The Psychology of Money
Mostly what not to do
Oct 4, 2026
Inspired by The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel.
Favourite quotes from the book
Doing well with money has a little to do with how smart you are and a lot to do with how you behave.
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.
Nothing is as good or as bad as it seems.
The hardest financial skill is getting the goalpost to stop moving.
Getting money is one thing. Keeping it is another.
Controlling your time is the highest dividend money pays.
Spending money to show people how much money you have is the fastest way to have less money.
Wealth is what you don't see.
Saving is the gap between your ego and your income.
The most important part of every plan is to plan on the plan not going according to plan.
What stayed with me
This book had more examples of what not to do than of what to do. Most of it is people getting money wrong, and the lesson is in watching how.
The most interesting part was how Housel explains that returns are also a factor of which year you were born in, and where.
Someone born in 1970 saw the stock market go up almost ten-fold, after inflation, through their teens and twenties. Someone born in 1950 saw it go nowhere over the same years of their life.
Same market, same rules, and two people who will never agree on what investing is.