Contrary to popular belief, Albert Einstein was not born a genius.
Born in 1879, he was the son of a regular working class family in Germany.
In his early years he was a failure in school, a draft dodger at the beginning of WW2, and completely unemployable.
Naturally, I use to equate Albert’s intellectual powers with his success and achievement.
But now it’s clear that his mastery required decades of patience, persistence, and consistency.
And I argue that you can “invest” like Albert Einstein you follow his formula: Time + Consistency + Discipline.
Relentlessly consistent habits over time yield magnificent results.
“The longer your time horizon, the calmer life becomes. Zoom out far enough and once-gargantuan hurdles turn into tiny speed bumps on the road of life.” - David Perell
The truth is that everything we know about investing, whether it be your career, wealth, or relationships requires a longer time horizon.
The “big money” comes from consistently uninterrupted compounding over years and decades.
And here is a powerful example:
Someone who starts saving $6,000/year at age 25 will wind up with more than twice as much money by age 65 than someone who waits until age 35 to start saving.
A good “investment strategy” requires the ability to do the same thing repeatedly over decades, and let compounding run wild.
Albert’s success didn’t happen overnight, it took decades of consistency.
So if you want to invest like Albert Einstein:
- Lengthen your time horizon
- Don’t interrupt compounding
- Dedicate your time to things that matter to you
- Stay consistent
- Have patience
- Recognize that it’s not “if” speedbumps in life will happen, it’s “when”.
