Invested: How I Learned to Master My Mind, My Fears, and My Money to Achieve Financial Freedom and Live a More Authentic Life

by Danielle Town, Phil Town

In this essential handbook—a blend of Rich Dad, Poor Dad and The Happiness Project —the co-host of the wildly popular InvestED podcast shares her yearlong journey learning to invest, as taught to her by her father, investor and bestselling author Phil Town. Growing up, the words finance, savings, and portfolio made Danielle Town’s eyes glaze over, and the thought of stocks and financial statements shut down her brain. The daughter of a successful investor and bestselling financial author of Rule #1 , Phil Town, she spent most of her adult life avoiding investing—until she realized that her time-consuming career as lawyer was making her feel anything but in control of her life or her money. Determined to regain her freedom, vote for her values with her money, and deal with her fear of the unpredictable stock market, she turned to her father, Phil, to help her take charge of her life and her future through Warren Buffett-style value investing. Over the course of a year, Danielle went from avoiding everything to do with the financial industrial complex to knowing exactly how and when to invest in wonderful companies. In Invested , Danielle shows you how to do the same: how to take command of your own life and finances by choosing companies with missions that match your values, using the same gold standard strategies that have catapulted Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger to the top of the Forbes 400. Avoiding complex math and obsolete financial models, she turns her father’s investing knowledge into twelve easy-to understand lessons. In each chapter, Danielle examines the investment strategies she mastered as her increasing know-how deepens the trust between her and her father. Throughout, she streamlines the process of making wise financial decisions and shows you just how easy—and profitable—investing can be. Capturing a warm, charming, and down-to-earth give and take between a headstrong daughter and her mostly patient dad, Invested makes the complex world of investing simple, straightforward, and approachable, and will help you formulate your own investment plan—and foster the confidence to put it into action.

Genres: Finance, Nonfiction, Business, Personal Finance, Money, Audiobook, Self Help

336 pages, Paperback

First published March 27, 2018

About the author

A corporate startup attorney, DANIELLE TOWN earned her law degree from New York University and holds degrees from Wellesley College, the University of Oxford, and the University of Colorado. She cohosts InvestED: The Rule #1 Podcast with her father, Phil Town.

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 1 out of 5]

Audiobook.

I have given up on this book 2 hours into the Audiobook. Her story is not relatable to me, and the fact that she has gone 2 hours without giving any concrete Warren / Charlie advise is very misleading.

So far she has talked about her dad, herself and her flaws. Couldn't care less.

[Hidde Tieleman · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author of this book Danielle Town is the 36 year old daughter of the succesful investor and 2 New York bestseller author Phil Town. Although Daniele Town is the daughter of Phil, she is a total dimwit in the investing world.
This book is mainly focused on Novice investers, like myself which barely touched on the subject before. Danielle is a total beginner herself so she makes sure to break down every concept passing by into detail. Her background as a lawyer and law practice is very useful for her writing, because she is trained to write in great detail.

Now I describe the various themes that passed by during Danielles 1 year story and touch upon what I learned from it.

January

The first month starts off with Danielle battling her fears and reluctancy towards the finacial service complex. After some twisting she gets to the conclusion that she has to take care of herself. “Putting her nose to the corporate grindstone” wouldn’t provide her the happiness and financial freedom she is searching for. She wants to have choices, freedom

But her reluctancy wasn’t searching for a way out to get financial freedom without having to invest in the financial complex. There popped up two stategies to her mind
1. Hoard. Just save money and only make the most conservative investments.
2. Abdicate. Give her money over to a fund manager. These professionals were able to her money properly. The fee you have to pay is fair by abdicating the risk to lose all your money by your ownt fault.

Phil explains the first option is not viable at all. This has to do with the general inflation rate (which compounds!) being higher than the interest on saving accounts.

The second option ‘abdicate’ isn’t viable either. Because you’ll have to put in such a high minimum stake, the most of us even can’t bring to the table. This also applies to Danielle. Even when she wouldn’t want get her toes wet, her bank account was insufficient to meet the treshold criteria of fund corporations. Apart from that investing funds make barely more money than the “market” generally spoken. On top of the poor performance of fund corporations you have to pay a fee over the profit the make for you, which makes your actual profit even shrink more. This option is better than hoarding, but not adequate if your endeavor is real financial freedom, with a minimum principal to start with.

