The Psychology of Money

A great, high-level, personal finance 101. Lots of financial wisdom packed in a short and easy to read format.

The author doesn't appear to be a Christian, but some of the wisdom kept reminding me of Proverbs 28:20: “A faithful man will abound with blessings, but whoever hastens to be rich will not go unpunished.”

Some quotes from the book that I highlighted:

“Doing well with money has a little to do with how smart you are and a lot to do with how you behave. And behavior is hard to teach, even to really smart people.” page 7

“Do not aim to be coldly rational when making financial decisions. Aim to just be pretty reasonable. Reasonable is more realistic and you have a better chance of sticking with it for the long run, which is what matters most when managing money.�� page 102

“Growth is driven by compounding, which always takes time. Destruction is driven by single points of failure, which can happen in seconds, and loss of confidence, which can happen in an instant. It's easier to create a narrative around pessimism because the story pieces tend to be fresher and more recent. Optimistic narratives require looking at a long stretch of history and developments, which people tend to forget and take more effort to piece together.” page 167