The Psychology of Money: Timeless lessons on wealth, greed, and happiness

Contained within are some useful tips and insights for those who are naive about finance. However, these could (and should) have been condensed into a newpaper or magazine article. It's hard to imagine anyone who needs such elementary guidance being allured by a book with "psychology" in its title.In any event, the title is an abuse of the word. The descriptions of occasionally observed behaviours are no more "psychology" than the Mungo Jerry line of "Life's for living - yeah! - that's our philosophy" is philosophy.These useful tips and insights are padded out to book length with platitudes and excessive self-reference from the author.I'm tempted towards 1*, but there is at least some value in the tips and insights given.

There is just no end to books about money, finance, how rich famous people got rich and famous, and how you can become rich or at least wiser with money yourself. This is a saturated market for financial self help styled books. What makes this one different? In some ways, absolutely nothing and other ways it is unique.Cons:The author does give cliche advice about being frugal and saving your money and not spending like a child on the latest and fanciest new toys. The author also gives no real insight into how any of the people he mentions in the book became rich. If you are looking for that kind of book, then do not buy this one. I also despised he only mentioned men in the book who were rich and well known and not a single woman. This is horrible for two reasons: A. Society has produced more wealthy women than ever before in the past; (2) Some of the men who got rich were able to use their gender privilege as leverage to get ahead in the corporate world. At least the author addressed some men of color and was not exclusive to white men bc in these days, there are more people of color with wealth than there was in the past. The author also does not do case studies of why some people hold on to their assets in their lifetime. He fails to even mention at all families who pass on their assets for generations as well. He does not mention privilege or inherited wealth at all. The author has cliche commentary about people who had funds once and lost it all bc they spent childishly and did not prepare for an economic downturn.The author also gives lackluster historical information about how economies change over time. I am a huge history buff and nothing he said was new to me or even particularly insightful.Pros:I have long known that most people who drive luxury cars are not rich. Most of these people are wretched financial situations or they bought the car when the markets were good and had no foresight times would get rough one day soon and they would regret buying that car. However, the other does package and explain a trite concept in an interesting way. Also, there may be less sophisticated readers buying this book who never considered it before that the person they always envied with the expensive car was actually on the brink of bankruptcy. One of my favorite parts was the part about how when you see someone roll up in a fancy car, they had a mediocre success and spent half their paycheck on that car.I give this book 4 stars and not less despite the annoyances in my cons section bc it is a good reminder that you can not be a fool with your gold. Esp. these days where there is no end to fools try to one up each other with fancy cars and private schools they can not actually afford. The word for this on the street is "flossing".The book started off riveting at first and served as a cautionary tale but wow did it disappoint towards the end and wow was the sexism ever so apparent.

The Psychology of Money is an important book. Housel's easy writing style might give some the impression that this is a casual take on the intersection of psychology and finance, but what's really going on here is a master class in storytelling. Through the lens of history and personal tales, the author teaches us the most profound insights on the psychology of money - what it means to us, how we spend and save and invest, how we connect who we are today to who we might be tomorrow. In the tradition of Charlie Munger, Howard Marks, and Richard Thaler, Housel forces us to think about the word "risk" from many perspectives, revealing that the tinny and narrow treatments of risk by traditional economists are insufficient to informing how we make decisions about money. On top of it all, the book is short, in the best possible way. It's a quick read with a big payoff.

It's no exaggeration to say that this is the most anticipated book in finance in 2020. People who've read Morgan Housel's work through the years know that he is probably the most lucid and insightful writer in finance today. His writing has influenced anyone and everyone who's paying attention in the world of finance.This book shows why.Each chapter is filled with stories about why we do silly things with money. They're funny, thought provoking, and told in the pure, minimalist style that Housel has helped to pioneer in financial literature. You learn a lot from this book AND enjoy reading it. Another reviewer called it an instant classic. I agree. It's shelved in my library next to Peter Lynch's books.This book isn't only written for investors; it's also written for readers. It will entertain and, over time, enrich you.

I’m in my mid-50s and just retired. While I have been a very successful investor over my 35 years of savings, I probably pushed a little too hard for gains I didn’t need, with the money that I did need. Reading this book will help me change a few of my overly aggressive investment strategies. It helped me recognize the most important lesson during your accumulation years. Knowing when you have “enough”.

Morgan has crafted an incredibly relevant, enjoyable, and helpful book about the interplay between money and emotion, and how we all are affected by both. He tells an important story about the stories we tell; offering Kipling-esque advice about imposters like luck and skill, winning and losing, and of course, triumph and disaster.There is just no way you can finish this quick read and not be a better spouse, parent, or provider for it.If you are 20, read this and embrace every bit of it. When you are over 50, you will be so glad you did.If you are 30, read this and markedly improve your perspective on the what and why of success and failure, and how you can minimize regret.If you are 40, read this and make the tweaks that you can, there is still plenty of time.Even if you are over 50 (which I now am) read this, learn what you could have done better, what you still can do better, and then buy a copy for your 20 year-old (as I am doing right now).

