This is part nine of my time with 10 Days to Faster Reading, a book on the Personal MBA Quick Start reading list. To read all posts related to this book, see 10 Days to Faster Reading on JustAJot.

Day 9, Reading on a Technical Track

Technical reading. Technical material is material “with unfamiliar vocabulary or terminology, numbers or statistics you must know, or completely new information.” Day 9 of 10 Days to Faster Reading teaches us how to better read technical material.

The explained suggestions include:

• Pre-view
• Become familiar with unfamiliar terms
• Identify your purpose and responsbility
• Look for 5W’s and H (Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How)
• Modify a faster reading strategy
• Re-view

The book’s content is becoming a review of everything previously discussed, with a few little helpful hints thrown in here and there. On to the tool of the day.

The tool of the day is referred to as “the thumb push.” The thumb push is very similar to the white card method discussed in day 1, but using your fist instead of a white card. I’ll leave it up to you to figure it out, and if for some crazy reason you can’t, buy the book! Or just buy it anyway, it’s worth it if you want to improve your reading skills.

This is part eight of my time with 10 Days to Faster Reading, a book on the Personal MBA Quick Start reading list. To read all posts related to this book, see 10 Days to Faster Reading on JustAJot.

Day 8, Fine-Tuning Your Reading Speed

Knowing your purpose (Day 3) and applying pre-viewing (Day 5) are the key factors for determining your overdrive speeds: skimming, scanning, or skipping.

What factors affect your reading speed? There are several, all explained in Day 8 of 10 Days to Faster Reading:

• purpose and responsibility
• pre-viewing
• background knowledge
• noise level
• distractions and interruptions
• time factor
• time of day
• physical condition
• using a speed technique
• location
• temperature and lighting
• interest
• column width and print size
• author’s style

The idea is to “take as much control over your reading material, reading time, and physical environment as possible to make your reading experience as efficient and as effective as possible.” Basically, if you really want to learn something, it’s probably not smart to read while the kids are fighting over who gets to play what video game, while the dogs are barking at the kids acting all kinds of crazy, and while your significant other is in the room not doing anything about it. Or if your single without all of the above wonderfulness, don’t read and expect to learn much while the TV is on your favorite show and you’re about to fall asleep.

Read in the best conditions and your experience will be as efficient and as effective as possible.

Three reading techniques (or “not reading” techniques) will help speed you along: skimming, scanning, and skipping. Day 8 describes each of these techniques in detail and provides exercises for the skimming and scanning techniques. Abby Marks-Beale could have included an exercise for skipping, but chances are you’ll skip it.

Use skimming when you’re looking for the main idea. Use scanning when you’re looking for something specific. Use skipping when the material is familiar or irrelevant.

The absolute best part of this chapter is the following:

1. Always identify your purpose for reading. Remember that without knowing why you are on the road, you waste time, get lost, and become frustrated.
2. Pre-view everything you read. Pre-viewing gives you the background knowledge to decide whether the reading is worth your time and helps you refine your purpose.
3. Overcome your fear of missing material. There is more than enough reading material to last a lifetime and your job is to q-u-i-c-k-l-y find what is mot valuable to you.

I have a good reason for constantly referring to the ideas of defining a purpose and pre-viewing everything you read: it helps! Since I began to seriously study this book, I’ve recognized the good things and bad things about my reading technique. I’ve always been good at skimming, scanning, and skipping, but as for defining a purpose and pre-viewing? Nope!

I’ve been making a conscious effort to define a purpose and pre-view everything I read. It helps tremendously. I still haven’t fully overcome my fear of missing material, but I’m working on it.

The tool of the day is referred to as the “finger snake.” This one works best on narrow-columned material sitting on a flat surface. Place your index finger (either one) in the center of the column under the first line of text. Move your finger down the column like a snake, in a smooth, continuous motion. The goal is to learn to see and read more than one line at a time.

This is part seven of my time with 10 Days to Faster Reading, a book on the Personal MBA Quick Start reading list. To read all posts related to this book, see 10 Days to Faster Reading on JustAJot.

