The Only Three Questions That Count: Investing by Knowing What Others Don't

Who's the best investor of the 20th century? Most would say Warren Buffett . Upon close review, it's possible that Ken Fisher's father, Philip Fisher might be the man more deserving of that title, or maybe Benjamin Graham. Buffett looks upon both men as his mentors. After reading this book it became obvious that Ken Fisher is very clearly his father's son.
If you are a reader of investment books, you probably realize that most of them don't have all that much to say, and very few give you concepts that are truly ACTIONABLE. I have found, and maybe you have too, that only a handful of books out of every 100 are truly special. As regarding investments, "The Only Three Questions That Count" makes the list.
This book is like anything else in life. You immediately know when something is fabulous, whether it's a book, a vacation, a new acquaintance, or a life experience. You just know when the real thing has turned up. I always ask myself some questions about books as soon as I get to the first page.
Is the author scattered? Is the book organized in a fashion conducive to learning? Is the author wrapped up so tight in his own mask of brilliance that he can't make himself understood? These are the questions I naturally gravitate towards when going through a book, and I do about a book a day. The author has one overall premise that is pervasive to understanding this book. "INVESTING BY KNOWING WHAT OTHERS DON'T". Here's why you need to read this book:
· HE RUNS HIS OWN MONEY MANAGEMENT FIRM
This has allowed Fisher to amass a fortune putting him on the Forbes 400 List. This means very simply that the man is the REAL THING. Every day he is in the trenches being measured by one criterion. How has he performed against the ENTIRE world of Professional Money Managers, and in Fisher's case, he has consistently won throughout his long career. He's writing about what he knows, knows so intensely that he is acknowledged to be one of the best in the world at it.
· HE CONTENDS THAT IT IS OUR BELIEF SYSTEMS THAT DISALLOW US FROM MAKING BIG MONEY IN THE MARKET
Fisher is the only person I have read, and I have read all of them, who gets down into the very basic concept of what is our core beliefs as human beings, and how have these core beliefs held us back from distilling the truth about how to make money in the market. He's dead on accurate. He attempts to answer 3 vital questions in the book.
· Question 1) WHAT DO I BELIEVE THAT IS ACTUALLY FALSE?
This is the first KEY question that Fisher believes we must all ask ourselves as it regards the market. We must challenge ourselves to be absolutely brutally honest. Fisher believes that such an absolutely core belief that is false, will be a belief shared by the vast majority of other investors. If you want additional information on this concept, study Carl Jung the early 20th century psychoanalyst, and his concept of the SHADOW.
· Question 2) WHAT CAN I FANTHOM THAT OTHERS FIND UNFATHOMABLE?
This has to do with out-of-the-box thinking, to use Fisher's term. Make sure your poker-playing buddies aren't around when you indulge in this type of thinking. You will get sucked right back into your daily habitual ways of thinking about things.
If you really want to go deep into this way of thinking, study the history of Einstein's refusal to accept the veracity of Quantum Theory. You will be absorbed and fascinated by it. If you want to go deeper, read Thomas Kuhn's "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" which will change everything you have ever believed about the history of science, and show you out-of-the-box thinking at its best.
· Question 3) HOW CAN I OUT-THINK MY BRAIN, WHICH NORMALLY DOESN'T LET ME THINK TOO WELL ABOUT MARKETS?
In essence Fisher is telling us that the problem with our stock market performance is NOT in the stocks, it is WITHIN us, in our souls, in our minds, in our internal programming. Thirty years ago, John Train said basically the same thing in a book called the "Money Masters". You can a used copy of the book. Train had interviewed the greatest investment minds of that time including Buffett , Templeton, and Ken Fisher's father Philip Fisher.
It seems that Fisher believes that we have to delve into our brain, and come to a true understanding of our real selves, in order to enter the world of investments, and make wise choices. You can see this kind of thinking play out right before your eyes when Buffett talks. There is clarity of self in his thinking that I have never seen in another human being.
These three questions become the subject of Chapter 1, 2, and 3, in Fisher's book. These questions are overall subsets of Fisher's main concept, which is again, "INVESTING BY KNOWING WHAT OTHERS DON'T. The author then spends the next several hundred pages taking you through various concepts, examples, histories, and whatever he believes is necessary for you to transform yourself into the type of investor that he is.
If there is a leap of faith here, it is that he believes as human beings we can overcome whatever it is that is holding YOU and ME back from being all that we can be as investors. If you have an OPEN MIND, and are willing to give this author an opportunity to help you be different from the crowd, he just may be right. Good luck to you, and I hope that you have found this review helpful.