Confucius said that real knowledge is knowing the extent of one’s ignorance. Aristotle and Socrates said the same thing. Is it a skill that can be taught or learned? It probably can, if you have enough of a stake riding on the outcome. Some people are extraordinarily good at knowing the limits of their knowledge, because they have to be. Think of somebody who’s been a professional tightrope walker for 20 years—and has survived. He couldn’t survive as a tightrope walker for 20

"READ This one's a no-brainer, but you'd be surprised at how many successful people check their outside interests at the door once they put their name and title on it. Keep your worldview as wide as possible. If you're in the widget business, it's not enough to know widgets. Celebrate your well-roundednessl Stay on top of public events and economic developments. Read at least two daily newspapers all the way through. Always have a book going. Learn a little bit about a

"KEEP A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR YOURSELF If you bend to every demand, there'll be nothing left to justify the transaction. And yet if you demand everything, there'll be no transaction. There's a great episode of Taxi in which Louie De Palma, the character played by Danny DeVito, is given an opportunity to literally fill in a blank check to complete a deal, and he pulls out his few remaining hairs in coming up with a figure. He knows there's a number that will make his benef

"Embracing “I’m not sure” is difficult. We are trained in school that saying “I don’t know” is a bad thing. Not knowing in school is considered a failure of learning. Write “I don’t know” as an answer on a test and your answer will be marked wrong. Duke, Annie. Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don't Have All the Facts (pp. 26-27). Penguin Publishing Group." Annie Duke argues that life (and investing) is a lot more akin to poker than it is to chess. Chess, r

Entry level financial education books frequently even if not always highlight Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad series of books. Yet the Rich Dad series by Robert Kiyosaki are widely described as brash, unconventional, and even confrontational. Its confrontational posture, often striking a stark contrast between the author's two fathers (the rich dad and poor dad) lead to allegations and insinuations that the author was being unfair in his description of the poor dad. The original

Come war, oil supply shocks or a change in hegemony in the global economy, the belief is the Government is capable of and will take care of you. Inflation, interest rate, money supply, credit supply and even food on the table will all be taken care off to perfection by the Government of the day? Indeed, there are people who may even believe that water finds its level - that wealth will be redistributed from the rich to the poor! More taxes will be paid by the rich, and that