Reading is irreplaceable and necessity of for investors

Reading

Books are the medium of civilization

Books are the ladder of human progress and reading is the way to acquire the knowledge from book. We have seen biographies or stories of great or successful people since we were young, and books will almost certainly be part of it. This is no coincidence, because books are the medium through which the human wisdom is recorded. Through books, we can pass on the wisdom and experience of human beings. Even if the technology is more advanced and the contents are so advanced, it will only change the way of knowledge dissemination, but they cannot replace the original position of books.

In another blog post of mine, “Choose Media Wisely” I went out of my way to point out that books always come first, and that’s exactly why.

Buffett and Munger are the advocator

Buffett always said simply and clearly, “Read everything you can,” he told shareholders in 2007. Buffett said that what he read while growing up laid his own investment methods and laid the cornerstone of success for investing in the next 50 years. This is the only secret of his investment success, and it is also the secret that he has believed in for many years and has been continuously promoting.

Don’t assume that Buffett only recommends people to read financial-related books. Buffett said: As long as it is a book that touches your heart, you should read it. Through a lot of reading, you should shape your style and judge the principles of things. Munger also likes to read. He once said: “I don’t think you can get to be a really good investor over a broad range without doing a massive amount of reading. I don’t think any one book will do it for you.” “You’d be amazed at how much Warren reads—and how much I read. My children laugh at me. They think I’m a book with a couple of legs sticking out.”

Reading can build your own philosophy

Reading can shape a person’s central thoughts and value judgment ability, establish a personal style, and extensive reading can make one understand the world and increase one’s judgment ability.

Reading has compound interest power

Moreover, reading is an investment with the least cost to oneself and the greatest return. A book is only about US$10 to US$ 30, but it carries the hard work and wisdom of the author. We only need to spend this little money to get the wisdom of others for a lifetime; is there any investment with a higher return rate than this in the world?

Not only that, but books are read into your own mind and become a part of your own thoughts. They will be useful for your life. Not only can they not be stolen by others, but as time goes by, the more things you read, the more you can accumulate and form your own lifelong thoughts to make you smarter ── The compound interest power gained over time by long-term reading is just like an investment; the benefits to you will be far beyond your imagination.

Buffett was asked by a fresh graduate of the business school how to become smarter. Buffett once held up a stack of documents and said, “Read 500 pages like this every day.”, “That’s how knowledge works. It builds up, like compound interest. All of you can do it, but I guarantee not many of you will do it.” Even though he is now rich and powerful, he still spends 80% of his working time on reading. 

Warren Buffett says, “I just sit in my office and read all day.” What does that mean? He estimates that he spends 80% of his working day reading and thinking.

Legend books are worth re-read

I mentioned in the my book “The Rules of Super Growth Stocks Investing” that legend books will never be out of date. It is worth reading a few more times. I also often do this myself. I read on my way to office. When you have repeatedly seen the truth expressed in the successful investment master book are so consistent with your own beliefs, then I want to congratulate you, which means that you are on the right and successful investment path.

Reading those legend books a few times, the guidance of investment concepts and the experience of successful investors will help you unexpectedly. These subtle changes will not be immediate, but they will definitely be reflected in long-term investment performance. It can save us a lot of wrongdoing and reduce the chance of making mistakes (the chance of making mistakes is one of the determinants of investment success).

I have written 39 computer books and finance books myself (see the link at the end of this article), and read more than 800 business and finance books in Chinese and English. I know the hard work of the authors and the intentions of the authors, as well as the benefits of reading. I am often asked about the ways in which I can benefit the most from investment, and reading is bound to be one of my answers. As far as I know of the well-known and successful investment masters recognized in history, or the people around me who invest success, no one does not spend a lot of time on reading.

Reading
credit: ThoughtCatalog

Technology cannot replace reading

Reading takes time, but its status (necessity) will never be replaced. Due to the advancement of technology, people in the early days without the Internet like to watch financial TV (and many people still do), and many people either watch live broadcasts of Internet celebrities or use social networks. Most people’s point of view is that watching financial TV, online celebrity live broadcasts or social networks can make you pleased. I like to listen to what they say (the effect is the same as that of chasing dramas or making jokes. Killing time, and then won’t gain knowledge ─── Is anyone chasing dramas from variety shows with the mentality of acquiring knowledge?).

The second reason is to save your own investment research time (holding this point is destined to be difficult to invest success and get rich), do not have to read your own books (but you are actually wasting your life to help their ratings), get financial knowledge (really? Are you sure?); This is the perception of ordinary people, but this is the wrong perception and the reason why they can always exist. As I mentioned on Chapter 1 of my book “The Rules of Super Growth Stocks Investing” , these are not only not regarded as investment homework, but will waste your precious time in your life. But the wrong investment concept will be instilled unknowingly.

Credit: kaboompics

Reading forces you to concentrate and think

But reading can save you from these troubles, and what you read will be the first-hand original information, rather than the processed second-hand spread. In addition, most people know that reading can gain knowledge, but everyone has forgotten the biggest benefit ─── Reading can make people concentrate and induce your thinking.

This is the biggest benefit. Independent thinking is one of the biggest key factors for investors to succeed, but the premise is how do you think? It is based on your wishful thinking or preconceived subjective prejudices, or facts (usually you must rely on reading to get it). There is a very big difference between the two, and it also determines the success or failure of investors.

Reading to keep your brain exercised

David Rubenstein, co-founder and executive chairman, The Carlyle Group (ticker: CG), “I am a voracious reader. My parents couldn’t afford to buy books for me. I would walk two miles to the public library to take out books. I love reading. The brain is a muscle and you have to exercise it. Right now 40% of all high school graduates have not read a book in the last year. People don’t choose to read a book. I try to read two books a week. It sounds like a lot but I am not reading physics textbooks, I am reading history and biographies and business, things I know about so I can get through them pretty quickly. I try to read because I am exercising my brain, I think if the muscle isn’t used the brain can atrophy. It’s very important to me. I am obsessed with reading newspapers, I read about four or five or six a day. Reading is everything to me. I think if you are going to be a successful business people you have to keep your brain exercisedreading and reading and reading. You never know what you’ll learn that will help your business career.”

“A lot of the people that were doing some of these stocks were young people who really hadn’t read anything–they were just following a trend. And I think they weren’t as well informed as they probably should have been. The trick of being a good investor is to read and know what you’re doing. And a lot of times people just got in the markets and didn’t know what they were doing. “, he said

You can never read too much

David Rubenstein listed some of the traits shared by successful people, saying first that every successful person he’s known has had a voracious thirst for knowledge.

“You can never read too much,” he said.

In his new book, “how to invest”, he wrote “They really love to read as much as they can, even if it’s not about the area that they’re investing in. They are sponges for information.”

Closing words

Simply put, I really can’t say that there is any way to replace the necessity of reading. Not now, and there won’t be in the future.

The author of book “The Almanack of Naval Ravikant” Naval Ravikant said: “It almost doesn’t matter what you read,” says investor Naval Ravikant. “Eventually, you will read enough things (and your interests will lead you there) that it will dramatically improve your life. Just like the best workout for you is one you’re excited enough to do every day, I would say for books, blogs, tweets, or whatever — anything with ideas and information and learning — the best ones to read are the ones you’re excited about reading all the time.”

References

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