Tony Robbins Last Word

At last I have finished reading all 600 + pages of Tony Robbin’s book, Money: Master the Game, and returned it to the library. If you want a solid basic education in the discipline of investment, go down to your local library and check it out. If you can deal with the motivational speeches, some admittedly well deserved self congratulation on a life well lived by the author, and his personal relationship with the investment firm that he endorses, go out and buy a copy for your bookshelf. You won’t regret following the advice offered by the money masters Tony Robbins selected to model as he went about researching the problems faced by the average American.

This brings up another question. Who were those money masters he interviewed while writing this book? Tony Robbins has included short excerpts from the actual conversations he had with these men and women, many of them lasted several hours. I guess being the personal coach to the wealthy, famous, and powerful gives one a certain entrée denied to us ordinary mortals.

Here is the list,

Carl Icahn
David Swensen
John C. Bogle
Warren Buffett
Paul Tudor Jones
Ray Dalio
Mary Callahan Erdoes
T. Boone Pickens
Kyle Bass
Marc Faber
Charles Schwab
Sir John Templeton

I can’t imagine that I could put together a better list of twelve names who could answer my investment questions.

One of the rituals I practice in retirement is the morning coffee lecture. Before I eat breakfast or go for a walk, I make a cup of coffee and select an educational or inspirational video to watch in preparation for the day. The wealth of knowledge and wisdom available on Youtube and other sources is absolutely unbelievable. I am currently using Tony Robbins’s list as a source for my continuing education.

I started with Ray Dalio because I didn’t know he existed until I read this book. Dalio, manager of the world’s largest hedge fund, comes across as a calm dispassionate Zen master, viewing the rise and fall of economic waves with perfect equanimity. He uses the term, “cause and effect,” over and over without anger or remorse. After watching two of his lectures, I am impressed with the clarity and simplicity of his presentation of very complex issues such as credit cycles underlying the economy that last for as long as a hundred years.

Just like the printing press, radio, television, and the cassette tape player that came before, one author predicted that the Internet would make smart people smarter and dumb people dumber. Model Tony Robbins’s behavior! Use everything at your disposal to learn how to make better decisions. Then take that “massive action” so often recommended by the author. Who knows where you will finally discover your limits?