Category: Book Summary

The Millionaire Fastlane: Chapters (11-15) Summary

This post may contain affiliate links which means I may receive a commission for purchases made through links.

The Criminal Trade: Your Job

By working faithfully 8 hours a day, you may eventually
get to be the boss and work 12 hours a day.
~ Robert Frost

Jobs: Domestication into Normalcy

To Trade Time Is to Trade Life. In a job, you sell your life for money.

Chapter Summary: Fastlane Distinctions
•• In a job, you sell your freedom (in the form of time) for freedom (in the form of money).
•• Experience is gained in action. The environment of that action is irrelevant.
••Wealth accumulation is thwarted when you don’t control your primary income source.

The Slowlane:
Why You Aren’t Rich

Somebody should tell us, right at the start of our lives, that we are dying.
Then we might live life to the limit, every minute of every day. Do it! I say.
Whatever you want to do, do it now. There are only so many tomorrows.
~ Michael Landon

For compound interest to be effective, you need three things:
1) TIME, as measured in years.
2) A favorable YEARLY INVESTMENT YIELD within those years.
3) An INVESTED SUM, repeatedly invested.

Wealth is built with time as an asset, not as a liability!

Chapter Summary: Fastlane Distinctions
•• Slowlane wealth is improbable due to Uncontrollable Limited Leverage (ULL).
•• The first variable in the Slowlane wealth equation evolves from a job that factors to intrinsic value that equates to your nominal value for each unit of your life traded.
•• Intrinsic value is the value of your time set by the marketplace and is measured in units of time, either hourly or yearly.
•• In the Slowlane, intrinsic value (regardless of its time measurement) is numerically inhibited because there are only 24 hours in the day (for the hourly worker), and the average lifespan is 74 years (for the salaried worker).
•• Like the Slowlaner’s primary income source (a job), the Slowlaner’s wealth acceleration vehicle (compound interest) is also pegged to time.
•• Like a job, compound interest is mathematically futile and cannot be manipulated. You cannot force-feed the market (or the economy) to give you phenomenal returns, year after year.
••Wealth cannot be accelerated when pegged to mathematics based on time.
•• Time is your primordial fuel and it should not be traded for money.
••Your time should not be an expendable resource for wealth because wealth itself is composed of time.
••Your mortality makes time mathematically retarded for wealth creation.
•• If you don’t control the variables inherent in your wealth universe, you don’t control your financial plan.

The Futile Fight:
Education

The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.
~ Albert Einstein

Chapter Summary: Fastlane Distinctions
•• Slowlaners attempt to manipulate intrinsic value by education.
•• Indentured time is time you spend earning a living. It is the opposite of free time.
•• Parasitic debt is debt that creates indentured time and forces work.

The Hypocrisy of the Gurus

There was a time when a fool and his money were soon parted,
but now it happens to everybody.
~ Adlai Stevenson

Chapter Summary: Fastlane Distinctions
•• Take advice from people with a proven, successful track record of their espoused discipline.
••Many money gurus often suffer from a Paradox of Practice; they teach one wealth equation while getting rich in another. They’re not rich from their own teachings.

Slowlane Victory…
A Gamble of Hope

I’d rather live in regret of failure than in regret of never trying.
~ MJ DeMarco

12 Distinctions Between Slowlane and Fastlane Millionaires
1) Slowlane millionaires make millions in 30 years or more. Fastlane millionaires make millions in 10 years or less.
2) Slowlane millionaires need to live in middle-class homes. Fastlane millionaires can live in luxury estates.
3) Slowlane millionaires have MBAs. Fastlane millionaires hire people with MBAs.
4) Slowlane millionaires let their assets drift by market forces. Fastlane millionaires control their assets and possess the power to manipulate their value.
5) Slowlane millionaires can’t afford exotic cars. Fastlane millionaires can afford to drive whatever they want.
6) Slowlane millionaires work for their time. Fastlane millionaires have time working for them.
7) Slowlane millionaires are employees. Fastlane millionaires hire employees.
8) Slowlane millionaires have 401Ks. Fastlane millionaires offer 401Ks.
9) Slowlane millionaires use mutual funds and the stock market to get rich. Fastlane millionaires use them to stay rich.
10) Slowlane millionaires let other people control their income streams. Fastlane millionaires control their income streams.
11) Slowlane millionaires are cheap with money. Fastlane millionaires are cheap with time.
12) Slowlane millionaires use their house for net worth. Fastlane millionaires use their house for residency.

