User Profile

A follow on to The Psychology of Money, the other looks at the philosophy of living and dealing with money. Lots of stories are here and personal notes that make the topics even more relatable. I really enjoyed this and learned a lot. I plan to re-read it in the future as I'm sure reminders and new takes will come out. I took a pile of page numbers to revisit to extract notes.

A well written memoir by the author on his early life and experience in Hollywood and in plays. His life intersected with many famous people and he talks about them and working with them.

Anyone interested in the author or Hollywood would probably enjoy this book.

Two writers document their getting into the CIA and their assignments in a nearby country to a hosile country. They claim they brought the cell model to the CIA, where a group of various experts come together for a particular plan or goal.

They go back and forth between each other talking about their work and one assignment in particular, with an interesting ending.

While there isn't a lot of eye opening data, this does show the extent at which countries spy on each other. It was a pretty entertaining read - anyone who likes reading about spies and intrigue will probably like this.

For personal finance fans, money managers and financial advisors. All others may find this tedious.

The author came up with the 4% withdrawal rule that retirees should use on their investment portfolios to ensure that they don't run out of money later in life.

The author revises his work and walks through various scenarios, making a case that most of us can increase the percentage and spend more.

I really liked this book. Part biography, part philosophy, part societal commentary, and ultimately meant for his sons in several years, this is a good take of what is running through his head and his priorities.

Mostly meant for his current teenage boys probably to read later, and just in case something happens to him, they'll have this reference to look back to.

He does focus on his own mortality in a few places throughout the book.

This is a pretty amazing book if you are a Didion fan. As her notes from her therapist sessions, there is a lot of flashbacks to her past and family life. A significant portion around her daughter, and smaller bit on her husband.

There are occasional footnotes to identify the other people mentioned, some of which are pretty famous or well-known.

It's clear from these one-sided notes from her sessions that she was a bothered soul. Exquisite prose and writing though. Obviously she had a lot of practice.

The book would be a good read for anyone interested in her life as a result of her work. For others, it may just seem like a one sided therapist log. I enjoyed it.

As one of the employees at Ritholtz Wealth Management which has several Internet/content celebrities, the author brings his experience of working with clients and defines 6 levels of personal wealth.

For each level, he steps through generally speaking of what they do and the kind of things they do to manage their money.

Most of us will be in Level 4, being $1mil-$10mil. What he says is getting to level 5 $10mil - $100mil, requires different strategies and usually involves owning/running a business.

Suffice to say, the steps to get through the first four levels are generally attainable by most.

It's an entertaining read and the content won't harm you. One could shorten the book and ship a few levels, either the lowest or highest. Depending.

It's short, 120 pages. An author I follow recommended it around Halloween time saying it was scary. Oh yeah. Many of the lessons in this book are eerily present today. Each lesson covers actions and duties for us to do to thwart it.

Even though it was published in 2017, it's still present for this day and age. This is a manual for any patriot to own and use. We all should read this book. I plan to reread it every couple years.

An author I follow recommended this book during Halloween, saying it was scary. Oh yeah. This covers 20 lessons from recent history (pre/during/post WWII) and what happened, and also covers some recent political action, such as the 2016 US Presidential election. Does have mentions to the founding fathers fear of tyranny which influenced their debates and early documents.

Essentially, the lessons give you actions to fight tyranny and what signs to look out for, and how to be a patriot.. Unfortunately, many of the signs can be seen today.

A short read for this book, as it's smaller in size. There is also a full size graphic novel version. Get either. I plan to re-read this every couple years. Fantastic book. I hope I won't need it as a reference.

A very entertaining and scary read. While it focuses on tech, it applies to physical products and even services. Essentially, companies try to extract more and more from us, often by throwing features and capabilities, or shrinking the product.

I have a hunch the book contains some of his longer blog posts from the past. Maybe with some new material. It's organized well and reads well. I had not read his previous books, but do recognize his name and know he's worked with the Electronic Freedom Foundation.

Probably could be a stronger book with summarized interviews of various sources who can back up some of the claims and biases. Still, an enjoyable read.

This is a great book and I've read it twice now. 196 pages, with a good intro by the translator. Of the actual text, it reads fast. The Greek is on the left page, and English on the right page. Essentially the book is half as long, unless you can read both Greek and English.

Will plan to read it again every 12-18-24 months. Great material. Essentially written like a long letter with addressing a friend, Cicero covers several ideas and thoughts on growing old. I found the chapter on farming to especially be interesting, and probably would expand that to gardening and yard upkeep that some of us have to do.

Perhaps the most important point is that a good older age actually starts in one's early years with their take on life and attitudes. Learning good habits early will benefit us later.

This book is a great reference book for everything that might come by Gen X and Gen Y for their financial future. Each chapter has a summary of ToDo's that makes it especially handy.

While the advice isn't specific, you do get enough of a background in the topic to consult with experts who can help you on that particular idea.

I hope most of this is common to those in my generation. In that way, it's a great refresh and pointer. Else, if one isn't familiar with the topics, it's a top to bottom guidebook of what to do and how to get started.

Well written and easy read, this book fires through several dozen type of bad investment advice and bad investment actions. Each gets a couple pages to cement the thought.

The end of the book has a section on good ideas and good advice. Mostly around his firm's and his personal investment philosophy.

Overall, a great book for any investor, and probably one to reread every few years.