February

The second month is about finding your “number”. This term is Phil using to give Danielle some insight and perspectives of amounts of money she needs to make in order the life she wanted. With various examples of calculations. Danielle gets straight how she approximately;

1. Spend minimal a year to support her current lifestyle
2. How money years she should invest
3. How much money she should invest
4. What the required rate of return should be

March

The third month is about a aspect of investing which really resonates with me, namely voting with your money. Voting with your money basically means that you choose for products, services and missions from companies you like personally. This means bringing in your money is a form of empowering your favourite companies to expand even more and bring their products and/or services to even a broader audience.

There can be specific industries or products on your list though or industries were you’re against.
Some tips are provided to brainstorm about which products you’re concious or onconciously already voting for and which values you’re supporting.

April

In April begins the eloboration on value investing, which is a red thread running through the book.
We start off with a sprint through the first three principles, which are getting described more granular in the months following.

There are 4 principles, which should be respected by a value investor

1. One should understand a business to start
2. The business should have intrinsic characteristics that give it a durable competitive advantage
3. The business has preferably a management with talent and integrity
4. It must be a business that can be bought for a prince that makes and gives a safety of margin

So first things first, Danielle is starting to draw a so called “Circle of competence”. Here you have to fill out three circles for yourself.

1. What do I vote for with my money?
2. Where do I make my money
3. About what am I passionate

Afterwards you’ll just look to where the circles are overlapping and tadaa you have a starting point of businesses you might invest in.

May

The second principle is hugely important. Once one understand the business is it time to determine if the business has a durable competitive advantage. There are a few characteristics to determine if a company has a durable competitive advantage and are referred to as moats.

The five and (half) moats
1. Brand. Some companies have such a strong brand, they can’t be wiped out from our landscape. Think of companies like Coca Cola, Microsoft and Amazon.
2. Switching. It can be very difficult to switch or get away from a product for a customer. Think about the Apple products with their OS which is fully integrated through all their products. Sure you can switch from Apple to microsoft, but one will be deterred.
2.5. Network effects. Is a subset of the switching moat. It has to do with the switching moat, but refers chiefly to the access to a particular network that one uses. You can unsubsribe from Linkedin for example, but you lose access to an powerful network and potentional connections when you do.
3. Toll Bridge. A toll bridge refers to a company which has a monopoly in a niche market. Usually created by government regulations/intervention. But the cause can be geographic as well or driven by incredible costs to enter the market.
4. Secrets. Some companies have proprietary secrets. The most well known in the secret recipe of Coca Cola. Although the recipe might have leaked multiple times, but Coca Cola can still held up the mythe that the recipe is secret and thus desirable.
5. Price. The last moat is the price moat. Some low-cost providers try to offer their products just a cheap as possible and have therefore a durable advantage relative to their competitors. Think about a companies like Ali Express or Costco.

They touch lastly on the third principle; Management with integrity and talent.
The following aspects can be taken into account when one assesses the management of a company

Biography: What is the background of the founder? How did he/she get there? What connections does the founder have?
Management style: There is a lot of difference between Richard Branson and a “keep growth steady and low” type
Founder: When the founder already left a company, the current management could react to the departure of the founder
Board of directors: The board of directors hire and fire the management team. So it is necesarry to determine how they have handled those.
Ownership: Some CEOs just want to leave the ship, before hell breaks loose. One should therefore ideally search for companies where CEO’s have a large shareholder stake.

At the end Danielle presented a checklist to at least assess the first three principles against a company to determine if this company is wortwhile for investing purposes.