Chapter Summary: Fastlane Distinctions
••The Slowlane has seven dangers, five of which cannot be controlled.
••The risk of “lifestyle” is the one risk Slowlaners will try to control.
••The Slowlane is predisposed to mediocrity because its mathematical universe is mediocre.
•• Slowlaners manipulate the “expense” variable because it is the one thing they can control.
•• Exponential income growth and expense management creates wealth—not just by curtailing expenses.
••You can break the Slowlane equation by exploding your intrinsic value via fame or insider corporate management.
•• Successful Slowlaners not famous or in corporate management end in the middle . . . middle class and middle age.
•• Slowlane millionaires are stuck in the middle class.
•• $5 million is the new $1 million.
••A millionaire cannot live a millionaire lifestyle without financial discipline.
•• Lottery winners fall into the millionaire trap and go broke because they attempt to live a “millionaire” lifestyle, not understanding that a few million doesn’t go very far.

Book Summary: The Real Anthony Fauci P.5

This post may contain affiliate links which means I may receive a commission for purchases made through links.

Noble Lies and Bad Data

Dr. Fauci’s mask deceptions 😷 were among several “noble lies” that, his critics complained, revealed a manipulative and deceptive disposition undesirable in an evenhanded public health official.

He supported COVID jabs for previously infected Americans, defying overwhelming scientific evidence that post-COVID inoculations were both unnecessary and dangerous. Under questioning on September 9, 2021, Dr. Fauci conceded he could cite no scientific justification for this policy.

The blatant and relentless manipulation of data to serve the vaccine agenda became the apogee of a year of stunning regulatory malpractice. High-quality and transparent data, clearly documented, timely rendered, and publicly available are the sine qua non of competent public health management.

The “mistakes” were always in the same direction—inflating the risks of coronavirus and the safety and
efficacy of vaccines in order to stoke public fear of COVID and provoke mass compliance. The excuses for his mistakes range from blaming the public (now blaming the unvaccinated), blaming politics, and explaining his gyrations by saying, “You’ve got to evolve with the science.”

At the outset of the pandemic, Dr. Fauci used wildly inaccurate modeling that overestimated US deaths by 525 percent.

Scammer and pandemic fabricator Neal Ferguson of Imperial College London was their author, with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) of $148.8 million.23 Dr. Fauci used this model as justification for his lockdowns.

Dr. Fauci acquiesced to CDC’s selective protocol changes for completing death certificates in a way that inflated the claimed deaths from COVID, and thus inflated its infection mortality rate. CDC later admitted
that only 6 percent of COVID deaths occurred in entirely healthy individuals. The remaining 94 percent suffered from an average of 3.8 potentially fatal comorbidities.

Regulators misused PCR tests that CDC belatedly admitted in August 2021 were incapable of distinguishing COVID from other viral illnesses. Dr. Fauci tolerated their use at inappropriately high amplitudes of 37 and up to 45, even though Fauci had told Vince Racaniello that tests employing
cycle thresholds of 35 and above were very unlikely to indicate the presence of live virus that could replicate.25 In July 2020, Fauci remarked that at these levels, a positive result is “just dead nucleotides, period,”26 yet did nothing to modify testing so it might be more accurate.

As America’s COVID czar, Dr. Fauci never complained about CDC’s decision to skip autopsies from deaths attributed to vaccines. This practice allowed CDC to persistently claim that all deaths following vaccination were “unrelated to vaccination.”

