How to Invest: Masters on the Craft by David M. Rubenstein

How to Invest: Masters on the Craft Reviews

• 
  Liquidlasagna

  I do admit i like listening occasionally to Rubenstein on Bloomberg News on the weekends, once in a while, but he seems a bit too much like a cookie-cutter sort of Larry King. If you take it for what it is, 'neat low-key curiosity' by Business Tycooons, it's sorta neat, but it just doesn't have an insightful feel like Charlie Rose would. But Charlie is a very intense type of breezy interviewer, where manners come first to the 'hard-questions', or at least charlie goes for as 'hard as is diplomatically possible with his questions'
  
  [my criterion is this....]
  [I like Rubenstein's books enough that i plan to get the whole series of these, because as interviews with no expectations, they are fine.]
  
  [I totally dock off 20% for this trying to be pushed as a how to invest book, or that one can always get that much usefulness out of great investors, who deal in a work that's slightly different than the ordinary investor... But yes, you can learn from Buffett in a lot of ways, but do his techniques work for non-billionaires, who like to hold onto stocks forever, and you covet voting rights?]
  
  [but yes you can get out of Buffet why he picks good companies in most cases, though his picks might be more risky in some cases [he's holding onto them much longer than most would] and more conservative in other cases]
  
  [Seeing how great investors invest, yes, i probably would have given this a two-star rating]
  
  [My biggest gripe is that Rubenstein's style is more of a fascinated soul, who is a neat charmer, but asks some really softball questions, or silly stuff about who they are as 'human beings'.]
  
  It's like high marks on charm
  low marks on getting a lot out of it
  
  I would say that, maybe actually there IS something to learn from investors where you really 'dislike' their style, like some of the cryptocurrency guys he'll interview. And i guess that is a learning experience.
  
  ---
  
  I'll be generous
  
  Rubenstein: Reading a book about these great investors will hopefully provide the read with insight, perspectives, and inspiration - but, the truth be told, a book will not by itself make the reader a great investor any more than reading a book about Tiger Woods's secrets will make one a great golfer (as I have learned). This book is designed to provide a glimpse into the investment thoughts and practices of many of Americans leading investors.
  
  So, true be told, his series has been a hard one to review, I've vacillated between 1-2-3 stars for his books. As Larry King style interviewing definately 3 star, my views that these types of books aren't too useless, drops it a star, and though i feel he should be a star added for charisma and charm and a wonderful way of 'interacting with people' (better live than in a book) his softball questions that sometimes almost seem bonehead, just drop it another star for me.
  
  So i think i'm going to rate his books a 3.8, and change my 1 star reviews to two star ones... in the future... maybe
  
  [i recommend his books]
  [i like his interviews]
  
  [do i think highly of them - no]
  [do i like half the investors - no]
  [do i like half his questions - no]
  
  his set of three books are a 3.8
  for me.
  
  ---
  
  Now that the book is soon to be on the press, with the ability to peek, i'll show you the good side of this book
  
  ---
  
  Rubenstein in his Introduction
  
  I thought Mark Zuckerberg's company, created while he was in college, would not outgrow its college campus roots and thus would not be an attractive investment for me when presents by my future son-in-law. Bad prediction.
  
  I thought Jeff Bezoz's startup books-over-the-internet company could not possibly overcome Barnes and Noble, and told him that in our initial meeting at his cluttered first office space in Seattle, and thus later decided to sell our Amazon stock as soon as possible. Bad predictino.
  
  Whether someone has predicted well or poorly about life events can be gauged differently by different people. In truth there is no single, universally accepted standard to gauge how successful someone has been in predicting and acting on teh future.
  
  In that respect at least, the investment world is wholly different. The skill of predicting the future, and taking prepatory actions, is quite measureable. In the investment world, achieving a profit - to a lesser or greater degree depending on the type of investement - is the essence of investing.
  
  In working to acheuev a profit, an investor is really making a prediction about the future - the desireability of owning a particular asset (stock, bond, house, currency, etc.) in the future, because on the likely future performance of the asset. Will the company attract new customers or invent a desired product? Will the economy at the time the investment is realized be strong or weak? Will interest rates be higher? Will climate change affect the value of assets? Will competition be less than might be expected?
  
