound Passages from The End of Jobs

1. Jobs not only limit the upside of intrinsic value by tying money to time – they also give up control. We have no leverage beyond trading more time, which is our most valuable and only truly limited asset. We lose control to react to market forces outside the scope of the job.
2. By harnessing freedom and meaning earlier in our career and putting it into our work, we can now live freer, more meaningful lives that help others, and get rich doing it.
3. It’s cheaper, easier, and safer to start a business. When you grow it using variables you control, you make more money because you have unlimited leverage. You also are building an asset which can be sold. And, you’ve acquired a skill set that protects your downside.

Our Recommendation for The End of Jobs

If you are interested in starting your own business, please read The End of Jobs. If you are tired of working for your company and have a creative spirit, then read The End of Jobs. Will you control your future or will a corporation control it? I’m going to explore starting my own business – even if I fail, it will be a great learning process! In the mean time, I plan to continue to read books, gain new experiences, and write a book! Writing a book will test me in ways I’ve never been tested. I’m very excited about the future; there is so much potential for me! 🙂

“There is only one success – to be able to spend your life in your own way.” – Christopher Morley

Would you ever start your own business, a blog, or consulting service? Do you think 9-to-5’ers are at risk? What is stopping you from becoming an entrepreneur? Do you have any book suggestions for me on start-ups?

Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World, by Adam Grant, is all about creative thinking and being unique.

As easy as some people make it look, producing something truly original is time consuming and difficult.

No one gets something right on the first try, and being creative takes many many iterations before getting to the final product.

In Originals, Adam Grant covers how creative thinking happens, what we can do to become more creative and innovative, and also provides some strategies for dealing with emotions in different situations.

Adam Grant has been the top-rated professor at The Wharton School of Business in Pennsylvania for the last 5 years, and has been recognized for influential management thinking.

If you are looking to become more original, creative and unique in your work, Originals is a must read.

The rest of this post includes a summary of Originals, takeaways from Originals, and a reading recommendation for you.

How to find a new idea: think of something unrelated, then add something familiar. This produces something novel and useful.

Book Summary of Originals

In Originals, Grant starts out by discussing the concepts of originality and conformity.

To be original, Grant argues, is to be constantly challenging the status quo and the defaults of your domain.

While it is much easier to conform to norms, this is counterproductive to being original. By conforming, you will not be producing unique work.

For producing original work, Grant talks about many different ways we can force ourselves into creative thought. 6 of the ways to think more creatively include:

• Question the default
  • Asking questions like “What is this wasn’t the correct way to think about the world?” and “Why is the world this way?” can lead to more original thought
• Triple the ideas you create
  • The odds of producing a genius result by only trying a few times is slim to none. It took Thomas Edison 2,000 attempts to get the light bulb just right!
• Welcome criticism and seek more feedback from peers
  • By getting other people’s perspective on a situation, you can improve your perspective on the situation.
• Think about the opposite
  • Turn the situation around, what does it look like from the other angle? By thinking about the opposite, you open your mind to potential downfalls of your plan.
• Think about what our enemies would do
  • If someone hates you, what would they do? By thinking about what our enemies would do, we awaken an urgency to stay competitive.
• Immerse yourself in a new domain
  • Many domains have similarities to your domain. Similar to cross training in exercise, by looking at other domains, you can draw parallels to your current situation and adapt.

Throughout the book, there are many tips and tactics for unlocking your full creative thinking potential.

The more experiments you run, the less constrained you become by your ideas from the past.

Takeaways from Originals

With every book you read, it is a must to have takeaways and actionable items to implement in life.

There were so many takeaways from Originals (I finished the book with 4 pages of notes…), but two have stuck with me:

• Questioning the default
• Tripling the number of ideas you create and implement

Question the Default

What is something you follow and believe which others believe?

When I was growing up, I got sucked into the belief that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. If I didn’t eat breakfast, I would basically die of starvation.

Once I got to college, I started experimenting with my breakfasts and eating habits. I found when I woke up, I was thirsty, and not hungry.

For me personally, intermittent fasting has lead to much greater benefits than eating sugary cereals in the morning.

Questioning the default has lead to better health and more focused mornings for me.

For you, who knows what defaults you believe and how you could benefit from questioning the default!

Triple the Number of Ideas You Create

Increasing the number of ideas you create is essential to producing something creative.

It took Thomas Edison 2,000 attempts to invent the light bulb. That first time he sat down at his desk, how do you think his light bulb performed?

It failed!

And that’s totally okay.

Have you ever heard the saying Fail Forward?

Not every attempt at something creative is going to end up going viral or become your finest work.  However, if you don’t try, you won’t get to that viral work.

Being original doesn’t require being first. It requires being different and better.

Our Recommendation for Originals

By changing the way you think and brainstorm, you are capable of coming up with some amazing, unique work.

Questioning the default, tripling the number of ideas you create, and welcoming criticism and feedback all can lead in new and innovative thoughts.

Looking at situations from the other side and diving into other domains can also inspire unique ideas.

Try the strategy which resonates with you! As listed above, Adam Grant presents to us 6 ways to come up with something new and bold.

Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World is a must-read book about originality, challenging the default, and becoming creative in your life and work.

If you work as a creative, or are looking to become an entrepreneur, you need to read Originals.

How do you inspire original thought in your work and life?