The Do It Yourself (DIY) - MBA
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.
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.
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:
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Morgan Housel - Collaborative Fund, Motely Fool
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Josh Brown - Reformed Broker
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Shane Parrish - Farnam Street
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Aswath Damodaran -
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Howard Lindzon - Laugh. Trade. Profit
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Michael Batnick - The Irrelevant Investor
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Tadas Viskanta - Abnormal Returns
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Patrick O'Shaughnessy - Investor Field Guide
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Meb Faber - Mebfaber.com / Cambria Investments
Podcasts I Listen to:
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Motley Fool Market Fooley (Monday-Thursday)
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Motely Fool Moeny (Friday, mostly)
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Akimbo - Seth Godin (once a week)
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Invest Like The Best - (once a week, usually)
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Animal Spritis - (every tuesday)
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Rule Breaker Investing - (every wednesday, usually)
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The Meb Faber Show - (every two weeks-ish)
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The Indicator from Planet Money - (once a week-ish, few episodes at a time)
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The Knowledge Project - (sometimes)
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How I Built it - (sometimes)
Email Newsletters:
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Morning Brew - Sign up here
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Wall Street Journal: The Daily Shot
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Wall Street Journal: 10 Point Guide to News
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Investopedia Term of the Day
Stock Newsletters I Subscribe To:
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Motley Fool Stock Advisor
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Motley Fool Rule Breakers
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Motley Fool Hidden Gems
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Motley Fool Inside Value
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Motley Fool Options
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Howard Lindzon - Peloton
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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
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.
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.
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.
*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
General Business:
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The Personal MBA - Josh Kaufman (own, hard copy, audible, read) - The $20 book that's really a textbook on the basics of business
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Conscious Capitalism - Sisodia, George, Mackey (own, kindle, audible)
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The 100 Best Business Books of All Time - Convert Settersten (own, kindle)
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Linchpin - Seth Godin (own, audible, read)
Investing:
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One up on Wall Street - Peter Lynch (own, kindle, audible, read)
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The Intelligent Investor - Benjamin Graham (own, kindle, partially read)
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The Little Book Of Common Sense Investing (own, kindle)
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Common Stock and Uncommon Profits (own, kindle, audible)
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The Motley Fool Investment Guide (2017) - David and Tom Gardner (own, hard copy, audible, read)
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How to Read a Financial Report (own, kindle, partial)
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Little Book of Valuation - Aswath Damodaran (own, kindle)
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Investing: The Last Liberal Art - Robert Hagstrom (own, kindle, partial)
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The Margin of Safety - William Bernstein (do not own)
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Berkshire Hathaway: Letter to Shareholders - Warren Buffet (own, kindle, partial)
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Learn to Earn - Rothschild, Lynch (own, audible)
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Cryptoassets - Burniske & Tatar (own, kindle)
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Skating Where the Puck Was - William Bernstien - (own, kindle)
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You Have More than You Think - David and Tom Gardner (own, audible, read)
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The Future for Investors - Jeremy Siegel (own, hard copy)
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The Best Investing Writing - Meb Faber (own, kindle, partial)
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Value Investing - Greenwald, Kahn, Sonkin, van Biema (own, hard copy)
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The Million Dollar Portfolio - David and Tom Gardner (own, audible, read)
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Global Asset Allocation - Meb Faber (own, kindle)
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Rule Breakers, Rule Makers - David and Tom Gardner (own, hard copy)
Economics:
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Freakonomics - Levitt, Dubner - (own, audible, read)
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Capitalism and Freedom - Milton Friedman (own, audible, read)
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Poor Economics - Banerjee, Duflo (own, hard copy, audible, read)
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This Time Its Different - Rogoff, Reinhart (own, kindle, audible)
General Thinking:
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Thinking Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahneman (own, hard copy, audible, read) - This might be one of the most important books of all time
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The Rational Optimist - Matt Ridley (own, kindle, audible)
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Predictably Irrational - Dan Ariely (own, audible)
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The Black Swan - Nassim Taleb (own, kindle, audible)
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Skin in The Game - Nassim Taleb (own, kindle, audible)
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The Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell (own, audible, read)
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Blink - Malcolm Gladwell, (own, kindle, audible, read)
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Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell (own, audible, read)
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David and Goliath - Malcolm Gladwell (own, audible, read)
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Thinking in Bets (own, kindle, audible)
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Enlightenment Now - Steven Pinker (own, kindle, audible)
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What the Dog Saw - Malcolm Gladwell (own, audible)
Persuasion and Marketing:
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How to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie (own, hard copy, audible, read)
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Influence - Robert Cialdini (own, hard copy, audible read)
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Pre-Suasion - Robert Cialdini (own, audible)
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How to Win Friends and Influence People In the Digital Age - Carnegie & Associates (own, kindle, audible)
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Win Bigly - Scott Adams (own, kindle, audible, read)
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Tribes - Seth Godin (own, audible)
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Purple Cow - Seth Godin (own, audible)
Narrative & Case Study:
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Reminiscences of a Stock Operator - Edwin Lefevre (own, audible, read)
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Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist - Roger Lowenstein (own, kindle, audible)
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The Big Short - Michael Lewis (own, audible, read)
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Steve Job - Walter Isaacson (own, audible, read)
Life & Personal Development:
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Antifragile - Nassim Nicholas Taleb (own, kindle, audible)
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Principles - Ray Dalio (own, hard copy, kindle, audible, partial)
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Getting Things Done (own, kindle, audible, partial)
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Think and Grow Rich - Napoleon Hill (own, kindle, audible, partial)
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Extreme Ownership - Babin, Willink (own, audible)
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The Elements of Style - Strunk and White (own, hard copy)
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Endure - Malcolm Gladwell (own, audible)
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Extreme Productivity - Robert Pozen (own, hard copy)
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The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*cuk - (own, audible, read, reviewed)
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Ego is the Enemy - Ryan Holliday (own, audible)
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Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creatures (own, kindle)
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The Boy’s Life (own, audible)
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The Dip - Seth Godin (own, audible)
Philosophy:
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Meditations - Marcus Aurelius (own, kindle, audible)
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Self Reliance - Ralph Waldo Emerson (own, kindle, audible)
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An Autobiography of John Stuart Mill - Mill (own, kindle)
Non-Business Classics with Business Lessons:
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Sapiens - Yuval Noah Harari (own, kindle, audible)
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The Lessons of History - Will & Ariel Durant (own, kindle)
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Hamilton - Ron Chernow - (own, kindle)
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1984 - George Orwell (own, kindle, audible, read)
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Player Piano - Kurt Vonnegut (own, audible, read)
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Justice - Michael Sandel (own, kindle, audible, read)
Leadership:
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Leadership - James MacGregor Burns (own, kindle)
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48 Laws of Power - Robert Greene (own, kindle, audible)
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The Outsiders - William Thorndike (own, hardcopy)
Mental Tuning:
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Why Buddhism is True - Robert Wright (own, hard copy, read)
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The Power of Habit - Charles Duhigg (own, kindle, audible, read)
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Your Money and Your Brain - Jason Zweig (own, kindle)
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Deep Work: In a Distracted World - Cal Newport (own, kindle, audible)
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Strength in Stillness - Bob Roth (own, kindle, audible)
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Addiction, Procrastination and Laziness (own kindle)
Entrepreneurship:
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Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*T - Steven Pressfield (own, kindle)
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The Start-up Hero - Tim Draper (own kindle)
THIS IS SO MUCH NO WONDER I OVERESTIMATE HOW MUCH WORK I CAN GET DONE.
The 1 hour and 15 minute "CFA"
CFA - Charted Financial Analyst
