The Ulysses Contract
How to Never Worry About the Share Market Again
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The Ulysses Contract
Narrated by:
James Saunders
Buy Now for $26.99
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Narrated by:
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James Saunders
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By:
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Michael Kemp
About this listen
Most of us know the Greek myth of Ulysses, who made a pact with his ship’s crew ordering them to block their ears with wax and tie him to the mast of the ship while they steered past an island inhabited by mythological creatures called Sirens.
This story is inspired the term Ulysses Contract, which is a commitment device that helps us to build and maintain good habits and decisions despite future temptations.
In The Ulysses Contract, Michael Kemp uses the Ulysses analogy to warn of the ‘sirens’ that tempt investors to part with their money and demonstrates how to put in place a successful investment plan that embodies discipline, consistency and patience.
Armed with this knowledge you will become empowered to make sound investment decisions and obtain your own slice of financial freedom.
Longlisted for the Australian Business Book Awards 2023
©2023 Michael Kemp (P)2024 Bolinda Publishingalso having read many other finance books in my opinion this is one of the best
simple to follow advice and a lot of history and statistics to back up the topics mike talks about
i found it entertaining to listen to which is rare for finace books
really enjoyed the book and got a lot out of it
im am very thankful to mike kemp for sharing his knowledge and writing this book and look forward to reading his others
NO B/S get rich scheems one of the best finance books out there
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Ulysses Contrazt Reciew
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Common Financial Sense
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Interesting, entertaining and valuable
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All novice investors should heed them. And by the way, most seasoned investors should too.
Kemp’s core argument, that active investing is futile for the overwhelming majority, is difficult to escape. Mathematically, it can only work for a minority if most fail. Especially after costs, the math becomes unforgiving.
That said, I do have some conceptual quibbles.
There’s a notion, one common with self-professed “value investors”, that informational edge is what distinguished superior active investors. It follows that as technology has commoditised information, this edge has largely been arbitraged away. I think that’s an incomplete conclusion. Technology hasn’t just proliferated information; it has amplified disinformation, narrative contagion and bias. The edge from diligent analysis was never merely about possessing superior facts. It was about having something rational to anchor to when sentiment runs hot or cold.
Likewise, dismissing forecasting as crystal ball gazing is too blunt. Fixating on a single intrinsic value number is delusional. But thinking in terms of a range of plausible outcomes, and calibrating exposure accordingly, is not.
Similarly, the notion that markets are essentially random, frequently trotted out by “savvy investors”, is too cute a heuristic. Sure, certainty is foolhardy. But a sense of where sentiment currently stands often tells you something about where risks lurk. Templeton’s framing, that extremes of pessimism and optimism matter and drive outcomes, is a more powerful heuristic. So too are Ken Fisher’s insights that what you are feeling today is likely felt by the broader market (and thus priced), and that it is usually futile to act on it as a default response.
Of course, even those who think they understand accounts, analysis and biases will fail if they cannot escape the herd when sentiment turns, regardless of what they believe when the seas are calm. Which of course means only very unusual humans stand a chance. So yes, Kemp’s central message stands. But what constitutes an “edge”, informational versus behavioural, is more nuanced than what is suggested here.
Well established but perennially ignored warnings
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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.