The Psychology of Money
Ratings288
Average rating4.3
The Psychology of Money hits different if you’re someone who’s not just chasing numbers, but building a system that lasts. Morgan Housel breaks down how wealth is less about spreadsheets and more about behavior—patience, humility, and staying in the game. It’s not flashy, but it’s quietly profound. The book doesn’t overload you with jargon or "10x hacks"; instead, it feels like a conversation you’d have with a smart, grounded friend over a glass of decent red wine—calmly calling out how ego, fear, and comparison mess with financial decisions. It reinforces what I already believe: real financial power isn’t about predicting markets—it’s about self-awareness, consistency, and letting compounding quietly do its thing.
I wish I read this book decades ago. Great and practical advise on how to deal with money.
Este blog te da explicaciones a ciertas ideas que dependiendo el contexto tienen un significado diferente acerca del dinero.
Eso significa que una idea acerca del dinero tiene su explicación dependiendo del entorno en la que si es válida su aplicación.
Una idea principal que logro rescatar es el título de uno de sus capítulos “Nadie está loco”
Eso significa que las personas toman decisiones pensando que son las mejores para ellos de acuerdo a sus circunstancias.
Que todo mundo busca progresar, pero hay muchas variables que influyen en como las personas se relacionan con el dinero.
>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.
I've highlighted so many things in this book that in order to convey it I'd probably recreate the whole book. It's not a long one. Go read it. You from the future will thank your current self. But here are some of my other favs to give you an idea:
>People who have control over their time tend to be happier in life.
>There is no reason to risk what you have and need for what you don't have and don't need.
>As I write this Warren Buffett's net worth is $84.5 billion. Of that, $84.2 billion was accumulated after his 50th birthday. $81.5 billion came after he qualified for Social Security, in his mid-60s.
>There's only one way to stay wealthy: some combination of frugality and paranoia.
>Humility, kindness, and empathy will bring you more respect than horsepower ever will.
>Savings can be created by spending less. You can spend less if you desire less. You will desire less if you care less about what others think of you.
>“Does this help me sleep at night?” is the best universal guidepost for all financial decisions.
I mean...right? Add it to your to-read. Seriously.
Merged review:
>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.
I've highlighted so many things in this book that in order to convey it I'd probably recreate the whole book. It's not a long one. Go read it. You from the future will thank your current self. But here are some of my other favs to give you an idea:
>People who have control over their time tend to be happier in life.
>There is no reason to risk what you have and need for what you don't have and don't need.
>As I write this Warren Buffett's net worth is $84.5 billion. Of that, $84.2 billion was accumulated after his 50th birthday. $81.5 billion came after he qualified for Social Security, in his mid-60s.
>There's only one way to stay wealthy: some combination of frugality and paranoia.
>Humility, kindness, and empathy will bring you more respect than horsepower ever will.
>Savings can be created by spending less. You can spend less if you desire less. You will desire less if you care less about what others think of you.
>“Does this help me sleep at night?” is the best universal guidepost for all financial decisions.
I mean...right? Add it to your to-read. Seriously.
Merged review:
>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.
I've highlighted so many things in this book that in order to convey it I'd probably recreate the whole book. It's not a long one. Go read it. You from the future will thank your current self. But here are some of my other favs to give you an idea:
>People who have control over their time tend to be happier in life.
>There is no reason to risk what you have and need for what you don't have and don't need.
>As I write this Warren Buffett's net worth is $84.5 billion. Of that, $84.2 billion was accumulated after his 50th birthday. $81.5 billion came after he qualified for Social Security, in his mid-60s.
>There's only one way to stay wealthy: some combination of frugality and paranoia.
>Humility, kindness, and empathy will bring you more respect than horsepower ever will.
>Savings can be created by spending less. You can spend less if you desire less. You will desire less if you care less about what others think of you.
>“Does this help me sleep at night?” is the best universal guidepost for all financial decisions.
I mean...right? Add it to your to-read. Seriously.
Good book. It provided some good reminders and interesting perspectives. Nothing revolutionary or groundbreaking, but I think most people would benefit from reading it.
- Use caution when using highly successful people as role models, rather look for broad trends and patterns. Uber successful people are much more likely to be affected by good luck and long tails. Lessons from their lives don't necessarily apply to yours.
- Business is about tails. 50% of what you do may flop, 25% may be neutral, and 23% may be good, but the 2% that is wildly successful will make the biggest difference. Make lots of bets.
Recommended if you are new to the world of personal finance, in my humble opinion a better start than some more commonly known books ( *cough* rich dad *cough* poor dad *cough*). Not very insightful if you are more financially “educated” for a lack of better words. Easygoing lecture nonetheless!
Another anecdotal business book that tells the same stories as every other anecdotal business book.
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
This is just a plain spoken, completely unsexy, wildly rational take on money. Becoming financially unbreakable, sticking to a program through market fluctuations, and considering it all in the proper time horizon. Folks should be reading this again and again as a patient reminder of keeping things in the proper perspective against the consumerist tendencies we're all soaking in daily. I think it'll hit different depending on where you are on your financial journey but it's well worth revisiting for some reassuring truths. A smart investment if ever there was one.
Simply a must read. No BS or pointless filler, full of insight after insight, each more hardhitting than the last. I listened to it on audible, & I'm planning on buying it paperback so I can reread it & summarize it and then explain it to my family. Great book
[audible → bought paperback]
Things like family, reputation, happiness, freedom, and independence are never worth risking, no matter the gain.
