The Psychology of Money: Exploring the Strange and Human Side of Financial Success
💰 Money: More Than Just Numbers and Math
Money. Some have it. Some don’t. Some have mastered it. Most are still chasing it. You may think of money as just numbers and spreadsheets and math. Or an equation that needs to be solved. But the real financial decisions are made away far from calculators, around dinner tables — with ego, pride, fear, and personal history. The true nature of money is the dance between the cold arithmetic of a spreadsheet and human nature. When it comes to money, we are complicated creatures and financial success is not so much about how much you know but how you behave.
💼 Financial DNA: How Our Upbringing Affects Our Money Mindset
We all come from different generations, with parents earning different incomes and holding different values, living in various parts of the world, born into different economic environments with varying incentives and varying opportunities, we all have very different experiences towards money. A person’s experience with the stock market and inflation during their formative years greatly shapes their attitudes and behavior towards investing and financial decision-making. People justify every financial decision they make based on the information they have at that moment and their mental model of the world, which has been passed onto them by their parents and is shaped by their unique life experiences. Although they can be misinformed, lack information, or make bad decisions, their actions make sense to them at that moment and align with their own story. According to Housel, “People do some crazy things with money. But no one is crazy.” We all have unique worldviews and since there is no universally correct way to manage money successfully, none of us are crazy. WE MAKE FINANCIAL DECISIONS BASED ON OUR PERSONAL LIFE EXPERIENCES AND OUR WORLDVIEW.
📈 Compound Kings: The Power of Long-Term Investing
There is no doubt that Warren Buffett is considered one of the greatest investors of all time. What is staggering is that $81.5 billion of Warren Buffet’s $84.5 billion net worth was earned after he reached his mid-sixties. Housel explains that “few pay enough attention to the simplest fact: Buffett’s fortune isn’t due to just being a good investor, but being a good investor since he was a child.” Warren Buffett’s financial success can be attributed to the financial base he built in his early years and his longevity in investing. His skill is investing, but his secret to success is time and the power of compounding.
Compound interest is a powerful force. If you invest $1,000 at an interest rate of 8%, your initial investment would earn you $80 after one year. If you compounded your total of $1,080 at 8% interest the next year, you would now earn $86.4. An investment compounded over time gains interest not only from the original investment but also from the interest generated on top of the original investment. The counterintuitive nature of compounding makes many of us not realize how extreme the results can be. Compounding, however, can help you earn more money over time. Warren Buffett began serious investing at age 10 and had a net worth of $1 million by age 30. Let’s imagine an alternate reality where Warren Buffet behaved more like most young men in their 20s and used a lot of his early income on traveling and a few nice cars. If he started with a net worth of $25,000 at age 30 and retired at 60, but continued to generate amazing average returns of 22% annually — his net worth today would be around $11.9 million (99.9% less than his actual net worth today of $84.5 billion).
Consider this from another perspective. The richest investor of all time is Warren Buffett. However, in terms of average returns, he is not the greatest. Jim Simons, for instance, is a hedge fund manager who has compounded money at a staggering 66% annually since 1988. A much higher rate than Buffet. The net worth of Simons, however, is 21 billion — which is 75% less than Buffett’s. How is this possible? According to Housel, the reason for this is that Simons wasn’t able to find his stride in investing until he was 50 years old. Effectively giving him less than half as many years to compound as Buffett. Housel estimates that if he had invested over a time frame as long as Buffett, his net worth today would be….. “sixty-three quintillion nine hundred quadrillion seven hundred and eighty-one trillion seven hundred eighty billion seven hundred and forty-eight million one hundred sixty thousand dollars.” ($63,900,781,780,748,160,000) It’s important not to underestimate the power of compounding. No matter how counterintuitive the results of compounding may seem, they should never be ignored.
