Run it Back with the Psychology of Money
Morgan Housel’s “The Psychology of Money” is a timeless book filled with universal principles about money. It’s not your 401k planner or budgeting tool, but instead a grounded book in principles to view money and how we use it in our everyday life.
Walking into this book, I felt a draw to reread it as I moved onto my endeavors with money. See what I wanted to recall as I grow wealth and not riches.
The book provided just that, with some chapters, like Chapter 8, “The Man in the Car Paradox,” bringing pause. More to that as we cover the top 3 lessons I took away.
Lesson 1: Wealth vs Rich
“When most people say they want to be a millionaire, what they might actually mean is ‘I’d like to spend a million dollars.’ And that is literally the opposite of being a millionaire.”
“Why did I want a million dollars?” was the first question I asked after reading this. I had no answer as it was something that societal programming influenced.
Like a slap to the face, this quote brought me to review my goal of reaching a million dollars to instead focus on how I’m using it. What am I using it for & if that is something I can see for years on end. Reflecting on the why was enhanced further when entering into the next lesson.
Lesson 2: Man in the Car Paradox
“But in reality those other people often bypass admiring you, not because they don’t think wealth is admirable, but because they use your wealth as a benchmark for their own desire to be liked and admired.”
Have you ever walked into a friend’s apartment and thought, “Wow, I’d love to live here!” I know I have. That’s only the tip of the iceberg because everything that came before for that friend led them to get to that spot.
What did they do differently? What changes did they make to their life? Who did they become in the process?
All questions that are rarely thought of as it is shoved under the rug due to the shiny objects around us. It’s a shroud to the deeper aspects of understanding people because…
Lesson 3: No One’s Crazy
“Your personal experiences with money make up maybe 0.00000001% of what’s happened in the world, but maybe 80% of how you think the world works.”
We make up a grain of sand of experiences, and yet we have so many opportunities to learn from each other. There is something to learn from each and every person around us.
These 3 lessons were only a snippet of the many radical changes you can find in this book. It leaves you wanting more change in your day-to-day actions rather than chasing the next slot machine payout.
Overall, this book rated high in every category to get a 5-star rating!
Entertainment: 1 (surprising stories)
Insights: 1 (lots of new lessons)
Storytelling: 1 (brief, concise stories)
Relevance: 1 (relevant especially with the economic adjustments)
Clarity: 1 (chapters were brief and to the point. No fluff)
Overall: 5
