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troy.springer@rendezvousinvesting.com

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© 2023 by Troy Springer

The Do It Yourself (DIY) - MBA

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While I do not have an MBA (Master of Business Administration) or CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) or any plans in the near future of obtaining either of those designations  I do have a system in place for compensating for my lack of formal graduate education. I call this concept the “Do It Yourself MBA.” This is not to take away from formal education, but we live in a world where knowledge is not scarce, and I intend on taking advantage of that. Some of the smartest people in the world share their thoughts for free. Here is what I have done, will do, and do everyday to get smarter.

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Someone asked me how much time I spend a week on Business. Since business is a pretty broad topic I said 20-25 hours a week. But it really doesn't feel like work to me, I include all the activities I list here as being part of those hours.

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I encourage you to check out these two article by Ben Carlson and Mike Dariano who wrote about this concept and inspired me to make this page


 

Blogs I Read Frequently:

  • Morgan Housel - Collaborative Fund, Motely Fool

  • Josh Brown - Reformed Broker

  • Shane Parrish - Farnam Street

  • Aswath Damodaran - http://aswathdamodaran.blogspot.com/

  • Howard Lindzon - Laugh. Trade. Profit

  • Michael Batnick - The Irrelevant Investor

  • Tadas Viskanta - Abnormal Returns

  • Patrick O'Shaughnessy - Investor Field Guide

  • Meb Faber - Mebfaber.com / Cambria Investments


 

Podcasts I Listen to:

  • Motley Fool Market Fooley (Monday-Thursday)

  • Motely Fool Moeny (Friday, mostly)

  • Akimbo - Seth Godin (once a week)

  • Invest Like The Best - (once a week, usually)

  • Animal Spritis - (every tuesday)

  • Rule Breaker Investing - (every wednesday, usually)

  • The Meb Faber Show - (every two weeks-ish)

  • The Indicator from Planet Money - (once a week-ish, few episodes at a time)

  • The Knowledge Project - (sometimes)

  • How I Built it - (sometimes)  

 

Email Newsletters:

  • Morning Brew - Sign up here

  • Wall Street Journal: The Daily Shot

  • Wall Street Journal: 10 Point Guide to News

  • Investopedia Term of the Day

 

Stock Newsletters I Subscribe To:

  • Motley Fool Stock Advisor

  • Motley Fool Rule Breakers

  • Motley Fool Hidden Gems

  • Motley Fool Inside Value

  • Motley Fool Options

  • Howard Lindzon - Peloton

  • Forbes Investor

 

Formal Education:

University of Richmond 2018’

Bachelor of Science: Business Administration concentration in Economics; Robins School of Business

Bachelor of Arts: Leadership Studies; Jepson School of Leadership Studies

 

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Books:

 

This is my collection of books. I have sourced it mostly from bloggers, financial professionals I follow, and professors I have had. I haven't read or only partly read most of them and I note which ones I have read and what formats I own them in.

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Naval Ravikant once said in a podcast the had always bought a ton of books but probably only make it through 15% of the pages of them and thinks the investment is well worth it. 

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I also endorse a service called Blinkist which is essentially the Sparknotes for Non-Fiction Books, but almost as valuable as reading the whole book.

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*Listed roughly in order of importance by category

 

Blue - Excellent understanding

Green - Good understanding

Orange - Still working through or need to revisit

Black - Haven't stared or not read enough

Red - Do not own

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General Business:

  • The Personal MBA - Josh Kaufman (own, hard copy, audible, read) - The $20 book that's really a textbook on the basics of business

  • Conscious Capitalism - Sisodia, George, Mackey (own, kindle, audible)

  • The 100 Best Business Books of All Time - Convert Settersten (own, kindle)

  • Linchpin - Seth Godin (own, audible, read)

 

 

Investing:

  • One up on Wall Street - Peter Lynch (own, kindle, audible, read)

  • The Intelligent Investor - Benjamin Graham (own, kindle, partially read)

  • The Little Book Of Common Sense Investing (own, kindle)

  • Common Stock and Uncommon Profits (own, kindle, audible)

  • The Motley Fool Investment Guide (2017) - David and Tom Gardner (own, hard copy, audible, read)

  • How to Read a Financial Report (own, kindle, partial)

  • Little Book of Valuation - Aswath Damodaran (own, kindle)

  • Investing: The Last Liberal Art - Robert Hagstrom (own, kindle, partial)

  • The Margin of Safety - William Bernstein (do not own)

  • Berkshire Hathaway: Letter to Shareholders - Warren Buffet (own, kindle, partial)

  • Learn to Earn - Rothschild, Lynch (own, audible)

  • Cryptoassets - Burniske & Tatar (own, kindle)

  • Skating Where the Puck Was - William Bernstien - (own, kindle)

  • You Have More than You Think - David and Tom Gardner (own, audible, read)

  • The Future for Investors - Jeremy Siegel (own, hard copy)

