We Study Billionaires - The Investor’s Podcast Network - TIP220: Lessons from Billionaire Oprah Winfrey (Business Podcast)

Starting point is 00:00:00 You're listening to TIP. On today's show, we cover one of the most famous billionaires on the entire planet, Miss Oprah Winfrey. Oprah's net worth is around $3 billion, and she's the queen of media. Additionally, she's been ranked to the greatest African-American philanthropist in American history, and she's even been ranked a few times as the most influential woman in the entire world. Stig and I have pulled some of the more interesting questions and answers that she's provided recently, and after each one of them, we'll provide a brief analysis or context to her response.

Starting point is 00:00:31 So without further delay, here's our episode covering the widely loved and always insightful Oprah Winfrey. You are listening to The Investors Podcast, where we study the financial markets and read the books that influence self-made billionaires the most. We keep you informed and prepared for the unexpected. Hey, everyone, welcome to the Investors podcast. I'm your host, Preston Pish, and as always, I'm accompanied by my co-host Stig Broderson. Like we said in the introduction, we're going to be covering Oprah Winfrey today. We're just going to kick this off with the first question that Oprah was asked. And the question was, let's talk about your early career and how you discovered your calling.

Starting point is 00:01:20 Did you know that you wanted to be in TV and media specifically? And this is how Oprah responded. No, I did not. I thought that I was going to be a teacher. I was in my sophomore class at Tennessee State University. I'd already been working in radio since I was 16. I remember I was in Mr. Cox's drawing class for theater, and I was terrible drawer.

Starting point is 00:01:43 He said I couldn't draw a straight line with a ruler. And I got a call in that class from a guy at the local station, CBS, and he'd been calling me several times when I was working in radio. So I started working in radio at 16. I won the Miss Fire Prevention Contest, another long story. So when I went back to the station to pick up my prize, some guy said, would you like to hear your voice on tape? I said, sure. And I started reading this copy on tape. They called everybody in the building, said, hear this kid read. I was 16. They hired me in radio. So I was in radio at 16. So I started getting calls about my freshman year to come into television. I'd never thought about it. And still was living at home and couldn't figure out how I would manage those. I had biology at one o'clock. And And so I couldn't figure out how I would be able to manage my schedule.

Starting point is 00:02:36 And Mr. Cox said to me, the same professor said you can't draw a straight line with the ruler. I came back from taking this phone call. And he said, who was that? I said, this guy at CBS. He keeps calling me, wants me to interview for a job. And Mr. Cox said, that is why you go to school, fool. So that CBS can call you.

Starting point is 00:03:00 That is why you're in school. So you said, you leave now and go calling back. And I did, and I was hired in television, not knowing anything about it, having in mind Barbara Walters, but thinking, oh, okay, I can do that, not knowing how to write or film or anything. And I think it was because it was the times, and I literally had somebody who was willing to work with me that I managed to find my way. But I had to find my way because the reporting never really fit me. And what did work for me, I'm this old, I'm so old that when I started that it was a, year of live action cam. And so it was like video cameras live. And so the news stations would do a live shot. They would throw to somebody live, even if nothing was going on, just so they could say

Starting point is 00:03:47 live action cam. And what I found is I wasn't so good at the writing part, but if I was just standing up and talking about what had just happened, it was really good. So I started in 19, working in television, became an anchor immediately afterwards. My father still had an 11 o'clock curfew. Can you believe such a thing? I am the 10 o'clock anchor in Nashville, Tennessee. I am the woman on the newscast reading the news, and my father would say, be home by 11.

Starting point is 00:04:22 And I'd say, the news is on at 10. He goes, and it's off at 1030, so be home by 11. So I had a very strict father. So anyway, I could feel inside myself that reporting was not the right thing for me, even though I was happy to have the job. I got an offer to go to Atlanta. I was making $10,000 a year in 1971, but still in college. I was thinking I was doing pretty good.

