#046 Whitney Tilson On Avoiding The 5 Calamities That Can Ruin You

Former hedge fund manager Whitney Tilson, now the founder and CEO of newsletter publisher Empire Financial Research, joins Julia La Roche on episode 46 to share some worldly wisdom and his views on the market.

The bulk of this conversation focuses on life lessons from his new book “The Art Of Playing Defense: How To Get Ahead By Not Falling Behind.” Whitney outlines five calamities to avoid, including:

1. Loss of reputation and/or wealth
2. Loneliness and/or suffering a permanently impaired relationship with a loved one
3. A bad marriage, often ending in divorce
4. Addiction and abuse
5. The death, serious injury, or illness of yourself or a loved one

In this episode, Whitney, 56, revisits his childhood, including growing up in Africa with his educator parents. He also shares whether or not he ate the marshmallow in the famed Stanford marshmallow experiment, a psychological study that examined delayed gratification among young children. He recounts how he met his wife Susan (thanks to his friend Bill Ackman!) and his journey from being the lowest-paid Harvard Business School graduate in his class working for a non-profit to the world of hedge funds (also thanks to Bill Ackman).

Throughout the conversation, there are plenty of lessons gleaned over the years from being a long-time student and follower of Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger. Whitney also discusses value investing in the current environment and why he’s “reasonably bullish” and estimates the market could rise 15 to 20% this year.

0:00 The Marshmallow Experiment

4:30 Whitney likely didn’t eat the marshmallow

5:10 Growing up in Tanzania

7:00 Emphasis on education

9:15 Met wife after crashing party with Bill Ackman

10:15 Interest in investing

12:20 Amassed $10K, called up Bill Ackman

13:58 Early days of the internet stocks

14:32 Warren Buffett

15:50 A ‘clueless fool’ turning $20,000 into $120,000 in AOL

17:00 Absolutely no business starting a hedge fund

19:20 Dale Carnegie’s “How To Win Friends And Influence People”

21:18 Lessons for Tilson’s daughters

23:23 Raising athletic daughters

24:30 Price of Privilege

27:00 Sports and self-confidence with teenage daughters

36:00 The most important decision is who you marry

37:00 ‘Fishing in the right ponds’

39:00 Other important relationships

41:30 Epidemic of loneliness

44:00 Repairing and building relationships

46:10 Scott Galloway

49:00 Avoiding calamities

51:00 Loneliness or ruptured relationships as a calamity

52:48 The 5 calamities

53:30 How not to screw up your marriage

1:05:00 Risk taking and risk management

1:15:08 Reasonably bullish on the markets

1:19:57 Best guest is the market is up 15-20%

1:20:20 Value investing back in favor?

1:22:19 Berkshire Hathaway, Meta (Facebook), Netflix, Amazon, PayPal

1:23:40 Why the average person shouldn’t be picking stocks

1:30:00 Achieving long-term wealth