So thin and lightweight that it arrived bent into a pretzel... didn't not help that the very thin sheetmetal was packed in a soft bag... Packaging alert, this should have been in a box. it's ok once I straightened it out, but not close to pretty with all the ripples in the steel from bending it twice. Not worth the money.

I have owned several of this type of wreath hanger over the years, and they have varied pretty widely in quality. This one seems quite sturdy. It fits on all of the doors I may want to use it. I feel this hanger is very good quality for the price point. I would even be happy to gift these to someone. I like this colour, too. I also own another brand in gold and still a third brand in black. I like them all, but this one is definitely the sturdiest of all the ones I own.Definitely recommended.

Very satisfied with my wreath hanger, excellent quality and craftsmanship. Sturdy enough to hold heavy wreaths. Highly recommend.

This wreath door hanger is well made and very sturdy. However it is NOT for every wreath or every door. My Maine balsam wreath is medium size and medium weight but the hanger was too large and too big to fit the wreath easily on. I would recommend it to someone who has a large wreath and large door; perhaps that could be included in product description.

Seller overlooked that i bought two of these sent me one. I contacted them they apologized immediately sent me another one . Absolutely will buy from them again hanger was great quality.Thank you Brian/Jenny

Great door ha gets that allow you to hang wreaths or other hanging decor on your front or side door! The option for length variation at different times is great with this two pack!

I purchased this because I couldn't find my silver wreath hanger. So I ordered this because it was the only plain silver one I could find. I thought it was overpriced but I could get it delivered. What makes it even worse is I found my silver one right after receiving this one. Isn't that the way it always happens?

We received the 12” wreath hanger in nickel today. Fits well over our (red) door, and stays put when opening/closing the door. The 12” length allows for great viewing of the wreath through our two-paneled storm door, and the finish matches our hinges/knob/lock without being distracting. Thin profile also means no hassle with shutting the door, and while it’s only day one, the simple metal construction leads me to believe there will be no issues with durability. Fast shipping, good product!

They're too big and the band to hold in place is too small. Do not recommend.

Not worth $. I waited to long to return item.

