Knowledge is power and a $10 or $20 can often contain life changing information. Because of this, today’s article shares my 2020 reading list. These are different books covering a variety of topics. All of which I plan on reading throughout the year.

If you’re interested in growing your skill-set or expanding your world view, check out the following:

1. The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age

Imagine a world with digital currencies, political outsiders overturning their established rivals, and “information elite” who leverage technology for wealth and freedom.

These are all topics you read about each day. BitCoin, Trump, location independent start-ups, and E-commerce are all frequent news items.

Yet all of this was consider far-fetched and borderline science fiction when The Sovereign Individual first released. This is a book from 1997 that’s famously ahead of its time. The authors predicted many events long before they happened and clearly have great insights into “The Forth Stage Of Human Society” and where the world is heading.

If you’re curious about the future and mankind’s continued shift towards decentralization, give The Sovereign Individual a read.

2. Crusoes in Siberia. The Fairest Judgment

Crusoes in Siberia is the real life account of Tivadar Soros, father of George Soros, and his escape from a Siberian prisoner-of-war camp during the Russian Revolution.

George Soros is arguably one of the most controversial figures in modern-day. Some people think he’s a financial genius and great philanthropist. Others view him as evil and manipulative. By reading Crusoes in Siberia, you get an insight into George Soro’s family and learn about his biggest influence: The man who raised him.

3. On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction

Self-published and independent writers all face a major roadblock. There’s nobody to honestly critique your work. Unless you have an editor, you’ll rarely get feedback on anything you’ve written.

Because of this, it’s important to self-examine and go back to the basics every now and then.

On Writing Well is a straightforward how-to guide which covers a variety of genres and mediums. You learn how to write travel articles, interviews, and memoirs. Plus, there’s a whole section on advanced topics like voice and tone. If you enjoy blogging, Tweeting, or old-fashioned journaling; this book’s for you.

4. The 16-Word Sales Letter: A proven method of writing multi-million-dollar copy faster than you ever thought possible

Sales is the ultimate high ROI activity. Learn one new skill and you can potentially double or triple your income. That’s why The 16-Word Sales Letter looks fascinating.

This is a complete guide to how Agora Financial generates tens of millions of dollars each year. The book breaks down techniques on storytelling, creating emotional triggers, and writing sales letters with a “pop music” appeal. If you’ve ever seen one of the company’s pitches, you already know they’re a work of art and just as engrossing as any novel.

Because of this, copywriters and marketers should pick up The 16-Word Sales Letter.

5. The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War, 1890-1914

This is the story of Europe and the United States during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. It covers political, social, and economic changes as the world shifted towards mass industrialization. Inside, you’ll learn about the ultra-wealthy aristocracy, the flailing underclass, socialism, anarchism, art, and business.

Looking to the past is often a fantastic way to learn about current events. And The Proud Tower addresses a number of issues (wealth inequality, populism, shifting social roles) that are beginning to resurface.

If you like history, this is a detailed look at an era that’s both important and seldom discussed.

6. Fortune’s Children: The Fall of the House of Vanderbilt

Cornelius Vanderbilt is the classic rags to riches American success story. Using incredible forethought, he capitalized on new technology such as steamboats and railroads to build the country’s largest transportation empire.

Fortune’s Children is a book about dynasties. It covers the Vanderbilt family and how their wealth grew (and declined) over the years. Stories of familial wealth are always fascination (The Big Rich and Medici Money are both excellent reads) and provide terrific insights into how wealthy and successful people raise their children.

As such, Fortune’s Children covers a lot of interesting material.

Final Thoughts On The 2020 Reading List

I hope this list helps you find some cool and interesting titles to check out this year.

And, if you have any book suggestions or recommendations of your own, feel free to comment below. Thanks for reading and here’s to a fantastic new year!

LifeMathMoney is a massive Twitter account. At 130,000 followers he’s bigger than Colgate, Clorox, General Mills, and many other big brands with their full-time staff of Ivy League marketers. What’s most impressive is that LifeMathMoney reached this size in just 18 months. That’s incredible. And now, his guide: The Art of Twitter unveils all the strategies you need to build and scale a massive social media following.