Starting point is 00:04:48 I got an offer to go to Atlanta for $40,000, which I thought, It's over. I'm going to make $40,000. And my boss at the time said to me, me. You do not know what you don't know. And you need to stay here until you can learn to write better until you can perfect your craft as a journalist. He said, and we can't give you 40, but we can't give you 12. So I stayed. And you know, the reason why I stayed is because I could feel inside myself that even though the 40 was alluring at the time, that he was absolutely right. So to make a long story

Starting point is 00:05:22 short, because I'd be here all day just talking about how it all came about, I started listening to what felt like the truth for me. A couple of years later, I moved to Baltimore. I could feel that as a reporter, and by this time, 22,000, I met my best friend, Gail there who said, oh, my God, can you imagine if you're 30, and you're making 30,000? And then you're 40, and then it's 40,000? We actually had that conversation in the bathroom. I started to feel that reporting wasn't for me, but I had my father, I had my friends,

Starting point is 00:06:02 everybody was saying, oh, my God, you're an anchorwoman, you're on TV. I mean, you can't give up that job. By the time I was making 25, my father goes, well, you just hit the jackpot. You're not going to make no more money than that. That's just it. So I was torn between what the world was saying to me and what I felt to be the truth for myself. It felt like an unnatural act for me reporting, although I knew that.

Starting point is 00:06:23 to a lot of people, it was glamorous. I started to just inside myself, think, what do I really want to do? What I really want to do? And I will say this, knowing what you don't want to do is the best possible place to be if you don't know what to do. Because knowing what you don't want to do leads you to figure out what is it you really do want to do. Just incredible information there.

Starting point is 00:06:46 And I mean, the fact that she had an offer at four times the amount of where she was at and then to pass it because she wanted to hone her skills and become better and to provide better quality, there's not too many people that would make that decision. I think that it just speaks volumes. There's not really too much I need to say or anyone else needs to say. If you want to put it in some type of characterization that makes a lot of sense for you, think about your own salary today and whatever that is, if it's $50,000 or $100,000 and just multiply that by four. That was the offer she received. And I don't think there's too many people that say, you know what, I'm just going to kind of hold on to what I got and get better at what I do. Just an incredible story that really speaks to the importance of focusing on quality and becoming the best version of who you are before making that leap.

Starting point is 00:07:39 And then I think the other thing that's super important here is to really kind of know how something feels as you try it on and to really trust that gut feeling in a lot of cases. Now, your gut can lead you wrong and there's a lot of research in this area of talking about gut feelings and whether they're good indicators or not. But if something just generally feels wrong, there's something that's driving that feeling and that inclination. And what you need to do is you need to try to discover what is driving that feeling and why you feel that way. Not just making the decision based on the feeling, but also diving in there and trying to understand why you might have that feeling is incredibly important. But Stig, I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this one. this was such a great sound clip. I think that what really stood out for me,

Starting point is 00:08:25 but to your point about turning down the high-paying offer, I don't know if I could do it especially not at that age. You know, there's this sad tendency for us in today's capitalistic society to think that what you make is more or less what you're worth as a human being. And you just can't help but be impressed by the level of self-reflection. I mean, when you study Oprah, Yes, she's smart, yes, she's insightful. But I guess more than anything, you're stunning a person that is just wise.

Starting point is 00:08:58 And luckily for us, I guess, she's not shy to pass on that wisdom. Because really to the original question about whether she knew from an early age if she would be on TV and the media, and she said, no, I wanted to be a teacher. Perhaps that's really the reason for her success. I mean, you see all these people on TV and everywhere, and they're typically there for themselves. You know, for their own ego, that's not the vibe you're getting from Oprah. Whenever I see her, you know, she's there for me. She's there to help people.