June

In June Danielle investigates the companies which are in her circle of competence. In May Phil already teached about the big four numbers one should consider and assess a company against.
These are the big four numbers:

Thereby you have the following management numbers which are very relevant:
1. Return on Equity
2. Return on Invested Capital
3. Debt

So Danielle started to assess her companies against these numbers and the management style, to give the reader more practical insight. Thereby she described how she started to look in her direct environment for companies where she might want to invest in.
This month ends with Danielle facing her preconceptions about money and wealth by describing how her family history/past events have affected her relationship with money. Some of them were absolutely helpful, but some of them were hindering her to fully immerse herself in this investing practice and should get reduced/be taken away. One should determine for her- or hisself if any preconceptions are hindering them to fully immerse in their investing practice. This is not something I can relate with, but for others it might be helpful.

July

July is about the fourth principe of investing, namely pricing. One should only buy a price for a share that makes sense and has a margin of safety built in.

Three methods of pricing/valuation are getting addressed:
1. Ten Cap price (based on Owner Earnings)
2. Payback Time price (based on free cash flow)
3. Margin of safety valuation (based on earnings)

These first two pricing methods are getting described in combination with some easy to follow examples.
Normally you have the numbers which need to be filled in, already at your disposal from applying the first three principles.

August

August is all about value and calculating it with the margin of safety method. How can one determine the value of a company? The Margin of safety method is a very viable one for this.

Purpose:
Required numbers:
- Earnings per Share
- Windage growth rate
- Price to earnings ratio
- Minimum acceptable rate of return

This method will explained thoroughly with different numbers and different kind of companies, before moving on to the next month.

September
After the calcultations of August, this month was dedicated to the inverting the story of a company. Necesarry to competely be certain if a company is the right one the invest in. Phil tries to keep Danielle away from making common investing mistakes by offering a list of expensive common errors which one should avoid at all costs.

Before one could invert a story it is essential to write a story in the first place. A story should be written on the hand of the four principles mentioned earlier. So you have to basically write a story for a wonderful company you love and try to rebut it afterwards. Every reason to buy it, should get rebutted. It is recommended to ask for advice/discuss this with fellow investors or family members, because it is quite hard to invert a story you made for a company you love. But reasons to not buy a company should be absolutely clear.

October

October is about building a antifragile portfolio.
The underlying thought is that you as a value investor should wait till shit hits the fan and the prices of companies you have on your wishlist start to drop. Making use of fluctuations is where value investing is all about.
When the moment is there, according to Phil it’s a best practice to buy in tranches (i.e. slices or portions). In the middle of an event its incredibly hard to call the bottom of a share price. An investor is not an fortune teller in any way. So if the price starts falling it is recommended to buy a first portion and to wait to see what the market is doing. If its dropping even more you can go ahead and buy a second tranch before you wait on how the market reacts, and so forth and so on.

November

The first month were selling comes into play. An value investor will actually never sell a company. This premise is advocated very frequently by Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger. However there is a reason when one have to sell a company. This moment is there, when the story of a company changes. Think about emerging technologies like navigation apps on the mobile phone, which replaces the TomTom entirely or the rise of Uber which had a big impact on the traditional cab driver industry. Thereby there can be a major shift at the management leading the company, which can one make lost trust in the company.

But once again, one should try to stick as long as possible to stocks already bought.
Initially it recommended to reduce the basis of the principal you brought to the table. So when you have invested for example $10.000 in a wine company, ongoing dividend payments can reduce this basis. But on the other hand it is not a good plan to buy shares for its dividends, because companies that are unhealthy can pay dividends just to give the impression they are financially stable and try to attract even more shareholders. In reality they can be in shambles and not trustyworthy at all (with the risk of losing all of your money cause of bankruptcy for example).
Your basis gets reduced as well if companies buy back their own shares on the market. The value for the remaining shares will only rise as a result.
So one sells only when inverting the story of the company leads to the conclusion that the story is not longer tenable.

December

The last month of Danielles practice is dedicated to provide tools to get her practice ongoing and being thankful for what she has achieved.
An investor should always be aware of what is unknown, but this isn’t a constraint to be a succesful investor. When following the provided principles you’re not likely to make serious blunders, investing in multiple companies and well-vetted checklist are also a part of responsible investing.
Danielle ends with a ongoing practice checklist which could be serve as a guidance once one has run through a investment practice.

