JACKSON, Wyo. — Victor Haghani was walking his Wheaten Terrier on the Wilson Pathway when he was struck by inspiration.
“It was on the bike path here in Wilson where the book really took shape in my head,” Haghani told Buckrail. “It just all came together.”
Haghani’s book, “The Missing Billionaires: A Guide to Better Financial Decisions,” co-written with James White, was released earlier this year, and was named among the best books of 2023 by The Economist. The book draws upon Haghani’s decades of experience in the world of finance, from managing a Wall Street hedge fund to advising investors in low-cost index funds, or, as Haghani put it, “instead of trying to beat the market, just trying to get along with the market.”
“The Missing Billionaires” was written to help people wisely approach financial decision-making, Haghani said. His intended audience was not the ultra-wealthy, but “the 80% of people out there who are building their savings.”
“The central idea of the book is that our objective in life is to maximize our expected lifetime happiness, what economists call ‘expected utility,’ which we get from our experiences and from giving to others,” Haghani said. “Our financial decisions should be made with this objective as the target, rather than trying to maximize our expected wealth. Embracing this objective will help us get the most out of our financial lives, and will guide us to sound decisions regarding saving, investing and spending on ourselves and others.”
Haghani and his writing partner took about four years to finish the book, he said. Crucial feedback came from trusted friends, many of whom are also local.
“The writing community here in Jackson was an inspiration to me, for sure,” Haghani said. He compared the undertaking of writing a book to the daunting feeling of running a marathon for the first time.
“When I thought about running a marathon at different times in my life, it seemed completely impossible,” he said. “The thing that makes it seem possible is when you start to see people that you know do it. It makes you think, ‘If they could do it, I could probably do it.’ It just gives you that confidence.” He said the same feeling applies to writing books.
Haghani will be signing copies of his book at Valley Bookstore on Wednesday, Dec. 20, at 4:30 p.m.
