Unshakeable: Your Financial Freedom Playbook

by Anthony Robbins

Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one. —MARCUS AURELIUS

yes, eventually we will experience a real bear market. But the possibility of such an event is no reason for individuals to stay away and simply sit on their hands.

Big downturns in the market happen periodically, but the long-term trend of stocks has always been upward.

Remember that each dollar in expenses means one less dollar that can grow in coming years.

“the purpose of business is to produce happiness, not to pile up money.”

B.C. Forbes

never forget about these two ferocious foes of stock market success: fear and fees.

commerce and philanthropy are not polar opposites; they are two sides of the same coin.

In free markets, you succeed only by providing a product or service that others want—that is, you prosper by meeting the needs and wants of others. Philanthropy is about meeting the needs of others. The skill sets required in each of these spheres may differ, but the fundamental objective is the same.

successful businesspeople often become successful...

Index funds are simple. Rather than try to time the market or outguess other professional money managers about the prospects of individual stocks, index funds simply buy and hold all of the stocks in a broad market index such as the S&P 500. Index funds work by paring the costs of investing to the bare-bones minimum. They pay no fees to expensive money managers and have minimal trading costs, as they follow the ultimate buy-and-hold strategy. We can’t control what the markets will do, but we can control how much we pay for our investments.

Index funds allow you to invest, at minimal cost, in a portfolio diversified to the nth degree.

The past is not necessarily prologue to the future.

We live in an uncertain world, and face not only the risks of the known unknowns but also the unknown unknowns: the ones that “we don’t know we don’t know.” Despite these risks, if we are to have any chance for meeting our long-term financial goals, invest we must. Otherwise we’re certain to fall short.

buying low-cost, broad-market index funds (and holding them “forever”), you can guarantee that you will receive your fair share of whatever returns the financial markets provide over the long term.

But what does it really mean to be unshakeable? It’s not just a matter of money. It’s a state of mind. When you’re truly unshakeable, you have unwavering confidence even amidst the storm. It’s not that nothing upsets you. We can all get hooked. But you don’t stay there. Nothing rattles you for any length of time.

You don’t allow fear to take you over. If you’re knocked off balance, you find your center quickly and regain your inner calm.

When others are afraid, you have the presence of mind to take advantage of the turmoil swirling all around you. This state of mind allo...

To be the chess player, not the chess piece. To be one of the few who do, not one of ...

“If you’re not confused, you don’t understand what’s going on.”

Howard Marks

you don’t have to predict the future to win this game.

you have to focus on what you can control, not on what you can’t.

When people are forced to make financial decisions, they often act out of fear—and any decision made in a state of fear is likely to be wrong.

Once you absorb this information and put your plan in place, it will likely take you only an hour or two each year to keep things on target.

This is an area of life that requires commitment.

People love to say that knowledge is power. But the truth is that knowledge is only potential power. You and I both know that it’s useless if you don’t act on it.

execution trumps knowledge every day of the week.

We all know that winter is coming, that the stock market will fall again. But none of us knows when winter is coming or how severe it will be. Does that mean we’re powerless? Not at all.

the masters of the financial world prepare themselves—how they profit by anticipating winter instead of just reacting to it.

will give you all the information you need to protect yourself from wolves in sheep’s clothing. Equally important, we’ll give you the tools and criteria to help you identify honest, conflict-free advisors who will truly look out for your best interests.

I’m happy to tell you that if you have $100,000 or more in investable assets, his company will provide a complimentary review of your current portfolio and give you specific feedback as it relates to your goals.

you’re welcome to reach out to Creative Planning, at www.getasecondopinion.com.

if you don’t know the rules of the game, how can you expect to win?

one of the simplest yet most important rules is this: fees matter.

actively managed mutual fund companies charge fat fees in return for this service.

The problem is, most funds do a terrific job of charging high fees but a terrible job of picking successful investments.

The result? You overpay for underperformance.

a hedge fund is a private fund available only to high-net-worth investors. The managers have complete flexibility to bet on both directions of the market (up or down). They charge hefty management fees (typically 2%) and share in the profits (typically 20% of profits go to the manager).

A mutual fund is a public fund available to anyone. In most cases, they are actively managed by a team who assembles a portfolio of stocks, bonds, or other assets and continually trades their holdings in hopes to beat the “market.”

An index fund is also a public fund but requires no “active” managers. The fund simply owns all the stocks in the index (for example, they would ...

those fees add up massively over time. If you overpay by 1% a year, it will cost you 10 years’...

“When a person with experience meets a person with money, the person with experience ends up with the money; and the person with money ends up with an experience.”

you’ll learn to “slay the bear”: in other words, to build a diversified portfolio so that your nest egg won’t be destroyed when a bear market finally comes.

you’ll learn to profit massively from the opportunities that fear and turmoil create.

investment success is largely a matter of smart “asset allocation”—of knowing precisely how much of your money to put in different asset classes such as ...

indexing is the smartest strategy for regular people like you and me.III One reason why is that index funds are designed to match the returns of the market. Unless you’re a superstar like Warren or Ray, you’re better off capturing that market return instead of trying—and almost certainly failing—to beat the market.

most people find it really hard to sit tight and stay in the market when everything is going haywire. Buy and hold tends to go out the window.

As you and I know, we’re emotional creatures with a gift for doing crazy stuff under the influence of emotions such as fear and greed.

Burton Malkiel told me: “Emotions get ahold of us, and we, as investors, tend to do very stupid things.” For example, “we tend to put money into the market and take it out at exactly the wrong time.”

you can’t apply the winning strategies in this book unless you learn to “silence the enemy within.”

Many of us believe—or fantasize—that money will bring us to a point where we finally feel free, secure, excited, empowered, alive, and joyful. But the truth is, you can achieve that beautiful state right now, regardless of your level of material wealth. So why wait to be happy?