Conclusion:

To me this book was very beneficial. I have never touched a book upon investing, so most of what I read was new to me. The reading style and supporting math examples and the reiteration of concepts made really clear what value investing is all about. Even when you don’t have a particular interest in investing this book will be probably also kind of compelling, because its so lively written and tangible.

Rating 5/5

[Suzanne Tanner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard for me to rate this book, because it's either going to be the most important book I read this year and completely change my life, or it's going to have zero impact and be entirely forgotten (thus the middle of the road three stars). Basically, I need my husband to read it and sign on to this. If he does, I'm totally sold and in. If he doesn't, well, I can't do this on my own. Basically, this book is a crash course on what is called Value Investing (the kind of investing Warren Buffet does), and it terrifies me to death, but also really appeals to me. Danielle's story is that she's a lawyer working long hours with stress that's killing her (sounds entirely too familiar), and she wants out. But she's got student loan debts and a mortgage and can't just quit (also sounds entirely too familiar). So, she turns to her dad, who happens to be a super successful investor. She resists every step of the way, but through a year of intensive coaching, he teaches her everything he knows about investing and about how to become financially independent. This book goes in depth (I seriously glazed over during a lot of the math), but also lays it all out in a way that is engaging (there's a story here, the writing is fun) and rather persuasive. We'll see if reading this book actually changes things in my real life, but if you are at all curious about investing, I highly recommend this book as a great starting place.

[essie · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is some helpful advice and principles, but they are very basic. And I couldn’t help but be annoyed at the petulance of the author. The actual investing content is very minimal, while the author’s life story and problems are extensively elaborated. I’m sure it’s helpful for those new to investing, but I can’t help thinking there’s books that lay out investing basics better than this one.

[Adam · Rating 1 out of 5]

In 2011 I stumbled upon the “Bogleheads” community, who subscribe to Vanguard founder John Bogle’s philosophy of living below your means and investing as much as possible in low-cost index funds. This is based on the empirical fact that index funds consistently outpace the great majority of actively managed funds over time.

Danielle Town’s thesis is that any average Jill or Joe (say, a corporate lawyer from Boulder with a thing for Whole Foods and yoga pants) can in fact “beat the market.” That is, they can make superior investing decisions than professional market analysts and supercomputers trading in milliseconds. She and her father extol the stock-picking wisdom of Warren Buffett. interestingly enough, Buffett is on the record suggesting that the average investor should just drop everything in an S&P500 index fund and be done with it. That, and after beating the market consistently for decades, Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway has actually underperformed the market now for over a decade.

Town provides little to nothing in the way of empirical evidence or data that support her assertion that anybody can, in their spare time, pick just 10-15 companies to invest in and beat the market. While she goes over the basics of valuing companies and reading their financial statements (which I’m admittedly pretty ignorant of) there’s no real engagement with potential criticisms of her method.

The book culminates with the sale of her first stock purchase, Whole Foods. The stock gets a big bump when Amazon announces that they are purchasing the company, and at her dad’s urging, she immediately sells. Her overall aim (unrealistic IMO) is to consistently get 26% return on her money. She is ecstatic that she secured a 41% return on her money for this one position. After selling, obviously she has cash and no stock positions.

I was curious as to how she would have done had she not sold based on her dad’s hunch, but instead held on to the investment. Buying and holding long term is the way of index investing.

I assume that she sold on the day of the big bump, 6/16/17, at $42.68/share. I also assume that she could have rode the stock until the Amazon take over was complete and just converted to parent company shares (AMZN) This occurred on 8/25/17, with Whole Foods closing at $41.99, and AMZN at $945.26. AMZN recently closed at $1869.80 on 12/28/19, for a tidy increase of 95% over 30 months. This is around 30% annualized return, better than her goal.

Would that have beaten the market? Vanguard’s Total US Stock Market Index (VTSMX), which mirrors “the stock market”, was at $60.96 on 6/16/19. It closed at $79.85 on 12/28/19. In the intervening time, it also threw off $3.36 in dividends, so let’s call it $83.21. That’s an increase of 36%, or ~13% annualized.

