Rule 1, Phil Town
Rule 1, Phil Town
9 Rating(s)
List: $13.98 | Sale: $9.78
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Rule #1
The Simple Strategy for Successful Investing-in Only 15 Minutes a Week!

Author: Phil Town

Narrator: Phil Town

Abridged: 4 hr 23 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/21/2006


Synopsis

Phil Town is now a very wealthy man, but he wasn't always. In fact, he was living on a salary of $4000 a year when some well-timed advice launched him down a highway of investing self-education that revealed what the true "rules" are and how to make them work in one's favor. Chief among them, of course, is "rule #1": "don't lose money." Other rules are: don't diversify...think like an owner, not an investor ... never, ever be seduced into thinking the market is efficient. Town also believes strongly in "betting on the jockey," putting your faith in managers who've proven their financial mettle. Not only does Town reveal fresh methods for identifying who the truly reliable managers are, but he shows you how to test whether they really have faith in the businesses they're running.

By far, the most controversial of the audiobook's assertions will be that giant 401(k) type mutual funds can't help but regress to the mean, and in the next twenty years, the mean could be very disappointing indeed. There's a very real chance that a 401(k) investor could see his holdings not grow at all in the next few decades. Fortunately, Town's stockpicking techniques are meant to walk investing phobes through the do-it-yourself process, equipping them with the tools they need to make quantum leaps toward financial security.

Rule #1 says something new, and it says it in a way that every listener can understand.

About The Author

He isn’t your typical Wall Street guy. An ex-Green Beret and former river guide, Phil Town is a self-made millionaire several times over and America’s most widely sought-after speaker on investing. In his new book, RULE #1, he describes the Rule #1 personal financial strategy in detail so that anyone, even first-time investors,can get–and stay–rich.Phil Town is the classic Everyman, albeit one whose education and resources were more limited than most. An average high school student, he completed college on his fourth try. Of his early working years, he says he “mostly got dirty for a living,” taking on jobs such as digging ditches and pumping gas. Town spent three and a half years in the Army. He returned from the Vietnam War and found a job in the States as a river guide. Drifting through California, Utah, and Idaho, he subsisted at poverty level, combining his wages from the guiding season and unemployment. He wore black leathers, sported a goatee, lived in a teepee in the woods near Flagstaff, Arizona, and “drove around in a really loud black Harley Davidson.” In the early ‘80s, Town’s life changed radically. He was guiding trustees from the educational program Outward Bound down the nastiest rapid on the Grand Canyon’s Colorado River, when his split-second decisions saved a boatload of people from a whitewater disaster. A grateful and financially astute client returned the favor by guiding Town into serious, successful investing using the first rule of investing as ascribed to by Warren Buffett: Don’t lose money. Within five years, Town had built a borrowed $1,000 into $1 million. His fortunes improved radically, and rapidly, from then on. Phil Town appears regularly on the same dais as Rudy Giuliani, Jimmy Carter, and Colin Powell as part of the “Get Motivated” touring success seminar. He speaks to more than 500,000 people annually about Rule #1.Town lives in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Danielle on November 15, 2017

I SO want to give this only four stars for starting the sequence of events that put me into podcasting about investing, writing our own book together, and generally making me learn this investing stuff - but I won't, because it absolutely deserves five. Rule #1 is the classic and I go back to it ove......more

Goodreads review by Blake on October 20, 2007

I own both the hardback and peperback of this one. The paperback is the best of the two to buy because it has an extra chapter in the back of it full of great advice on 401k's. Warren Buffett had two rules, Rule #1 is not to lose money, and Rule #2 is to remember Fight Club. Buffett was a student of......more

Goodreads review by David on November 09, 2013

Okay, so you've heard about these things called "stocks" and you know that the way to make money long-term is to invest in them, but you don't want to be a casino gambler. So how do you learn how to invest intelligently? If you're like me, you invest in an index-tracking mutual fund and call it a day......more

Goodreads review by Colin on January 11, 2018

A priceless book about managing your own investments. Every time I had a question regarding the teaching, Phil would answer it in the next paragraph. Quit making fund managers rich and quit losing money!......more

Goodreads review by Dylan on February 06, 2019

* Breaks down (in a simplified way) how Warren Buffett and other deep value investors go about valuing companies * Highly informative and valuable, especially the focus of the 4M’s as it already embedds the idea of using a checklist which many great investors swear by......more


Quotes

“Town's investment guide is manna from heaven… engaging and accessible… Town’s ability to break down that philosophy into a detailed, step-by-step program that can be understood by any reader with basic math skills is unique… will leave readers feeling empowered and ready to manage their money themselves.” Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Extraordinarily readable…provides investors with surefire tools to outperform costly advisors. Follow Town’s simple, time-tested precepts, and even unsophisticated investors will leave most mutual fund managers in the dust.” —Arthur Levitt, author of Take on the Street and former Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission

“A really smart, homework-driven read that tells you precisely how to do it. Rule #1 may be the clearest and best book out there to get you on the path to riches. This one’s special!” —James J. Cramer, host of CNBC’s “Mad Money” and Markets Commentator, thestreet.com

Rule #1 is an investment Bible for our time. In fun, easy-to-understand words, Phil Town tells you how to buy quality stocks at a discount.” —Rich Karlgaard, publisher, Forbes magazine, and author of LIFE 2.0

“For the individual investor, Rule No. 1 should be, ‘Read Rule #1.’ This book debunks a lot of myths in the market and provides pearls of common-sense wisdom…Indeed, Rule #1 rules.” —Gene Marcial, Senior Writer, Business Week

Rule #1’s common-sense, pragmatic approach is money in the bank.  This step-by-step guide is methodically researched and terrifically accessible … Can you really beat the mutual fund mangers and so-called experts at their own game?  Hell yes!” —Jonathan Hoenig, Portfolio Manager, Capitalistpig Hedge Fund, and regular contributor to Fox News Channel

Rule #1 is probably one of the most inclusive, no nonsense, fundamental books about investing in the stock market I’ve ever read. This book is a must-read for everyone; from beginner students of the market to super know-it-alls.” —Danielle Hughes, President and CEO, Divine Capital Markets LLC

A refreshing departure from those boring investing books… If you're tired of being shut out of how exactly the rich guys on Wall Street make money, this important book will teach you how to run with the bulls. It's priceless.” —Elizabeth MacDonald, Senior Editor at Forbes Magazine; regular, “Forbes on Fox”