A New Book Dissecting Investing Behaviors Through
the Lens of the Enneagram

Unlike many other personality typologies (such as the popular Myers-Briggs Test), the Enneagram does not put anyone in a box. Our thinking, feeling, and instinctive patterns are not hard-wired. While they are the result of childhood coping mechanisms and lived experiences, we do continue to evolve and can shift our tendencies. The Enneagram has helped me identify my potential to pivot and explore different sides of myself. Just as Taoism teaches us that our yin element has the seed of our yang and vice-versa, the Enneagram inspired the introvert in me to turn more into a visionary, and the bargain-hunter with a scarcity mindset to become more of a risk-taker with an abundance mindset. This fluid perspective has opened new doors for me as a person and as an investor.

 

In the end, my readers do not have to subscribe to the Enneagram theory any more than they must believe in Taoism to enjoy the wisdom of books like The Tao of Physics. I am simply offering a fresh lens through which to see a familiar subject. The Tao of Physics reached many readers who might have previously found physics dry and unrelatable. Similarly, many young adults find books about investing overly technical and do not speak to the realities of their lives. These books tend to be prescriptive and offer a “one size fits all” methodology. I take a different approach, using the Enneagram (and a healthy dose of humor) to help readers discover their personality types before finding an investing style that suits individual temperament.

 

Illustrating the Enneagram with iconic film and television characters serves another key purpose in my book: to see our lives as a hero’s journey. We often turn to pop culture to make sense of our stories and seek reassurance for our subconsciousness. As investors, we may view our paths to financial freedom as a learning, growth, and self-discovery journey. I do not prescribe the direction, but I suggest personalized road maps, correlating portfolio mix alongside multiple action plans with specific strengths, weaknesses, and developmental pivots of the nine personality types.