I am reading my friend Ashvin Chhabra’s book The Aspirational Investor. I am not much of a fan of business books or books about investing so you might ask “why are you reading that book?” And that would be a great question.
I studied finance at Wharton and learned a bunch of modern finance, investing and portfolio theory. I understand how people on wall street and the world of modern asset management approach investing but we have never embraced it on our own investing.
We earned all of our wealth taking highly concentrated positions in startups. We gave most of it back in the 2000 crash which is what happens when you take highly concentrated positions in risky assets. Then we earned it back the same way. We have diversified over the past decade but almost entirely into self owned and operated real estate and cash. We don’t own public stocks other than shares of public companies we backed when they were startups and Google. We don’t own bonds.
So I was attracted to Ashvin’s thinking on finding a wealth creation and management strategy that aligns with your own personal goals and needs and desires instead of one that is cookie cutter, formulaic, and generic. That is what we have done. And I am seeking to validate our strategy or at least understand what is right about it and what is wrong about it. After all, we created it on our own based on what felt right to us.
Ashvin’s Wealth Allocation Framework “shifts the focus of investment strategy from portfolios and markets to individuals and the objectives that really matter: things like protecting against unexpected financial crises, paying for education or retirement, and financing philanthropy and entrepreneurship”.
That sounds smart to me and so I am reading his book and enjoying it very much. If you think about investing differently or want to, you might enjoy it too. You can find it on Amazon.