  Stated differently, are there risks that will possibly arise that could upset the investor's belief that an investment will work out and thus produce the desired outcome? And how great are those risks?
  
  In life, there are always risks to be assessed, but the consequences may not always be measured precisely. In investing, the consequences can be measured quite precisely.
  
  ---
  
  [now onto my sorta-harsh original]
  
  
  If you want to know how to invest, look at quality
  and find some numbers to assess risk, profitabilty etc
  
  don't listen to engaging stories
  by a bunch of lucky bozos
  
  ---
  
  Now if someone didn't have such an atrocious title
  and the people interviewed were interesting to me
  i would say, yes it's a decent enough interview book
  
  honestly none of the companies got me excited
  and if did, would I learn anything about how to invest better?
  
  ---
  
  further musings
  
  well, I think Rubenstein is fine for doing friendly low-pressure interviews, never putting his guests in an uncomfortable situation with his questions. He's funny and friendly and works better on television than in book form, but I still think there's going to be a real lack of substance, if you're going to sell these interviews as 'How to Invest'.
  
  He's got a cookie cutter strategy
  
  15% of his questions are humorous, like asking the head of GM if he pumps his own gas, or if Bill Gates ever carries any money.
  
  30% will be personal questions about their life
  
  40% about their career
  
  and 10% on current events
  
  As fun fluffy interviews i give him a 6, and as insights for investing, maybe a 2.
  Charlie Rose can interview the same people and you get a lot more out of it.
  
  I've looked as deep as one can with a pre-release and i actually hesitated in doing a review last month, but I did look into who he was interviewing and what questions he was asking them, and this book isn't much different than his previous interview books, but a lot of my judgement goes on 'who' they are interviewing.
  
  Klarman for example, feels that there isn't a big difficulty in getting the technical information for value investing, but like a poker player it is the psychologicals of things which are the real challenge to him. Buying is easy, but selling might be trickier.
  
  Rubenstein's books are fine as low-key interviews, and their appeal is universal, but i dont believe any of the hype about any valuable lessons, or any of that bunk. At least you'll hear about their successes and their failures.
  
  Now if people like to hear personal stories of how people attain a lot in life, and you hear what their stresses and struggles and unique challenges are, then you'll totally love this stuff.
  
  ---
  
  I'm not all that interested in a guy doing one currency trade making someone a billion dollars
  
  or who someone makes a quarter of a billion off cryptocurrency madness in a year
  
  so i don't think it's all that useful.
  
  ---
  
  I'd suggest someone watch David doing some interviewing though
  
  I came up with the idea that he's 80% Larry King, trying never to be boring, and always curious
  with a 20% Jay Leno amusement factor
  
  and 0.02% investment insight, which i think is the masterful and crafty part of it all
• 
  Dao Le

  Appreciate the diversity in the type of asset classes / investing styles (equity, hedge fund, PE/VC, distressed, endowment, real estate, crypto, SPACs, ESG, infrastructure). The investors interviewed are of world-class caliber, as expected, but I think many interviews are too short to cover any substantive investment philosophy, though understandable given the format. I do enjoy learning about the personal background and upbringing of these investors, which helps me make sense of their decisions later in life. A small thing that irks me is David’s incessant questions / focus on pedigree – maybe he should check out Gladwell’s “Why I Hate the Ivy League.” Overall a decent book, would recommend the audiobook version over paperback since you can listen to the live interviews.
• 
  Chuck And Julie

  Excellent read
  
  Excellent sampling of investing in all asset classes. The book is humbling in that it shows the reader that investing requires way more experience and effort than most are willing to do.
• 
  Ferhat Elmas

  A good sampling on investors and domains, provides not bad breadth on their bios and thinking. However, questions are generally easy and author doesn't intelligently force them to expand on their implicit withdrawals so the expected/desired depth is greatly missing.
• 
  Joe Carbonaro

  3.5 stars! I found the authors invterview questions to be very vanilla. There were many investors profiled who had great insights but I felt he didn’t ask the tough questions to go deeper. Overall, a great read to understand the success behind different Asset Classes.
• 
  Sanford Chee

  92nd Street Interview by Ray Dalio Sep 2022
  
  https://youtu.be/1TSXuGSxZyY
  
  “Purchase price matters” -Marc Rowan
  
  Larry Fink, BlackRock Letter to shareholders & CEOs
  
  https://www.blackrock.com/corporate/i...
  
  https://ir.blackrock.com/financials/a...
  