From the first sentence to the last, this book provides the latest and most up-to-date evidence for financial literacy's wholesome power to enrich your entire life. The author tells stories to discover financial literacy and living a good life go hand and hand. Most financial books discuss the dominated and respected quantitative side, the sophisticated science, complicated formulas, and mind-numbing statistics. Reading the traditional personal finance genres makes people erroneously think investors need to be intelligent and aggressive to invest successfully.The Psychology of Money is courageously different. It is about life first and finances second. Don’t we want to better understand our behavior, our sense of ourselves and what makes us tick so we can achieve that vibrant and contented life? I know I do.The author skillfully separates the easy part of discovering the investing process versus the hard part. This may shock newbies, but understanding the quantitative aspect of finances, such as constructing a diversified portfolio of low-cost index funds, is the easy part. Look, it is not the little guy or gal versus the massively intimating stock market with the macho goal of beating the average returns. Instead, this book is about understanding our behavior and the decisions we make to achieve a balanced and calm life with accepting reasonable stock market returns. Now that’s the hard part! But this author makes understanding our behavior achievable and interesting. He accepts whatever skills, experience, or knowledge readers bring to the table.The author brings up an age-old adage that we have been taught by our elders for generations—don’t take things so personally! With life's many challenges and sometimes negative surprises, isn't it about how we react that counts? Instead, if we respond with wisdom gained from our experiences over the long haul, the challenge itself will eventually be insignificant.The author explains that our reactive behavior, whether the sudden death of a loved one, a broken water pipe damaging our house, or a stock market crash, how we respond to each of these vastly different crises is no different. As a reviewer of this outstanding book, I took the liberty of interpreting the primary theme with my examples. With the death of a loved one, we can blame the doctors, the hospital, and isolate from friends and family, and sob over beers for the rest of your life as a lonely and bitter widow or widower, or you can blame the stock market, your broker, or valueless Wall Street for your portfolio loses. For example, it is well known that millions of investors reacted negatively for over a decade. They sat out with their two to three trillion of the longest bull market in history because they lost money in the 2008 financial crisis. So, no matter what the experience, isn't it always how we react? This book would help those unfortunate investors pull themselves and their portfolio together to get back in the market.To bring mindfulness to our reactions, the author talked about investors' emotions, attitude, and temperament. To be successful in this counterintuitive financial system is to be aware and insightful of this powerful psychological human potential—your expectation of future returns. The Goldilocks Principle doesn't have too high return expectations or too low, but somewhere in between. But what is a reasonable expected return?The author reports one of the most significant FACTS of the entire book: The United States Stock Market Returns 6.8% after Inflation. Allow me to repeat, 6.8%.According to the author, our United States capitalistic system produces about 6.8% return minus inflation since the 1870s (3.1% average inflation generates a total return of 9.9%). It is the law of averages, and it is powerful if we know how to tap into it and to be 100% satisfied with average returns (It has been researched many times that too many investors fail to get average returns). Morgan explains how to harness this massive industry and what strategy will get you the average return. The goal is to earn the average return over many years. Why? Two reasons:1. 6.8% return over inflation is a great return!2. Because our emotions will be spared the negative reactions from the massive swings (volatility) of the stock market which will set you up to panic and “get out.”This book will help you find that "just right" balance of your investments and your mind so you can sleep soundly with confidence and reach your financial goals over long periods of time. There is no get rich quick scheme. If a financial adviser or your best friend says that they can beat the averages, walk away, and never listen to that nonsense.Housel encourages all investors by debunking one debilitating myth from the start. All you need to be a successful investor is patience, think long term, and one tiny piece of mathematics, the power of compound interest over decades. You do not need an MBA or a high IQ! In fact, for the newbie financial reader with no financial background or smarts, take heart, you have an advantage. He wrote: "Ordinary folks with no formal financial education can be wealthy if they have a handful of behavioral skills that have nothing to do with formal measures of intelligence."That's me! I have never taken a financial course in my life. I flunked 2nd grade and I scored a lower than 100 IQ. But I had a huge advantage because I majored in psychology. Knowing how my mind functioned, I mitigated my return expectations of the market and drama during three of the biggest stock market crashes in history. My expectations for growth and losses are reasonable, balanced between stocks and fixed because I knew what the world-wide stock market returns since 1870. With my mind disciplined to stay the course forever and to do what I can do—control the real deal by keeping expenses low and be extremely happy with reasonable returns. I have perfect control by paying myself instead of some Wall Street mucky muck's yacht.For years, seasoned investors poo-poo psychology (read the one and two-star reviews of this book). There is at least one huge exception. One of the most significant financial thinkers of the 20th century and the mentor and professor of Warren Buffett. Ben Graham wrote said in the very first paragraph of his monumental 623 page The Intelligent Investor, "…little will be said here about the technique of analyzing securities; attention will be paid chiefly to investment principles and investors' attitudes." (1973 revised, page 1).The author had the great wisdom to cite a book titled “Enough” by the legendary John Bogle. Morgan tells stories of people "hit it big" (IN THE BILLIONS!). It wasn’t "enough." They want more, and in the end, they lost it all. Bogle’s most famous quote to get the market averages mentioned previously is to invest in the “entire haystack, do not look for the needle.”The author makes an important statement that is long overdue and worth repeating—the qualitative discussions of investing is more complicated than the quantitative discussions. It is humans that make the decisions and do all the trading on the stock exchanges throughout the world. Last I heard, humans have feelings. Housel says that science is exact and is governed by predictable physical laws. Molecules and atoms do not have feelings! But millions of investors do! Sir Isaac Newton would agree. He famously lamented after losing his investments to the South Sea Disaster in the 18th century, "I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people." Knowledge of psychology and behavior will help you understand and protect yourself from the "madness of people."The author covers a lot of ground because there is a lot of human behavioral and psychological constructs to explain. Luck vs. skill, attitude vs. math, being average vs. being superior, uncertainty vs. certainty, and confidence born from wisdom vs. overconfidence born from recklessness are impossible to measure and explain. The author correctly labeled these constructs “soft skills” (Hard skills are the math, statistics, graphs, and tables). Luck, attitude, accepting average returns, uncertainty, long-term horizon, and overconfidence are difficult to explain without emotional pushback from some investors. Most seasoned investors want to be intelligent, act aggressive, appear confident, and look sophisticated and soft skills will not get them that image and beat the market.We love to think successes originated on skills, knowledge, intelligence, spreadsheets, and math. The most vital reaction to many seasoned investors is downplaying luck to investment success. But Morgan won't have it. Making money from stock and bond investing is being smart with the complicated reality we face, and spreadsheet knowledge will not be enough. That being lucky is part of the equation. He admits that the luck factor is the question that might not be answered in our lifetimes.In the meantime, there is nothing wrong with being lucky. The returns are green too. But most seasoned investors feel insulted. Warren Buffett always reports that he is an incredibly fortunate investor born in the United States. I am lucky that I am alive after contracting stage two colon cancer twenty years ago. Any one of us could have been born in a small village in India in abject poverty, a shantytown in Lima, Peru, or one of our country's public housing projects.Unfortunately, I gave the book four stars. There was one paragraph that does not belong in the book. I was disappointed. I agree that I might be petty, but that paragraph doesn’t make any sense because it doesn’t follow the narrative throughout. On page 218, I rewrote here for those who use the indexing strategy, especially Bogleheads:“That doesn’t mean index investing will always work. It doesn’t mean it is for everyone. And it doesn’t mean active stock picking is doomed to fail. In general, this industry has become too entrenched on one side or the other—particularly those vehemently against active investing.”Did the Author Lose His “Psychology” for a Moment?I scratched my head and seriously wondered, has the author lost his mind? What in the world motivated the author had to write this when he shares how he invests, and it’s just like most Bogleheads and myself invest with low-cost index funds? I believe I can speak for most Bogleheads: of course, we are “vehemently against active investing!” It’s expensive and flawed is thoroughly agreed upon by genuine fiduciary financial advisers. Furthermore, there are books, peer-reviewed academic articles, and the Bogleheads’ forum experiences of how successful the indexing strategy has been overactive management. The author admits on the following page that 85% of active managers fail to beat the averages! The active management strategy has been proven dead for decades, and the author’s stories debunk active management. Over 35 million investors have their seven trillion dollars with Vanguard and TIAA. We know that active managers from Wall Street’s big banks and brokerage firms spend a lot of time sipping martinis on their yachts.Other than that hideous paragraph, The Psychology of Money is a fine book because it makes a huge contribution to financial discussions and what it means to be financially literate. The qualitative argument of financial literacy is desperately needed in the financial world. The quantitative argument is appropriate for constructing your portfolio and understanding how markets only return 6.8% average for 150 years. I learned a ton by reading those books too. But after that, no amount of math, sophistication, financial engineering, or science will protect investors from a bear market. Only what is between our ears will. Investors must get our heads behind the idea that we are up against a massive industry that wants to use our money to make money for themselves.The industry is playing a totally different game, different motivation, and most important different life values—they spend 24/7 in front of their powerful computers trading for two goals only, bonuses and beating the averages. I have one more example of luck--We are lucky that Morgan Housel wrote this important work. It is not about looking at your finances 24/7, searching for that investment “gem” that will make you rich quickly or to compete. At the end of the day, it is about doing our part in making the world a better place than it is now, being generous to those in need, be part of something bigger than yourself, and spending quality time with family and friends.