The whole book hinges on this one stock purchase as emblematic of Danielle’s newly acquired stock-picking skills. And yet... Had she NOT sold on 6/16/19, she would have nearly doubled her money by now, trouncing even the substantial 36% increase in the market as a whole.

She went to cash. Granted... we don’t know if she had selected something better than Amazon. Or stayed in cash and missed out on a huge rally.

But that’s the point. All her cards are not on the table. The story is nice enough to sell books, but not robust enough to bet your financial fortune on.

Reading this book has reconfirmed my commitment to the buy-and-hold index fund approach. I rarely take the time to write book reviews, but I felt like it was important to point out the methodological flaws in this book.

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Initial thoughts: Invested is a great book to get readers thinking about their finances, their goals. I loved the approach Danielle took to outlining her financial journey, how it impacted other areas of her life and the lessons that she learnt with regards to investing. I listened to it on audio, which helped me fully immerse my mind into why investing is so important over simply saving and how to get started. While stocks might not be part of my strategy just yet, I'm sure I'll revisit Invested in future. I'll then look to a print edition or the ebook, so I can sit down and work out the numbers as I reread.

On a personal note, like Danielle, I grew up with my dad constantly telling me about the importance of investing. He kept telling me that working a full time job alone, wasn't going to do me favours financially. Like Danielle, I didn't actually believe that investing was for me but I've come to a point that I've realised that it's not such a stretch after all, and I am capable of learning and going down that road too. With that parallel, I felt even more connected, which in turn made me feel like book was very applicable to me as well.

[Sharlee · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Decent explanation and basic guideline for value investing (Warren Buffett’s way). This type of investing is a hard-earned approach wherein the investor takes the reins and delves deep into a company’s inner workings and projects earning potential to make an educated decision as to whether the company is deems worthy of the investor’s money. Easy to read. Obviously, the accounting and calculations are more in-depth and require Excel. The book is Danielle’s account of her initial education and preliminary journey toward value investing through coaching by her father, investor and published author, Phil Town.

[Dylan Peter-Callery · Rating 5 out of 5]

* One of the best books I have ever read
* Largely Phil Town repeating his valuation techniques based on how Warren Buffet value companies but described by Danielle Town who gives valuable insights into common problems new investors face
* Danielle writes beautifully and has a wonderful ability to put the reader at ease which is so usefel when talking about investing which often brings up a lot of emotions in beginners

[Travis Chambers · Rating 1 out of 5]

Light on investing wisdom from Buffett and Munger.

Heavy on cheesy dialogue and her relationship with her father.

[Tabs · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lots of good info but it was unnerving trying to learn from this book. I found it difficult to trust Danielle's credibility, given that she had also just come to grips with these concepts. Strange mix between investing education and a narrative of her love life.

[Joseph Reilly · Rating 1 out of 5]

I would not recommend this book to individuals looking to learn Buffett/ Munger investment theory for several reasons.

1. I prefer directly reading about Buffett and Munger. There are many financial disciples of the Oracles of Omaha but nothing beats the real thing.

2. This book is often off-topic, the author frequently discusses her relationship with her father. Her Father is a wealthy investor who left the family when she was a child. I sympathize with the author but prefer a bare-bones, nothing-but-the-facts approach to investment literature. 

3. The author Danielle Town was a lawyer before she started her investment career, so I found it hard to believe that learning investment theory was difficult for her. She appears neurotic and self-deprecating at times like a Woody Allen type, which feels unnatural.

[Tony Delgado · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had 2 good chapters. I was more interested in the technical aspects of investing, and less interested in the personal stuff about her relationship with her father and her romance with Nuno. Skip it for something more straight forward.

[Donmakles · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is more like a combination of investing advice and autobiography. I understand why some people will find this book annoying simply because she spend so much time talking about her personal experience instead of investing advice. In my opinion, this book is great and you can relate to her journey from financial illiteracy to wherever she is right now.

If you're investing for several years now, you will probably not enjoy this book, but if you're a beginner, you'll be able to relate to her experience.

[Yuriko · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed the approachable tone that helped me to digest information and knowledge with ease from this book. I thoroughly appreciate how the author dumbs the information down for novice readers without any prior exposure on investing world. My fear of Mathematics did not put me off from my enthusiasm to learn about baby steps of investing. Satisfactorily, that counts for something!