😕 Pessimism and Money: Why We Tend to Embrace Negative Views
Optimism is a belief that the odds of a good outcome are in your favor over time, even if there are setbacks along the way, but when it comes to money, we all have a bias toward pessimism that we hold dear in our hearts. Looking back, however, things have generally improved over the years. So what is it about pessimism that we are inclined to embrace rather than optimism? The answer is that GOOD THINGS TAKE TIME and don’t happen overnight. Money is a subject that attracts pessimism for a variety of reasons. Let’s start with the fact that money matters to all of us. When we hear about something bad happening in the economy, we’re more likely to pay attention. For example, a 40% decline in the stock market over six months is likely to attract attention immediately and may even attract government intervention. However, the incremental nature of a 140% gain over six years can go largely unnoticed. Every year, half a million American lives are saved by the progress of medicine over the last 50 years. Slow progress, however, attracts less attention than quick, sudden losses such as terrorism, plane crashes, and natural disasters. There are many overnight tragedies, but few overnight miracles. To be practical, we don’t have to be pessimistic. Despite setbacks, we can hold onto the belief that over time, the odds of a positive outcome are in our favor. When watching the news highlighting a stock market crash, economic woes, or other money problems — try to remember that things tend to improve over time.
🔑 Two Forgotten Elements: Luck and Risk
In 1968, there were roughly 300 million high-school-age people in the world, and of those 300 million, 300 students attended a small school in Seattle called Lakeside. Lakeside happened to be the only high school in the world at the time that had a professor with the foresight to lease a computer, the Teletype Model 30. This was no ordinary computer; it was advanced for the time and the type of computer that even Graduate students didn’t have access to. And for one lucky student at Lakeside, this would change everything. That student was Bill Gates. From 300 million to 300. In 1968 there was roughly a one in a million chance of being a high school student with access to a computer. Bill Gates and his schoolmate Paul Allen would go on to create Microsoft together. Just as intelligent, just as visionary. Kent could very well have been one of the founders of Microsoft, alongside Gates and Allen. However, that would never happen. A mountaineering accident took Kent’s life before he graduated high school. The odds of a high school student being killed in a mountaineering accident are around one in a million. The pursuit of success is full of twists and turns, and the role luck and risk play in shaping our lives is an important perspective to keep in mind. Understanding that success is a complex combination of factors, including both talent and luck can help us approach our own financial decisions with greater humility and perspective.
😊 The Key to Happiness: Time and Freedom
People want to become wealthier to make themselves happier, but according to Housel, “the key to happiness is the ability to do what you want, when you want, with who you want, for as long as you want.” The pursuit of material wealth has led to many people working harder and giving up more control over their time, despite being richer than ever before. However, studies show that having control over your life is the most dependable predictor of positive feelings of well-being, more than your salary, house size, or career prestige. Ultimately, controlling your time is the highest dividend money pays. Pursuing money without valuing time is like filling a bucket with a hole in it. No matter how much water you pour in, it will continue to leak out. Similarly, no matter how much money you accumulate, it won’t bring lasting happiness if you don’t have control over your time and can’t enjoy the fruits of your labor.
🎨 Tail Events: The Power of Few Outliers
Heinz Berggruen, a man who fled Nazi Germany and settled in America, became one of the most successful art dealers of all time. He collected a massive amount of art, including works by famous artists like Picasso, Klee, and Matisse. In 2000, he sold part of his collection for over 100 million euros. What was his secret to acquiring so many masterpieces? According to Horizon, a research firm, great investors buy vast quantities of art and hold onto them for a long period. They waited for a few of those paintings to become well-known and worth a lot of money, even though most of the paintings they bought were not worth very much. In other words, it’s not about being right all the time, but having a diversified portfolio and waiting for a few winners to emerge. The long tails of Berggruen’s art collection are what led to his ultimate fortune. The story of Berggruen teaches us a valuable lesson about investing, and this long-tail concept also applies to many aspects of business and investing. Most of the startups in a VC fund will fail and lose money for the fund, but all they need are a few outlier startups that make 20x + returns to make up for losses. Even though long tails are prevalent, most of us ignore them when it comes to investing. When things go wrong, we tend to overreact. As soon as you accept that tails drive everything in business, investing, and finance, you realize many things may go wrong, fail, or fall apart. Remember: Out of the nearly 500 stocks Warren Buffet has picked, only 10 have made the majority of his money. Good stock pickers will only be right half of the time. Good leaders will only make good decisions half of the time. The fact that you might be wrong sometimes doesn’t mean that things won’t work out over time. In the end, the outcome can be determined by only a small number of events.
