You learn something by doing it yourself, by asking questions, by thinking, and by experimenting

Richard Feynman said, “You learn something by doing it yourself, by asking questions, by thinking, and by experimenting.”

Richard Feynman is Nobel prize-winning physicist who ensured he understood anything he studied better than anyone else. He had a technique.

There are four steps to the Feynman Learning Technique:

1 Choose a concept you want to learn about
2 Pretend you are teaching it to a student in grade 6
3 Identify gaps in your explanation; Go back to the source material, to better understand it.
4 Review and simplify (optional)

If you chose to delegate your investment decisions to wealth managers, stockbrokers, fund managers, private banks, or other investment advisors, are you learning?   Could you explain what they are doing for you to a grade 6 student? Test yourself by explaining to your partner exactly what the people you delegate your money management too, exactly what they are doing? What do they charge? How success is measured? If you struggle, you have a problem.

People set up investments, trust funds, pensions and can’t communicate with clarity what they are doing. That means you have no way of knowing what you are doing is right or wrong or good or bad.  Getting it wrong is expensive, especially over the longer term.

Where possible, follow the Feynman Learning Technique. You’ll end up wealthier.