The Dance of Genius: Creativity within Constraints

In this episode, William Green chats with renowned hedge fund manager Guy Spier, who has run the Aquamarine Fund since 1997. This conversation has been split into two episodes. Here, in Part 1, Guy discusses the art of compounding wealth over decades, drawing on lessons he’s learned from Warren Buffett, downhill ski racers, & his own mistakes. This is an unusually candid conversation between William & Guy—old friends who collaborated on Guy’s classic book, “The Education of a Value Investor.”

IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN:

00:00 - Intro

04:07 - Why it’s so intense for Guy Spier & William Green to collaborate

10:19 - How telling the truth changed Guy’s life

17:53 - Why the Global Financial Crisis terrified him

24:52 - Why it’s hard to invest rationally in the real world of chaos & confusion

29:25 - How Guy deals with his emotions when making investment decisions

35:03 - Why his default position is to hold his stocks indefinitely & resist meddling

38:48 - Why he didn’t sell his stake in Alibaba

42:01 - Why he’s pleased with & disappointed by his investment returns

46:32 - Why his mission is long-term compounding without catastrophe

55:06 - What Guy learned from investing in a company that went bankrupt

57:57 - What the fastest skiers can teach us about success & survival

1:00:02 - How excessive risk destroyed a fund manager he once knew

1:04:13 - What we can learn from Warren Buffett about financial resilience

Disclaimer: Slight discrepancies in the timestamps may occur due to podcast platform differences.

BOOKS AND RESOURCES

• Related Episode: William Green’s 2023 interview with Guy Spier | YouTube Video.
• Related Episode: William Green’s 2022 interview with Guy Spier | YouTube Video.
• Guy Spier’s book, “The Education of a Value Investor" – read reviews of the book.
• Subscribe to Guy Spier’s free newsletter.
• Guy Spier’s podcast and website.
• Guy Spier interviews William Green about his book, “Richer, Wiser, Happier”.
• Read Gandhi: An Autobiography – The Story of My Experiments with Truth.
• Luca Dellanna's book, "Ergodicity".
• David Hawkins' book, “Power vs Force”.
• William Green’s book, “Richer, Wiser, Happier” – read the reviews of this book.
• Follow William Green on X (AKA Twitter).
• Check out all the books mentioned and discussed in our podcast episodes here.

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