Day 7, Reducing the Pileup

Have a lot to read and feel like you’re never going to be able to get through it all? That’s what Day 7 of 10 Days to Faster Reading is all about. The chapter discusses causes and solutions to your ever-growing stack of material you have yet to read.

Several causes contribute to your reading pileup: procrastination, feeling the need to read and remember everything, and personal/professional development requirements. Procrastination is a tough one, and I’m going to give you a few suggestions from the book that may help. Reading and remembering everything is impractical, and I’ll give you hints as to why. And personal/professional development? That may be the most important material you can read.

Helping to solve procrastination involves cutting out the unimportant. What is your purpose for reading specific pieces of material? If you can’t define a valid purpose, if the material isn’t of much importance to you, then you simply don’t need to read it. Unsubscribe to all publications (both regular and electronic mail) that you don’t have a good reason to read (see: inbox zero). Toss any unnecessary reading clutter.

Another technique for limiting the amount of material you have to read, and thus helping your procrastination toward reading, is to pre-view everything you read. Pre-viewing will not only give you the big picture of the material, but it will also allow you to decide if it’s worth spending more time in a detailed read. If it’s not, toss it aside and move on to something else.

The main point here is to read selectively. Think a bit before you dive into material. Do you really need to read it? Is it going to benefit your life in any way? If you can’t answer yes, don’t read.

When choosing to read selectively, you might feel an increased urge to remember everything you read. After all, if you’re being more choosy about what you put into your mind, you might as well remember it all. But, this simply isn’t practical. You don’t need to remember everything and you shouldn’t waste your time trying. Remember only what you must remember — you must have a purpose for doing so.

There is an interesting exercise in this book that I’ve completed previously — one in which I highly recommend. If you don’t know where your time is going throughout the week, keep a detailed log of your activities. 7 days. 24 hours. 15 minute increments. Analyze the log at the end of the week and find more time to be productive and to read the most important reading material of all: personal and professional development.

The tool of the day is referred to as the “open hand wiggle.” With the material flat on a reading surface, open either hand with your fingers extended outward, palm facing the page. Center your middle finger in the middle of the column and move your hand down the page in an S-shape.

I’m not really digging the open hand wiggle. I still prefer the two finger pull discussed in day 4 and the white card method discussed in day 1. Whatever pacer tool works best for you, the most important thing is that you use it! Using a pacer helps you stay focused while reading, thus increasing speed and comprehension.

This is part six of my time with 10 Days to Faster Reading, a book on the Personal MBA Quick Start reading list. To read all posts related to this book, see 10 Days to Faster Reading on JustAJot.

Day 6, Hanging Out the Caution Flag

“Hanging Out the Caution Flag” teaches a number of things: criticism, quick preparation, challenging the author/content/yourself, and how to read certain material (newspapers, op-ed pieces, jargon-filled content). Let’s start with criticism.

Criticism, a word often thought of in a negative connotation, actually means “to consider the merits and demerits of and judge accordingly.” You must not accept everything in a nonfiction book as fact. Earth might still be thought of as flat (hint: it’s ROUND) if we accepted everything said to be factual. You must consciously criticize what you read, considering merits and demerits, and judge accordingly.

Three aspects should be challenged: the author, content, and yourself. The act of challenging the three aspects can be done with questions to answer for each. If you want the specifics, you can find them in chapter six of 10 Days to Faster Reading.

Don’t be a lemming. Challenge everything. Be a conscious critic. If the author is attempting to sway you into a belief or stating something as a fact you don’t believe to be true, do your own research and prove them wrong. And if you prove yourself to be wrong, accept it and move on.

By this point in the book it’s becoming clear that reading faster (and understanding better) has much to do with multiple passes over the material. Abby Marks Beale has re-iterated the notion of previewing everything you read several times now, so it must be important. From personal experience, previewing is definitely important.

Previewing your reading allows for several things to happen. One, you become familiar with the material prior to reading it in detail. Two, this level of background knowledge aids in faster reading and deeper understanding. Three, it allows you to skip the reading altogether if it’s not important to you. Reading faster with a deeper understanding is the point of this book, so previewing everything you read is extremely important.

