Best of
Finance

2022

The Power Law: Inside Silicon Valley's Venture Capital Machine


Sebastian Mallaby - 2022
    Innovations rarely come from "experts." Elon Musk was not an "electric car person" before he started Tesla. When it comes to improbable innovations, which are the only innovations that really matter, a legendary tech VC told Sebastian Mallaby, the future can't be predicted, it can only be discovered, through iterative venture-backed experiments. It is the nature of the game that most of these experiments will fail, but a very few successes will succeed at such a scale that they will more than make up for everything else. That extreme ratio of success and failure is the power law that drives the VC sector, and all of Silicon Valley, and the wider tech sector shaped in its image. The implications of that power law echo around the world.In The Power Law, Sebastian Mallaby has parlayed unprecedented access to the most successful venture capitalists of all time - the key figures at Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins, Accel, Benchmark, and Andreessen Horowitz, among others--into a riveting blend of storytelling and analysis that unfurls the whole history of incubating tech companies, in the Valley and ultimately all over the world​. We learn the unvarnished truth, often for the first time, about some of the most iconic successes and infamous disasters in Valley history​, from the comedy of errors that was the birth of Apple to the avalanche of venture money that fostered hubris at WeWork and Uber. We're taken inside the different strategic models of the storied ​venture firms, their virtues and drawbacks​. We see the impact of culture, within VC​ partnerships and the companies they nurture--the importance of consciously tending it, and the disasters that ensue when power is concentrated in the wrong hands.​VCs' relentless search for power-law ​grand slams brews an obsession with the ideal of the lone entrepreneur-genius, and companies seen as potential unicorns are given intoxicating amounts of power, with sometimes disastrous ​results. On a deeper, more systemic level, the need to make outsized bets on unproven talent ​reinforces bias that ​channels money and support to, e.g., a certain kind of white guy from Stanford, with women and minorities still represented, within VCs themselves and the companies they support, at woefully low levels. This doesn't just have social justice implications: China's homegrown VC sector, having learned at the Valley's feet, is exploding, and in short order now has far more women VC heads than America has ever had. Still and all, Silicon Valley VC remains the most successful and influential incubator of business innovation in the world: it is not where ideas come from so much as where they go, to become the products and companies that create the future. Of all the people in the world gambling on the future, this group has made, not just a science of it, but many competing sciences, and The Power Law, by taking us so deeply inside their game, give us the be​nefit of thinking more keenly about our own future through their eyes.

My Money My Way: Taking Back Control of Your Financial Life


Kumiko Love - 2022
    Previous budgeting methods haven't worked because they weren't designed by you or for you. Love's original strategies will help you define your goals and achieve them on your own terms. You will learn foundational practices such as:- How to harness your emotions to make authentic money decisions, instead of letting your emotions control you - How to create a budget based on what you need to spend, not what you think you should be spending - How to create a motivating debt pay-off plan that fits your life, not a plan that's too strict to succeedLove knows this better than anyone because she's lived it. Only a few years ago, she struggled to pay her $77,000 dollar debts down while making $24,000 per year as a single mom. Every financial plan she tried failed, so she made one that prioritized her family and her sanity. Today, she's living debt-free in her dream home, which she paid for in cash, and spends stress-free time with her son every day.Love has motivated millions of women to get in control of their financial futures. Her revolutionary yet practical and accessible approach will unlock the secrets of financial fulfillment so you never have to sweat living your best life ever again.

Financial Adulting: Everything You Need to Be a Financially Confident and Conscious Adult


Ashley Feinstein Gerstley - 2022
    From budgeting and consumer activism to retirement investing and paying down debt, you'll learn everything you need to know and do to be a financially savvy adult.In this important book, you'll:Master fundamental concepts, including dealing with student loans, maximizing your 401(k), and preparing for salary negotiations Use a racial and feminist justice lens to tackle rarely discussed topics in money and equity and better understand deep-seated historic and systemic obstacles Recognize that your circumstances, goals, and values are unique and require a custom approach in order to succeed financially Receive a simple step-by-step guide to reaching your financial goals while living a big, exciting, and meaningful life

Balance: How to Invest and Spend for Happiness, Health, and Wealth


Andrew Hallam - 2022
    

POWER OF THE MASTER MIND: Teaching from the Biggest Finance Gurus


Napoleon Hill - 2022
    Full of effective financial planning hacks and advices, it will give you a new perspective on creating wealth and paving the way for success!Pick this book up to learn:• Helpful strategies on financial planning.• How highly successful and rich people manage their finances.• How to make more money and thrive professionally and personally.• How to change your life and make it better.