CDC also refused to conduct follow-up medical inquiries among people claiming vaccine injuries. Inspired by rich incentives to classify every patient as a COVID-19 victim -Medicare paid hospitals $39,000 per ventilator27 when treating COVID-19 and only $13,000 for garden variety respiratory infections – hospitals contributed to the deception.

👉Stay Informed 📣

The 5 Years Before You Retire: Concise Summary

This post may contain affiliate links which means I may receive a commission for purchases made through links.

  1. Introduction to Retirement Planning:
    • Define the importance of planning for retirement.
    • Discuss common challenges and concerns related to retirement.
  2. Financial Planning:
    • Explore strategies for assessing your financial readiness for retirement.
    • Discuss budgeting, saving, and investment strategies.
  3. Healthcare Planning:
    • Address considerations for healthcare coverage in retirement.
    • Discuss Medicare, long-term care, and other health-related topics.
  4. Social Security and Pension Planning:
    • Explain how Social Security works and when to claim benefits.
    • Discuss pension options and considerations.
  5. Debt Management:
    • Address the importance of managing and reducing debt before retirement.
    • Provide strategies for paying off outstanding loans.
  6. Lifestyle and Housing:
    • Explore decisions related to where and how you want to live in retirement.
    • Discuss downsizing, relocating, or staying in your current home.
  7. Estate Planning:
    • Discuss the importance of estate planning.
    • Address topics such as wills, trusts, and beneficiary designations.
  8. Income Sources in Retirement:
    • Explore various sources of income during retirement, including investments and annuities.
    • Discuss strategies for creating a sustainable income stream.
  9. Managing Risks:
    • Address potential risks in retirement planning, such as market volatility and inflation.
    • Discuss strategies for mitigating these risks.
  10. Transitioning to Retirement:
    • Offer advice on the emotional and psychological aspects of transitioning to retirement.
    • Discuss activities and hobbies to consider during retirement.
  11. Post-Retirement Lifestyle:
    • Explore ways to stay engaged, active, and fulfilled during retirement.
    • Discuss the importance of maintaining social connections.
  12. Review and Adjustment:
    • Encourage regular reviews of your retirement plan.
    • Discuss the flexibility to adjust plans based on changing circumstances.

Book Summary: Daring Greatly p10

This post may contain affiliate links which means I may receive a commission for purchases made through links.

HOW MEN EXPERIENCE SHAME

Men live under the pressure of one unrelenting message: Do not be perceived as weak.

For men, every rule comes back to the same mandate: “Don’t be weak.”

“CAUTION: Do Not Be Perceived as Weak.” I see how boys are issued a crate when they’re born. It’s not too crowded when they’re toddlers. They’re still small and can move around a bit. They can cry and hold on to mamma, but as they grow older, there’s less and less wiggle room. By the time they’re grown men, it’s suffocating.

As scarcity has grabbed hold of our culture, it’s not just “Don’t be perceived as weak,” but also “You better
be great and all powerful.”

men are very smart. They know the risks, and they see the look in our eyes when we’re thinking, C’mon! Pull it together. Man up.

Joe Reynolds: “Men know what women really want. They want us to pretend to be vulnerable. We get really good at pretending.”

Covert shame hurts just as much as overt shame.

I don’t want to oversimplify something as complex as the response to shame, but I have to say that when it comes to men, there seem to be two primary responses: pissed off or shut down.

Of course, like women, as men develop shame resilience, this changes, and men learn to respond to shame with awareness, self-compassion, and empathy. But without that awareness, when men feel that rush of inadequacy and smallness, they normally respond with anger and/or by completely turning off.

Many men, in fact, use very physiological descriptions when they talk to me about “pissed off or
shut down.” It’s almost as if shame, criticism, and ridicule are physically intolerable.

Shame resilience is about finding a middle path, an option that allows us to stay engaged and
to find the emotional courage we need to respond in a way that aligns with our values.

We are hard on others because we’re hard on ourselves. That’s exactly how judgment works. Finding someone to put down, judge, or criticize becomes a way to get out of the web or call attention away from our box. If you’re doing worse than I am at something, I think, my chances of surviving are better.