At 52 pages, The Art of Twitter is concise. However, there is a lot of good information here. The book covers everything: brand positioning, building your following, crafting engaging content, and monetizing your account.

What’s especially nice about this book is how actionable each step is.

If you’re used to conventional Twitter advice, you’ve probably heard things like “Tweet 100 times per day” or “Start fights for attention.”

These strategies rarely work.

Writing 100 pieces of daily content is not very time efficient. And starting constant drama is a great way to blackball yourself.

Like anything, there is a proven path to success.

Where You Start Determines Where You End Up

A lot of social media advice is based around the “personal brand.” If you want to be successful, you have to make yourself into a celebrity. People suggesting this usually cite figures like James Altucher, Tim Ferriss, or the Kardashians. This advice is pretty dated and will not work for 99% of the population.

You’re better off figuring out who your audience is and how to best appeal to them.

The Art of Twitter shows you how to “do your homework” and set up an account which matches your audience’s interests. There’s also a fantastic explanation of how you can use your Twitter bio and picture to increase your follower count. This advice is very helpful and saves you from a lot of trial and error.

From personal expirience, I will say that this system works. The Thirty Days To X Twitter account is set up like a personal brand and took years to hit 10,000 followers. Meanwhile, a newer project reached this milestone in under one year.

How To Gain Followers

As mentioned, most social media strategies are ineffective. Pumping out content, spamming hashtags, follow / follow-back, and similar systems convert poorly.

Likewise, Twitter is a meritocracy. You start out a nobody with zero following, and it’s up to you to build from there. This is incredibly disheartening and getting over the initial hump of 1,000+ followers is a daunting task.

Most people quit before they get there.

Growing your Twitter following by 40% at 10 followers means you’ve added 4 new people. Growing your Twitter following 40% at 10,000 followers means adding 400. One is too small to form a proper basketball team. The other large enough to fill an entire small town.

When it comes to social media strategy, size matters.

The Art of Twitter does a great job explaining how to scale. What you do at zero followers is completely different from what you do once you reach 10,000.

One interesting thing is that (as a beginner) you don’t want to make tons of original, stand-alone content. Instead, you want to focus entirely on engaging with others and adding to already popular Tweets.

Doing so saves you from “Tweeting into the void” and making thousands of posts that nobody ever sees.

This is vastly different from the typical “If you build it they will come” style of advice you see.

Twitter For Passive Income?

Once you’re big enough, certain opportunities present themselves that other people simply can’t access. The ultra wealthy have hedge funds and private equity, while big social media accounts have the power to create “passive brands” which function like traditional niche sites.

These are self-sufficient accounts you can build and deploy for ongoing, fire and forget recurring income.

You can then use your bigger, existing fan base as a springboard. They help spread your new content, drawing in an even bigger audience. This consistently brings in fresh eyes for your automated content, creating a completely self-sustaining source of passive income.

It’s an interesting and creative way to gain hands-off revenue from social media.

Overall, The Art of Twitter is an informative and practical guide to social media success, written by someone who’s built an enormous following in a very small amount of time. Give this one a read if you’re looking to build your own profitable social media accounts.

Click Here To Order The Art of Twitter

When we think of the medieval world, we often imagine chaos and lawlessness. But that’s not exactly the truth. Europe already relied on complex and intricate information and legal networks for all kinds of transactions. Medici Money: Banking, Metaphysics, and Art in Fifteenth-Century Florence illustrates one example of how early Forex trading was implemented across the continent:

A man comes to our green-covered table in Florence, in Rome, or after 1400 it might be Naples, after 1402 Venice. He wants money. He is a merchant most probably, in any event creditworthy, otherwise we won’t deal with him. He wants, say, 1,000 florins. Why should we give it to him, if we can’t ask for interest? He isn’t a friend or relative. He offers us an exchange deal. He will take florins and repay us in pounds sterling, in London.

This is centuries before Internet or phones, so how did bankers keep track of their money or make sure clients paid up?

The “how” is easy. His agent in London will pay our corespondent. In sterling. Or rather or correspondent in London will go to his agent’s office, probably a bank, and hence Italian, someone we know, to demand payment on the appropriate day.

