Warm up
20 SSH IC
15 Grady Corn IC
16 Imperial Walker
10 Arm Circles forward and back
The Thang
8 Minnesota Mike Tyson’s Financial Success Is Behavioral (Not Pure Intelligence) Key Story Ronald James Read
- Janitor and gas station attendant
- Died with $8 million in investments.
- Richard Fuscone Harvard MBA
- Retired in his 40s Mansion cost $90,000/month to maintain Eventually declared bankruptcy
Insight
- Financial success depends more on behavior, discipline, and patience than intelligence or status.
Key principle
- Finance is a soft skill about behavior.
32 Plank Jacks Experience Shapes Risk Tolerance
People’s investment behavior is shaped by when they grew up and what they experienced.
Examples: People who lived through the Great Depression preferred bonds. Investors in the 2000s prefer equities. Example of experience:
Someone who started investing in 2008 (financial crisis) will likely be more risk-averse. Someone who started in 2012 (bull market) may take more risk.
Key Insight
- Risk tolerance is influenced by life experience, not intelligence.
36 Gas Pumps Luck and Risk Play Huge Roles
Example: Bill Gates Only about 300 students attended Lakeside School where he had access to a computer.
Roughly 1 in a million students had that opportunity.
Another example: Kent Evans Brilliant student from the same school Died in a mountaineering accident
About 36 high school students per year die in similar accidents (~1 in a million risk)
- Insight Success requires: Hard work, Skill Luck But risk and luck are inseparable.
17 Burpees When Is Enough Enough?
Examples of excessive greed: Bernie Madoff
Ran massive investment firm Still risked everything in fraud. Example: A McKinsey CEO with $100M+ net worth committed insider trading for $17M more. Insight
Capitalism creates: Wealth Envy
- The danger: never feeling satisfied.
- Key question: When is enough enough?
38 Flutters IC Getting Rich vs Staying Rich
Example: Jesse Livermore
Made fortunes in the 1929 crash
Eventually lost everything and Suicide in 1934.
Key Principle Getting rich requires Risk, Optimism , Aggressiveness Staying rich requires Humility, Frugality, Fear of losing everything
14 General Grant Merkins Compounding Requires Survival
Example: Warren Buffett
Began investing at age 8 99%+ of his wealth came after age 50 Invested through 14 recessions
- Key idea: Compounding works over decades, not years.
- Important principle: Avoid catastrophic risk.
8 Pull-ups Margin of Safety & Room for Error
Examples: Bill Gates kept 1 year of payroll in cash.
Buffett always keeps large cash reserves.
- Concept: Room for error Example: Plan works at 8% returns But still survives at 4% returns This flexibility protects you.
30 Stone Crabs IC “Tails” Drive Outcomes
Most results come from a small number of huge successes. Examples: Venture capital Stock market
Tech companies Acceptance rates: Google Apple
Facebook Each hires <1% of applicants.
- Key principle: A few big winners drive most results.
50 Deep Lungs (L/R2) Wealth vs Rich
Rich: High income, Visible spending
Wealth Assets not spent
Example: Someone driving a $100,000 car only proves they used to have $100,000.
- True wealth is: The car not bought, The upgrade declined , The watch not purchased
15 AppleJack Merkins The Value of Money
The real value of money: Control over your time.
Highest form of wealth: Independence, Freedom
Ability to choose what you do daily.
11 Dead Bugs (l/r1) The “Valet Fallacy”
People buy luxury items for status signaling.
But observers rarely admire the owner.
Instead they think: “I wish I had that car.”
Respect and admiration come from:
Character Relationships Time freedom
Not material goods.
50 Freddies (IC) Be Reasonable, Not Perfectly Rational
Example: Harry Markowitz Nobel Prize winner
Created optimal portfolio theory
Personally invested 50% stocks / 50% bonds
- Reason: He wanted to sleep well at night.
- Lesson: The best financial strategy is the one you can stick with long term.
Expect the Unexpected
Example: Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster (2011)
Built to withstand the largest recorded tsunami. Larger wave occurred anyway.
- Lesson: Unprecedented events always happen.
- History is: ~80% reliable ~20% wrong
14 Squat Jumps The Russian Roulette Fallacy
Risk with catastrophic downside is unacceptable.
Example: Russian roulette odds may be good
But the potential outcome is fatal In finance:
- Avoid risks that could wipe you out completely.
18 Penning Pickers (L/R2) Volatility Is the Cost of Investing
Think of volatility as: A fee — not a fine
Example: A fee = ticket to Walt Disney World
A fine = punishment from the Internal Revenue Service
Market volatility is simply the price of long-term returns.
12 Ranger Merkins The Dangers of Confirmation Bias
Example: If someone expects a recession:
They only read negative news.
- Lesson: Avoid extreme narratives.
138 SSH Optimism vs Pessimism
Pessimism sounds smarter because:
It focuses on risks, It feels analytical
But long-term progress favors optimism.
Example: Oil prices: $20 per barrel in 2000
$138 per barrel in 2008
High prices created new innovation and supply.
Index Investing Simplicity
Most investors underperform markets.
Example: Average investor underperforms index by ~0.5% per year due to bad timing.
Simple strategy: Buy low-cost index funds
Save consistently Stay invested.
Social & Behavioral Observations
Example Low-income households spend $412/year on lottery tickets.
Wealthy households spend $103/year.
Reason: Lottery tickets sell hope, not rational math.
Also: 40% of Americans cannot cover a $400 emergency.
Core Lessons -boil down to 10 core principles:
- Behavior > intelligence in finance
- Experience shapes risk tolerance
- Luck and risk influence outcomes
- Know when enough is enough
- Getting rich ≠ staying rich
- Compounding requires survival
- Always build margin of safety
- A few big wins (tails) drive success
- Wealth is what you don’t see
- Money’s ultimate value is freedom and time
COT
Prayers for Oneshot’s wife
Prayer for Rapunzel Shoulder
Prayers for Growth of F3