The big rule in lifeguarding is to utilize any means possible before you actually jump in and try to pull someone out of the water. Even though you’re a strong swimmer and the person you’re trying to help is half your size, a desperate person will do anything to save themselves—to grab a breath—including drowning you in their effort to survive. The same is true for women and the shame web. We’re so desperate to get out and stay out of shame that we’re constantly serving up the people around us as more deserving prey.

research tells us that we judge people in areas where we’re vulnerable to shame, especially picking folks
who are doing worse than we’re doing. If I feel good about my parenting, I have no interest in judging other people’s choices. If I feel good about my body, I don’t go around making fun of other people’s weight or appearance.

12 Months to $1 Million: Concise Summary

This post may contain affiliate links which means I may receive a commission for purchases made through links.

The book “12 Months to $1 Million” presents a step-by-step guide for individuals aspiring to achieve a financial milestone of $1 million within a year. The author combines practical advice, motivational insights, and actionable strategies to help readers navigate the path to financial success. Here’s a general overview of the key concepts:

  1. Mindset Shift: The book emphasizes the importance of adopting a positive and proactive mindset. Readers are encouraged to overcome limiting beliefs and develop a mindset that aligns with financial success.
  2. Goal Setting: Clear and specific financial goals are crucial. The author guides readers in setting realistic and measurable objectives, breaking down the $1 million target into achievable milestones.
  3. Income Generation: The book explores various strategies for increasing income, such as entrepreneurship, side hustles, investments, and career advancement. Practical tips are provided for maximizing earning potential.
  4. Expense Management: Financial success involves not only earning more but also managing expenses wisely. The author discusses budgeting, cutting unnecessary costs, and making informed financial decisions.
  5. Investing Strategies: The book covers different investment options and strategies to grow wealth. This may include insights into stock market investments, real estate, and other vehicles for building a diversified portfolio.
  6. Productivity and Time Management: Achieving ambitious financial goals requires effective time management and productivity. The author provides tips on prioritization, goal-oriented planning, and maintaining focus on key tasks.
  7. Networking and Collaboration: Building a supportive network and collaborating with like-minded individuals can accelerate financial success. The book explores the importance of networking and creating opportunities through partnerships.
  8. Risk Management: Financial endeavors inherently involve risks. The author discusses risk assessment, mitigation strategies, and making informed decisions to navigate potential challenges.
  9. Adaptability and Resilience: The financial journey may encounter unexpected obstacles. The book encourages readers to cultivate resilience, adapt to changing circumstances, and stay committed to their financial goals.
  10. Monitoring and Adjusting: Regularly assessing progress is crucial. The author provides guidance on tracking financial milestones, adjusting strategies as needed, and staying adaptable in the pursuit of the $1 million target.

If you’re interested in the specific strategies outlined in “12 Months to $1 Million,” I recommend reading the book for the most accurate and detailed information.

Book Summary: The Power of Habit p6

This post may contain affiliate links which means I may receive a commission for purchases made through links.

Attack one habit and then watch the changes ripple through the organization.

You can’t order people to change. That’s not how the brain works. Start by focusing on one thing. If we disrupt the habits around one thing, it would spread throughout the entire company.

Some habits have the power to start a chain reaction. Some habits, in other words, matter more than others in remaking businesses and lives. These are “keystone habits,” and they can influence how people work, eat, play, live, spend, and communicate. Keystone habits start a process that, over time, transforms
everything.

Keystone habits say that success doesn’t depend on getting every single thing right, but instead relies on identifying a few key priorities and fashioning them into powerful levers.

The habits that matter most are the ones that, when they start to shift, dislodge and remake other patterns.

Keystone habits explain how Michael Phelps became an Olympic champion and why some college students outperform their peers. They describe why some people, after years of trying, suddenly lose
forty pounds while becoming more productive at work and still getting home in time for dinner with their kids. And keystone habits explain how Alcoa became one of the best performing stocks in the Dow Jones index, while also becoming one of the safest places on earth.

