" 4. He also states that professional institutional investors tend to make the same mistakes that average investors make. O'Shaughnessy writes, "Institutional investors say they make decisions objectively and unemotion- ally, but they don't." Here's a quotation from the book Fortune and Folly. "While institutional investors' desks are cluttered with in-depth analytical reports, the majority of pension executives select outside man- agers based on gut feelings and keep managers with consistently poor performance simply because they have good personal relationships with them." 5. "The path to achieving investment success is to study- long-term results and find a strategy or group of strate- gies that make sense. Then stay on the path." He also states, "We must look at how well strategies, not stocks, perform." 6. History does repeat itself. Yet people want to believe that this time, things will be different. He writes, "People want to believe that the present is different from the past. Markets are now computerized, block traders dominate, individual investors are gone, and in their place sit money managers controlling huge 88 Rich Dad's Guide to Investing Mental Attitude Quiz Whenever I hear someone say to me, "It takes money to make money," I cringe. I cringe because my rich dad said, "You don't have to be a rocket scientist to be rich. You don't need a college education, a high-paying job, or any money at all to start. All you have to do is know what you want, have a plan, and stick to it." In other words, all it takes is a little discipline. The problem when it comes to money, however, is a little discipline is often a rare com- modity. O'Shaughnessy highlights one of my favorite quotations. It comes from the famous cartoon character Pogo, who said, "We've met the enemy, and he is us." That statement is very true for me. I'd be a lot better off financially if I had simply listened to rich dad and just followed my formula. So the mental attitude question is: 1. Are you ready to find a simple formula as part of your plan and stick to it until you reach your financial goal? Yes No _ Chapter 9 Investor Lesson #7: How Can You Find The Plan That Is Right for You? "How do I find the plan that is right for me?" is a question I am often asked. My standard answer is that it comes in steps: 1. Take your time. Think quietly about your life up to this point. Take days to think quietly. Take weeks if you need to. 2. Ask yourself in these moments of quiet, "What do I want from this gift called my life?" 3- Don't talk to anyone else for a while, at least until you are certain you know what you think you want. All too often, people either innocently or aggressively want to impose what they want for you instead of what you want for yourself. The biggest killers of deep inner dreams are your friends and family members who say, Rich Dad's Guide to Investing "Oh don't be silly," or "You can't do that," or "What about me? Remember Bill Gates was in his 20s when he started with $50,000 and became the richest man in the world with $90 billion.