Fair enough, but travel took longer at this time. Flight is a power of the ancient gods, and inventions like the railroad or automobile are still hundreds of years away. How can bankers determine when they’ll get paid?

It depends on how you travel. Overland or galley, in haste or at leisure. The English Channel can be rough, never mind the Bay of Biscay. Fortunately, the Exchanger’s Guild has laid down what is the maximum time that a whole range of journeys from one financial center to another can require. Florence to Bruges, sixty days. Florence to Venice, ten days. Florence to Avignon, thirty days…

But what about money itself? How could two separate currencies from completely different countries even be valued at such a time?

The exchange rates are fixed daily, Sunday and holidays excluded, by paid bill brokers meeting together with merchants and bankers in the open street. In rainy Lombard Street in London. On the breezy Rialto in Venice. They don’t meet in anyone’s premises, since that would be an acknowledgment of that person’s supremacy. They consider trends in trade.

This sounds a lot like the international markets in modern day. But how much did a Renaissance era money man make off his Forex deals?

Out of sixty-seven exchanges for which we have records among London, Bruges, and Venice, only one resulted in a loss for the [Medici] banker, while the remaining sixty-six saw him making gains that range between 7.7 and 28.8 percent.

600+ years ago and the world was already more connected than most people realize.

If you’re interested in European history, medieval finance, and Italian culture, I highly recommend reading Medici Money. It’s a fascinating book on all these subjects and more.

The Snowball is an investment and business classic. It’s a massive book documenting Warren Buffett’s entire life. You learn about his childhood, psychology, fears, failures, triumphs, and personal beliefs.

Since the book spans decades, I’m not going to do a traditional review here.

Instead, you’ll discover several key lessons The Snowball offers. This is broken up into all-around advice and stock specific tactics.

Enjoy!

Part I: General Life And Business Advice

These are some key business and personal lessons which anyone can benefit from. You can use the following advice to improve your finances and mindset, no matter your income or occupation.

• Warren Buffett Builds Passive Income.

Teenage Warren Buffett would buy pinball machines set them up in barber shops, and collect the recurring income. He later used this money (as well as fund from his other ventures) to buy buy real estate.

• Commodity Land Is An Excellent Investment.

According to The Snowball, Buffett’s first real estate purchase was farmland in Nebraska. He owned the property, and the tenant paid him rent. In terms of price and ease of understanding, commodity land (like farms or timber) is “idiot proof” and doesn’t require immense skill to profit from.

• Never Let One Problem Compound Into Two.

Despite being some of the richest men in history, Warren Buffett and his business partner Charles Munger had a lot of personal hardships to overcome. Munger’s son died at a young age, Buffett had family problems (and is heavily implied to be “on the spectrum”). Yet neither man let their low-points define them. Double down on your fundamentals once tragedy strikes. This keeps your problems from spreading.

• You are Your Most Important Customer.

Charlie, as a very young lawyer, was probably getting $20 an hour. He thought to himself, ‘Who’s my most valuable client?’ And he decided it was himself. So he decided to sell himself an hour each day. He did it early in the morning, working on these construction projects and real estate deals. Everybody should do this, be the client, and then work for other people, too, and sell yourself an hour a day.

• One Dollar Today Is Worth $50 Tomorrow.

Many of Buffett’s luxury items are assets. He flies on private aircraft owned by his company NetJets. He owns five houses, which appreciate in value, and many of his purchases are counted as business expenses.

This is due to Buffett’s belief in compounding and using your current funds to create future wealth. The money most people spend on personal items or status symbols can be used to build cash-flow through assets like real estate or stocks.

Part II: Investing And Financial Advice

This section is more focused on stock picking and buying businesses. While The Snowball doesn’t detail the exact math behind Buffett’s value investments (for that you’d want to read The Intelligent Investor, or – my personal recommendation – 100 Baggers), it does show his system in action.

• How Warren Buffett Originally Beat The Market.

Buffett originally practiced strict value investing. This means he calculated how much a company was worth versus its current share price. If a business was worth $25 per share but selling for $19, he’d load up the truck. This is like earning $6 per share in free money.

