Every day I wake up, I'm like the luckiest guy in the world.
More moments · 3
Ep 26Go to Bed a Half Hour Earlier and Gain 180 Hours a YearMorris Smith
▶1:22
Go to Bed a Half Hour Earlier and Gain 180 Hours a Year
Ep 26Former $20 Billion Fund Manager: 'I Have No Debt'Morris Smith
▶1:21
Former $20 Billion Fund Manager: 'I Have No Debt'
Ep 26Never Have More in the Market Than You Can Afford to LoseMorris Smith
▶1:29
Never Have More in the Market Than You Can Afford to Lose
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Quotes
“What's so unusual about the investment business is you're literally graded at 4:00 every day.”
Morris Smith
“When you waste time, you can never get that back. It is a lost asset that you had.”
Morris Smith
“I am a huge fan that the average individual should put money in index funds.”
Morris Smith
“Never have more money in the stock market than you can afford to lose... If you feel like you're not sleeping at night, it means you have too much money in the market.”
Morris Smith
“We have no right to that money... We are stewards. That's all we are.”
Morris Smith
“A will is a slam dunk. When you get married, you have your first child, you better have a will in place.”
Morris Smith
Takeaways
1 His path: son of Holocaust survivors, Yeshiva of Flatbush, CPA, Wharton MBA in a 1982 recession. He was hired by Fidelity for $34,000 after an interview with Peter Lynch he was sure he'd blown.
2 A compressed career: a leisure fund at 26, a $1B over-the-counter fund at 29, and at 33 he replaced Peter Lynch at Magellan ($13B, then the world's largest stock fund). He grew it to about $20B and beat the market.
3 Turning down one promotion in 1989, after a sleepless Yom Kippur, is what left him free for Magellan.
4 Being new to a field can help: with "no prior baggage" in tech, he bet on the new open systems (Intel, Microsoft).
5 Discipline: a monthly goal of contacting 80 companies. He left the office by 5:30 to help with the kids, then worked at night.
6 Lifestyle never grew with income (his father never earned more than $55,000). He paid off his mortgage as soon as he could and carries no debt.
7 In 1992, buying romaine lettuce on erev Pesach, he realized normal life had slipped away (70+ hour weeks). He left at 35 for Israel to learn and manage his own money part time, and has never regretted it.
8 Talk every big decision through with your spouse. His wife earned an MBA at night and sacrificed her career for his.
9 Most wasted time is late at night. He is up about 4:45 to learn and learns with his grandchildren daily, often by FaceTime.
10 Career advice: get real skills (accounting is a strong base), appreciate your employer, and never shortchange them - Jewish law is demanding on this.