50 Economics Ideas You Really Need to Know

Title: 50 Economics Ideas You Really Need to Know

Author: Edmund Conway 

Recommendation: ★★★★★

Amazon link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Economics-Ideas-Really-Need-Know/dp/1848660103

Main points:
50 economics ideas
#1 The invisible hand: The role of self-interest The ‘invisible hand’ is shorthand for the law of supply and demand. Greed is good.

#2 Supply and demand: Whether it be the Ecuadorian stallholder, the Wall Street banker or anyone else, the primary force behind economic decisions is always the interplay between prices and the buyers and sellers who determine them; in other words, supply and demand.

#3 The Malthusian trap: Look out for the continuous growth of the world population.

#4 Opportunity cost: The cost are the thing you sacrifice to get them. Time is money. 

#5 Incentives: People react to stimulants. 

#6 Division of labour: Focus on your specialties. 

#7 Comparative advantage: Specialty + free market = win - win.

#8 Capitalism: The least worse way to keep the economic going.

#9 Keynesianism: The government should spend, to prevent a deep recession.

#10 Monetarism: Regulate the money growth.

#11 Communism: A state run by the society.

#12 Individualism: Individual choices are the most important.

#13 Supply-side economics: Higher taxes means less growth.

#14 The marginal revolution: Rational people think about margins.

#15 Money: Money is a sign of trust.

#16 Micro and macro: Micro is for companies, macro are for countries.

#17 Gross domestic product: Gross domestic product is the most essential benchmark for the economic presentation of a country.

#18 Central banks and interest rates: Central banks lead the economics away from the high- and low conjecture. 

#19 Inflation: Make sure the prices are growing slow but steady.

#20 Debt and deflation: Decreasing prices can paralyze the economy.

#21 Taxes: Taxes are as inevitable as dead.

#22 Unemployment: Unemployment is always present. 

#23 Currencies and exchange rates: This is like a barometer to see how a country stands financially. 

#24 Balance of payments: The handbook of international economic relations.

#25 Trust and the law: The fundamental base of our society.

#26 Energy and oil: $$$$$$$$$$

#27 Bond markets: Bonds are the fundamental of the government financing. 

#28 Banks: Banks bring loaners with lenders.

#29 Stocks and shares: Stocks is located in the heart of capitalism. 

#30 Risky business: Let the risk to those who are more willing to engage in it.

#31 Boom and bust: Inevitable.

#32 Pensions and the welfare state: Beware that you do not promise any money that you can not give.

#33 Money markets: Money markets keep the world running.

#34 Blowing bubbles: People are addicted to bubbles.

#35 Credit crunches: Economies are running stuck when the credit dries.

#36 Creative destruction: Companies need to adapt or they will fail.

#37 Home-owning and house prices: House prices rise and fall.

#38 Government deficits: Governments are addicted to deficits.

#39 Inequality: The poverty gap will destabilize nations.

#40 Globalization: Globalizing is the adrenaline of capitalism. 

#41 Multilateralism: Nations can reach further when they work together.

#42 Protectionism: The world biggest threat for the wealth and world peace. 

#43 Technological revolutions: Technology is the economic full.

#44 Development economics: The aim is to draw the bottom billion out of poverty. 

#45 Environmental economics: Handle now to prevent high cost for later.

#46 Behavioural economics: People are predictable irrational.

#47 Game theory: People act different in games.

#48 Criminomics: Economy can be used anytime for anything.

#49 Happynomics: Economy is not only about money.

#50 21st-century economics: Act when people are not rational.

The 4-Hour Workweek

Title: The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich 
Author: Timothy Ferriss 
Recommended: ★★★★★

Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/The-4-Hour-Workweek-Anywhere-Expanded/dp/0307465357

Main points:
The book is divided into four sections, each section explores the definition of a lifestyle design named D.E.A.L..  The goal of lifestyle design is to free oneself from the often suffocating and rigid structure that surrounds the 9-5 work day.