I know what you’re thinking, oh great not another personal finance book? At first I also ignored this book ever since it became wildly popular, as I simply had enough of reading the type of cliche personal finance books after reading the last 2 books about money by a certain personal development maestro. But then I stumbled upon Morgan Housel’s interview at the Tim Ferriss Show. And, to be frank, he’s not what I thought he was.He’s not that typical personality that preach about personal finance from the perspective of “expert slash motivational speaker.” He doesn’t make a sales pitch for some one-size-fits-all formula to get rich, like what most of the so-called finance gurus are offering.But instead, he’s a market guy who understands the complex dynamism of trading/investing, who is obsessed with behavioural finance as the reasoning for market movements and/or business growth, who explains that our relationship with money is not science or math but dopamine and cortisol, it’s fear and greed, it’s pride and envy and social comparisons, or in short our relationship with money is actually psychological.Right from the start Housel remarked that doing well with money actually has little to do with how smart we are and a lot to do with how we behave. And behavior is not easy to teach, even to really smart people. He then added, “[a] genius who loses control of their emotions can be a financial disaster. The opposite is also true. Ordinary folks with no financial education can be wealthy if they have a handful of behavioral skills that have nothing to do with formal measures of intelligence.”Hence, the unbelievable story of Ronald Read at the beginning of the book, a janitor who gave away $6 million to the local hospital when he passed away, in contrast with Richard Fuscone, a Harvard MBA and former Merrill Lynch executive who lost almost everything at the end of his story. This, in essence, is what the book is about, the good approaches towards money that can be implemented even by the janitor (that we should emulate), and the bad ones even by the likes of the Harvard-educated executive (that we should avoid).And the first thing that we need to understand is that everyone is different. We have different personalities, different childhood backgrounds, different education, different goals, and thus it is only natural that we have different risk tolerances and attitudes towards money, saving and investment. For example, baby boomers that grow up in the Great Depression era will have different attitude towards risk and reward compared with millennials who live under a low inflation low interest rate environment.Another important point in the book is that tails drive everything. There are around 15 billion lives that were born between 19th and 20th century but imagine 7% of them were never born, such as Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Gavrilo Princip, Thomas Edison, Bill Gates, and Martin Luther King. Or imagine the last century without the small percentage of occurrences such as Great Depression, World War 2, The Manhattan Project, Vaccines, antibiotics, September 11th, and the fall of the Soviet Union. The point is, a small percentage of people or events create the most impacts in history.The same concept also occur in investing. As Housel describes, since 1980 the Russell 3000 index has increased more than 73-fold, which is a spectacular return. However, if we look closer, 40% of the companies in the index were effectively failures, while the 7% of components performed extremely well and were more than enough to offset the flops. And there’s more. Within the most performing companies in the market there are even more tail events. In 2018, Amazon alone drove 6% of the S&P 500 returns, while Amazon’s growth itself was almost entirely thanks to Amazon Prime and Amazon Web Services, while others such as Fire Phone and travel agencies have failed.This is also where Housel emphasized the importance of “batting average”, that it is ok to have small losses here and there as long as the wins can more than compensate for the whole performance. This approach is valid for money and any other functions in life.Moreover, in this immensely informative book in just 183 pages, there are many more lessons on the psychology of money that helps to frame and re-frame our mindsets, such as the relationship between luck and risk, the magic of compounding, the difference between fees and fines, how historical trends are not prophecies, how optimistic-pessimistic outlooks can influence our decision makings, and one important mindset that rarely discussed by any other commercial personal finance books: the importance of contentment.Because ultimately, Housel concluded, “wealth is what you don’t see. Wealth is the nice cars not purchased. The diamonds not bought. The watches not worn, the clothes forgone and the first-class upgrade declined. Wealth is financial assets that haven’t yet been converted into the stuff you see.”Indeed, the aim of this book is not to sell the author’s service, but it is to give us the complete psychological understanding of our relationship with money, and how to have a better attitude at it. And for that reason, this book offers a fresh perspective in an already saturated personal finance industry. Which is why this is one of the most influential books that I’ve ever read. No wonder it’s so damn popular.