Not discussed much in the book so far, but I believe equally important is reviewing. After you preview, and read in detail, reviewing the material. This is exactly the same as previewing, only it can’t be called previewing after you’ve read in detail. If you really want the material to sink in, preview, read, and review (and take notes, and discuss, and so on).

The reading tool introduced in chapter six is referred to as the pen-push. With your reading material on a flat surface, place your pen vertically on the page, pen tip a few lines above the material you are about to read. As you read, push the pen down the page. You should be focusing on key words and phrases, and attempting to push the pen faster and faster down the page.

This is part five of my time with 10 Days to Faster Reading, a book on the Personal MBA Quick Start reading list. To read all posts related to this book, see 10 Days to Faster Reading on JustAJot.

Day 5, Reading the Road Map

A terrific way to get through reading material faster is by not reading it. Seriously. Preview it. (Deliberately skim it.)

Previewing material accomplishes three important tasks that will enhance your learning abilities. One, it can help you decide whether or not the material is even worth your time to read in detail. Two, it gives you the chance to further establish a purpose which leads to deeper learning. And three, it gives you background knowledge for the detailed read, again making the material easier to learn. This whole process also serves as an introduction and review for the material.

Non-fiction writing follows an outline. Knowing the structure of non-fiction writing allows you to preview more effectively. Abby Marks-Beale’s detailed description of the outline of non-fiction writing serves as a great reference for previewing. With this information close by, you can learn how to preview practically any non-fiction writing efficiently and effectively.

The tool of the day is referred to as the “pull down center.” Using your index finger in the center of a page, pull your finger down the text while reading the line above. Make sure your finger is moved at a continuous pace. This works best on a flat surface with narrow-columned material.

Tips (“it is no secret that your ability to efficiently read and learn is easier when you are well rested, relaxed, and feeling well”):

• sleep — adults, between eight and nine hours of sleep
• exercise — make your brain more alert by oxygenating the blood
• brain food — rich with protein, avoid breads, pretzels, and pasta
• reduce stress — feeling overwhelmed? prioritize

Thoughts

I believe that’s it for this chapter. More than anything, it serves as a good reference for the outline of non-fiction writing. This is something that will help me while practicing pre-viewing other material I’m currently studying. As for the tools thus far, they aren’t anything groundbreaking. I’m surprised more people don’t use them naturally. Though, I do happen to like the index card method discussed in chapter one. The idea of blocking material you’ve already read as a way to prevent regression is very nice.

Strengths Finder 2.0 is not just a book; it’s also a test and online resource, and part of the Personal MBA reading list. The primary purpose for purchasing the book is for the unique access code needed to gain access to the Strengths Finder website. The website contains a test that is designed to help you discover your strengths. After taking the test, you are presented with link to download a personalized Strengths Discovery and Action-Planning Guide.

The Strengths Discovery and Action-Planning Guide gives you a personalized copy of what you can find in the book after you discover your strengths through the test. Each strength category contains a description, examples, ideas for action, and a guide to working with others who have each particular strength.

For a glimpse at what Strengths Finder 2.0 is all about, below are a few quotes from the first part of the book:

• A misguided maxim: You can be anything you want to be, if you just try hard enough. NO! You cannot be anything you want to be — but you can be a lot more of who you already are. (p5/9)
• People have several times more potential for growth when they invest energy in developing their strengths instead of correcting their deficiencies. (pi)
• What StrengthsFinder actually measures is talent, not strength. (p17)
• Building your talents into real strengths [also] requires practice and hard work. (p19)
• Talent (a natural way of thinking, feeling, or behaving) x Investment (time spent practicing, developing your skills, and building your knowledge base) = Strength (the ability to consistently provide near-perfect performance) (p20)
• Being aware of your areas of lesser talent can help you avoid major roadblocks. (p22)
• The key is for you to be aware of your potential and your limitations. (p24)
• Far too many people spend a lifetime headed in the wrong direction. (p30)

Learn more about yourself and your potential by taking the test and following through with the personalized action plan. It’s worth the $15 or so bucks. If you happen to be interested, listed below are my strength categories:

• Relator
• Intellection
• Self-Assurance
• Futuristic
• Learner

Now, go discover your strengths!