The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Art of Disruption


Sebastian Mallaby - 2022
    When it comes to innovation, a legendary venture capitalist told Sebastian Mallaby, the future cannot be predicted, it can only be discovered. Most attempts at discovery fail, but a few succeed at such a scale that they more than make up for everything else. That extreme ratio of success and failure is the power law that drives venture capital, Silicon Valley, the tech sector, and, by extension, the world. Drawing on unprecedented access to the most celebrated venture capitalists of all time, award-winning financial historian Sebastian Mallaby tells the story of this strange tribe of financiers who have funded the world's most successful companies, from Google to SpaceX to Alibaba. With a riveting blend of storytelling and analysis, The Power Law makes sense of the seeming randomness of success in venture capital, an industry that relies, for good and ill, on gut instinct and personality rather than spreadsheets and data. We learn the unvarnished truth about some of the most iconic triumphs and infamous disasters in the history of tech, from the comedy of errors that was the birth of Apple to the venture funding that fostered hubris at WeWork and Uber to the industry's notorious lack of women and ethnic minorities. Now the power law echoes around the world: it has transformed China's digital economy beyond recognition, and London is one of the top cities for venture capital investment. By taking us so deeply into the VCs' game, The Power Law helps us think about our own future through their eyes.

The Bond King: How One Man Made a Market, Built an Empire, and Lost it All


Mary Childs - 2022
    In 1966, a fresh college grad, he went to Vegas armed with his net worth ($200) and a knack for counting cards. $10,000 and countless casino bans later, he was hooked: so he enrolled in business school.The Bond King is the story of how that whiz kid made American finance his casino. Over the course of decades, Bill Gross turned the sleepy bond market into a destabilized game of high risk, high reward; founded Pimco, one of today’s most powerful, secretive, and cutthroat investment firms; helped to reshape our financial system in the aftermath of the Great Recession—to his own advantage; and gained legions of admirers, and enemies, along the way. Like every American antihero, his ambition would also be his undoing.To understand the winners and losers of today’s money game, journalist Mary Childs argues, is to understand the bond market—and to understand the bond market is to understand the Bond King.

Shareplicity: A Simple Approach to Share Investing


Danielle Ecuyer - 2022
    In Shareplicity, she takes the complexity out of share investing, explains concepts simply and in plain English, and provides go-to steps to start investing. With property prices continuing to climb to even more unaffordable levels, and interest on cash in the bank at all-time lows, more and more smart investors are looking at shares. And Shareplicity is a great place to learn about share investing, whether you are new to the markets or an existing investor.Here's why:· *Shares have consistently produced above average long-term performance· *You don't need large sums of capital to start investing in shares· *There are no hassles or stress over debt and mortgages, no tenants and no maintenance costs as there are with property investing· *There's potential for capital appreciation and income streams.Whether you're saving for a deposit, a holiday, the kids' education or a comfortable retirement, share investing offers the flexibility and ease for anyone at any age or stage in life.

Price Wars: How the Commodities Markets Made Our Chaotic World


Rupert Russell - 2022
    border. In Price Wars, he sets out on a worldwide journey to investigate what caused the wave of chaos that consumed the world in the 2010s.Russell travels to Tunisia, Iraq, Venezuela, Ukraine, East Africa, and Central America and discovers that unrest in all these places was triggered by dramatic and mysterious swings in the price of essential commodities. Deregulation of the commodities markets means that food prices can shoot up even in years of abundant harvests, causing hunger and protest. Oil prices and real-estate values can surge even when supplies are normal, enriching and emboldening dictators. It is this instability--fueled by banks and hedge funds in faraway New York and London--that has toppled regimes and unsettled the West.Price Wars is a fascinating, original, and groundbreaking expos� of the power of the commodities markets to disrupt the world.

