The Psychology of Money — Morgan Housel

Description

Oliver’s Note: Why this is in my collection

I spent five years in finance looking at complex spreadsheets, yet I was still making amateur mistakes with my own bank account. I thought I needed more technical knowledge. I was wrong. I needed this book.

The Psychology of Money was the first book that made me realize that being “good with money” has very little to do with how smart you are and everything to do with how you behave. It’s the antidote to every dry, academic economics textbook I’ve ever had to read for my degree. If you’ve ever wondered why you spend money you don’t have to impress people you don’t like, Housel has the answer.

What’s inside?

In this global bestseller, award-winning author Morgan Housel shares 19 short stories exploring the strange ways people think about wealth. Instead of teaching you how to read a balance sheet, he teaches you how to manage:

• Luck & Risk: Why success isn’t always about hard work, and failure isn’t always about laziness.

• The Power of “Enough”: Why the hardest financial skill is getting the goalposts to stop moving.

• Compounding: Why patience is the most underrated financial tool in existence.

The “No-BS” Verdict

• Tone: Highly readable, conversational, and zero “get rich quick” fluff.

• Time to read: You can finish this in a weekend, but you’ll think about it for years.

• Best for: Anyone who feels “smart” but still struggles with budgeting, saving, or the urge to gamble on “hot tips.”

“Doing well with money isn’t necessarily about what you know. It’s about how you behave. And behavior is hard to teach, even to really smart people.” — Morgan Housel