The quote that sits at the heart of how I approach both my professional work and my own financial decisions is one that cuts through the noise around formal education, academic validation and the peculiarly modern obsession with studying things that other people have already figured out the hard way. Charlie Munger put it better than almost anyone when he said that the best thing a smart person can do is figure out who the really smart people are and then borrow their best ideas, and while that is a paraphrase rather than a verbatim quote, the principle behind it has shaped my thinking more than almost anything I encountered during my formal education or professional training. I say this as someone who has spent a significant part of my career in academic and clinical education, so I want to be clear that I am not dismissing the value of structured learning. But there is a particular kind of intellectual trap that I have watched highly educated professionals fall into repeatedly, which is the belief that the right response to any new challenge is to commission a study, enrol in another course, or wait for peer-reviewed evidence before acting, when the practical knowledge required to make a sound decision is often already sitting in the experience of someone who has navigated exactly that situation before and is willing to share what they learned from it. In the Scandinavian professional culture I have spent time around, there is sometimes a tendency to treat formal academic study as the only legitimate source of knowledge, and while the intention behind that instinct is admirable, the practical consequence is often an enormous amount of time and resource spent confirming what experienced practitioners already know from having made the mistakes themselves. Learning from other people's experience is not a shortcut — it is the most efficient and cost-effective form of professional development available, and the professionals who progress fastest are almost always the ones who have understood that most clearly. If this way of thinking resonates with you, drop a comment below with your own take. And if you would like to borrow from the experience we have built working with property investors and busy professionals, send me a message and we can have that conversation over a digital cuppa. This post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.

Posted by Per & Lily at 2026-03-21 09:28:22 UTC