This is part four of my time with 10 Days to Faster Reading, a book on the Personal MBA Quick Start reading list. To read all posts related to this book, see 10 Days to Faster Reading on JustAJot.

Day 4, Getting Up to Speed

This day’s text begins with “This chapter is going to be a lot of fun.” It wasn’t. But, it was much more important to me than being “fun.” It was enlightening. It was during the reading of this chapter that it occurred to me that faster reading, along with better comprehension, is definitely possible for most people.

By practicing the techniques outlined in the first four chapters of the last month, my reading skills have improved. I’m reading a little quicker, and maintaining, if not improving slightly, my level of comprehension. Last month!? But doesn’t the title say something about “10 days?” Of course it does. But I’m not so sure that a tool per day is an appropriate amount of time to practice each of the tools mentioned at the end of each chapter. So what is? Well, it depends on the person obviously, but I believe the knowledge gained from each lesson should be put into practice for a sufficient amount of time before moving on to the next. Possibly a week, or at least a couple of days of reading using the methods described.

Topics in this chapter include stopping on key words, eye exercises, and reading for thought groups. The “stopping on key words” is the most interesting to me. I believe the following explains this the best:

Think about what would happen to your reading if you could read, or stop your eyes on, five words out of eleven while still understanding what you read. The result? At least a doubling of your reading speed.

Take the following sentence for an illustration on key words: “The task is defined by a series of steps and elements.” All key words are italicized. The usually longer and important words provide most of the meaning of a sentence. Focus on these words and improve your reading speed. What this also does, and is probably even more important for me, is it helps keep you concentrated on the reading material.

The tool of the day is referred to as “the two finger pull.” For this tool, place both of your index fingers on opposite sides of the text. As you read, slowly, but continuously, move your fingers down the page of text.

I’m liking this tool so far. Anything that engages and prevents the mind from wandering is a great thing (in any task).

This is part three of my time with The Lazy Person’s Guide to Investing, a book on the Personal MBA Personal Finance reading list. To read all posts related to this book, see The Lazy Person’s Guide to Investing on JustAJot.

Part Three: Six More Boring, Lazy Portfolios for America

This book is beginning to get boring. We’ve already covered the main topics. Save. Diversify your investments while avoiding market timing. Buy and hold those investments. And now we’re driving point of basic portfolio management. In part three, Paul Farrell shows that many other “lazy portfolios” are merely derivatives of the Couch Potato Portfolio discussed in detail in part one.

There are two pieces I want to re-print here, two that I found incredibly important. The first is a recollection of an old story from Napoleon Hill’s Think & Grow Rich:

As I recall it, the members of the parish were delighted that they had a new preacher. But after a few weeks, they were getting worried. The reverend had delivered the exact same sermon his first three Sundays at the pulpit. And after the third time, nervous eyes darted back and forth across the aisles as parishioners wondered if they’d made a mistake. Telephones were ringing off the hook as rumors kept flying — did we hire someone with some kind of memory problem?

Finally one of the deacons got tapped for the uncomfortable task of confronting the new minister. He arranged a private meeting in the parish rectory. He was mighty anxious: “Reverend, I … that is, we … well, sir, you see … the deacons were wondering if you were aware that you’ve been repeating the same sermon the last three Sundays?”

“Yes, I am,” the new minister replied through piercing eyes, “and I’ll keep doing it until they get the message.”

That story makes me giggle. Simple concepts take so long to truly understand. If they didn’t, one should easily be able to stop reading after the first part of this book. And the next piece, Scott Adams’s one-page book on personal finance:

1. Make a will.
2. Pay off your credit cards.
3. Get term life insurance if you have a family to support.
4. Fund your 401(k) to the maximum.
5. Fund your IRA to the maximum.
6. Buy a house if you want to live in a house and can afford it.
7. Put six months’ expenses in a money market account.
8. Take whatever money is left over and invest 70 percent in a stock index fund and 30 percent in a bond fund. Buy them directly from the fund company and never touch them until retirement.
9. If any of this confuses you, or you have something special going on (retirement, college planning, tax issue), hire a fee-based financial planner, not one who charges a percentage fee based on your portfolio’s size.