[Jay French · Rating 3 out of 5]

I recently read Phil Town’s “Rule One”. In that book, Town repeatedly tells the reader that he has a simple system to pick winning stocks, but then describes the system using dozens of sub topics, optional research topics, and arcane history. Town’s one rule is actually a complex system, and while I enjoyed the way the system was presented, with history tied to famous value investors, it’s use seems quite time consuming.

I read this book, not initially understanding that this is a kind of walk thru of Town’s process, using his daughter as the voice. I found this much more compelling than Town’s original book. The process seems more reasonable when approached as a new investor, and in this case it doesn’t seem as involved. Mixed in with the story of learning how value investor’s invest is Danielle Town’s story – about her legal career and career re-think, her occasionally strained relationship with her father, and about moves. I enjoyed this book, even though I consider myself beyond this level of learning. I heard enough research suggestions that I can adjust my own process to add a few new ideas. In addition to investing books, I also enjoy books about entrepreneurs, and the story of how Phil Town, in effect, passes his business on to a daughter, was also quite interesting. It starts with the daughter being totally uninterested and uninvolved, but walks through her basic and advanced learning of his system, and her participation in an audio podcast on investing with her father. You can tell what happened at the end of the book, where you are given some advertisement for Danielle Town’s web site and investing services. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

[Irene · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best books I've ever read. I'm such a beginner in this topic and I hadn't been able to finish the holy "The Intelligent Investor" book. I'm really glad that I found this book because I find it easier for me to digest all of the information and knowledge from this book. I love how Danielle and her father do storytelling. In total, there are 12 chapters that represent each month of the year, where Danielle had investing practice with her dad with a different topic each month. The beginning of this book might be a bit boring because it tells us about their family background and Danielle's childhood, which later I understand why they bother to tell us about this story. In the beginning of the book, the author also explained a bit of fundamental knowledge of investment; which is a helpful reminder for me on why'd I start to read this book.

The examples and explanations in this book are very practical and well written. I also feel so connected and related to the author; the fears and the feeling of being incompetent. I honestly got a bit emotional while reading this, which is quite funny that in fact, this book is about investment. I love how this book also showed us the beautiful relationship between father and daughter, an unexpected result from the author's initial plan on learning about investment. This book not only tells us how to manage money, but also how to master your mind and emotion, and also to overcome your fear. I really wish I'd read this book earlier but it's better late than never right

[Carmen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really, really enjoyed this book. It's part memoir, part stunt non-fiction. The tone is very approachable and conversational and the material is, for the most part, transparent. Recommend.

[WeiLe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the one-year journey of how Danielle learning to become an investor. It's a very good book for all people who's interested in investing, I highly recommend this book for beginner investor because of the storytelling format where we get to be peers with Danielle. It teaches the basics of investing, understanding stock market, how to do value investing and also the four-principles by Charlie Munger. The book is divided into 12 chapters in relative to 12 months, with each month focusing on one topic and also includes investment practices.

The only problem I have with this book is the lack of examples for the complicated calculations(especially the Margin of Safety), but it's not a deal breaker.

[Royal Sequeira · Rating 4 out of 5]

more like 3.5/5

[Emma K · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unhealthy preoccupation / obsession with her father

[Ashley Salisbury · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can not express how much I love this book. It is for anyone who has been afraid of taking control of their own money story and actually setting out and planning how to invest your own money yourself. Danielle goes through an entire year learning how become a values investor like Buffett, Munger, and her own father, Phil Town by following the Rule #1: Don't Lose Money. She (and her father) explains her whole process, breaks it down into easily followed monthly steps, and explains how she overcame her own emotional hang-ups over money and the relationship with her father. She does it all with humor and not just a little bit of sass. I am a big fan of sass. I'm also a big fan of watching a father daughter relationship grow into a relationship between adults (that's hard) - I certainly teared up and then lol'd on the same page. (Gchat conversation with my book buddy can confirm said occurrence.)

