RESOURCES

The Culture Map is a guide to working with people from different cultures by being aware of cultural differences. While the book deals in generalities, it acknowledges that every person is individual, while also being shaped and informed by the culture in which they grew up. It looks at how cultural practices vary in eight different areas: communicating, evaluating, persuading, leading, deciding, trusting, disagreeing, and scheduling. Awareness of the cultural background of another in each of these areas can reduce misunderstanding and create better working relationships. For instance, in some cultures time is very linear (e.g. Germany and Switzerland) and events should start and stop precisely on time. Other cultures (Middle East, India, Africa) are more time-flexible. You aren’t late if you arrive in the correct part of the day. A German may interpret a Saudi showing up thirty minutes late as inconsiderate, rude and irresponsible, while the Saudi may be confused at the German’s frustration. Dr. Meyer is an American married to a Frenchman who has lived abroad for most of her adult life and consults with companies to prepare individuals for cultural differences. The book is thought-provoking, informative and easy to read. It is filled with real life examples from her work that make the concepts relatable, memorable and interesting. Readers will have a greater appreciation for their own assumptions and be better prepared to understand people from different cultures.

This classic personal effectiveness book is one of my all-time favorites. I just read it for the third time, and believe everyone should read it at least once per decade. The book examines seven essential habits for personal effectiveness, giving detailed explanations and using real-life stories to illustrate. Dr. Covey did an extensive review of the American literature of self-improvement and found that the earlier literature (the Puritans through the 19th Century) focused more on character, while the twentieth century literature focused more on techniques. There is nothing wrong with learning techniques for success, but only if we start with the foundation of the proper character.

Bloom introduces the concept of the “arrival fallacy” which holds that meeting a goal will bring a lasting sense of satisfaction. He shares his own journey. He was financially successful, but a friend pointed out that since he only saw his parents once a year, he would probably only see them about fifteen more times before they died.

The Behavioral Portfolio was written for financial advisors, but would also be useful for engaged individual investors.

Your asset allocation decision is one of the most important decisions you will make in your life and is worthy of significant time and thought. Almost all of your returns and risk will be determined by asset class selection.

The best predictor of an investment’s long-term return is its current yield – for fixed income that’s the effective interest rate and for stocks it’s the earnings yield. As of September 2021, both were lower than they had been in over a century. Ilmanen notes that after four decades of very good investment returns, investors have come to expect higher than normal returns instead of the lower than normal expected returns corresponding to today’s price levels.