The rest of part three explains why Vanguard is such an awesome company for index fund investments (HINT: LOW EXPENSE RATIOS!).

This is part two of my time with The Lazy Person’s Guide to Investing, a book on the Personal MBA Personal Finance reading list. To read all posts related to this book, see The Lazy Person’s Guide to Investing on JustAJot.

Part Two: Testing the Six Laziest Strategies

It’s okay to be an average investor. Try to do better and you’ll do far worse. Some will take the challenge and learn enough about investing and be magnificent enough to truly beat the market. Those are the exceptional few. Many others will also take the challenge and let their emotions or intellect get the best of them, only to fail like so many before them. Sometimes it pays to be average. Investing is one of those times.

For the adventurous, you can have a piece of each pie. The common practice is to allocate 90% of your investment money to safe, diversified investments. The other 10%? Speculative ventures. If you’re in the group that believes you can beat the market, use that 10% for 10 years to discover how you fair. You’ll know then if you should reallocate and change up your overall investment strategy. Otherwise, keep to the 90/10 ratio.

Part two of The Lazy Person’s Guide to Investing discusses the “six laziest strategies” to “find more time for the important things in life.” Each strategy is discussed in a separate chapter. The discussions include examples that clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of each. The six strategies discussed are:

1. Market timing: avoid it.
2. Saving and frugality.
3. Compounding: there is no greater power known to man.
4. Diversify. Yes, it’s okay to be average.
5. Buy and hold. And hold. And hold. And hold.
6. Do it yourself.

The investment aspect of personal finance really comes down to just a few simple steps. Research index funds for investments that you would like to hold forever (and only draw out of for retirement). Save as much as is comfortable for the investments. Do it regularly; every paycheck, or every month, and make investing automatic. And start now. Like, right now.

This is part one of my time with The Lazy Person’s Guide to Investing, a book on the Personal MBA Personal Finance reading list. To read all posts related to this book, see The Lazy Person’s Guide to Investing on JustAJot.

Introduction

The Lazy Person’s Guide to Investing, “a book for procrastinators, the financially challenged, and everyone who worries about dealing with their money.” I’ll refer to The Lazy Person’s Guide to Investing from now on as TLPGTI. TLPGTI was written by Paul B. Farrell, J.D., Ph.D., a columnist for CBS MarketWatch. This day 1 post covers part 1 of the book (chapters 1-4).

Investing is very, very easy

TLPGTI teaches us that “investing is very, very easy.” The first part of the book is dedicated to “America’s three laziest portfolios”:

1. The Couch Potato Portfolio
2. The Coffeehouse Portfolio
3. The No-Brainer Portfolio

I’ve long been looking for a book with straight-up investing advice. Individual stock recommendations are a bad idea, but index funds? YES! Diversity and proper asset allocation make smart (and lazy) people rich (slowly, and in the long run). Too many parenthetical notes? Maybe. (Index funds are cool.)

The point that TLPGTI makes is obvious: investing is simple. Don’t make it complicated. Start now if you aren’t already. And if you already are “investing” and you have a complicated portfolio of common stock and you’re constantly worried about the value of each? There’s a simple little acronym I subscribe to: KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid). Get out of your stocks (when it makes sense to) and learn a little about no-load index funds as discussed in TLPGTI and referenced in the portfolios below.

The Couch Potato Portfolio

The Couch Potato Portfolio was created by Scott Burns, a syndicated financial columnist with the Dallas Morning News.

1. 50% — Vanguard 500 Index (VFINX)
2. 50% — Vanguard Total Bond Market Index (VBMFX)

Introduced in 1991, the Couch Potato Portfolio was back-checked from 1973 through 1991. During that time, it performed with a 10.29 percent average annual return, an incredible return given the 1982 bear market and the crash of 1987. From 1991 to 2001, it continued to perform at basically the same rate with a 10.37 percent average annual return.

