Our guest on the podcast today is Victor Haghani. He is the co-author of a new book called The Missing Billionaires: A Guide to Better Financial Decisions. In 2011, Victor founded Elm Wealth, an investment advisory firm for high-net-worth individuals. He started his career at Salomon Brothers in 1984, where he became a managing director in the bond arbitrage group. And in 1993, he was a co-founding partner of Long-Term Capital Management. He graduated from the London School of Economics with a bachelor’s degree in economics.

Background

The Missing Billionaires: A Guide to Better Financial Decisions, by Victor Haghani and James White

Investment Sizing and Expected Utility

“The Most Costly Investment Mistake You Can Make Is Easy to Avoid,” by Victor Haghani and James White, Bloomberg.com, Feb. 14, 2024.

“Bigger Is the Enemy of Better Investing,” by Victor Haghani and Richard Dewey, businesstimes.com, March 20, 2021.

Robert K. Merton

“Merton Model: Definition, History, Formula, What It Tells You,” by Will Kenton, Investopedia.com, Aug. 10, 2022.

“Lifetime Portfolio Selection Under Uncertainty: The Continuous-Time Case,” by Robert C. Merton, jstor.org, August 1969.

“How Much of a Good Thing Is Too Much?” by Victor Haghani, linkedin.com, Oct. 11, 2022.

“To Realize, or Not to Realize,” by Victor Haghani and James White, elmwealth.com, Oct. 22, 2020.

Lifetime and Retirement Spending

“Spending Like You’ll Live Forever,” by Victor Haghani and James White, elmwealth.com, April 6, 2021.

“Cut Your Losses Early; Let Your Profits Run,” by Victor Haghani, linkedin.com, Aug. 8, 2023.

Puzzles

“George Costanza At It Again: The Leveraged ETF Episode,” by Victor Haghani and James White, elmwealth.com, April 16, 2020.

“Who Wants Protection Like This?” by Victor Haghani, linkedin.com, Nov. 14, 2022.

Other

“Vic’s TEDx Talk: Where Are All the Billionaires and Why Should We Care?” Elmwealth.com, March 8, 2013.

Matt Levine

Michael Lewis

The St. Petersburg Paradox

Hal Hershfield

“Hal Hershfield: People Treat Their Future Self as if It’s Another Person,” The Long View podcast, Morningstar.com, Sept. 21, 2021.

Stumbling on Happiness, by Daniel Gilbert

When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management, by Robert Lowenstein

Inventing Money: The Story of Long-Term Capital Management and the Legends Behind It, by Nicholas Dunbar

143 | Selections from A Perfumed Scorpion | The Idries Shah Podcast