Getting rich and staying rich require different skills, and both are necessary for long-term success.
Surviving and avoiding ruin is crucial for staying wealthy, and having a barbell personality of optimism and paranoia is vital for financial endurance.
Deep dives
The Importance of Getting Rich vs. Staying Rich
Many people have become incredibly wealthy during the boom of tech stocks, only to lose it all in a short period of time. The skills needed to get rich are different from the skills needed to stay rich. Bill Gates, for example, had a barbell personality, taking big risks while also being conservative with cash. The key to staying rich lies in a combination of frugality and paranoia.
The Power of Survivorship in Financial Success
Surviving and avoiding ruin is crucial for long-term financial success. Many successful companies and individuals fail to survive over time. The Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans experiences 20% turnover per decade. Warren Buffett's success is attributed to his ability to survive and endure throughout the years. The ability to stick around, avoid excessive debt, and withstand economic downturns is what differentiates those who stay wealthy from those who lose it all.
The Importance of a Survival Mindset
A survival mentality is key to financial success. It is more important to focus on being financially unbreakable rather than chasing big investing returns. Planning is important, but plans rarely go exactly as expected, so it is vital to have room for error and be flexible. Developing a barbell personality, being optimistic about long-term growth while being paranoid about preventing setbacks, is crucial for enduring financial success.
Getting rich and staying rich are two different skills. They are often conflicting skills, so many people focus on one or the other.
But you need both to do well over time.
This episode tells a 100-year-old story of two investors, neither of whom knew each other, but whose fates converged during the same week in the 1920s.
It shows why a barbell personality of optimistic on one hand, and paranoid on the other, is vital to success.
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