Here’s an interesting piece from the Business Insider.
It’s titled: “A self-made millionaire who studied 1,200 wealthy people found they all have one — free — pastime in common”.
Want to guess what that pastime is?
Yep. Reading.
The highlights of the piece:
In his research, he noticed a pastime the rich have in common: They self-educate by reading.
“Walk into a wealthy person’s home and one of the first things you’ll see is an extensive library of books they’ve used to educate themselves on how to become more successful,” Siebold writes. “The middle class reads novels, tabloids, and entertainment magazines.”
He goes on to talk about the amount of time rich people spend reading versus watching TV and then comparing it to poorer people. Very interesting.
My Reading History
I used to be a big-time reader, gobbling up a book every two weeks or so.
But then I got married, had kids, and life got hectic. I don’t read to educate myself that much now outside of work. But I do listen. 🙂
Almost all of my “reading” is now “listening”. I use audio books in the car and podcasts at various times throughout the day. I’ll detail the podcasts I listen to at some point, but for now I wanted to list what I’ve been reading so far this year.
My List
Here’s what I’ve read (listened to) since January 1 and my thoughts on each:
- StrengthsFinder 2.0 – Our entire company took this assessment and is learning how to make the most of our strengths. My top five: Deliberative, Discipline, Analytical, Achiever, Responsibility. I like the book’s focus (work on growing your strengths not improving your weaknesses) — just wanting to see how it gets implemented/used.
- Strengths Based Leadership: Great Leaders, Teams, and Why People Follow – Our Executive Team read this to help us decide how to make the most of our strengths learnings. It was a decent read but half of it was the same stuff as the first book.
- The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations – Loved, loved, loved this book. I bought the audio, listened to it, and loved it so much that I bought the book. I’ll be re-listening and underlining key parts in the book as I do.
- The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace: Empowering Organizations by Encouraging People – I’ve been studying how to reward my team and show them my appreciation. This book was “ok” but not exactly what I was looking for.
- Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win – Very good book on leadership and taking ownership/being accountable. Great stories of combat as well if you like that sort of thing.
- The 4 Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat Loss, Incredible Sex and Becoming Superhuman – I had the audio book from awhile ago and listened to it. Liked so many of the tips and wanted a bit more (the audio is abridged) that I got the book and had about 30-40 ideas I want to implement from it. I’m on a bit of a health kick (lost 7% body fat in several months) which I’ll write about sometime.
- Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It…and Why the Rest Don’t (Rockefeller Habits 2.0) – Currently reading this with the Leadership Team at work. Great, practical book on how to grow a business from one level to the next.
- The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business – You will be hearing more about this as I will certainly post some things from it. Great, basic business book – even for someone who’s been in business for 25 years.
- Washington: A Life – I’m listening to this in my car on the way to work. 33 CDs total, if you can imagine that, and I’m on CD #4. My daughter and I visited Mt. Vernon last month while looking at colleges (an update on that is coming soon) and I fell in love with Washington all over again. I got the CD set supposedly used but it was wrapped up like new and shows zero wear. I got it for $38. 🙂
I do read for pleasure from time to time as well as read a magazine here and there, but these are the books I’ve been through recently.
Money Related
So what’s this have to do with personal finance and becoming wealthy?
My main focus in reading the books above is that I want to improve myself as a manager. If I do, I will be more valuable to my employer and a more marketable executive. As such, I should be compensated at a higher rate than others. I’ll write a post at some point about how educating yourself is a key part of growing your career/income.
Beyond that, there is a benefit to being more knowledgeable, right? Even if what I read doesn’t apply directly to personal finance, isn’t there some advantage to being better informed? It seems to me that there is but I’d be interested in your thoughts.
And how about you? Are you a reader? What are you reading now?
George says
Side note: Congrats ESI on the weight loss. You mention it quickly but it is a big deal and deserves attention, I look forward to that particular post.
I read about 90/10 fiction / nonfiction (not including academic reading for school / work). As I’ve been in school, I haven’t enjoyed nonfiction as much as I used to.. reading for school makes me crave fiction.
I’m starting a job next month out of school and a lot of it involves responsibilities I’ve never had before so I need to brush up on my formal project management skills and will be reading a lot more technical material… additionally I’ll have to keep reading academic papers to keep up / work, so I expect that ratio to start to even out.
