You Weren’t Supposed to See That by Joshua M. Brown

Posted on by Patrick Sherriff

You might expect this collection of 22 blog posts by a NYC financial advisor to be little more than, well, a bunch of old blog posts. But that would be missing the wood for the trees.

In fact, “Downtown” Josh Brown (as he jokingly refers to himself on his podcasts) has collated some of the best examples of blogging about Wall Street and the financial industry anyone has ever written for the average reader (and we’re all average).

What you get is stories that show how the industry has changed from the active world portrayed in The Wolf of Wall Street of yesteryear’s swashbucklers to the modern world of passive index investing that steers the finiancial dreadnoughts of today.

Downtown writes with humour and from a perspective of a guy who learned the ropes to rise up the rigging, only to jump ship and embrace the brave new world of financial advising that’s less interested in showing off the yachts in Broker Harbour, and more in the rising tide that lifts all boats.

But it’s not just the tired old platitudes of buy and hold and dollar-cost-averaging that he grapples with. Downtown illuminates with eight pieces of golden business advice, delves into the sworded past of legendary investor Jesse Livermore and gives tips on staying afloat during a stock market crash, among many other topics of interest to anyone curious about the business of business.

One of those books I was happy to listen to as audio narrated by the Long Island native, but I think his voice couldn’t help but resonate even if you read from the page.

No. 4 of 50 books I intend to read and review in 2024.

I’m Patrick Sherriff, an Englishman who survived 13 years working for newspapers in the US, UK and Japan. Between teaching English lessons at my conversation school in Abiko, Japan, I write and illustrate textbooks for non-native speakers of English, release Hana Walker mystery novels, short stories, paint, and write essays and Our Man in Abiko, a monthly newsletter  highlighting good writing in English, often about about Japan, art, crime fiction and teaching.