How a Billionaire Invests – an Interview with David Rubenstein
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What do the most successful investors in the world have in common? Brian recently interviewed David Rubenstein, legendary cofounder of The Carlyle Group, to get insight into some of the time-tested principles, wisdom and tools of the biggest names in finance. Here are some of the top takeaways:
Love what you do
The key to success in business is to find something you’re interested in and enjoy doing. If you start a business that you don’t like, you’re not going to be very good at it! You must really believe in your business and want to go to work every day. Nobody ever won a Nobel Prize hating what they do.
Persist, persist, persist
Anyone who starts a business will experience difficulty. There’s no plain sailing in life, even for seasoned businesspeople and investors. Everyone encounters challenges – the key to ultimate success is to persist and not give up.
Great investors go against the grain
Great investors are often those people who go against conventional wisdom. For example, when the market is soft and others tend to sell, they will buck the trend and buy because everything is cheaper and they see opportunity. Their mindset is that the world economy will come back, so you don’t need to hit the bottom or the top of the market, you just need to believe in what you’re doing.
Get professional advice
Don’t become obsessed with trying to time the market – getting in when you think it’s going up or getting out when you think it’s going down. Instead, give your money to people who know what they’re doing, and let them do it. Find good companies and fund managers and listen to their advice.
Don’t confuse your net worth with your self-worth
You are not defined by your wealth, so don’t measure how important you are by the money you make. You must always have goals in life that aren’t related to just making money. Help other people and do something worthwhile that leaves a positive mark on society. Above all, never confuse your net worth with your self-worth.
Lead to succeed
You can’t do everything by yourself; you have to convince other people to follow you if you want to succeed. This means that you have to learn to write in a convincing way, speak in a persuasive way and always lead by example. If you’re a good leader, people will naturally follow you because they’ll want to emulate someone they admire.
If you want to learn more about how you can grow your business and win in today’s market, listen to the latest episode of “It’s a Good Life”.