Starting point is 00:09:32 She's a teacher at heart. And perhaps that's the reason for our success. So for our next question, I'm really excited to hear how she responds to this question here. The question is, after doing the Oprah show for 25 years, is there a failure? favorite interview that sticks out in your memory. And this is how she responded. Actually, I did this at the end of my show. I did my favorite guest of all times. That's hard to do out of thousands and thousands. They supposedly estimated that there's like 35,000 people I interviewed over the years. But there was one woman out of all the celebrities, out of all of the famous, non-famous,

Starting point is 00:10:10 infamous people. One woman, who was she? Her name is Tara Trent. Listen to the story. Tara Rai Trent, born and raised in a village in Zimbabwe. 11 years old, she's doing her brother's homework. She wants to go to school. Her father says, no, you have to educate the boy. Yes, that's right. That's right. The boy has to go to school.

Starting point is 00:10:31 You can't go to school. So she starts doing her brother's homework. She does his brother's homework. He goes to school. He gets all A's on his homework, yet he doesn't know the answer to the question. The teacher comes to the village to say, what is going on here? This boy doesn't know the answers, but his homework's perfect. She finds out that Terrai, his younger sister, is doing his homework.

Starting point is 00:10:49 She begs the father to let Terrai go to school. The father says, no, she can't go to school. Finally, he marries her off. She marries at 11 and a half years old. She gets married. She has three children by the time she's 18 years old. A woman comes to the village from an NGO Heifer International and asks, what are your dreams? This is going to make me cry.

Starting point is 00:11:10 This child has never thought about what her dreams were. She says, write down your dreams. She writes down her dreams on a piece of paper and she folds them in a tin can and she buries them under a rock. The first dream was to be able to go to a school in the United States of America and get a college degree. She ends up through some miracle of the NGO going to the United States. She gets a college degree. Wow. Yes, she gets a four-year degree in three years.

Starting point is 00:11:37 Territre Trent. She goes back to the rock in Zimbabwe. She writes her next goal on the piece of paper. She buries it under the rock. She writes, I want to get a master's degree. She goes back to the United States. She gets a master's degree. By this time, she now has five children.

Starting point is 00:11:54 She's married to a man who still beats her. Incredible. She goes back to United States and she gets a master's degree. After the master's degree, she goes back to the rock in Zimbabwe. She writes down her final goal is to get a doctor degree. And last year, she became Dr. Terrai Trent. Where did you find it? I found her in Nicholas Christop's book.

Starting point is 00:12:13 Incredible. And I was reading the story. I had Nicholas Christoph on the show. Nicholas Christoph, the famous New York Times writer. And she wasn't there. She wasn't a part of the show. I'm reading the story. I can't believe this book, the story of this woman as I'm reading the story.

Starting point is 00:12:26 So when we go to do the show, the producers have Nicholas Christoph on. They bring on other guests, but this woman isn't there. I go, how could you not have her there? So we tape another show with Nicholas Christoph. We go back. I go, we're going to find that woman, Tara Wright Trent. By this time she's living in the United States. We followed her back to Zimbabwe to the rock.

Starting point is 00:12:48 We pulled the tin can from underneath the rock. And that is my favorite guest of all time. And the worst? I don't have a worst. I don't have a worst. But the reason why she, and as I said this on my show, the reason why Tara I Trent is my favorite guest of all time is because she represents in that one story

Starting point is 00:13:08 of the little girl in a village in Zimbabwe who had a dream. And the heart and depth and discipline to pursue it, she represents everything I tried to say in every show in 25 years. She literally, through her life story, sums up the message that I was trying to give to every single one of my viewers. You can. You can. Keep trying. Don't give up. You have to believe. Let's take a quick break and hear from today's sponsors. All right. I want you guys to imagine spending three days in Oslo. at the height of the summer. You've got long days of daylight, incredible food, floating saunas on the Oslo Fjord,

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Starting point is 00:17:35 Go to Shopify.com slash WSB. That's Shopify.com slash WSB. All right. Back to the show. So just an outstanding story. And I love her point there at the end and how it kind of summarizes what she was trying to accomplish through all the years. It really reminds me of some different books that Stig and I have covered here on