As a burgeoning Financial Fitness Coach, I read this book because it seemed to hit on a lot of issues that clients would have, and I hoped that in reading it I would, if nothing else, have another resource in order to give clients some answers regarding their own personal finances. I found that I am so glad I read it for ME. I now have a way of actively choosing, valuating, and managing my own investments without having to depend on a fund manager. I can choose companies that align with my personal values and interests and be able to ascertain if those companies will meet the necessary returns to reach my investment goals. And the MATH, as Danielle calls it, is not hard - you will just have to learn it, and it might be slow going, and just like any other new skill the more you practice the more you will understand and the easier it will get. A big part of why I love this book is that it not only shows you how to evaluate a company for stock investment, but also how you would evaluate ANY investment - a whole company or even a real estate investment purchase with easy to understand math examples. I am excited to begin my own values investing practice and see where it will take me for my future.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is written from the point of view of the novice learning at the foot of the master. In this case, a very bright, educated daughter has finally figured out that she has to make her money work as hard for her as she worked to get that money. And, even though her father has a reputation for being a financial guru, she had no idea how to make her money work that hard until she started talking to him about what he does for a living.

It's a pretty cute and well-tried theme when adult children decide it's time to give their parents a little bit of credit for knowing something that they don't. The conversational exchanges go tangential to "growing up memories" where family interactions that we all have are laid bare--in this case, both sides get to give their version of what happened in those growing up memories. And, it's a good thing when the confronting of that conflict occurs in an atmosphere of common sense, good judgment, and adult behavior. Throw in a little empathy by each party and have an audience who can identify with father/daughter interactions can lead to an enjoyable read where you might get an understanding for more than just value investing.

As stated above, the plot of this book is the "coming of age" of the novice learning these tips of the trade for financial management and investing from the master. Like any other "how-to" book, the description of that "how-to" can read like any reader can enjoy wonderful success if that reader will just follow these simple steps. But, simple doesn't mean easy. Success is not guaranteed.

Regardless, this is an introductory book describing one method of finding and evaluating stocks from a value investing approach. The prescribed activities for following this method are understandable. The operational steps are clear...there is a pathway and that is what is laid out in this book. If you try this method, then good luck.

Just to let you know, I've read it twice already.

[周 大為 · Rating 4 out of 5]

這是一本分享價值投資的書籍，內容簡單淺顯易懂，我認為是入門價值投資相當不錯的書。

若說可能是缺點的部分，就是作者同時分享了很多私人生活的部分，有些人可能喜歡，但沒興趣的人就可以當八卦快速帶過。

總體來說我覺得蠻推薦，特別是投資小白。因為作者就是自詡為一個投資小白然後一步步走入投資世界的成功案例。

以下為重點整理。

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查理芒格的四個原則

1. 找自己有能力了解的公司 (能力圈)

2. 公司內在特質具長期競爭優勢 (護城河)

3.經營者正直誠實

4.在合理價格買進以求安全邊際



3月──用我的錢票選使命
投資的目標是買進好公司：好產品、好團隊、有良心的事業。換言之買你喜歡、認同的公司。



4月──價值投資的第一原則
價值投資的第一原則是：了解一家公司。

能力圈：熟悉的專長 X 興趣 X工作，交集越多的領域即為個人能力圈核心。



5月──查理的護城河與企業經營
護城河類型：1.品牌。2. 轉移成本。3.網絡效應(用戶)。4.技術(專利) 5.價格(規模經濟)。6.專賣特許權(壟斷)。

財報四大數值：1.營收。2.淨利。3.淨值。4.現金。此四大數值最好每年成長10%以上。ROE最好年成長15%以上。



6月──和能力周旋
記得第一原則。別投資超出能力圈的標的。


7月──查理的第四原則：價格
三大估價法：
1.十資估價法：淨利10倍(本益比10)做為參考股價。
2.現金流投資回收定價法：(淨利-資本支出=自由現金流) X 年成長率 (乘10次)=估計10年後回本的價格。
3. 安全邊際法：EPS X 年成長率 (乘10次) X 「預期本益比」÷ 4 (這是假設每年折現率0.87然後10年後的值) 再÷ 2 (這是作者設定的安全邊際，我想這個值是比較主觀的)

