The Psychology of Money

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. Money—investing, personal finance, and business decisions—is typically taught as a math-based field, where data and formulas tell us exactly what to do. But in the real world people don't make financial decisions on a spreadsheet. They make them at the dinner table, or in a meeting room, where personal history, your own unique view of the world, ego, pride, marketing, and odd incentives are scrambled together. In The Psychology of Money, award-winning author Morgan Housel shares 19 short stories exploring the strange ways people think about money and teaches you how to make better sense of one of life's most important topics. The book explores what people think about money in ways that are too often ignored in traditional financial advice. Through compelling stories of people who've made and lost fortunes, Housel reveals the hidden forces that shape our financial decisions. You'll learn why someone who makes $50,000 a year can retire wealthier than someone who makes $500,000, why luck and risk are two sides of the same coin, and how to use the psychology of money to your advantage. This isn't a book about getting rich quick—it's about understanding the emotional and psychological factors that lead to long-term financial success and happiness.