💵 True Wealth VS Being Rich: The Difference You Need to Understand
It’s so important to understand the difference between being rich and being wealthy. Richness is about your current income and the things you own, while wealth is about the financial assets you have yet to spend. True wealth isn’t what you see, but what you don’t. It’s easy to assume that someone driving a Lamborghini is wealthy, but appearances can be deceiving. In reality, many individuals are living beyond their means and relying on debt to fund their flashy lifestyles. Wealth isn’t about the cars you drive, the diamond rings, or the homes you own; it’s about those financial assets that you have yet to spend. Accumulating wealth takes self-control and restraint. The diamonds, watches, and first-class upgrades that you decline all contribute to your overall wealth. It’s easy to find rich role models who spend lavishly, but true wealth is hidden and therefore harder to imitate. We’re conditioned to believe that having money means spending money, but the real key to building wealth is to save and invest the money you have. The only way to be wealthy is to not spend the money that you do have. The next time you see someone driving a fancy car or living in a big house, remember that you can’t judge wealth by appearances alone. The true key to wealth is self-control, restraint, building assets, and investing in your future.
💡 The Real Price: Understanding the Uncertainty and Risk of Investing
Imagine you are climbing a mountain intending to reach the peak and admire the amazing view. Maybe you will get sunshine that day, rain. You may get lost, you might fall and injure yourself….The difficulty of the climb is not always apparent until you’re in the thick of it. From the ground looking up the path to take may seem obvious, but along the way, you will certainly need to reassess and change your path to the peak. You are under no illusion however that there will be some golden escalator that will safely take you to the peak. You understand before the climb that this uncertainty and risk is just the price you have to pay to get to the top. But when it comes to investing in the stock market, many people think they can avoid the uncertainty and risk and get something for nothing.
Housel likens the stock market to getting a new car. If you want to get a car, you have three options. You can buy a new car, buy a used one, or steal one. The new car is a higher price, but the reward is greater. Think of the new car as aiming for 12% returns from the stock market. The used car is cheaper but also comes with less reward. The used car is like a much safer investment but only returns 4% per year. Stealing a car is like trying to get something for nothing. 99% of people would avoid stealing the car because the consequences outweigh the benefits. However, when it comes to the stock market, people seem to be under the impression that they can take option three and steal from the market. They try all kinds of tricks and strategies to get good market returns without paying the price. Attempting to sell right before a dip or buy right before a boom. Recognizing that successful investing comes with a price is crucial. This price is not immediately obvious, but you have to pay it, just like you would for any other product. The key is to convince yourself that the market’s fee is worth it, that it’s an admission fee worth paying. There’s no guarantee that it will be, but if you see the admission fee as a fine, you’ll never enjoy the experience. Be willing to pay the price once you find it.
🌟 Hedonic Treadmills: Knowing When Enough is Enough
Know when enough is enough. Become familiar with the concept of Hedonic Adaptation or The Hedonic Treadmill. Every time you hit the goal, you keep moving the goalpost further ahead. You need only look at the demise of Bernie Madoff and Gupta, two men who already had everything and were ultra-wealthy. But all the money in the world would never have been enough, both resorting to crime to make even more money. The pursuit of wealth and success without a sense of knowing when enough is enough is like climbing a never-ending ladder. No matter how high one climbs, there is always another rung to reach for, and the pursuit can become all-consuming, leading to a lack of happiness and fulfillment.
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