I enjoyed this book but had trouble relating some of the stories to my own experiences in Latin America. It does give a good perspective on attitudes those south of the U.S. border have on animal life.Frances VandervoortChicago

Psycholology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed and Happiness by Morgan Housel is a timeless work about how our feelings, emotions and interactions with money often results in different outcomes for different people – because people are different. So, insights into how to think and behave about money is instructive.You may think you don’t have enough money to make a difference for your future. I think this book will show you, how even with those thoughts, that you can.Others may believe they have more than enough. Those too are risky thoughts and beliefs.Because people are different, everyone should read this book to see what you uniquely learn about yourself and how you should think about money.Chocked full of great insights to guide us all.Quotes that hit home from various chapters are presented below. There are many more quotes possible, but then you’d miss the message between each quote. I strongly suggest getting the book to see how these below snippets string together into a powerful story about how we think and behave towards money matters.Quote:• 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.• Luck and risk are siblings.• Yes, but I have something he will never have … enough.• There is no reason to risk what you have and need for what you don’t have and don’t need.• The hardest financial skill is getting the goalpost to stop moving.• $81.5 billion of Warren Buffett’s $84.5 billion net worth came after his 65th birthday.• Buffett began serious investing when he was 10 years old.• His skill is investing, but his secret is time. That’s how compounding works.• But good investing isn’t necessarily about earning the highest returns, because the highest returns tend to be one-off hits that can’t be repeated. It’s about earning pretty good returns that you can stick with and which can be repeated for the longest period of time. That’s when compounding runs wild.• Getting wealthy vs. staying wealthy.• Getting money is one thing. Keeping it is another.• Planning is important, but the most important part of every plan is to plan on the plan not going according to plan.• No one is impressed with your possessions as much as you are.• When you see someone driving a nice car, you rarely think, “Wow, the guy driving that car is cool.” Instead, you think, “Wow, if I had that car people would think I’m cool.”• Humility, kindness, and empathy will bring you more respect than horsepower ever will.• Spending money to show people how much money you have is the fastest way to have less money.• Money has many ironies. Here’s an important one: Wealth is what you don’t see.• Past a certain level of income people fall into three groups: Those who save, those who don’t think they can save, and those who don’t think they need to save.• Building wealth has little to do with your income or investment returns, and lots to do with your savings rate.• The value of wealth is relative to what you need.• Past a certain level of income, what you need is just what sits below your ego.• People’s ability to save is more in their control than they might think.• Things that have never happened before happen all the time.• The thing that makes tail events easy to underappreciate is how easy it is to underestimate how things compound. How, for example, 9/11 prompted the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates, which helped drive the housing bubble, which led to the financial crisis, which led to a poor jobs market, which led to tens of millions to seek a college education, which led to [over a trillion dollars] in student loans with [a high percentage of default rates].• The correct lesson to learn from surprises is that the world is surprising.• The most important part of every plan is planning on your plan not going according to plan.• The purpose of the margin of safety is to render the forecast unnecessary.• The End of History Illusion is what psychologists call the tendency for people to be keenly aware of how much they’ve changed in the past, but to underestimate how much their personalities, desires and goals are likely to change in the future. [Thus, their history of change won’t change anymore into their future].• Every job looks easy when you’re not the one doing it.• Successful investing looks easy when you’re not the one doing it. Hold stocks for the long run … but do you know how hard it is to maintain a long-term outlook when stocks are collapsing?• Price … not dollars and cents … it’s volatility, fear, doubt, uncertainty … all of which are easy to overlook until you’re dealing with them in real time.• Beware of taking financial cues from people playing a different game than you are.• When investors have different goals and time horizons – and they do in every asset class – prices that look ridiculous to one person can make sense to another, because the factors those investors pay attention to are different.• The interesting thing about [absolutely pessimistic] stories is that their polar opposite – forecasts of outrageous optimism – are rarely taken as seriously as prophets of doom.• Pessimism just sounds smarter and more plausible than optimism.• …progress happens too slowly to notice, but setbacks happen too quickly to ignore.• The more you want something to be true, the more likely you are to believe a story that overestimates the odds of it being true.• We don’t know what we don’t know.• Coming to terms with how much you don’t know means coming to terms with how much of what happens in the world is out of your control. And that can be hard to accept.• Less ego, more wealth.• If you want to to do better as an investor, the single most powerful thing you can do is increase your time horizon.Unquote.There’s a lot of wisdom alone in the various quotes above. There’s even more wisdom reading how they string together to see the larger story line to understand your psychology of money applied in your own life.Each person reading Housel’s work will get something different out of it than someone else. And each time you read it (I suggest more than once) you too will get yet still something else out of it.