Starting point is 00:17:58 the show. So one book in particular called Think and Grow Rich, the book is really about mindset and the book is about not ever settling for anything other than what it is that you're going after. There's something to be said about writing something down on a piece of paper that makes it become really real at that point. And if you've never written a goal down on a piece of paper and literally stuck it to the computer your screen or your desk or whatever, I would highly, highly encourage you to do this. There is something to it. And what I think actually happens is you start pushing some of these thoughts down

Starting point is 00:18:35 into your subconscious brain. And the more that you read it, the more that you tell yourself this is what is going to happen, the more that you actually start kicking into gear at various points in time throughout the day and throughout the week and throughout the month that you are working towards actually achieving that in some way or in some form. But for a person who just really doesn't have those goals and then writes them down and consistently focuses on them, it's really hard to have the persistence to keep going through it. My recommendation for somebody that heard that story and says, well, I want to kind of have the same experience, but I want to have it for whatever. I would tell you, go out and read this book, think and grow rich, because although rich is in the

Starting point is 00:19:17 title and it seems like it's about making money, it's. It's. It's really not. The book is really about how can you achieve the things that you want to achieve in your life. The book was written by Napoleon Hill. Napoleon Hill corresponded with and worked with Andrew Carnegie, who was the tycoon from a hundred years ago, who had one of the biggest net worths in the entire planet. And Napoleon Hill basically captured how he was able to do it. Like what led to his ability to achieve so much in such a short amount of time? And that's the premise of the book. So I would tell you to read that book if you're really trying to do what Oprah's describing here and through this person that she had the unique experience to meet. You know, Preston, every time I listen to Oprah, I'm right there with her. You know, I'm in Zimbabwe looking under that rock, being sucked into this world that she's

Starting point is 00:20:08 building and experiencing with her. I think if there's one thing that Oprah does better than anyone I know, that is to tell a story. What I've found recently, is that whether it's professionally or personally, the ability to tell a story is just so important because telling a story is not about entertainment. It's about how to gain influence also. I was looking at some of the research behind all of this, and in a way it's quite simple. So, for instance, if you listen to a PowerPoint presentation, I think we've all been there, but if you listen to a PowerPoint presentation with boring bullet points, certain parts of the brain gets activated. And all, you can look at this as it's the language

Starting point is 00:20:57 processing part of your brain that's being decoded into meaning. But then that's really just what happens. Now, so what happens if we hear a story? Well, not only on the language processing parts and our brain activated, but any other area in our brain that we would use with experiencing the event is activated too. You can basically think about it like this. When we tell stories to others that help us shape our thinking and way of life, we can have the same effect on the listener too. And the brain of that person telling a story and the person who's listened to it, they can synchronize. Of course, Oprah's Oprah and she's on a very different level than most of us. But I think my key takeaway here to the listener is if you want to learn

Starting point is 00:21:47 how to talk the same way as she is and how to be impactful. Study the science of storytelling. For this next question, Oprah was asked what your opinion is about assembling a team, and this was her response. I have people that I trust, and one of the things that, if I may pat myself on the back for, is that I try to surround myself with people who are smarter than I am. I think that the ability to be as good as you can be comes from understanding who you are and what you can and cannot do. And what you can't do is far more important than what you can do

Starting point is 00:22:22 if what you can't do is going to keep you from flying as high as you can. Now, when my lawyer first came to me and said, you can own your own show, it literally took the ceiling off my brain because I had never even thought that high before. I never even thought that was possible. And everybody needs somebody in their life to say, yes, you can do it. I have a niece 15 who several years ago, I said to her, the same thing my father said to me, I said, you are too smart to get C's. I mean, I heard my father speaking. We were crossing the street one day, and she was talking about her grades. You're too smart to do that. You could be an A student. And she said, do you really think I can? Oh, of course. So you're such a bright person. And she started getting A's and said to me a year later, nobody ever told me I could.