Define your objectives. Decide what's important, set goals, ask yourself 'what do I really want?'.
Eliminate distraction to free up time. Learn to be effective, not efficient. Focus on the stuff that is important. Put yourself on a low information 'diet'. Learn to say no.
Automate your cash flow to increase income. Outsource your life, hire a virtual assistant to handle basic tasks. Develop a business that can run on a auto-pilot without you.
Liberate yourself from the traditional expectations. Liberation can come in many forms. It can be spending more time at home, with the family. It can also mean mini retirements in international locations. Or it can mean permanent foreign traveling around the world.
FREE YOURSELF. 
Emphasize strengths, don’t fix weaknesses. Most people are good at a handful of things and utterly miserable at most. Focus on better use of your best weapons instead of constant repair.

The One Minute Manager

Title: The One Minute Manager
Author: Kenneth H. Blanchard, Spencer Johnson 
Recommended: ★★★★☆

Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/The-Minute-Manager-Kenneth-Blanchard/dp/0688014291

Main points:
Three Secrets:

Secret #1: One minute goals. All good performance starts with clear goals. If you do not know where you going than you do not know which path u should choose.

Secret #2: One minute compliments. The key to developing people will always be to concentrate on catching them doing something right instead of something wrong. Praise the progress, even if it is only approximately right. Perfect behavior is a journey that happens with one step at a time. As a manager your job is to work toward these goals.

Secret #3: One minute reprimands. When a employee makes a mistake you need to give him direct feedback, just as you did with the compliment. The manager reprimand the employee immediately. Tell people exactly how you feel about what they did wrong. Pause to help your transition from your feeling to set up the last part of a reprimand, reaffirmation. Reaffirm that you think well of them but not their performance in the situation. Your intention is to get them back on the course, not to make them feel badly. Remind them how much you value them. And make sure they know that at the end of the reprimand its over, shake hands and move on.
“The best minute I spend is the one I invest in people.” 
― Kenneth H. Blanchard, The One Minute Manager

The Richest Man In Babylon

Title: The Richest Man in Babylon
Author: George S. Clason 
Recommended: ★★★★☆

Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/The-Richest-Babylon-George-Clason/dp/1505339111

Main points:
Seven cures for a lean purse
1). Start thy purse to fattening.
Only use 9/10 of the money you earn. Save the other 1/10
2). Control thy expenditures.
What each of us calls necessary expenses wil allways grow to equal our incomes, unless we reevaluate it. 
3). Make thy gold multiply.
A man's wealth is not in the coins he carries. No it is in the incoming he build, the 'goldstream'.
4). Guard thy treasures from loss.
 Is it wise to be intrigues by larger earnings when thy principal may be lost. Secure the advice of those experienced in the profitable handling of gold.
5). Make of thy estate a profitable investment.
6). Insure a future incoming.
Provide in the advance for the needs of thy growing age.
7). Increase thy ability to earn.
Preceding accomplishment must be a desire. Thy desire must be strong and definite. But desires must be simple.
As a man perfects himself in his calling, his ability to earn increases.

The five laws of gold.
1). Pay thyself first.
Pay thyself means that you just pay 10% to your savings first before paying your house note etc.
2). Invest to build more wealth.
Saving is a great start point of wealth, but it is not enough by itself. You must look for ways outside of your earned income to build additional 'gold-streams'.
3). Read, study and seek qualified advise.Do not trust any person with a good advice. Qualify the adviser.
4). Do not be gullible.
Gold slips away from the man who invest it in businesses or purposes which he is not familiar in.
5). Do not be greedy.
Gold flees the man who would force it to impossible earnings. If it sounds to good to be true, do more research.

“Advice is one thing that is freely given away, but watch that you only take what is worth having.”― George S. Clason, The Richest Man in Babylon

Rework

Title: Rework
Author:   Jason Fried
Recommended: ★★★★☆

Main points:

Long term business planning is guessing.
No time is no excuse! When you want something badly you make time. You skip the television, you skip the PUB night etc.
The easiest way to create a nice product/service is to make something you need/want to use.
Avoid outside investors because you end up building what they want instead of what the customers want.
Don’t think about the exit strategy, start with a commitment strategy.
Cut your estimates into smaller timeframes. Instead of a 12 week project, make it 12 one week projects.
Focus on yourself not the competition.
Don’t hire a expensive PR when nobody knows u. Start small and try to find some bloggers and social media to be noticed.