  Ron Baron simple check list:
  1/ does this biz have a competitive advantage?
  2/ is mgmt excellent?
  3/ does it have a huge opportunity & a long runway?
  
  John Rogers Jr, Ariel
  How to develop ability to execute value investing during "crunch time"?
  1/ have dry powder ready =>tradeoff not being fully invested during frothy mkts
  2/ preplan your trade eg price alerts, watchlists
  Focus & prioritise long shelf life reading eg books vs short shelf life "noise" eg email/"news"
  Build a network of investors you respect & admire
  
  Jon Gray, Blackstone
  "The best thing is to be a high conviction investor. When you dabble & just put a bunch of $ on things you don't know or understand, it tends to work out badly." E.g for me #biomanufacturing, macro bets etc. =>fewer bets but bigger bets
  "You have to always be leaning into the future. If you're leaning away from the future, the future is gonna win every time." -Jeff Bezos
  
  Sam Zell, Grave Dancer
  
  https://www.samzell.com/wp-content/up...
  Interview by David Rubenstein - Jul 2022
  
  https://youtu.be/ryn5nXFEE8w
  
  Mary Callahan Erdoes, JPM Wealth Mgmt
  3 rules of $ mgmt:
  1/ Don’t lose $. Try to figure out what sum of $ tt, if u were to ‘ve it, you wouldn’t change your lifestyle. Everything else beyond tt, there’s rm to be >aggressive.
  2/ Diversify: asset class, geographies, sectors, macro environment (growth/recession/inflation/deflation/stagflation). Stress test portfolio.
  3/ Have realistic expectations abt what rate of return you’re seeking. If it sounds too good to be true, there’s a high likelihood tt it is.
  Never invest in something tt can’t be simplistically explained.
  
  Dawn Fitzpatrick, Soros Fund Mgmt
  Managing to a specific return each yr is dangerous, coz it can lead u to take outsized risks @exactly the wrong moment in time eg reach for yield in low i/r environment, TINA etc
  You can’t take an answer as given. You’ve to ask why & keep asking why & go down the rabbit holes.
  Cut losses: you’ve to have the discipline & humility to recognise when you’re wrong, cut the position & move on.
  
  Paula Volent, Rockefeller University Endowment
  Cut losses: I don’t believe in waiting out mistakes. Once you make a decision tt you’ve made a mistake, or you’ve lost conviction, you need to act.
  Why does this opportunity exist? What is the market inefficiency being exploited here?
  
  Kim Lew, Columbia Investment Mgmt Co
  
  
  Seth Klarman, Baupost
  
  
  Ray Dalio, Bridgewater
  
  
  Stan Druckenmiller, Duquesne
  
  
  Jim Simons, Renaissance Technologies
  
  
  John Paulson, Paulson & Co
  
  
  Sandra Horbach, Carlyle
  
  
  Orlando Bravo, Thoma Bravo
  
  
  Bruce Karsh, Oaktree
  
  
  Marc Andreessen, Andreessen Horowitz
  
  
  Michael Moritz, Sequoia
  
  
  Mike Novogratz, Galaxy Digital
  
  
  Betsy Cohen, Fintech Masala
  
  
  Adebayo Ogunlesi, Global Infrastructure Partners
  
  
  David Blood, Generation Investment Mgmt
• 
  Mucius Scaevola

  I listened to the audiobook, which is a compendium of podcast interviews with esteemed investors. Aside from the DEI hogwash, this is a quality book. Most interesting to me was the fact that by diverse means men come to the same end, to wit, investing brilliance: some imbibed investing acumen with their mother’s milk; others were art history majors in college. The interview with with the value-oriented investors were valuable. I’ll probably find the book in Book-A-Million store and thumb through the bibliography. Turns out, most investors were voracious readers, which, tbh, is pretty cringe.
• 
  Keven Wang

  Not a good book for people wanting to get a basic understanding of investing. Great for sampling
• 
  UChicagoLaw

  “A fascinating set of conversations with some of today’s most successful investors and a cook’s tour of the most important asset categories. It deserves a place on investors’ shelves next to classics such as Graham’s
  The Intelligent Investor and Malkiel’s
  A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing.”
  
