Thought it would be cool to have a thread about books we are reading, books we have read and books we plan to read. Anything you feel is worth sharing. Any topic of course.
I'll start with a couple:
This is Cuba: An Outlaw Culture Survives
by Ben Corbett
http://www.amazon.com/This-Cuba-Outlaw-C...0813338263
This is one of the most impartial accounts of Cuba I've ever read. Since Cuba and the politics surrounding it are so polarizing, it's hard to find accounts that aren't hagiographies of the Revolution or foaming at the mouth anti-Castro reactionaries. This guy spends time both in the countryside and cities of Cuba, talks about the lives of real Cubans, what it's like to be there, how both Castro as well as US policies have fucked things up for normal folks. I get the feeling he is no taking any sides and just wants to tell a human story of how people survive from the jineteros(street hustlers) to the guys that patch up old Soviet era technology trying to keep things running to the families in Havana that fear their apartment will collapse and kill them during the next rain because of the crumbling infrastructure. If you want to understand the real Cuba from the ground level, this book is a great place to start.
The Millionaire Next Door
by Thomas Stanley
http://www.amazon.com/Millionaire-Next-D...0671015206
I read this book quite some time back and it really blew open the doors in terms of thinking about how people become wealthy and all my misunderstandings of how wealthy people lived and accrue their wealth. This book is the reason why I drive a 10 year old car and have no intentions of getting a new one anytime soon even while I live in a city known for it's flashy cars. It taught me that contrary to popular belief, most millionaires actually live quite frugal lives. Most of them are self-made and not people that come from long family lines of wealth. There was an account of a Texan who was wealthy but lived a spartan lifestyle that said "Most people wear big hats but have no cattle. I don't wear a big hat but I have a lot of cattle." Something about that phrase has stuck with me through the years and influenced my thinking. I have great respect for the guy who is prodigious accumulator of wealth yet doesn't flash his wealth ostentatiously. The key to wealth according to this book is living well below your means, eschewing materialism, while investing the money in assets that appreciate in value, be it a business or securities. Most millionaires don't live glamourous lifestyles, they are more likely to own a business producing some boring product like bolts for aircraft while living on way less money than they could be. I read this book during the time real estate was soaring into the stratosphere and everyone around me was buying houses they couldn't afford, pulling out equity to buy plasma TVs, new SUVs and take vacations. Now these same people are broke. Reading this book was like visiting an island of sanity during a time of gratuitous consumerism.
I'll start with a couple:
This is Cuba: An Outlaw Culture Survives
by Ben Corbett
http://www.amazon.com/This-Cuba-Outlaw-C...0813338263
This is one of the most impartial accounts of Cuba I've ever read. Since Cuba and the politics surrounding it are so polarizing, it's hard to find accounts that aren't hagiographies of the Revolution or foaming at the mouth anti-Castro reactionaries. This guy spends time both in the countryside and cities of Cuba, talks about the lives of real Cubans, what it's like to be there, how both Castro as well as US policies have fucked things up for normal folks. I get the feeling he is no taking any sides and just wants to tell a human story of how people survive from the jineteros(street hustlers) to the guys that patch up old Soviet era technology trying to keep things running to the families in Havana that fear their apartment will collapse and kill them during the next rain because of the crumbling infrastructure. If you want to understand the real Cuba from the ground level, this book is a great place to start.
The Millionaire Next Door
by Thomas Stanley
http://www.amazon.com/Millionaire-Next-D...0671015206
I read this book quite some time back and it really blew open the doors in terms of thinking about how people become wealthy and all my misunderstandings of how wealthy people lived and accrue their wealth. This book is the reason why I drive a 10 year old car and have no intentions of getting a new one anytime soon even while I live in a city known for it's flashy cars. It taught me that contrary to popular belief, most millionaires actually live quite frugal lives. Most of them are self-made and not people that come from long family lines of wealth. There was an account of a Texan who was wealthy but lived a spartan lifestyle that said "Most people wear big hats but have no cattle. I don't wear a big hat but I have a lot of cattle." Something about that phrase has stuck with me through the years and influenced my thinking. I have great respect for the guy who is prodigious accumulator of wealth yet doesn't flash his wealth ostentatiously. The key to wealth according to this book is living well below your means, eschewing materialism, while investing the money in assets that appreciate in value, be it a business or securities. Most millionaires don't live glamourous lifestyles, they are more likely to own a business producing some boring product like bolts for aircraft while living on way less money than they could be. I read this book during the time real estate was soaring into the stratosphere and everyone around me was buying houses they couldn't afford, pulling out equity to buy plasma TVs, new SUVs and take vacations. Now these same people are broke. Reading this book was like visiting an island of sanity during a time of gratuitous consumerism.
![[Image: undecided.gif]](https://rooshvforum.network/images/smilies/undecided.gif)
) in riskier index and mutual funds. REITs, small cap, and emerging market, because of my tender investing age of 27. The TSP system (the government equivalent of an IRA) has a "lifestyle" choice which basically steals from the book e.g. if you're 40 years from retirement you pick the "40" lifestyle fund which provides most of your percentages in the riskier funds (small cap, foreign, etc).
![[Image: power.jpg]](http://thefuturebuzz.com/pics/power.jpg)
![[Image: 1579651267.jpg]](http://ak1.ostkcdn.com/images/products/muze/books/1579651267.jpg)
![[Image: 41cZuqeFB1L._SL500_AA300_.jpg]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41cZuqeFB1L._SL500_AA300_.jpg)