用此3個值求大略估價。


9月──翻轉故事

反向思考：反過來想公司可能的風險，看看你是否能反駁這些可能。太難預測的公司，宜避開。


10月──編組抗跌投資組合

不要預測未來股價走勢而交易，這是投機。
找到好的投資標的，耐心等待合理價買入，耐心長抱，直到「狀況改變」或是股價過高再考慮賣出。這才是投資行為。

11月──何時脫手？
基本上好股票不用考慮脫手，脫手的理由如上述--股價過高或情況改變 (或者...選擇認錯XD)

高股息不應列入挑好股條件，因為發出太多現金的公司，可能意味著已過高成長期，認為公司現金在手已無法創造更大價值。而利用股票回購來維持高EPS的股票也要注意是否在維持獲利成長的假象。

只有需要金流的例如退休族，才需要著重考慮發現金股息的股票。

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以上。真的很簡單明瞭。

也真的很適合價值投資新手。

[Ray · Rating 1 out of 5]

Really wasted my time. For the first hundred pages or so there’s no information at all. It’s mostly back and forth with her dad which could have been condensed to:
Stocks are hard. No they’re not. But they are. No. Foin.
Foin is a word used hundred of times throughout the book so you can relate to the author. Because we all say foin, right?
Then we go onto deep as to why her father left her family and how she has daddy issues. Then we get some mystery and romance about her European lover.
Wait, WTF am I reading? Foin.
Anyway most of the book is like this. Then they finally tell you the good stuff which is basically like this. Find a company you like. Look at a few figures of their 10k. Effectively, wait until their stock drops to 50%. Then buy as much as you can. Now you’re a stock market genius.
Oh and buy the tools on her dad’s website cause it will do the math for you.
Total con game.

[Eric Beaudoin · Rating 1 out of 5]

To be fair, I did not finish this book. I was 25% of the way through it and it had not mentioned a single thing about investing. It has been exclusively based on the author's family drama and her anxiety toward investing. She also makes what seem to be outlandish claims toward investing and based on her introductory chapters, I am unable to take her seriously as an expert on the topic. After this frustration I decided to read some of the reviews and I will say, the one star reviews echo my thoughts perfectly (although these readers stuck it out for the long haul).

[Saeed Kharouf · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book Danielle teaches the principles of value investing through the journey she had made. Her personal story with her dad is less important but she definitely gives tips on the general practises someone should do on a daily basis in order to make it a habit. She also simplifies the concepts.

[Kian.ting · Rating 5 out of 5]

This should be the first investment book to read easy to understand and follow and it already has one year of Developement plan for your reference if you follow after one year you will be so much better making investment decisions.

[Mai Anh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Điểm cộng: sách viết về đầu tư dễ hiểu, dễ follow, cơ bản cho người mới bắt đầu và muốn đầu tư dài hạn

Điểm trừ: Câu chuyện hơi drama về gia đình, hôn nhân như chiêu trò marketing viết sách, nên có thể ignore hoặc đọc lướt

[Ivan Kuleš · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great stuff for total beginners in investing

Great story told in a really simple and easy way. I recommend it to all investing noobs. Nice way to start a long life in investment :)

[Franca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a pleasant enough book to read. It’s light in tone, has a personal touch and provides a gentle and encouraging nudge towards investing to those intimidated by the prospect. The author addresses many of the psychological aspects that prevent non-math-people and others from getting into investing and I think she does a good job of inviting those people into that world.

As for the actual investing advice, it comes across as second-hand, which it is. Sure, she provides a decent outline of how value investing works, but for the real goods, I’d recommend going back to the source. The value she adds is in sharing the process she uses to learn, not what she actually learns.

Overall, however, the author comes across as a very privileged young woman. I took exception to her repeatedly saying “if I can do this anyone can”. Clearly she is a smart young woman (who created a successful law career for herself) and had considerable support from those around her. I also took exception to her saying, essentially, that you’re an idiot if you buy mutual funds. Clearly they are providing sufficient growth, despite management fees, for many, many people to invest in them and see their wealth grow.