Incorporate yourself in the product, and everything related to it.

Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Rework-Jason-Fried/dp/0307463745

Rich Dad Poor Dad

Title: Rich Dad Poor Dad: What The Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!
Author:   Robert T. Kiyosaki
Recommended: ★★★★☆

Main points:

Good grades + good job = successful life THIS IS OUTDATED!!

6 Basic Lessons that help to grow.

Lesson 1 Rich people do not work for money.

Most people have a job because they are guided by fear.

Let money work for you.

Lesson 2 Why would you develop yourself financially?

Life is not about how much money you earn, but how much you have left.

Accounting rule:

You must know the difference between assets and passive and active buying.

Assets bring in money.

Liabilities taking money out of the till.

If you want to become rich than spend your life purchasing assets.

Lesson 3 Take care of your own business

Companies where my presence is not necessary. If I have to work itself is not a business, but my job.

Stocks, bonds, mutual funds, real estate which generates income, interest-bearing loans, royalties.

Lesson 4 The history of the load and the power companies

REAL ESTATE

Lesson 5 Rich people think money

Lesson 6 Working to learn - do not work for money

Three most important management skills for your business

Management of cash

Guiding people

Managing your time.

LET MONEY WORK FOR YOU

Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Rich-Dad-Poor-Teach-Middle/dp/1612680011

Who Moved My Cheese?

Title: Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life
Author:  Spencer Johnson
Recommended: ★★★★☆

Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Who-Moved-My-Cheese-Amazing/dp/0399144463

Main points:Who Moved My Cheese? Is an enlightening story of four characters who live in a maze and look for cheese to nourish them and make them happy. Cheese is a metaphor for what you want to have in life whether it is a good job, a loving relationship or money. And the maze is where you look for what you want - the organisation you work in, or the family or community you live in. 

The four characters depicted in this story
The mice: "Sniff" and "Scurry;' and the Little people: "Hem" and "Haw"
These characters are intended to represent the simple and the complex parts of ourselves, regardless of our age, gender, race or nationality. Sometimes we may act like Sniff, who sniffs out change early, or Scurry, who scurries into action, or Hem, who denies and resists change as he fears it will lead to something worse, or Haw, who learns to adapt in time when he sees changing can lead to something better!
Whatever parts of us we choose to use, we all share something in common: a need to find our way in the Maze and succeed in changing times.

Move With The Cheese And Enjoy It!

The E-Myth Revisited

Title: The E-Myth Revisited Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It 
Author: Michael E. Gerber
Recommended: ★★★★★
Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/The-E-Myth-Revisited-Small-Businesses/dp/0887307280

Main points:

If your business depends on you, you don’t own a business you have a job.

The Systems run the business

The people run the systems

A system that can be duplicated time and time again – systems need to be tried and tested and work EVERY time

Train the team to run the systems, not how to do the job/task

Ask yourself.How can I make my business work, but without me?

How can I make my people work, but without me constantly interfere with it?

Rules of the 'People Game'

1. Never figure out what you want your people to do then try to create a game out of it

2. Never create a game you are not willing to play yourself

3. Make sure there are specific ways of winning the game without ending it

4. Change the game from time to time – the tactics NOT the strategy

5. Never expect the game to be self-sustaining. People need to be reminded of it constantly

6. The game has to make sense

7. The game needs to be fun from time to time

8. If you can’t think of a good game, steal one

Don’t look for employees, look for “players in the game”

It’s got to be more than a job

Marketing

This starts, ends, lives and dies with your customer

Forget everything you want – just focus on what your customer wants

Your customer makes his decision with his Unconscious Mind

Control is the key.
Dare to innovate.
Take a step back.

When you hear something, you forget it

When you see something you remember it

But not until you do something will you understand it.
Michael E. Gerber