Finished 15/05/2022
The 4 Pillars of Investing
Excellent book that deepens concepts I already know but that would take a beginner months and many other books, dividing them into 4 macro categories:
- Theory: here he explains how risk and return are correlated, so in the long run stocks rise about 7% (with ups and downs and possibly lower returns) while bonds are more stable but return less. It really broadened my view of the usefulness of bonds. He also makes clear that active funds do not beat the market in the long run.
- History: very interesting chapter on past crises; you can see the cycle hype without real reason -> too much -> severe crash. A pleasure to read, especially the 19th-century part.
- Psychology: the familiar material on Kahneman, but explained very well, especially the part about selling the best-performing assets and buying the worst, which is not intuitive.
- Business: explains that brokers are not aligned with your interests and often rely on fees and tactics, and sets out a sensible asset mix with various examples.
All in all I loved the simplicity and candor of the book, which clearly presents Vanguard funds and genuinely got me excited. I put it just below The Simple Path to Wealth for sentimental reasons; if I had started with this one I would have saved myself several doubts. Grateful for the great read.