Taming the Lion: 100 Secret Strategies for Investing

Before Dragons’ Den, Richard Farleigh built a career in global finance running trading desks and developing the strategies that underpin this book.

Taming the Lion has been widely praised by leading financial publications including the Financial Times, The Telegraph, The Independent, and Investors Chronicle.

Described by The Telegraph as “a tour de force in common sense investing,” it focuses on profiting from big market themes, an approach called “the most effective and least stressful route to investment success.”

From the care system to building his own fortune, Farleigh explains the thinking behind that journey. As Money Magazine observed, “anyone who retires at 34 and moves to Monte Carlo clearly made some smart decisions.”

First published over 20 years ago, Taming the Lion has stood the test of time. Its principles remain as relevant today as ever.

Rather than theory, the book sets out 100 clear, experience-based strategies developed over decades of investing. These cover how markets really behave, when to take risk, when to avoid it, and how to identify genuine opportunities across different asset classes.

Some of the ideas challenge conventional thinking:

-- Markets often under-react rather than overreact
-- Big, obvious themes can be the most profitable
-- Consensus views are often safer than contrarian positions
-- Timing matters more than staying permanently invested?

What the industry says

“A tour de force in common sense investing.” ― The Telegraph
“One of the most interesting investing books I’ve ever read.” ― The Melbourne Age
“A treasure trove of investment and business secrets.” ― Herald Sun
“Stacked with practical hints and insights into market psychology.” ― Shares Magazine
“Excellent reading, very thought provoking.” ― Humble Money

Book of the Month ― London Stock Exchange

Strongly recommended

Financial Times, The Independent, Investors Chronicle, Motley Fool, Interactive Investor, and others.

Richard Farleigh was born as one of eleven children in the country town of Kyabram in Australia in 1960. He was placed in foster care at an early age and grew up in Sydney.

Despite a difficult start in life, he went on to win a scholarship to study economics and econometrics at New South Wales University, and graduated with first class honours.

Farleigh worked briefly in the Research Department at Australia's central bank, the Reserve Bank of Australia, working on economic modelling.

At 23, he passed up the opportunity for an academic career in economics and joined a leading investment bank, Bankers Trust Australia. There he worked for a number of years in designing and managing swaps and other derivatives. During this period he demonstrated a strong ability at trading financial markets, and was then appointed head of the bank's proprietary trading desk, which achieved spectacular results by predicting big picture trends and by using a trading model he developed.

In 1992 he was hired as head of a very powerful private hedge fund in Bermuda, which had searched the world for the best candidates. He was able to retire at the age of 34, and moved to live in Monte Carlo. From there he began investing in small companies which were mostly situated in the UK.

Over the years, he has invested in over 50 start-ups, many of which have floated or been acquired. One such venture has been Home House, a Georgian mansion which Farleigh as a backer and Chairman, help to convert into one of London's most fashionable and successful private members' clubs. Despite his early retirement and being affected by the tech wreck in the year 2000, Farleigh has become substantially wealthy and he has been named as one of the top ten entrepreneurs in Europe.

Apart from being keen on tennis, skiing and boating, Richard is an internationally ranked chess player, and has represented Bermuda and Monaco in the Chess Olympics.

Richard was one of the Dragons in the BBC series of Dragons' Den.