TD Waterhouse presents MoneyTalk and book review

with Patricia Lovett-Reid, Hon. FCSI, CFP and Senior Vice President, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc.

Patricia Lovett-Reid is the host of MoneyTalk, a national prime-time television program on personal finance, airing every Monday at 8:00 p.m. ET on the Business News Network (BNN). Each week, MoneyTalk provides you with useful information about money, investment strategies and financial planning matters. To view past episodes, please visit the MoneyTalk website at www.bnn.ca/moneytalk

Outliers: The Story of Success

Patricia Lovett-Reid reviews the book by Malcolm Gladwell

I always assumed successful people were industrious, focused, possessed an innate ability in their given field, and were just plain gifted. It would appear that I’m only half right.

According to Gladwell, while these characteristics contribute to success, circumstance, timing, heritage and especially your birth date are equally important to your overall level of success. In fact, he has coined a new term: “The 10,000 Hour Rule.” This is the number of practice hours it takes to master a craft. He cites Bill Gates as a classic example and looks at hockey players, other sports figures and rock stars to validate his findings.

Outliers is a great read. Gladwell is an awesome storyteller who manages to illustrate his points in a colourful, compelling way that explains a lot of what you probably already knew, but could never explain.