Baby Steps Millionaires: How Ordinary People Built Extraordinary Wealth--and How You Can Too


Dave Ramsey - 2022
    

The Model: 37 Years Investing in Asian Equities


Richard H Lawrence - 2022
    Lawrence, Jr. founded Overlook Investments in Hong Kong in 1991. Since inception, Overlook has grown at 14.3% per year for three decades—a remarkable record of growth that is testament to a consistent ability to find and invest in Asia’s best companies.This raises two important questions: How did Overlook achieve its success; and how can Overlook best ensure future success?Now, in a level of detail never before disclosed, Richard and the Overlook executive team turn the lens inward to analyse The Overlook Model. They describe the philosophies, practices and people that drive Overlook’s outperformance. Welcome to The Model .The Model is composed primarily of stories—of the people, companies, executives and events that have punctuated three decades at Overlook. There are stories of success, but also stories of problems and failure. This is how Overlook learned and grew. The two principal stories are a pulsating case study of the voracious 1997/98 Asian Crisis; and an extended review of TSMC, Asia’s finest public company.A sharp focus is also placed on the constituent elements of The Overlook Model: Overlook’s Investment Philosophy and Business Practices, which add up to Overlook’s Margin of Safety. This analysis of investment theory–how an investment management company should be run–illustrates how Overlook is able to say with confidence that it can nearly guarantee delivery of outperformance to its investors.And where would Overlook be without China? Overlook’s experiences in Asia reflect the ways that Overlook’s methods of investing have succeeded while Asia grew and matured over the past three decades. For this reason, The Model contains a series of chapters charting Overlook’s path in China.Finally, the Overlook executives provide a series of delightful chapters including The Art of Selling; an interview with Jeffrey Lu Minfang; a panel discussion on Overlook’s home city of Hong Kong; and thoughts on ESG.The Model is a celebration of three decades of success in investing in Asia. It gives Richard Lawrence, along with James Squire, Leonie Foong and William Leung, the opportunity to answer: Just how did Overlook do it; and can Overlook keep doing it in the future?All proceeds from the sale of the book will go to support Proyecto Mirador, a non-profit that builds fuel-efficient cookstoves in rural communities across Central America.

Finance for the People: Getting a Grip on Your Finances


Paco de Leon - 2022
    -- Refinery 29 We are all weird about money. Whether you have a lot or a little, your feelings and beliefs about money have been shaped by a combination of silence (or even shame) around talking about money, personal experiences, family and societal expectations, and a whole big complex system rigged against many of us from the start. Begin with that baseline premise and it's no surprise so many of us find it so difficult to save enough money (but way too easy to get trapped in ballooning credit card debt), emotionally draining to deal with student loans, and nearly impossible to understand the esoteric world of investing.Unlike most personal finance books that focus on skills and behaviors, FINANCE FOR THE PEOPLE asks you to examine your beliefs and experiences around money--blending extremely practical exercises with mindfulness, and including more than 50 illustrations and diagrams to make the concepts accessible (and even fun). With deep insider expertise from years spent in many different corners of the financial industry, Paco de Leon is a friendly, approachable, and wise guide who invites readers to change their relationship with money. With her holistic approach you'll learn how to: - root out your unconscious beliefs about money - untangle the mental and emotional burden of student loans to pay them off - use a gratitude practice to help you think differently about spending - break out of the debt cycle and begin building wealthThis book is for anyone who feels unseen, ignored, or bored to death by the way personal finances are approached and taught, and is ready to go on a journey of self-discovery and step into their financial power.

Wealthy By Choice: Discover Your Personal Blueprint To More Money, Time, Freedom, And Peace of Mind


Aaron Sim - 2022
    

I’m Still Standing: Bond King Bill Gross and the PIMCO Express


William Gross - 2022
    

Cryptocurrency All-in-One For Dummies (For Dummies (Business & Personal Finance))


Kiana Danial - 2022
    

Beyond Bitcoin: Decentralised Finance and the End of Banks


Simon Dingle - 2022
    

The Ethical Investor: How to Quit Toxic Companies and Grow Your Wealth


Nicole Haddow - 2022