It Makes No Sense
Finding where the magic happens
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Y'all think it's bougie, I'm like, it's fine
But I'm tryin' to give you a million dollars worth of game for $9.99
- ‘The Story of O.J’ by Jay-Z
I am the curious type.
I find a wide variety of things interesting and love reading about a range of random topics (as regular readers of ‘Left Field’ will know by now!).
I tend to look at successful people from different fields to see what drives them and what they have done/learned on their journey to see what I can learn and apply to my own situation.
What really hooks me in is when I come across something that doesn’t make sense to me. I then go down a rabbit hole trying to get to the bottom of a particular topic until I have satisfied my curiosity.
I think it is a particular trait that helps when your job is investing.
I came across a particularly useful example recently from the famous billionaire investor Sam Zell.
When Sam Zell reviews the newspaper and media coverage every morning, he is looking for things that don’t make sense.
An example he likes to use is that one time, he noticed that a Starbucks had opened in Mongolia. This was particularly strange as Sam thought they drink tea in Mongolia.
He was so curious about the story that he flew to Mongolia to investigate the situation (as one does!). What he saw was that Starbucks locations had opened next to mines, which hinted at China’s soon to be booming construction sector. Sam remained for a period, doing further research on the Chinese market, and eventually returned to the US with insightful information about the future of the Chinese economy and plans to invest in a number of businesses set to capitalize on this boom.
Why Should You Care?
Whenever famous investor Peter Thiel interviews someone, he likes to ask the following question: “What important truth do very few people agree with you on?”
Most people run away from complexity.
They can’t, or won’t articulate a contrarian view.
For most people, when the world doesn’t make sense, they dismiss their ignorance and think about something else.
But people like Thiel and Zell do the opposite, which goes a long way to explaining their success as an investor.
One of the key things to investing, and life, is to pay attention when you hear that voice in your head that says it doesn’t make sense.
Listen to that voice - that’s where the magic happens.
Tell me why I’m wrong…
- Eoin
Left Field
How do I describe ‘Left Field’? It’s a place to put the content (newsletters/articles, etc) that we have amassed over recent weeks or previous years that really make us think or change our thinking on a particular topic. All the content will offer an alternative view of some topic in financial services, technology or sport (or a combination of all three!)
Age of Abundance: How the Content Explosion will Invert the Media Industry
In this essay, Tal Shachar focuses on the shift from information scarcity to abundance, and how it will invert the media industry. Published in 2016, the essay acts as a pretty accurate roadmap for how the future would unfold.
Anyway, I won’t give away too much. Enjoy the article and feel free to get in touch to discuss more!
- Eoin
Can’t Sleep?
MoneyNeverSleeps podcast episode from this week:
Episode 113: Find Ya' Wealth | Elisabeth Dana and Infinity Circle
Elisabeth Dana from Infinity Circle joins the show to talk about how a career in wealth management inspired her to start all over again to build a business centered on client needs, how to be be both digital and transformational, first reflections on Infinity Circle’s crowdfunding campaign and the social side of wealth management.
Podcast Recommendation: Highly recommend checking out ‘Your Undivided Attention’ podcast, hosted by Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin. The podcast explores what it means to become sophisticated about human nature, by interviewing hypnotists, magicians, experts on the dynamics of cults and election hacking and the powers of persuasion
Newsletter Recommendation: I highly recommend the weekly newsletter ‘5-Bullet Friday’ where Tim Ferriss sends out an exclusive email with the five coolest things he found (or explored) that week. It could include exclusive giveaways, books, gadgets, albums, articles, new hacks/tricks, and — of course — all sorts of weird stuff he digs up around the world.
This newsletter has been written by Eoin Fitzgerald and Pete Townsend
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