From the first sentence to the last, this book provides the latest and most up-to-date evidence for financial literacy's wholesome power to enrich your entire life. The author tells stories to discover financial literacy and living a good life go hand and hand. Most financial books discuss the dominated and respected quantitative side, the sophisticated science, complicated formulas, and mind-numbing statistics. Reading the traditional personal finance genres makes people erroneously think investors need to be intelligent and aggressive to invest successfully.The Psychology of Money is courageously different. It is about life first and finances second. Don’t we want to better understand our behavior, our sense of ourselves and what makes us tick so we can achieve that vibrant and contented life? I know I do.The author skillfully separates the easy part of discovering the investing process versus the hard part. This may shock newbies, but understanding the quantitative aspect of finances, such as constructing a diversified portfolio of low-cost index funds, is the easy part. Look, it is not the little guy or gal versus the massively intimating stock market with the macho goal of beating the average returns. Instead, this book is about understanding our behavior and the decisions we make to achieve a balanced and calm life with accepting reasonable stock market returns. Now that’s the hard part! But this author makes understanding our behavior achievable and interesting. He accepts whatever skills, experience, or knowledge readers bring to the table.The author brings up an age-old adage that we have been taught by our elders for generations—don’t take things so personally! With life's many challenges and sometimes negative surprises, isn't it about how we react that counts? Instead, if we respond with wisdom gained from our experiences over the long haul, the challenge itself will eventually be insignificant.The author explains that our reactive behavior, whether the sudden death of a loved one, a broken water pipe damaging our house, or a stock market crash, how we respond to each of these vastly different crises is no different. As a reviewer of this outstanding book, I took the liberty of interpreting the primary theme with my examples. With the death of a loved one, we can blame the doctors, the hospital, and isolate from friends and family, and sob over beers for the rest of your life as a lonely and bitter widow or widower, or you can blame the stock market, your broker, or valueless Wall Street for your portfolio loses. For example, it is well known that millions of investors reacted negatively for over a decade. They sat out with their two to three trillion of the longest bull market in history because they lost money in the 2008 financial crisis. So, no matter what the experience, isn't it always how we react? This book would help those unfortunate investors pull themselves and their portfolio together to get back in the market.To bring mindfulness to our reactions, the author talked about investors' emotions, attitude, and temperament. To be successful in this counterintuitive financial system is to be aware and insightful of this powerful psychological human potential—your expectation of future returns. The Goldilocks Principle doesn't have too high return expectations or too low, but somewhere in between. But what is a reasonable expected return?The author reports one of the most significant FACTS of the entire book: The United States Stock Market Returns 6.8% after Inflation. Allow me to repeat, 6.8%.According to the author, our United States capitalistic system produces about 6.8% return minus inflation since the 1870s (3.1% average inflation generates a total return of 9.9%). It is the law of averages, and it is powerful if we know how to tap into it and to be 100% satisfied with average returns (It has been researched many times that too many investors fail to get average returns). Morgan explains how to harness this massive industry and what strategy will get you the average return. The goal is to earn the average return over many years. Why? Two reasons:1. 6.8% return over inflation is a great return!2. Because our emotions will be spared the negative reactions from the massive swings (volatility) of the stock market which will set you up to panic and “get out.”This book will help you find that "just right" balance of your investments and your mind so you can sleep soundly with confidence and reach your financial goals over long periods of time. There is no get rich quick scheme. If a financial adviser or your best friend says that they can beat the averages, walk away, and never listen to that nonsense.Housel encourages all investors by debunking one debilitating myth from the start. All you need to be a successful investor is patience, think long term, and one tiny piece of mathematics, the power of compound interest over decades. You do not need an MBA or a high IQ! In fact, for the newbie financial reader with no financial background or smarts, take heart, you have an advantage. He wrote: "Ordinary folks with no formal financial education can be wealthy if they have a handful of behavioral skills that have nothing to do with formal measures of intelligence."That's me! I have never taken a financial course in my life. I flunked 2nd grade and I scored a lower than 100 IQ. But I had a huge advantage because I majored in psychology. Knowing how my mind functioned, I mitigated my return expectations of the market and drama during three of the biggest stock market crashes in history. My expectations for growth and losses are reasonable, balanced between stocks and fixed because I knew what the world-wide stock market returns since 1870. With my mind disciplined to stay the course forever and to do what I can do—control the real deal by keeping expenses low and be extremely happy with reasonable returns. I have perfect control by paying myself instead of some Wall Street mucky muck's yacht.For years, seasoned investors poo-poo psychology (read the one and two-star reviews of this book). There is at least one huge exception. One of the most significant financial thinkers of the 20th century and the mentor and professor of Warren Buffett. Ben Graham wrote said in