Researchers have found institutional habits in almost every organization or company they’ve scrutinized. “Individuals have habits; groups have routines,” wrote the academic Geoffrey Hodgson. “Routines are the organizational analogue of habits.”

“The best agencies understood the importance of routines. The worst agencies were headed
by people who never thought about it, and then wondered why no one followed their orders.”

When people start habitually exercising, even as infrequently as once a week, they start changing other, unrelated patterns in their lives, often unknowingly. Typically people who exercise start eating better and becoming more productive at work. They smoke less and show more patience with colleagues and family. They use their credit cards less frequently and say they feel less stressed. It’s not completely clear why. But for many people, exercise is a keystone habit that triggers widespread change. “Exercise spills over,” said James Prochaska, a University of Rhode Island researcher. “There’s something about it that makes other good habits easier.”

Studies have documented that families who habitually eat dinner together seem to raise children with better homework skills, higher grades, greater emotional control, and more confidence. Making your bed every morning is correlated with better productivity, a greater sense of well- being, and stronger skills at sticking with a budget. It’s not that a family meal or a tidy bed causes better grades or less frivolous spending. But somehow those initial shifts start chain reactions that help other good habits take hold.

Detecting keystone habits means searching out certain characteristics. Keystone habits offer what is known within academic literature as “small wins.” They help other habits to flourish by creating new structures, and they establish cultures where change becomes contagious.

The Mind of the Leader: Concise Summary

This post may contain affiliate links which means I may receive a commission for purchases made through links.

“The Mind of the Leader: How to Lead Yourself, Your People, and Your Organization for Extraordinary Results” is a book co-authored by Rasmus Hougaard and Jacqueline Carter. Published in 2018, the book explores the connection between mindfulness and effective leadership.

The authors argue that in order to lead others successfully, leaders must first understand and lead themselves. They emphasize the importance of mindfulness, self-awareness, and emotional intelligence in leadership. The book is divided into three parts:

  1. Be Mindful: This section focuses on self-leadership. It discusses the importance of mindfulness in leadership and provides insights into how leaders can cultivate self-awareness and emotional intelligence.
  2. Be Selfless: The authors argue that great leaders are those who prioritize the well-being and development of their teams. This section explores how leaders can create a positive and supportive work environment, fostering collaboration and team success.
  3. Be Compassionate: Compassionate leadership involves understanding the needs of individuals and the organization. The authors discuss how leaders can develop a sense of purpose, align their teams with a shared mission, and create a culture of trust.

“The Mind of the Leader” combines research findings, case studies, and practical advice to help leaders enhance their effectiveness by integrating mindfulness and emotional intelligence into their leadership approach. The authors suggest that by cultivating a mindful and compassionate mindset, leaders can drive positive organizational outcomes and create a healthier workplace culture.

💪💪 Built precious qualities 💪💪

Best Books of 2023

This post may contain affiliate links which means I may receive a commission for purchases made through links.

Hello Beautiful (Oprah’s Book Club): A Novel

William Waters grew up in a house silenced by tragedy, where his parents could hardly bear to look at him, much less love him—so when he meets the spirited and ambitious Julia Padavano in his freshman year of college, it’s as if the world has lit up around him. With Julia comes her family, as she and her three sisters are inseparable: Sylvie, the family’s dreamer, is happiest with her nose in a book; Cecelia is a free-spirited artist; and Emeline patiently takes care of them all. With the Padavanos, William experiences a newfound contentment; every moment in their house is filled with loving chaos.

But then darkness from William’s past surfaces, jeopardizing not only Julia’s carefully orchestrated plans for their future, but the sisters’ unshakeable devotion to one another. The result is a catastrophic family rift that changes their lives for generations. Will the loyalty that once rooted them be strong enough to draw them back together when it matters most?

An exquisite homage to Louisa May Alcott’s timeless classic, Little Women, Hello Beautiful is a profoundly moving portrait of what is possible when we choose to love someone not in spite of who they are, but because of it.

💝💝💝

Fourth Wing

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general―also known as her tough-as-talons mother―has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away…because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter―like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.

Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom’s protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda―because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die.

💖💖💖

Moon of the Turning Leaves

In the years since a mysterious cataclysm caused a permanent blackout that toppled infrastructure and thrust the world into anarchy, Evan Whitesky has led his community in remote northern Canada off the rez and into the bush, where they’ve been rekindling their Anishinaabe traditions, isolated from the outside world. As new generations are born, and others come of age in a world after everything, Evan’s people are stronger than ever. But resources around their new settlement are drying up, and elders warn that they cannot stay indefinitely.
Evan and his teenaged daughter, Nangohns, are chosen to lead a scouting party on a months-long trip down to their traditional home on the shores of Lake Huron—to seek new beginnings, and discover what kind of life—and what danger—still exists in the lands to the south.

Waubgeshig Rice’s exhilarating return to the world first explored in Moon of the Crusted Snow is a brooding story of survival, resilience, Indigenous identity, and rebirth.

💗💗💗

Yellowface

Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars. But Athena’s a literary darling. June Hayward is literally nobody. Who wants stories about basic white girls, June thinks.

So when June witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse: she steals Athena’s just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers during World War I.

So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song—complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? Doesn’t this piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller? That’s what June claims, and the New York Times bestseller list seems to agree.

But June can’t get away from Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens to bring June’s (stolen) success down around her. As June races to protect her secret, she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.

With its totally immersive first-person voice, Yellowface grapples with questions of diversity, racism, and cultural appropriation, as well as the terrifying alienation of social media. R.F. Kuang’s novel is timely, razor-sharp, and eminently readable. 

🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

Rich Dad Poor Dad: Concise Summary

This post may contain affiliate links which means I may receive a commission for purchases made through links.

“Rich Dad Poor Dad” is a personal finance and self-help book written by Robert T. Kiyosaki. The book contrasts the financial philosophies and practices of two father figures: the author’s biological father (referred to as “Poor Dad”) and the father of his childhood best friend (referred to as “Rich Dad”). Here’s a brief summary of the key concepts from the book:

  1. The Rich Don’t Work for Money:
    • Rich Dad emphasizes the importance of financial education and learning to make money work for you instead of working for money.
    • He encourages the development of assets that generate passive income, such as investments or businesses.
  2. Assets vs. Liabilities:
    • The author introduces the concept of assets and liabilities.
    • Assets are things that put money in your pocket, while liabilities are things that take money out. Building wealth involves acquiring assets and minimizing liabilities.
  3. Mindset and Education:
    • Rich Dad stresses the importance of having a mindset geared towards financial independence and wealth-building.
    • The author criticizes the traditional education system for not providing sufficient financial education and recommends seeking knowledge outside of conventional channels.
  4. Entrepreneurship and Investments:
    • The book encourages readers to think like entrepreneurs and investors.
    • Building and owning businesses, investing in real estate, and making informed financial decisions are highlighted as key paths to wealth.
  5. The Importance of Taking Risks:
    • Rich Dad emphasizes the importance of taking calculated risks and learning from mistakes.
    • He believes that fear and the avoidance of risks often hinder financial success.
  6. Work to Learn, Not to Earn:
    • The author advocates for gaining experience and knowledge over simply working for a paycheck.
    • Acquiring new skills and expanding one’s knowledge base can lead to greater financial opportunities.
  7. The Power of Passive Income:
    • Rich Dad emphasizes the significance of creating and acquiring assets that generate passive income streams.
    • Passive income allows individuals to earn money without actively working for it, providing financial freedom.
  8. Understanding Taxes:
    • The book discusses the importance of understanding tax laws and using them to one’s advantage.
    • Learning how to minimize taxes legally can contribute to financial success.

“Rich Dad Poor Dad” encourages readers to rethink their approach to money and work toward financial independence. It challenges conventional beliefs about money, wealth, and success, promoting a mindset shift towards entrepreneurship and financial education. Keep in mind that while the book has been influential for many, opinions on its advice may vary, and it’s essential to consider individual circumstances when applying financial principles.