  • The Best Investing Writing - Meb Faber (own, kindle, partial)

  • Value Investing - Greenwald, Kahn, Sonkin, van Biema (own, hard copy)

  • The Million Dollar Portfolio - David and Tom Gardner (own, audible, read)

  • Global Asset Allocation - Meb Faber (own, kindle)

  • Rule Breakers, Rule Makers - David and Tom Gardner (own, hard copy)

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Economics:

  • Freakonomics - Levitt, Dubner - (own, audible, read)

  • Capitalism and Freedom - Milton Friedman (own, audible, read)

  • Poor Economics - Banerjee, Duflo (own, hard copy, audible, read)

  • This Time Its Different - Rogoff, Reinhart (own, kindle, audible)


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General Thinking: 

  • Thinking Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahneman (own, hard copy, audible, read) - This might be one of the most important books of all time

  • The Rational Optimist - Matt Ridley (own, kindle, audible)

  • Predictably Irrational - Dan Ariely (own, audible)

  • The Black Swan - Nassim Taleb (own, kindle, audible)

  • Skin in The Game - Nassim Taleb (own, kindle, audible)

  • The Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell (own, audible, read)

  • Blink - Malcolm Gladwell, (own, kindle, audible, read)

  • Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell (own, audible, read)

  • David and Goliath - Malcolm Gladwell (own, audible, read)

  • Thinking in Bets (own, kindle, audible)

  • Enlightenment Now - Steven Pinker (own, kindle, audible)

  • What the Dog Saw - Malcolm Gladwell (own, audible)



 

Persuasion and Marketing: 

  • How to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie (own, hard copy, audible, read)

  • Influence - Robert Cialdini (own, hard copy, audible read)

  • Pre-Suasion - Robert Cialdini (own, audible)

  • How to Win Friends and Influence People In the Digital Age - Carnegie & Associates (own, kindle, audible)

  • Win Bigly - Scott Adams (own, kindle, audible, read)

  • Tribes - Seth Godin (own, audible)

  • Purple Cow - Seth Godin (own, audible)


Narrative & Case Study:

  • Reminiscences of a Stock Operator - Edwin Lefevre (own, audible, read)

  • Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist - Roger Lowenstein (own, kindle, audible)

  • The Big Short - Michael Lewis (own, audible, read)

  • Steve Job - Walter Isaacson (own, audible, read)


 

Life & Personal Development: 

  • Antifragile - Nassim Nicholas Taleb (own, kindle, audible)

  • Principles - Ray Dalio (own, hard copy, kindle, audible, partial)

  • Getting Things Done (own, kindle, audible, partial)

  • Think and Grow Rich - Napoleon Hill (own, kindle, audible,  partial)

  • Extreme Ownership - Babin, Willink (own, audible)

  • The Elements of Style - Strunk and White (own, hard copy)

  • Endure - Malcolm Gladwell (own, audible)

  • Extreme Productivity - Robert Pozen (own, hard copy)

  • The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*cuk - (own, audible, read, reviewed)

  • Ego is the Enemy - Ryan Holliday (own, audible)

  • Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creatures (own, kindle)

  • The Boy’s Life (own, audible)

  • The Dip - Seth Godin (own, audible)

 

Philosophy:

  • Meditations - Marcus Aurelius (own, kindle, audible)

  • Self Reliance - Ralph Waldo Emerson (own, kindle, audible)

  • An Autobiography of John Stuart Mill - Mill (own, kindle)


 

Non-Business Classics with Business Lessons:

  • Sapiens - Yuval Noah Harari (own, kindle, audible)

  • The Lessons of History - Will & Ariel Durant (own, kindle)

  • Hamilton - Ron Chernow - (own, kindle)

  • 1984 - George Orwell (own, kindle, audible, read)

  • Player Piano - Kurt Vonnegut (own, audible, read)

  • Justice - Michael Sandel (own, kindle, audible, read)


 

Leadership:

  • Leadership - James MacGregor Burns (own, kindle)

  • 48 Laws of Power - Robert Greene (own, kindle, audible)

  • The Outsiders - William Thorndike (own, hardcopy)


 

Mental Tuning:

  • Why Buddhism is True - Robert Wright (own, hard copy, read)

  • The Power of Habit - Charles Duhigg (own, kindle, audible, read)

  • Your Money and Your Brain - Jason Zweig (own, kindle)

  • Deep Work: In a Distracted World - Cal Newport (own, kindle, audible)

  • Strength in Stillness - Bob Roth (own, kindle, audible)

  • Addiction, Procrastination and Laziness (own kindle)

 

Entrepreneurship:

  • Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*T - Steven Pressfield (own, kindle)

  • The Start-up Hero - Tim Draper (own kindle)

 

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THIS IS SO MUCH NO WONDER I OVERESTIMATE HOW MUCH WORK I CAN GET DONE. 

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The 1 hour and 15 minute "CFA"

CFA - Charted Financial Analyst