Invest Like The Best
Episode 3 The Power of Serendipity
Invest Like The Best

Episode 3: The Power of Serendipity

The Power of Serendipity

Jason Zweig is the Intelligent Investor columnist for the Wall Street Journal and author of several books, including his recent Devil's Financial Dictionary. We cover investing and financial advice, impactful books, and life in general.

[00:01:31] – (First Question) - In true form, Patrick and Jason shift from investing and start talking about their family and the lessons Jason has instilled in his kids

[00:04:57] – Jason reveals the two most important tools to have in your toolkit in order to succeed

[00:08:13] – Some of Jason’s life-changing books and why he is such a huge fan of Richard Feynman

[00:14:29] – Jason explains his procedure for finding new books to check out

[00:16:40] – While there are benefits to social media, there are dangers of living in an echo chamber and suffering from confirmation bias

[00:18:55] – You should probably avoid only watching CNBC all day long with the sound on

[00:19:53] – Jason lists some of his can’t-miss writers

[00:21:36] – Jason highlights one of the challenges in mass communications, getting the right balance of skepticism and anger/nihilism

[00:23:10] – Patrick questions Jason on the current state of the financial advisory business – Now that Vanguard has absorbed much of the active management business, so the next question is what happens to financial advisory

[00:24:45] – Jason says there needs to be a disruption in the fee-based advisory business

[00:27:45] – Jason explains why we should probably begin to unbundle some financial services offerings

[00:30:20] – What changes Jason would make if he was given czar-like powers to regulate the industry

[00:40:18] – Diving into the impact of academia doing research on the markets and the right way to analyze the markets using data

[00:48:40] – Reasons Jason believes some investors are better off with active managers over index funds, and some of the ones he specifically admires

[00:53:24] – Some of the people that Jason has enjoyed interviewing

[00:57:23] – Patrick questions about the kindest thing anyone has ever done for him professionally and Jason reveals why personal relationships are so important in your professional life

[01:01:26] – The importance of serendipity and luck and how they differ

[01:08:40] – Which one book would Jason recommend people read first if they are unfamiliar with his work

[01:15:20] – Jason reveals the book that he would miss most had he not read it

The Power of Serendipity

Introduction

Patrick
My guest today is Jason Zweig, author of many great books including the recent Devil's Financial Dictionary which everyone should own. The way that Jason speaks and seemingly premeditated and perfect paragraphs makes me wonder if his writing even gets edited. Jason's insights and advice are the result of a life of critical thinking, reading, writing, humility, and curiosity. We cover a lot but be sure to stay untill the end. This conversation crescendos into an amazing finish that is more about life than just investing.

Valuable Lessons

Patrick
So I'd actually love to start our conversation by continuing the conversation that you and I had last year, which is the first time that we met in person at a CFA event. And I found what we tended towards was away from investing towards books and actually family. So first question is a family question because it's near and dear to my heart, I've got two young kids, a two-year-old and a six-month-old. And what I'm finding is that it's very hard to instill lessons in them that he's a master already of psychological warfare and manipulation, often bending me to his will not the other way around. So I'm curious and we'll talk a lot about advice today, whether it's financial or otherwise, if there are lessons things that you've instilled in your kids that you think are most valuable looking back on it now.

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