Reading Room: Becoming Rich: The Wealth-Building Secrets of the World's Master Investors

Becoming

Rich: The Wealth-Building Secrets of the World's Master Investors Buffett, Icahn,

and Soros

Want to become rich like financial VIPs Warren Buffett, Carl Icahn, andGeorge Soros? Most people who say "yes" may assume that these successfulinvestors possess some type of gene that the rest of us are notlucky enough to have in our DNA. Not so, according to Mark Tier, author of (St. Martin's Press; 2005). He asserts that these masters, as well as otherslike them, share a number of key mental habits and strategies that anyone, includingthe typical physician-investor, can learn. Despite the different ways in which each ofthem have accumulated their wealth—Buffett is a value investor, Icahn is a corporateraider, and Soros is a hedge funder—Tier reveals the23 mental habits that they share. He also identifies theseven deadly investment sins that the "master investors" avoid, including trying to predict the market and findingsomeone who can. The run-of-the-mill investor can adoptthese practices as their own by taking an inventory of pastinvestment successes and failures, determining investmentstandards, and deciding how to match investments withthese criteria. In case you're wondering if it works, Tieradopted these habits 6 years ago and now lives solely fromthe returns on his investments.