ESI says
Appreciate the thoughts on my physical fitness. I’m very happy with the results and probably in the best shape of my life. I will give an update at some point as many of the principles used in getting healthy apply to bring a successful money manager.
Congrats on the new job! I hope it will be all you want it to be and that you’ll share your learnings from it with the rest of us.
I find reading that I “have” to do to be much less fulfilling. Fortunately if it’s a good book (in content) then it often doesn’t feel like a burden even though I must read it. It’s the bad books that I have to read for work that are killers.
Jon says
I agree that personal development goes hand in hand with personal finance. Especially in today’s competitive global economy, you need to continuously educate yourself to stay ahead of the competition.
I made a habit many years coming out of b-school that I would read for 30 minutes each night before bed. I’ve been on track with that for the most part. Lately, my reading has become more practical – “Martial Arts After 40,” since I started taking Taekwondo with my son. Otherwise, I try to alternate some good fiction, e.g. The Orphan Master’s Son, with something practical “The Prize”, a history of oil since it’s discovery in modern times.
I’ve noticed that the older I get, the less TV I watch. There’s certainly an inverse relationship with my net worth. There’s definitely a correlation, but not sure there is causation!
Nice article and congrats on the weight loss, that is a big achievement!
ESI says
Good for you for continuing to educate yourself! I’m sure it has (or will) pay off for you.
I find myself watching less TV these days as well, and I’m thankful for it. Once our next cable contract expires I’m not sure we’ll renew it.
JayCeezy says
A thought on cable…Amazon Prime is great. $99/year (or more, if monthly). Tons of great free current movies and television series (as well as some vintage gems). Lending music and reading libraries with thousands of relevant books. Lots of obscure independent movies and documentaries I could never see, otherwise.
My wife got the service because of the free shipping (her side biz uses it so much it pays for itself 4 or 5 times over). Prices are great, simple acquisitions. You can cancel if you don’t like it.
ESI says
We do have Prime but haven’t made the most of it yet.
Tamara says
I read daily and for an hour or more. It’s how I gear up for the day and decompress afterwards.
I read the daily paper as well as fiction and nonfiction. Whatever captures my attention… It could be a topic or an author ….. So long as it is well written. I’ve no tolerance for bad writing. There is so much to read and not enough time.
Right now I am reading a novel series and The Happiness Project, the seven principles of positive psychology that fuel success and performance at work.
ESI says
We just subscribed to the Sunday paper (for the coupons) so we read that too. But it seems like such a waste of paper! I feel like I’m killing trees.
Would love your thoughts on The Happiness Project.
Coopersmith says
I mostly read articles on the internet and shake my head in disbelief of foolish advice. I am pleased with the return of ESI.
I need to read various technical training to stay current so trade articles and discussions are necessary along with continuous learning credits and requirements.
Recent read outside of this realm was
Shop Class as soul craft by Matthew Crawford. I recommend to any high school graduate who does not know what they want to do. Kind of a philosophical book stating the fallings of the modern education mode were “everyone is supposed to go to college”. One example is taking out all the shop classes and replacing them with computer labs in that some student would have thrived in shop class or similar classes. The author talks about his various jobs and himself going to college and into a field he hated. Found purpose and meaning in the various skilled jobs he loves. The world needs the skilled trades and everyone learns at different levels and has various skills. Young adults were not exposed to various skill that they actually might like, thrive and will make very good living at.
But they are not glamorous so schools say “why teach them”.
ESI says
I was just talking to a friend about this last week. Not everyone is meant for (or needs) college!
Coopersmith says
Especially if you are going into debt for meh money….
Mert says
Wonderful, keep sharing those lists. Extreme Ownership was a great read (listen, in fact) for me. It was far different from what I had expected. Also write about your health journey, and good luck with that. Cheers!
Dividendsdownunder says
It’s a wonderful point. Warren Buffett is a huge advocate/example of how so much reading + learning can be a force to be reckoned with. ‘Knowledge is power’, is a fantastic phrase and extremely true.
Tristan
Vivianne says
Hehe, I’d read many books a year. In college, I read 200 romantic book that summer when I took modern American history, it was so depressing I had to balance things out.
I don’t like reading serious book, unless it’s medical related, otherwise I’d stick to fantasies, romance, and science fiction … Haha, it’s probably won’t help with personal development. Hence, I only have average EQ. 🙂 But I follow the news pretty closely.
M. Interview #2 says
7% body fat reduction is very impressive. Great job! Looking forward to more on that one…