Today I am doing a book review of “The Age of Anomaly” which talks about the question “How to avoid financial collapse.” Watch now!
VIDEO SUMMARY
A New Book on Market Crashes
We are talking about “The Age of Anomaly” by Andrei Polgar. This is a new business book that was just released. You can get it on Amazon, and I am going to link it in the description below. The author of this book is actually another YouTuber who runs the channel One Minute Economics. If you have not seen any of his videos, you should go check them out. He does a great job.
Link: https://www.amazon.com/Age-Anomaly-Spotting-Financial-Uncertainty-ebook/dp/B078SYL5YS
The Problem
So why am I reviewing this book? Something I worry about is that the knowledge about market crashes gets lost. It was not that long ago that we all experienced the Great Recession. This all happened roughly ten years ago. I am sure most of you remember what it was like. I know I do. The global economy was on the brink of collapse. All stock markets were crashing. Lehman Brothers went bankrupt. Jim Cramer went on CNBC yelling and screaming “They know nothing!”
The experience of the great recession made us all better with our money. You remember what it feels like, and you become smarter, more prepared, and better investors. The problem is that people growing up today, do not remember that experience. You do not know that feeling. If you are graduating high school today at 18 years old, you were eight when the great recession happened. You were probably only vaguely aware of what was happening in the stock market. This book, “The Age of Anomaly,” captures that knowledge of how to avoid financial collapse. I think this is an incredibly important book to talk about and pass down to future generations.
Book Summary
The book is about what happens during a market crash. The author split the book into three main sections. The first section talks about many different market crashes and gives the history. The second section gives you the analysis of why the crashes happened. Then the rest of the book gives you practical steps you can take to prepare yourself for market crashes in the future.
My Opinion
I read a lot of business books. I have to say that this is my favorite type of business book. It talks about economic history. It gives a lot of theory. But it also gives very practical advice you can use. The author wrote the book in a way that is easy to understand for the average person, which I really appreciate.
Now I have to be brutally honest with my criticism, because I do not agree with this author on everything. This book is about market crashes, and I feel like it is written from a more pessimistic perspective about the economy. My personal opinion is I tend to be fairly optimistic about the future of the global economy. I see so many exciting things happening in the business world that will make all our lives better, which makes me optimistic. But I appreciate hearing other people’s perspectives, especially when it comes to money.
The History Section
There are a few things I want to mention that I really liked about the book. I loved the history section, and reading about all the different market crashes. I have actually been looking for a book like this for a while, that gives you an overview of all these historical events. The book is well researched. These were historical events I thought I knew, but I ended up learning a lot of new things.
Stock Market Investing Tips
Another thing I really liked was in the section on stock market investing. In this section, the author gives you twenty rules he uses to invest. When I was reading this section and I got to rule 20, I was so shocked I literally jumped up out of my chair. Rule 20 is my favorite investing rule, and nobody talks about it. How did this guy know about rule 20?
Rule 20 says this: “Stocks which are underperforming the market aren’t necessarily bargains, there might just be something seriously wrong with their business model.” (The Age of Anomaly. Andrei Polgar. 2018. Pg 214)
The Controversy of Rule 20
Rule 20 is referring to value investing. Value investing is a system where you purchase stocks in companies that are undervalued, based on the idea that when the market corrects you will make money. Rule 20 is saying you cannot blindly follow any investment strategy, because if the company goes bankrupt, you can lose everything.
The reason nobody writes about Rule 20, is that it reveals a flaw in value investing. Value investing is not going to work every single time. Most authors writing about investing are trying to sell you something. They are trying to sell an investing system so they are not going to talk about the times it does not work. This guy is not trying to sell you anything. The whole point of this book is to say that sometimes markets do not move the way you expect. This book prepares you for that.
My Favorite Part
My favorite part of this book is at the very end. The author includes these short sections on inflation and deflation. These are the best explanations of inflation and deflation that I have ever read. You can really tell all the work this author has done on One Minute Economics, because it really shines through in his writing. These sections are short, concise, to the point and well explained for these really difficult topics.
Conclusion
In summary, I do not normally do a lot of book reviews on my channel. But I wanted to do this one, because I really loved this book. The author obviously put a lot of time and effort into writing this book. It is well written and easy for the average person to understand. And I think it is a very important book for today and future generations. I highly recommend it.
Leave a comment down below letting me know what you think!
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Neither Zach De Gregorio or Wolves and Finance Inc. shall be liable for any damages related to information in this video. It is recommended you contact a CPA in your area for business advice.