May as well be titled “I like rich people, and you can too!”
I wouldn't say anything in it was necessarily thought-provoking or relatively interesting to me, but I suppose I can imagine if this was your first foray into this world it could be helpful. It was full of, in my option, quite broken analogies to history and science, and just straight-up unfettered admiration for the “usual suspects” of famous billionaires.
Short and sweet, sensible “advise” and probably an attitude the investment world could do more of.
One Amongst my favourite finance book where they speak about how good financial habits can influence people to become rich.
This book was incredible. Short chapters but each packed with concise well-written statements that distilled important concepts into something you can immediately grasp. I don't love reading about finance, but I do love psychology, and the marriage of these two angles was done incredibly well.
It also helps that I have the exact same goals/expectations and financial strategy as the author, because I know we're coming from the same place (an extremely important idea he covers in Chapter 16). It's only the last chapter where he gives an overview of what he does personally; the rest of the book is a primer on larger principles.
Do NOT skip the Postscript on US history. In a few pages he summarizes why we ended up here in the most succinct way. That section alone should be required reading.
TLDR; don't read this book for specific investment advice. Do read it to absorb core principles that will help you make better decisions about your finances, and potentially much more.
—
Gratuitous mashup example: this feels like taking Jon Kabat-Zinn's Wherever You Go There You Are, Daniel Kahneman's Thinking Fast & Slow, Ray Dalio's Principles and some Seth Godin, then mashing them into a single book about financial decision making. A great book to read a chapter or two out of often. It feels like a series of blog posts that became a book, but in the best possible way.
I enjoyed reading this so much! I love how validating this is for me. Morgan Housel's relationship with money is so close to mine that I have less doubts about how I value money on my own terms!
Je n'attendais pas autant de bon sens venant de ce bouquin.
L'auteur explique la psychologie à adopter dans ses investissements et la gestion de l'argent en général.
J'ai apprécié la prise de recul ainsi que le côté long-terme des enseignements.
Chaque chapitre est parfait en terme de longueur, je reviendrai régulièrement sur ce livre !
Definitely a must read for everyone who earns and thinks of growing their own money and wealth. More importantly, if you want to lead a decent life and not just running a rat race forever because there is no race and there is no finishing line.
Eagerly waiting to read his next book ‘Same as Ever'
A must read book to learn about money, investing and staying wealthy. Extremely useful fundamental money lessons explained without any technical terms using engaging real life stories (the author talked about why stories are more powerful than statistics) and incidences. Although the book is a list of lessons and advices, it's so well written that you never get bored of it. In fact, you look forward to new lessons and newer examples that second those lessons. Another interesting thing about this book is all those money lessons have some really important life lessons among them, which I found totally relatable and really necessary to think about and act accordingly. For example the author writes - ”Happiness is a complicated subject because everyone's different. But if there's a common denominator in happiness—a universal fuel of joy—it's that people want to control their lives.” Or about failure he writes - ”Failure can be a lousy teacher, because it seduces smart people into thinking their decisions were terrible when sometimes they just reflect the unforgiving realities of risk. “ The book is full of such easily ignored but extremely true statements about simple things in life. I would recommend that everyone new in finance should read this book atleast once and would love to read it again and again to remind myself of all those valuable lessons on life and money. The author ends the book by writing about his own finances before which he very aptly points out - “The difference between what someone suggests you do and what they do for themselves isn't always a bad thing. It just underscores that when dealing with complicated and emotional issues that affect you and your family, there is no one right answer. There is no universal truth. There's only what works for you and your family, checking the boxes you want checked in a way that leaves you comfortable and sleeping well at night.”
I couldn't put this book down. I have read countless books on money in my life (it was necessary to learn how I could retire at 30) and at this point most money books bore me, but this is not one of those books.
Housel explains monetary concepts in a fascinatingly concise and simple way - some with examples that I've never heard before, such as explaining compound interest with an analogy of how ice ages come to be.
If you're looking for a quick, interesting and fresh take on money I can't recommend this book enough.
Summing it up with the author's words:
“Financial success is not a hard science. It's a soft skill, where how you behave is more important than what you know”
Short, to the point chapters with lots of insights and, above all, no “This is THE way to do things” narrative.
Merged review:
Summing it up with the author's words:
“Financial success is not a hard science. It's a soft skill, where how you behave is more important than what you know”
Short, to the point chapters with lots of insights and, above all, no “This is THE way to do things” narrative.
An ok read. It is more about money and your relationship with it...And not in the most interesting of the sense. It is more like a self help finance then any science. I was expecting more about psychology or maybe economics...something a bit more? I picked this up based on the title - so I ended up being a little disappointed with it not reaching my expectations. Doesn't make for a fair review but...RIP
It was an alright read, introduces some different perspectives, and had some nice Tiefling names luck and risk.
Merged review:
An ok read. It is more about money and your relationship with it...And not in the most interesting of the sense. It is more like a self help finance then any science. I was expecting more about psychology or maybe economics...something a bit more? I picked this up based on the title - so I ended up being a little disappointed with it not reaching my expectations. Doesn't make for a fair review but...RIP
It was an alright read, introduces some different perspectives, and had some nice Tiefling names luck and risk.
One of my favourite books I read this year and I highly recommend it. Sound financial principles written and communicated so well. Highly recommended especially to young people as it can serve as a fantastic introduction to how think about money, economics and personal finance.