While you can’t use the exact system Buffett originally used (in the early years stock prices were negotiable and he’d often haggle brokers down further), value investing is still alive and well. You can still find undervalued assets and buy them up for a big gain. It isn’t easy, but it is possible if you’re willing to do the research.

• Understanding Intrinsic Value.

Buffett made millions value investing in small cap companies, but his first major win came from buying up shares of American Express during a huge corporate crisis. The company had just lost millions in the Salad Oil Scandal, tanking their share prices. According to The Snowball, Buffett realized that this catastrophe didn’t affect average people and the company’s customers where still happy using their credit cards and traveler’s cheques.

“Intrinsic Value” is a company’s good will and leadership, as well as how the business will preform long-term. Buffett generally looks for businesses like this, and it’s one of the reasons he tends to sit on cash until there’s a panic in the markets.

• Innovation Rarely Pays.

It’s easy to read stories about people buying $10 in BitCoin or $100 in Amazon stock and becoming multimillionaires off these early investments. However, as Buffett explains, there are more dud ventures than big winners. If you invested in every major American car company between 1919 and 1939 (the golden age of automotive), you would have lost money long-term. Same goes for airline stocks.

For every Apple share trading at $0.85, there’s a dozen Cobalt Networks or 360networks.

Keep this in mind when looking for long-term investments.

• Turn What You Already Pay For Into A Reward.

In the early days, Buffet would “hire” brokers and assistants. But, instead of paying them a salary, he’d place his trades through them. This turned an inevitable expense into an asset, giving Buffett help with his research and acquisitions, without raising costs. If you work in a high-ticket field, there’s a good chance you can work out a similar agreement. In fact, this is still a popular strategy used between bankers and real estate agents to this day!

Final Thoughts

The Snowball is a fantastic book and well worth reading. Since it is a massive book (over 800 pages) spanning Warren Buffett’s entire life, there’s also a lot to be discovered by re-reading this book as time goes on. The earlier chapters about young man Buffett really highlight key concepts about building wealth and creating a system to grow your money as effectively as possible.

The book’s middle section explains how to invest, network, and establish a serious business (complete with political power, managerial positions, and established leadership). And the later sections dive into very high-level business, investing, and marketing skills (Buffett is the master at personal branding).

This is well worth a read no matter your age or income level. I think The Snowball contains great, applicable advice for everyone.

Click Here To Order The Snowball Off Amazon

“Understanding both the power of compound interest and the difficulty of getting it is the heart and soul of understanding a lot of things.” This is a quote from legendary investor Charlie Munger, and it’s worth remembering. For better or worse, small actions build up over time. “Live Intentionally” is a concise guide to getting your life in order through the power of compounding.

I read this book recently and want to share my thoughts on it in today’s article.

Who Is This Book For?

Live Intentionally is a good book for people new to self-improvement or looking to brush up on their good habits.

As mentioned already, compounding is a powerful force, and sometimes doing something as simple as tweaking your diet or adding to your daily routine will produce major long-term results.

To give a personal example, I got into the habit of ordering expensive sandwiches and having them delivered to my house.

By making one tiny change (making lunch at home) I ate healthier and saved $300 a month. In yearly terms, that’s about $4,000. Enough to buy a nice painting or beef up my investments.

Like I said, small actions add up over time.

Another thing I enjoyed about this book were the sections on journaling or better understanding your motivations for certain actions. Asking yourself why you want something (or if you actually want it) is a great way to uncover the emotions and external factors which influence you.

This is a great skill to develop and one which saves you from wasting your time, money, and energy on meaningless or hollow pursuits.

Live Intentionally Review: Final Thoughts

If you’re new to self-help or looking to brush up on some core skills, this book is well worth a read. It’s concise, offers actual exercises for you to follow, and covers the fundamental bases for improving your quality of life.

Lastly, I’m not a “Live Intentionally” affiliate.

I did receive a review copy of this book, but I receive many review copies for a wide variety of topics. Most of which I never promote.

In other words, if you’re looking for a good nuts and bolts self-help starting point, this is a great title.

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