Starting point is 00:23:06 You know, I think that one of the most important lessons to learn is that we are all responsible for our lives. But nobody gets through this life alone. Everybody needs to be. Everybody needs somebody to show them a way out or way up. Everybody does. See, I feel best in surroundings where other people are smarter than I am because I feel like I can always learn something from them. One of the other big lessons I've learned, particularly in business, I think you have a responsibility to yourself to learn as much about your business as you can. And so I sign every check, although it is now, tedious, because the bills that come in from running, maintaining a studio, everything from Federal Express to Xerox to every tape that needs repaired. And so,

Starting point is 00:23:46 so forth. It gets to be a lot. I've stacks and piles of checks to do. And I know that there are a lot of successful people who don't do that. I still have a tenement mentality. I've been very, very poor in my life. And so the idea of having money and not being responsible in knowing how much money you have and keeping control of it is not something that I personally can accept. I know that there are other people who can, but it is not a possibility for me. I need to know where it is. I mean, there are times I think I want go to the bank and say, show it to me because, you know, just seeing it on a piece of paper, anybody can print out a piece of paper. So, yeah, I watch it very carefully and try to maintain responsibility for it. You know, when I first started being a, quote, businesswoman, I worried

Starting point is 00:24:28 about how do you do this? And I realize that you do this the same way as you do anything else. You be fair. Try to be honest with other people and you be fair. You know, I like the point that she initially makes about assembling a team where you've got the smartest people around you. And I think for some people, they hear that and they immediately think, well, I don't have those types of people in my life. And what I would tell you is go out and start reading like a fiend. You really do have access to, especially today, you have access to the smartest people in the planet. Everything that they have said has influenced them. You can watch videos of their interviews. You can do all of these things. And I mean, really, that's what

Starting point is 00:25:12 our show is all about, really, is trying to bring access of these people to everyone so that they can help us become smarter. But some great comments there. It was also interesting to hear some of our comments about watching the dollars being spent and why the financials are so important as a business leader to really understand what's actually happening inside of your business. And I don't know that she necessarily described it there at the end, but that's how I interpreted the way she was having those discussions, just so people understand that soundbite was from when she was way younger. I mean, the soundbite was probably from 20 plus years ago. Let's take a quick break and hear from today's sponsors. No, it's not your imagination. Risk and regulation are ramping up and customers now expect

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Starting point is 00:29:32 being fair and honest, it's like you're sitting at the same side of the negotiation table, looking at the challenges together and not sitting in front of each other in a you have to lose for me to win kind of game. In my experience, you'll also find that you're dealing with the same suppliers and customers instead of starting up new relationships with people because you are building that trust by being fair and honest and people will come back. And you might think, think that, wow, that's pretty basic. Of course, you have to be fair and honest, you know, in business and in life. It's just one of those things that are simple, but it's not easy to do. It's almost like saying only eat healthy foods. We are in so many ways wired to short-term gains, whether it's

Starting point is 00:30:25 junk food or behaving unethical in business, because it's so easy for us to do and we're just lazy creatures. Short-term, it probably doesn't make a difference, but not being fair and honest will just slowly corrupt you and you won't notice what's happening to you. And perhaps more important than business and also what Oprah is getting at here, it's just a better way of living. You know, surround yourself by people who you trust and who are fair and honest too, because you will attract people who are just like you. For our last question that we're going to play, she was asked, when you have so many negative forces, even in your family, how can you stay in a positive place? And this is how she responded. Who do you want to be in the world? Who do you want to be? Not what do you want to do, not what do you want to do? What is the kind of person when they're reading your eulogy? What do you want the words to be said about the kind of person you have been in the world? Do you know the answer to that question. Do you know the answer to that question? I'm asking that of everybody. Do you know

Starting point is 00:31:35 what that is? Because in the end, you know, I was just at one of my dear Harpo employees, been here for 20 years, her husband died suddenly of a brain aneurysm. It was the most beautiful ceremony. I left that ceremony wanting to be a better human being because the words that were said about him as a human being, as a father, as an uncle, as a friend, the words that people spoke about him were so loving and impassioned that I thought, gee, when I die, I don't want people to talk about the number of shows I did.

