Switzerland is one of the best equity markets, with a 100-year track record. No Big Tech. No oil. No coastline. No empire. Not even a president. When comparing apples to apples (i.e., the weak USD and strong CHF), it even outperforms the S&P 500 over this period. Every Swiss company starts the year at -2% due to having the world’s strongest currency. Yet, alongside Germany and Austria, you’ll find a country with the most “hidden champions” (small market leaders) and all the reasons and qualities that explain why Swiss people, alongside the Japanese, have the longest life expectancy. Read my trilogy, now available!

Want to become a millionaire on an average salary? It's easy! 20 years studying real millionaires, and almost none looked rich Thomas Stanley expected mansions and sports cars. He found used pickups and paid-off houses. Most millionaires never earned a huge income. They just did a few boring things for decades. 10 lessons from The Millionaire Next Door: 1. wealth is what you don't spend. Two people earn $90,000. One is worth $1.1 million, the other $226,000. The gap isn't income. It's everything they didn't buy. 2. big hat, no cattle. The $300,000 house and the leased German car aren't wealth. They're the costume of wealth. The people wearing it usually can't afford it. 3. the car is the tell. Most millionaires never spent big on a car. The people in the $70,000 leases are the ones living paycheck to paycheck in disguise. 4. real wealth is invisible. It's the plumber two streets over with no debt, not the doctor in the mansion with three loans. You can't see a net worth. You can only see spending. 5. boring is where the money is. Not tech founders. Welding shops, pest control, mobile-home dealers. Dull businesses, quietly compounded into fortunes. 6. they play defense. High income scores points. Not spending keeps them. Most people are great at offense and hand it all back. 7. they optimized for freedom, not applause. The goal was never the boat. It was never needing the job again. They bought independence instead of impressing strangers. 8. budgets aren't for poor people. Millionaires know exactly what they spend. The ones who "earn too much to need a budget" are the ones with nothing saved. 9. the handout is the handicap. Cash gifts to grown children produce weaker savers, not stronger ones. Help with money, hurt with money. 10. time did the heavy lifting. No lottery, no single trade. A high savings rate held for 30 years. The boring part is the whole strategy. The car in the driveway tells you their income. The debt you can't see tells you their wealth. Most people spend a lifetime confusing the two.