I’m enjoying reading Morgan Housel’s book ‘Same as Ever’. It’s a short set of lessons about the things that do not change.
When the future is uncertain, rather than focusing on what changes may or may not be on the horizon, we stand to gain more by identify the things that will be ever consistent, and investing in those.
Jeff Bezos once used the example that in ten years time, people are still going to care about fast shipping and free delivery, so he’s willing to invest a lot in getting those things right.
Warren Buffett was asked at the height of the 2008 global financial crisis about the prospects for the global economy. He replied with a series of back and forth questions about the country’s favourite chocolate bar in 1962 and in 2008; in both cases, the answer was Snickers.
Human needs, wants, and behaviours haven’t changed, and won’t change much in the years ahead—at least in our lifetimes. It pays to focus on the things that are the Same as Ever.