Starting point is 00:32:10 You want people to talk about how your love affected them, the love that you put out into the world. So if that is the paradigm that you're living from, how can I serve and be the most loving, gracious, giving person, whatever my talent is, to all the girls that you're counseling. How do I do that with love, ultimately? I'm telling you the negative energy will change. And when you become that force for yourself, you won't allow it. I don't care what their title or role is in your life. You just really won't. Sometimes you have to divorce your friends and divorce your family members.

Starting point is 00:32:48 And if you handle them with love in doing it, they will come back. You will have an opportunity to reconcile. from what I know. But I've had family members from whom I've said, I will not allow you to treat me this way. I will not allow you to treat me this way. And when you get some sense, and for one family member, it took them three years to get. When you get some sense, call me and let me know that your senses has returned. So some really, really powerful stuff out of this response. Absolutely love this. And the core of what she's getting at is you first have to look internal. at yourself and what is it that I'm doing or that I'm not doing that's driving this attraction to me to cause this situation. I absolutely love this response because I think there's so much

Starting point is 00:33:37 power in this. It reminds me of a book that Stig and I covered by Carol Dweck called Mindset. This book is all about whether you look internally or you look externally whenever things don't go your way in life and how you can achieve things. It's all about looking internally first. When Oprah says, you are the person who's sending out some type of energy that's attracting that person or that thing into your life that's causing maybe that trouble, you have to look at what it is that you're emitting and that you're doing that draws that into your life. First, always. I think this is such a powerful and important idea for people to fully understand. And again, I think that the best way to dig into this a whole lot deeper is to study that book

Starting point is 00:34:19 by Carol Dweck called Mindset. Stig, curious to hear your thoughts on this one. My key takeaway from what Oprah said is really, who do you want to be the way she started out by answering this question? And it makes me think of Benjamin Franklin. I don't know how we should characterize him. You know, he has many job titles, you know, founding father, inventor, diplomat, not to mention extremely successful business person.

Starting point is 00:34:47 I think the most interesting thing about Benjamin Franklin, choosing of so many, he is famously known for his 13 virtues, that he organized into a 13-week plan. But basically, it was that every week, for 13 weeks, he should master a new virtue. Like he should make it his own, whether that was frugality, justice, tranquility, humility, that was his goal because he acknowledged that it was his responsibility alone to do so. These virtues were internally driven. They're not something that are coming from the outer world. This really reminds me of what Oprah is saying.

Starting point is 00:35:34 The choice is yours because your legacy, like success, is people won't be talking about your height or your gender or. whatever is giving to you from birth, but your legacy would be your personality and what you did with your life. So also to relate back to what you said here before Preston, you know, this is really what Benjamin Franklin found centuries ago. You can choose to believe that you were born a certain way and then, you know, it's everyone else's fault when things are not going your way. That's a fixed mindset. Or you can decide not to be a victim and make your own love. and work on the virtues or skills you need to succeed in your field. And I think that Oprah,

Starting point is 00:36:20 perhaps more than anyone, decided what should my personality be like? And perhaps he even worked a little harder than most other people. That is one of the main pillars of her success. All right. So that's all that Stig and I have for covering the questions with Oprah Winfrey. If you guys want to learn some more about Oprah Winfrey, which I highly encourage that you do, because as you can see, she's a treasure trove of value and information and just a total resource of learning. There's a book that she wrote. It's called What I Know for Sure.

Starting point is 00:36:51 Stig and I covered this probably two years ago. In our show notes, we'll have a link to our discussion about what we learned from this book. But if you don't want to listen to our comments on it, you just want to read it for yourself. I know that there's an audible book out there on it. We also have a link for a free audio book in our show notes. So check that out. But the name of the book is What I Know for Sure. and it was written by Oprah Winfrey.

