RWH061: How To Thrive No Matter What w/ Arnold Van Den Berg

We Study Billionaires - The Investor’s Podcast Network

Stig Brodersen

Education, Investing, Business

4.6 • 3.6K Ratings

🗓️ 5 October 2025

⏱️ 144 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode, William Green chats with Arnold Van Den Berg, a revered investor whom he spotlighted in his book, Richer, Wiser, Happier. Against all odds, Arnold has run a highly successful investment firm for 50 years. Here, he discusses what he’s learned about how to succeed in markets & life; shares practical tools that he’s found transformative; & explains how he’s positioned to survive & thrive in the most overvalued US stock market he’s ever seen. IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN: 00:00 - Intro 06:57 - How extreme focus saved the life of Arnold Van Den Berg’s father. 14:05 - How to develop one-pointed focus & get into a flow state. 18:50 - What Dostoevsky taught Arnold about avoiding lies & discerning truth. 40:58 - How Arnold overcame a terrible self-image & “reprogrammed” himself. 40:58 - How he taught himself to be a successful investor. 01:34:51 - What habits he practices every day, including his favorite affirmations. 01:47:53 - How he remains optimistic amid adversity. 01:51:56 - Why he’s betting big on gold, silver, uranium, oil & natural gas. 01:51:56 - Why he thinks the S&P 500 “is one of the worst things you could buy.” 01:57:54 - Why he warns against long-term Treasury bonds & “anything with leverage.” 02:02:24 - How he & his firm are harnessing Artificial Intelligence. 02:09:59 - What brings him the greatest happiness. 02:19:02 - What you’ll learn from his favorite book about the “real secret to life.” Disclaimer: Slight discrepancies in the timestamps may occur due to podcast platform differences. BOOKS AND RESOURCES Join Clay and a select group of passionate value investors for a retreat in Big Sky, Montana. Learn more ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join the exclusive ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TIP Mastermind Community⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to engage in meaningful stock investing discussions with Stig, Clay, Kyle, and the other community members. Inquire about William Green’s ⁠Richer, Wiser, Happier Masterclass⁠. Arnold Van Den Berg’s investment firm, Century Management. Write to request Arnold’s report on one-pointed focus. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's ⁠Flow⁠. Victor Frankl's Man’s Search for Meaning⁠. Fyodor Dostoevsky's ⁠The Brothers Karamazov.⁠ James Nestor's Breath⁠. Leslie Lecron's Self Hypnotism.⁠ Harry Carpenter's The Genie Within⁠. Harry Carpenter’s audio recordings for relaxation & self-hypnosis. James Allen' Mind is the Master⁠, including “From Poverty to Power”. William Green’s 2022 podcast interview with Arnold Van Den Berg. William Green’s 2023 podcast interview with Arnold Van Den Berg. William Green’s book, “Richer, Wiser, Happier” – ⁠⁠⁠read the reviews of this book⁠⁠⁠. Follow William Green on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Check out all the books mentioned and discussed in our podcast episodes ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Enjoy ad-free episodes when you subscribe to our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Premium Feed⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. NEW TO THE SHOW? Get smarter about valuing businesses in just a few minutes each week through our newsletter, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Intrinsic Value Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Check out our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠We Study Billionaires Starter Packs⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Follow our official social media accounts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X (Twitter)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Browse through all our episodes (complete with transcripts) ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Try our tool for picking stock winners and managing our portfolios: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TIP Finance Tool⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Enjoy exclusive perks from our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠favorite Apps and Services⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Learn how to better start, manage, and grow your business with the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠best business podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. SPONSORS Support our free podcast by supporting our ⁠sponsors⁠: Simple Mining⁠ ⁠HardBlock⁠ ⁠Human Rights Foundation⁠ ⁠Linkedin Talent Solutions⁠ ⁠Netsuite⁠ ⁠Shopify⁠ ⁠Vanta⁠ ⁠Abundant Mines⁠ Support our show by becoming a premium member! ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://theinvestorspodcastnetwork.supportingcast.fm⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://theinvestorspodcastnetwork.supportingcast.fm

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to TIP.
0:02.8	Hi, folks. It's a great pleasure to be back with you on the Richer Wieser Happier Podcast.
0:07.1	My guest today is the great Arnold Vandenberg, who as many of you know is a really central figure in the final chapter, the epilogue of Richer Wiser Happier.
0:17.4	And as I mentioned there, for me, he's really in many ways the embodiment of what a
0:23.4	successful, happy, truly abundant life looks like. And there's nobody really in the investment world.
0:29.3	I admire more than Arnold. And hopefully in today's episode, you'll see why he's a really wonderful
0:35.4	human being, a very successful, very smart, self-taught investor
0:39.0	who's had a great record over 50 years at his firm's century management. But at the same time,
0:44.1	he's also done an extraordinary job of building great relationships with his family, with friends,
0:50.6	being a great philanthropist, helping countless other people.
0:58.0	And he's done all of this despite incredible odds against him or somebody who grew up on the same street as Anne Frank in Amsterdam
1:02.5	as a Jewish kid in 1939 at the start of World War II
1:06.2	and spent the first couple of years of his life in hiding
1:08.5	and then was smuggled into an orphanage
1:11.1	while his parents were in Auschwitz. So it's an extraordinary story. I've had Arnold on the
1:15.9	podcast a couple of times in the past, and I'm thrilled to have him on again today. This wasn't
1:22.3	an episode that we had planned to do, and then we changed course because he had been a guest speaking to my
1:29.8	richer, wise, a happier masterclass, and had been such an extraordinary guest and had talked
1:33.8	about some things that I think are so important that he had realized over the last year or so,
1:39.0	that I really wanted to bring these insights to you today on the podcast. So I hope you'll find this as helpful and
1:46.0	inspiring and thought-provoking as I've found it. Speaking of the richer, Wiser, Happier Masterclass,
1:51.3	I want to just to tell you very quickly about this venture that I've got planned that's coming up,
	...

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