the very first paragraph of his monumental 623 page The Intelligent Investor, "…little will be said here about the technique of analyzing securities; attention will be paid chiefly to investment principles and investors' attitudes." (1973 revised, page 1).The author had the great wisdom to cite a book titled “Enough” by the legendary John Bogle. Morgan tells stories of people "hit it big" (IN THE BILLIONS!). It wasn’t "enough." They want more, and in the end, they lost it all. Bogle’s most famous quote to get the market averages mentioned previously is to invest in the “entire haystack, do not look for the needle.”The author makes an important statement that is long overdue and worth repeating—the qualitative discussions of investing is more complicated than the quantitative discussions. It is humans that make the decisions and do all the trading on the stock exchanges throughout the world. Last I heard, humans have feelings. Housel says that science is exact and is governed by predictable physical laws. Molecules and atoms do not have feelings! But millions of investors do! Sir Isaac Newton would agree. He famously lamented after losing his investments to the South Sea Disaster in the 18th century, "I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people." Knowledge of psychology and behavior will help you understand and protect yourself from the "madness of people."The author covers a lot of ground because there is a lot of human behavioral and psychological constructs to explain. Luck vs. skill, attitude vs. math, being average vs. being superior, uncertainty vs. certainty, and confidence born from wisdom vs. overconfidence born from recklessness are impossible to measure and explain. The author correctly labeled these constructs “soft skills” (Hard skills are the math, statistics, graphs, and tables). Luck, attitude, accepting average returns, uncertainty, long-term horizon, and overconfidence are difficult to explain without emotional pushback from some investors. Most seasoned investors want to be intelligent, act aggressive, appear confident, and look sophisticated and soft skills will not get them that image and beat the market.We love to think successes originated on skills, knowledge, intelligence, spreadsheets, and math. The most vital reaction to many seasoned investors is downplaying luck to investment success. But Morgan won't have it. Making money from stock and bond investing is being smart with the complicated reality we face, and spreadsheet knowledge will not be enough. That being lucky is part of the equation. He admits that the luck factor is the question that might not be answered in our lifetimes.In the meantime, there is nothing wrong with being lucky. The returns are green too. But most seasoned investors feel insulted. Warren Buffett always reports that he is an incredibly fortunate investor born in the United States. I am lucky that I am alive after contracting stage two colon cancer twenty years ago. Any one of us could have been born in a small village in India in abject poverty, a shantytown in Lima, Peru, or one of our country's public housing projects.Unfortunately, I gave the book four stars. There was one paragraph that does not belong in the book. I was disappointed. I agree that I might be petty, but that paragraph doesn’t make any sense because it doesn’t follow the narrative throughout. On page 218, I rewrote here for those who use the indexing strategy, especially Bogleheads:“That doesn’t mean index investing will always work. It doesn’t mean it is for everyone. And it doesn’t mean active stock picking is doomed to fail. In general, this industry has become too entrenched on one side or the other—particularly those vehemently against active investing.”Did the Author Lose His “Psychology” for a Moment?I scratched my head and seriously wondered, has the author lost his mind? What in the world motivated the author had to write this when he shares how he invests, and it’s just like most Bogleheads and myself invest with low-cost index funds? I believe I can speak for most Bogleheads: of course, we are “vehemently against active investing!” It’s expensive and flawed is thoroughly agreed upon by genuine fiduciary financial advisers. Furthermore, there are books, peer-reviewed academic articles, and the Bogleheads’ forum experiences of how successful the indexing strategy has been overactive management. The author admits on the following page that 85% of active managers fail to beat the averages! The active management strategy has been proven dead for decades, and the author’s stories debunk active management. Over 35 million investors have their seven trillion dollars with Vanguard and TIAA. We know that active managers from Wall Street’s big banks and brokerage firms spend a lot of time sipping martinis on their yachts.Other than that hideous paragraph, The Psychology of Money is a fine book because it makes a huge contribution to financial discussions and what it means to be financially literate. The qualitative argument of financial literacy is desperately needed in the financial world. The quantitative argument is appropriate for constructing your portfolio and understanding how markets only return 6.8% average for 150 years. I learned a ton by reading those books too. But after that, no amount of math, sophistication, financial engineering, or science will protect investors from a bear market. Only what is between our ears will. Investors must get our heads behind the idea that we are up against a massive industry that wants to use our money to make money for themselves.The industry is playing a totally different game, different motivation, and most important different life values—they spend 24/7 in front of their powerful computers trading for two goals only, bonuses and beating the averages. I have one more example of luck--We are lucky that Morgan Housel wrote this important work. It is not about looking at your finances 24/7, searching for that investment “gem” that will make you rich quickly or to compete. At the end of the day, it is about doing our part in making the world a better place than it is now, being generous to those in need, be part of something bigger than yourself, and spending quality time with family and friends.

