By Timothy Ferriss

I have been a fond follower of Timothy Ferriss for over five years. I love his posts and really liked this one in particular because it touches our financial lives. There are too many financially illiterate people in this country, let alone the world. If people would spend more time planning their finances than their vacations I think there would be a lot less poverty and much more happiness. All the text below is 100% told by Tim. Enjoy the read and get Tony’s new book which comes out Nov. 18th, 2014.  Enjoy!

“Our revenues are now over $5 billion annually. Without access to Tony and his teachings, Salesforce.com wouldn’t exist today.”
– Marc Benioff, Founder of Salesforce.com

“[Tony] distills the concepts of the best investors in the world into practical lessons that will benefit both naïve investors and skilled professionals.”
– Ray Dalio, Founder of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund

Tony Robbins is the world’s most famous performance coach. He’s advised everyone from Bill Clinton to Serena Williams, and from Leonardo DiCaprio to Oprah (who calls him “superhuman”).

For years, you’ve also asked me to interview him in-depth — so here it is! I flew to Florida to spend time with Tony in his home, and what ensued was an epic two-part conversation.  It covers just about everything imaginable.

My visit coincided with his first new book in 20 years: Money–Master the Game.

I love Tony’s work and it helped me start my first company, but when I got an early draft of the book, I thought to myself–really? Another book on money? Ugh. I prepared to be bored, especially since I think of myself as an experienced investor [pats self on back]. Instead, and very surprisingly, I was blown away. Before I knew it, I was pushing off other work, letting my dinner get cold, and staying up hours past bedtime each night, all because I couldn’t stop reading.

Why?

First off, he saved me years of my life! Over the last 10 years, I’ve been approached by several top hedge fund managers, who’ve suggested I write The 4-Hour Investor by collaborating with them and their friends. Tony has written that book perfectly, so it saves me the trouble. I can just point people to this book. Which leads me to…

Reason number two, he goes DEEP with many of the investing icons I’ve always wanted to meet, including Paul Tudor Jones (who he’s coached for 10+ years), Ray Dalio, Carl Icahn, David Swensen, Kyle Bass, and many more. These are the hard-to-interview “unicorns” who consistently beat the market, despite the fact that it’s called impossible. In this book, they disclose details and examples I’ve never seen anywhere else, and I’ve read A LOT of books on investing.  For me, the interviews alone were worth the entire book.

Third, he solved the problem that I couldn’t. How do you write a book for both the novice and the sophisticated expert? How do you account for the differences in goals (e.g. growth versus security) without creating a mess of a book with no structure? He nailed it.

Fourth, and last for this blog post, this book isn’t just about “investing.” It’s about clear thinking and clear priorities applied to big things. By the time I’d read half of the book, I’d already taken steps that doubled my income for that month. While it wasn’t stocks or bonds, the principles of the book translated to my other business decisions. Obviously, you’re mileage will vary, but I found the flexible toolkit worth as much as the specific recommendations related to asset allocation, etc.

In the following interview, we dig into everything: Tony’s morning routines, his diet, how we works with the world’s highest-performing athletes and traders, common misconceptions about him, the most typical money mistakes he’s uncovered, and on and on.  I even ask him to palm my entire face (pic coming soon, I promise).

Enjoy!

Tons of links and goodies in show notes below…

If you can’t see the above embedded players, here are other ways to listen:

• Listen to it on iTunes.
• Stream by clicking Part 1 here and Part 2 here.
• Download both as MP3 by right clicking (Part 1, Part 2) and choosing “save as”.

This podcast is brought to you by 99Designs, the world’s largest marketplace of graphic designers. Did you know I used 99Designs to rapid prototype the cover for The 4-Hour Body? Here are some of the impressive results.

Also, how would you like to join me and Sir Richard Branson on his private island for mentoring? It’s coming up soon, and it’s all-expenses-paid. Click here to learn more. It’s worth checking out.

QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: What is the best piece of investment advice you ever received or read? Please let me know in the comments.

Scroll below for all show notes, and thank you for listening!

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Selected Links from the Episode

• Money — Master the Game
• Myelin
• Cryotherapy
• Evernote
• Inside Job

Show Notes

Note: “Ep1″ = Part 1 and “Ep2″ = Part 2.

• What it’s like to coach (and question) the worlds top 1%? [Ep1-10:07]
• Tonys advice for ‘How to get out of a slump’ [Ep1-14:25]
• Tony’s morning routine – including using cyrotherapy [Ep1-19:08]
• Tony’s daily priming ritual [Ep1-26:16]
• The biggest misconceptions people have about Tony [Ep1-32:20]
• How 2 millimeters can change your life [Ep1-41:14]
• What inspired Tony to write his first book in 20 years [Ep1-45:30]
• How Tony’s new book is feeding 50 million people this year [Ep1-55:01]
• The first questions Richard Branson always asks before going into a business [Ep1-59:14]
• What a 50% investment loss actually means [Ep1-60:04]
• Why a nickel costs 5 cents but is worth 6.8 cents. [Ep1-63:01]
• What “average rates of return” actually do to your money [Ep2-3:40]
• Nobel Prize winners’ advice on automating your investing [Ep2-5:16]
• Why investing is just like monkeys playing with apples [Ep2-5:54]
• One of the nine biggest lies in our investment lives [Ep2-6:23]
• How mutual funds are driven not by rates of returns, but marketing [Ep2-9:10]
• Why most mutual funds underperform the market [Ep2-9:54]
• Ray Dalio’s “All Weather” Investing Principles [Ep2-12:51]
• Why losers react and winners anticipate [Ep2-27:07]
• What exactly is “diversification”? [Ep2-30:10]
• Why investing should be maximising quality of life, not maximising returns [Ep2-34:08]
• What you need to ensure against your lesser instinct [Ep2-39:23]
• The story behind Tony wanting to punch Obama [Ep2-42:20]

People Mentioned

• Marc Benioff
• Paul Tudor Jones
• Ray Dallio
• David Swensen
• Warren Buffet
• Howard Marks
• Carl Icahn
• John Bogle
• Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee
• Mary Callahan Erdoes
• Kyle Bass
• John Templeton
• Charlie Rangel
• David Swensen
• Marc Andreessen