In one sentence: Jack Canfield on investing by your values (look at where your money and time actually go), on feeling fear and acting anyway, on telling real danger from imagined danger, and on reading as the habit of leaders; for an investor the useful part is the discipline of separating fear from evidence.
Key ideas
- Invest by your values. Jack avoids arms and oil and prefers solar, housing and similar projects. He says everyone's values differ and he does not impose his own. He also wants the investment to be sound, "a company that's good that works". [00:00–04:00]
- Values are what you do. A practical clarifier is to go through your cheque register and spending and label each item. Danielle adds: first notice where your money and time go, then draw lines. [03:00–06:30]
- The size of the idea. Phil dreams of the roughly $18 trillion (his figure) moving toward what people want for their children. Guides exist for finding sustainable companies. [06:30–07:30]
- Feel the fear and do it anyway. If you have done the research and still feel terrified at the buy, that's normal. Jack uses the diving-board image. [08:00–09:00]
- Tapping (EFT). Jack describes tapping on acupuncture points while naming the fear and claims it can remove fears in minutes. This is his claim. I have not verified it, and scientific support is mixed. The take-away that doesn't depend on it: rate the fear from 1 to 10 and watch it. [09:00–11:00, 15:00–17:00]
- Real versus imagined. Sometimes "the rope is a snake". Jack's acronym is FEAR, "fantasized experiences appearing real". Check what is actually happening now. [11:00–13:00]
- Educated intuition. After lots of experience and data, a persistent "no" is worth heeding. Old memories (such as shame about losing a home) can drive a fight-or-flight response that has nothing to do with the present decision. [12:30–14:30]
- Leaders are readers. Phil repeats Munger's point that every good investor he knows reads constantly. Reading sharpens judgment. [22:00–24:00]
- Letting go. "What got you here may not get you there" is a line Jack attributes to Marshall Goldsmith. Fear can keep you from selling or changing course. [24:00–26:00]
How it maps to RuleOne
- The "pull the trigger" fear belongs to the final step before a buy. A written checklist (four Ms, sticker price, margin of safety) is the antidote: you act on numbers, not on mood.
- The stock pages can show the research; the decision to act and the later decision to sell are yours.
- A personal values screen (excluded sectors) can be applied before you use the screen. The site has no values filter.
Buffett, Munger and Graham links
- Buffett's "inner scorecard" idea (Alice Schroeder's The Snowball, and his talks) fits "values are what you do".
- Munger on reading: Phil paraphrases the claim that good investors are readers. Munger often said he'd never met a wise person who didn't read all the time (his talks, collected in Poor Charlie's Almanack).
- Graham's temperament point (The Intelligent Investor, preface by Buffett) again.
Words to know
- Amygdala / prefrontal cortex: Jack's shorthand for the fear brain versus the deciding brain.
- EFT / tapping: a self-applied technique Jack recommends. Treat his claims as unproven.
- Values-based investing: choosing holdings partly on ethics or impact.
Try this
Go through last month's spending and label each item with a value. Then open /stock/KO/, or any company you have an ethical view on, and decide whether the stock passes both your values and the Rule #1 checklist. Write both answers.
Check yourself
- What does Jack mean by "values are what you do"?
Answer
Your real values show in your spending and time, not in your statements. - How can you tell a real threat from an imagined one?
Answer
Ask what is happening now and what evidence you have. Imagined outcomes are future fantasies, while real danger shows in the present. - What should you take from the tapping discussion?
Answer
Name the fear and rate it, and don't let it decide. The specific technique is Jack's claim, not established fact.
Short quotes
"Leaders are readers." (Phil, echoing Jack and Munger, ~23:00, auto-transcribed)