These reflective bandanas are great for cats too. The bandanas attach with velcro and are light weight and brightly colored. The neighbors know who the cats belong to by their colorful bandanas! The velcro started to wear out after a few months, but are fine for the short time that the cats are in the yard.

I ordered a size small for my dog based on the measurement chart (her neck measures 13"), and it just barely fits around her neck if I leave a finger's gap so she can breathe. It is reflective and the neon color pops at dusk, but the triangle of fabric is really tiny and my dog's long fur covers half of it up. I'm keeping it because I need something NOW, but will be on the look out for a better option. If you buy this, size up, especially if your dog is within an inch of the next size or has long fur. Recommended with reservations.

Worked well but only lasted one three day pheasant hunting trip. It was shredded around the edges

I don't put jackets or apparel on my dog... because he doesn't seem to like it, but I wanted to be more visible when we walk around at nighttime. This bandana is the perfect solution. It doesn't bother him at all and it simply velcros around his neck without interfering with his collar/my leash. I bought the large to get the most visibility and then cut the excess velcro strap off since his neck is more like a medium. I put it in front of his chest so that cars can see him better and I've had several neighbors compliment how bright and reflective it is. I recommend this for anyone wanting an easy way to make your dog more visible in the dark. And for this price, I just might buy two and keep one in the car.

Overall, not a bad item, just a bit small for my dog. Fits around the neck, but does not offer much material otherwise.

Definitely better for smaller dogs. We put this on our 90 lb lab mix and while it does provide some good reflection, he needs something bigger. I should have researched this more before buying, there is nothing wrong with the product itself. This is effective and makes your dog more visible. Great for camping!

My puppy is all black and he's incredibly difficult to see in the low-lit neighborhood. This works wonders in keeping track of him when I take him out at night and make sure others can see him too! The fabric is an intense neon and the reflective stripes bounce light like nobody's business and the velcro is strong and holding well!

Definitely makes the dog more visible to traffic and whatnot on walks or whenever, and it's made of durable material too. Make sure you measure their neck though, I figured since our pup wears a size small collar, size small would work and it does but barely, so I'll also buy the medium since she's still growing. My fault though, definitely still five starts

I'm 5'7 and about 200lbs. Love the way it fits, the sides aren't too deep that I feel like my stomach is hanging out and looks super cute with a crop top underneath. However, the legs are long on me, which isn't a big deal. I think the rolled look will look cute with my Docs. The biggest downfall are the straps. They do not come sewn together or even with adjustable straps. The only options to wear are to either tie them together/sew together/or safety pin it, but if you're planning on wearing it to a concert/festival, safety pins are not an option, so I will be learning how to sew! Other than that, LOVE the Misfits print and super cute! Oh, and it has pockets!

They are cute, but I have a texture thing and wearing an itchy material that is usually reserved for your tapestries is quite odd. Not too mention a easy rip material… so definitely no stretch. And it’s pretty thin as well. BUT if u don’t mind that kind of thing at least they have pockets? Lol.

It was very stiff and painted so i was scared to wash it to soften. I loved how it fit and looked tho! I would still but again despite the texture of the whole thing!

Cute but very thin material

Just a strange material and feel but they look fabulous. Another small issue is that it's tight in the chest. I am a 36 d cup

The material is thinner than anticipated. They are very wide in the waist and the legs taper quite a bit. Very vivid colors and the design is great.

Apparently this is supposed to read “Eternal Love” but I spent 10 minutes trying to figure out what L-TLRNAL LOVE was… 😂😂😂 other than the spelling or print issue, the fabric is stiff but design is cute. I’m debating a return but only because of the letters.

There is no stretch. And no pockets. But!!!! It’s still so comfy and cute!!! Well worth the money! I am 5’3.5” and 180 and bought a 3X for the extra room. I love it! I just bought another one 😂

The Carbon Fiber Pole needs to be cut to fit.

Carbon fiber pole sent with scoop does not attach to the scoop. One hole drilled on side of scoop, two holes drilled on carbon fiber pole - shaft diameter too small to fit scoop.

I just want to call out some of the negative reviews that made me consider (longer than I should) before buying the book.- There is nothing new in the book. It is only good for beginnersCorrect on the first part. There is nothing new here. Just as philosophy has existed for thousands of years, yet few people tend to get out of their way to find a few good books, read them and get something out of them.The book has ideas that are not new, but are brought up and packaged in a convenient way for you to read them, analyze them and preach them. Some of the ideas, in the book (as a beginner), were stuff I have never heard of (despite listening to a lot of flashy investing podcasts and "know-it-all gurus") and I've had many "aha" moments through reading the book. I am only in the middle of the book, right now, writing this.In the second part of the statement, about the target audience, I do believe nobody knows everything about money, psychology nor investing.Summary:If you know nothing about investing, finance and "The psychology of money" or you know some stuff, but you want to challenge your beliefs and have an open mindset - this book is for you. If you are a know-it-all, filthy rich Scrooge McDuck - skip it.

It’s the perfect size for my office door at work.