Starting point is 00:37:12 So really a lot of fun covering her questions. All right. So at this point in time in the show, we would like to play a question from the audience. And this question comes from John. Hey, Preston and Stig. My name is John. I've been listening to your podcast for about two years now. And going on your website and looking on your online material, it's very helpful.

Starting point is 00:37:32 I find it very interesting and a lot of fun. I had a question about dollar cost averaging. Is this a technique that you guys currently use? have used in the past, do you see it as purely a passive investor strategy or do intrinsic value investors use this strategy as well? I would just really appreciate your thoughts on the topic and thank you very much. Fantastic question, John. So the concept you relate to here is the dollar cuts averaging concept, which is a very, it's a well-known concept and a lot of well-known investors have been talking about this for years now. One of the most prominent is the Vanguard founder

Starting point is 00:38:16 Jan Bogle. It's one of the most simple forms. You know, you invest your monthly cash flows into the stock market every month. And I think it's a great strategy overall. And if you spend less than you make every month and just do that, meaning just invest the difference into the stock market, regardless of the price, you'll do just fine. Because the advantage of the advantage of the market, of this is that you're not really considering whether or not the stock market is high or low, but you can spend your time without stress going about your normal business, you know, with job and family, and know that you can still retire well off. Now, so to your question about do we as intrinsic value investors, do we use some part of

Starting point is 00:39:04 this strategy, the dollar cost emerging strategy? I think the best way for me to respond to this question is that, yes, some components of it, I think that most investors can utilize that with some advantage. But it's also important to mention that the strength of this strategy is also the weakness, namely that you do not consider the price compared to the value of the stock market. So while this is a time saver for sure, if you place your money where you're not, does not yield the highest return. It's just bound to give you a lower return by definition, at least if you know how to price the different categories of assets. However, the reason why

Starting point is 00:39:49 I still use the dollar cost averaging strategy to some extent is really because of the simplicity and the humble approach of not knowing. We could be wrong in our assessment of the market of the individual stock or bond for that matter. And we also have to remember that we pay a big opportunity cost by having cash or by being wrong by not being invested. Statistically, you'll be paying 7% after inflation of not being invested in the stock market if you hold cash instead. So it is just a very difficult opportunity cost to work with from trying to time the market

Starting point is 00:40:32 one way or the other. So what I do is to aim to have as little cash position as I can, but still always have the cash to invest in something that's very cheap and then use my monthly cash flow where I can find the best return. So generally, I would say I would rather be invested in various assets than not be because of the opportunity cost. Thanks so much for asking your awesome question. To show our appreciation, we're going to give you a free subscription to our paid intrinsic value course on the TIP Academy website. This course goes into all the detail to show you how we calculate the intrinsic value of the business, basically what we're describing there. If anyone listening wants to check out this course, go to tip intrinsic value.com. That's tip intrinsic value.com to see

Starting point is 00:41:20 the course and the contents contained in the course. So Thomas, thanks for your awesome question. We hope you enjoy the course. If anyone else out there wants to get their question played on the show, go to Ask the Investors.com. There's a little button. You just got to click the record button, you record it. It automatically goes into our servers and we can see it pop up and then we listen to all the questions that come in. And if your question gets played on the show, you get access to a course just like Thomas. All right, guys, that was all the press down I had for this week's episode of The Investors podcast. We see each other again next week. All right, guys, that was all the press down I had for this week's episode of The Investors podcast.

Starting point is 00:41:57 We see each other again next week. Thanks for listening to TIP. the show notes, courses, or forums, go to theinvestorspodcast.com. To get your questions played on the show, go to Asktheinvestors.com and win a free subscription to any of our courses on TIP Academy. This show is for entertainment purposes only. Before making investment decisions, consult a professional. This show is copyrighted by the TIP network.

Starting point is 00:42:24 Written permission must be granted before syndication or rebroadcasting. I'm

We Study Billionaires - The Investor’s Podcast Network - TIP220: Lessons from Billionaire Oprah Winfrey (Business Podcast)

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