Unshakeable Book Summary

Book Summary

15 min

Audio available

Brief Summary

One of the many oddities of human nature is that our brains react to the sudden loss of money in the same way that we would respond to a giant snake appearing in the middle of the road. With fear.

With this in mind, how can we overcome the ‘snakes in the road’ that deter us from living financially healthy lives?

Through pragmatism.

While humans are often encouraged to consider their emotions when making decisions, Unshakeable wants readers to do the exact opposite. Instead of acting on a feeling, individuals should be making their financial decisions based on a working knowledge of the tax process, portfolio diversification, compound interest, and a thorough understanding of several common types of investments.

And if you don’t have a working knowledge of these topics yet, Unshakeable is the perfect place to start.

About the Author

Anthony (Tony) Robbins was born in 1960 in North Hollywood, California. A staunch advocate for self-help books, Robbins has written multiple texts within this genre in addition to Unshakeable, including Unlimited Power and Awaken the Giant Within.

Robbins is also a motivational speaker, life coach, and philanthropist who is well-known for his seminars and infomercials.

Robbins and his wife, Bonnie, currently reside in Manalapan, Florida.

Topics

Money & Investments

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Key Insights

As we usher in this era of uncertainty, it is critical, now more than ever, that we are savvy in our financial decisions. While it can be tempting to focus only on the chaos of the present situation, Tony Robbins encourages readers to plan for what lies ahead.

Let us not be guided by our fear, but instead, by possibility. We focus on our mental health and our physical health, but we must prioritize opportunities to improve our financial well-being too. Don’t let buying stock or the prospect of investing money scare you. In this highly readable financial literacy guide, you will learn how to make the market work to your advantage.

Compound Interest

Throughout our education, some of us stealthily avoided any class with the word ‘accounting’ or ‘finance’ in the title. It is not that we did not care about managing our money or making the most of what we had. We simply felt unprepared to take on the complexities of financial markets in our ever-changing world.

So, with the economy more unpredictable now than ever, how can we overcome our fears and reap the best financial rewards possible?

It starts with recognizing patterns.

Humans are innately drawn to patterns and we can pick up on their nuances quickly, often unconsciously adjusting our behaviors to fit in with a particular sequence. For instance, if someone rattles off the numbers two, four, and six, we are quickly able to predict that the next value will be eight.

Financial markets operate similarly. Through diligent observation, patterns can be recognized that help potential investors determine the most effective time to invest.

One of these patterns is compound interest. Compound interest refers to money that is added to the initial sum of your savings over time, which ultimately adds value to an investment. Compound interest is the reason that you should start investing a portion of your paycheck right away--the more years that pass, the larger a return you will see.

Consider the following example.

Beginning on your 19th birthday, you decide to take $3,600 per year out of your annual earnings and invest it. Based on the average return of the U.S. stock market for the past century, you can expect this investment to grow by roughly ten percent each year. If you keep up with these investments, you will have $106,782 by the time you are 35.

The length of time really matters, though. For instance, if you saved $3,600 each paycheck from the age of 27 to the age of 35, your return would only be $53,775, approximately half as much. Those extra eight years of compound interest make a huge difference in the overall result!

Avoiding Loss

So, now you know that in order to achieve wealth, you need to start investing as soon as possible. But, there is more to successful investing than opening a random bank account and depositing a portion of your paycheck inside each month.

You must carefully examine the particulars of where you plan to invest and keep the following rule of thumb in mind: it...