  — Thomas J. Miles, Dean, Clifton R. Musser Professor of Law and Economics
• 
  Liew

  Obviously more breadth than depth for this book — it touched on a whole variety of asset classes, from traditional (bond and equities) to non-traditional asset (distressed debt, VC) to cutting edge stuff (ESG, bitcoins.. etc).
  
  What I liked most is it gives a pretty decent 101 across these asset classes, which is helpful as I’m focused on equities. Likewise, it will be helpful for most non-multi/strat analysts. I think there are lessons to be picked up that can be APPLIED into any asset class. Definitely worth browsing asset classes you’re not familiar with.
  
  I personally like and found Stan Drunkenmiller’s, Marc Andreessen’s, Michael Moritz’s chapters the most interesting and applicable. These are chapters I would revisit.
  
  Depth ~2/5
  Breadth ~5/5
  Applicability ~4/5
• 
  Topher

  Each chapter is an interview with a practitioner in a specific field - someone in distressed debt, someone in infrastructure, a few PEs, a few venture capitalists, etc. Multiple big names, which tends to skew the age of the interviewees a bit, and there are times (mostly through humor, attempts at humors) where it's clear the author is a boomer, so there's generational gaps occasionally.
  
  On the other hand, I do appreciate the semi-consistency in most chapters having a "so you're handed a hundred grand, how do you invest it?" and majority of responses coming back to "buy SPY".
  
  I thought it worth reading, overall.
• 
  Mark Skinner

  Thoroughly enjoyed reading this book to learn about investing and what some of the most successful investors in the current areas thoughts are to how they have achieved and become a master of the craft. I enjoyed learning about some of the better known investors and particularly enjoyed how David wrote the book for three different perspectives and look forward to reading more of what he writes in the future and will look to learn from him and others from the book before they are more history than being in the middle of it now. Thank you.
• 
  Kenneth

  This is a highly interesting book, with some really excellent interviews in it. You have to grind your way through the interviews of Carlyle clients and a few people marketing their funds/talking their books but the interviews from hedge fund managers, real estate, infrastructure, and distressed are all with incredible leaders in the field and given that the interviewer and the interviewees are peers the level of the conversations are quite high.
• 
  David

  If you want to gain some information from on topic great, but the audio version is an unpleasant listen. Sounds like it was recorded separately from interviewer and interviewee. The voice exchange does not sound like a conversation and is dull, forced and boring. Read the summary do not waste your time reading the whole book.
• 
  Mark Hillick

  Very enjoyable book that is a series of interviews with the best investors over recent times where their:
  
  - insights
  - tools
  - principles
  
  are all covered.
  
  The book dives into various war stories and investment topics that are both diverse and interesting, though not for the investment novice.
• 
  Chris

  Rubenstein gives an overview of investing and the rest of the book is interviews with different investors. I wanted to read it mainly for the interviews with Stanley Druckenmiller and Ray Dalio. Would definitely recommend this book…but would probably skip half the chapters
• 
  Michael Larkin

  My only quibble with the book is in light of the FTX implosion, Mike Novogratz’s comments about cryptocurrency being a medium to disintermediate rent-seeking organizations like banks and insurance companies are laughable.
• 
  Brian Fiedler

  I concur with the other 3 and 4 stars review. As others have pointed out, this is not a book for the individual investor, but primarily for the billionaire-wanna-be. Nevertheless, I was inspired to try to be a bit smarter about my retirement investments.
• 
  Zachary

  Interviews from the world of PE, VC, endowments.
• 
  Drew Johnson

  The interviewees carried this more than the interviewer (Rubenstein).