If want to be more aggressive in your investments, the Sophisticated Couch Potato Portfolio may be what you’re after. Invest 75% in the Vanguard 500 and 25% in the Vanguard Total Bond Market. Less aggressive? 75% in bonds, 25% in stocks. Or, use other similar percentages depending on your situation. It’s damn simple.

The Coffeehouse Portfolio

The Coffeehouse Portfolio was created by Bill Schultheis in 1998. Bill is a former Salomon Smith Barney broker turned financial adviser. He wrote a book on the coffeehouse investing strategy, titled The Coffeehouse Investor: How to Build Wealth, Ignore Wall Street, and Get On With Your Life.

1. 10% — Vanguard 500 Index (VFINX)
2. 10% — Vanguard Large-Cap Value Index (VIVAX)
3. 10% — Vanguard Small-Cap Index (NAESX)
4. 10% — Vanguard Small-Cap Value (VISVX)
5. 10% — Vanguard International (VGTSX)
6. 10% — Vanguard REIT Stock Index (VGSIX)
7. 40% — Vanguard Total Bond Market Index (VBMFX)

The Coffeehouse Portfolio returned an annual average of 11.42 percent from 1991 to 2001. While having the highest rate of return among America’s three laziest portfolios, it has the steepest of investment minimums with an amount of $30,000 dollars (more on that later).

The No-Brainer Portfolio

The No-Brainer Portfolio was created by William Bernstein, a financial adviser to high-net-worth individuals, SmartMoney columnist, and author of two books, The Intelligent Asset Allocator and The Four Pillars of Investing. He also happens to be a physician and practicing neurologist.

1. 25% — Vanguard 500 Index (VFINX)
2. 25% — Vanguard Small-Cap Index (NAESX)
3. 25% — Vanguard European Stock Index (VEURX)
4. 25% — Vanguard Total Bond Market Index (VBMFX)

There is also the Coward’s No-Brainer Portfolio (more conservative asset allocation):

1. 40% — Vanguard Short-Term Investment-Grade (VFSTX)
2. 15% — Vanguard Total Stock Market (VTSMX)
3. 10% — Vanguard Small-Cap Value (VISVX)
4. 10% — Vanguard Large-Cap Value Index (VIVAX)
5. 5% — Vanguard European Stock Index (VEURX)
6. 5% — Vanguard Pacific Stock (VPACX)
7. 5% — Vanguard REIT Stock Index (VGSIX)
8. 5% — Vanguard Small-Cap Index (NAESX)
9. 5% — Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock (VEIEX)

Thoughts

There is a small problem in a beginning investment strategy with Vanguard index funds: a $3,000 minimum investment per fund. There is a $6,000 up-front cash need to even begin with the Couch Potato Portfolio.

If you happen to have $30,000 sitting in a bank account that you’re ready to invest, go straight for the Coffeehouse Portfolio. But, if you’re like most people and don’t have a dime invested, here’s how I would begin if I had to start all over:

Save. Don’t be stupid and stuff cash under your mattress. Put your savings in a bank, and not just any bank, and not just any account. Place your savings into a high-yield earning savings account. ING Direct is a wonderful choice.

After saving enough to make the minimum investment into the 50/50 Couch Potato Portfolio, set-up an account with Vanguard and make the investments. Set-up your accounts to invest as much as you can towards your Vanguard accounts automatically each paycheck.

My plan is to transfer my current Roth IRA account to Vanguard when the time is right (I believe I will have to sell off my current investments within the Roth IRA first). When everything is sold off, I’m going to start my Vanguard investments with the Couch Potato Portfolio, at 75% VFINX, 25% VBMFX. I will continue automatic investments into the funds every two weeks — that’s 26 times a year (next year, 2009, the maximum for Roth IRAs will hopefully be greater than $5,000, so this won’t be an issue). Once I have enough money to reallocate according to the Coffeehouse Portfolio, I will do so, selling off portions of VFINX so I can re-invest in the other funds as well.