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"if u were a tech optimist in the 1950s u might have predicted that storage would become 1000 times larger, maybe 10,000. few would have said "30 million times larger within my lifetime" but that's what happened."

the danger is to ignore compounding as a strategy and chase gains. the real secret is pretty good returns u can stick with for a long time.

"but keeping money requires the opposite of taking risk. it requires humility, and fear. it requires frugality and an acceptance that at least some of what you've made is attributable to luck."

"a plan is only useful if it can survive reality. and a future filled with unknowns is everyone's reality." "many bets fail not b/c they were wrong but b/c they were mostly right in a situation that required things to be exactly right."

"paranoid and optimistic at the same time is hard to maintain b/c seeing things as black & white takes less effort than accepting nuance. but you need short-term paranoia to keep you alive long enough to exploit long-term optimism."

"the great art dealers operated like index funds. they bought it in portfolios, not individual pieces they happened to like. then they sat and waited for a few winners to emerge." "it is not intuitive that an investor can be wrong half the time and still make a fortune."

"tails drive everything. the distribution of success among large public stocks over time is not much different than it is in venture capital."

"40 percent of the Russell 300 stock components lost 70% of their value and never recovered. Effectively all of the index's overall returns came from 7% of component companies. That's the kind of thing u'd expect from venture capital. But it's what happened inside a boring index"

"the decisions that you make today or tomorrow or next week will not matter nearly as much as what you do during the small number of days - likely 1% of the time or less - when everyone else around you is going crazy."

"having a strong sense of controlling one's life is more dependable predictor of positive feelings of wellbeing than any of the objective conditions of life we have considered." (FYI being BOSS often means LESS control b/c ppl r difficult)

"and I wanted to work hard. But doing something you love on a schedule you can't control can feel the same as doing something you hate." "Psychologists call it reactance."

"Part of what's happened [in the US] is that we've used our greater wealth to buy bigger and better stuff. But we've simultaneously given up control over our time."

"but they did know I did not care about them, or even notice them? Did they know I was only gawking at the car, and imagining myself in the driver's seat?" (luxury goods are about PAYING to be walking billboards)

"When most people say they want to be a millionaire, what they actually mean is "I'd like to spend a million dollars." and that is literally the opposite of being a millionaire."

"one of the most powerful ways to increase your savings isn't to raise your income. It's to raise your humility." "ppl w/ enduring personal finance success tend to have a propensity to not give a damn what others think of them."

(not the interesting "not give a damn" interplay with "humility" above. arrogance is mostly about entitlement, to NOT have but think you SHOULD have.)

"savings w/o a spending goal gives u options and flexibility, the ability to wait and the opportunity to pounce. It gives you time to think. It's lets you change course on your own terms." POUNCE POUNCE POUNCE POUNCE POUNCE!

"every bit of savings is like taking a point in the future that would have been owned by someone else, and giving it back to yourself."

"when you don't have control over your time, you're forced to accept whatever bad luck is thrown your way." "savings in the bank w/ 0% interest might actually generate an extraordinary return."

"intelligence is not a reliable advantage in a world that's become as interconnected as ours has. but flexibility is." "having more control over your time and options is becoming one of the most valuable currencies in the world."

"history is mostly the study of surprising events. but it is often used by investors and economists as an unassailable guide to the future." "experience leads to overconfidence more than forecasting ability."

"That's the correct lesson to learn from surprises: that the world is surprising."

"there is never a moment where you're so right that you can bet every chip in front of you. the world isn't that kind to anyone - not consistently, anyways."

"can u survive your assets declining by 30%? on a spreadsheet, maybe yes. It is easy to underestimate what a 30% decline does to your psyche. Your confidence may become shot at the very moment opportunity is at its highest."

"The Germans had the most sophisticated equipment in the world. Yet there were defeated by mice." (they chewed away at the electrical systems in the fancy tanks b/c they turned all the hoomans into dogs so there were no cats)

"the biggest single point of failure with money is a sole reliance on a paycheck to fund short-term spending needs, with no savings.." "the most important part of every plan is planning on your plan not going according to plan."

"It's hard to make enduing long-term decisions when your view of what you'll want in the future is likely to shift."

The End of History Illusion: "All of us are walking around w/ an illusion that our personal history has come to an end, that we have just recently become the people that we were always mean to be and will be for the rest of our lives."

"some of the most miserable workers i've met are people who stay loyal to a career only b/c it's the field they picked when deciding on a college major at age 18."

"every job looks easy when you're not the one doing it b/c the challenges faced by someone in the arena are often invisible to those in the crowd." tell me about it. like this "Life" thing. do you KNOW how hard it is to catch a mouse???