★ ★ ★ ★ ★
This is my first time reading a book on finance. I have nothing else to compare with, but I knew I enjoyed it, so I decided to give this 5 stars. Every chapter, the authors writes and elaborates about a particular point that he's making. There are very relevant examples at every point. Each chapter is short and straightforward, made easy to understand. It urges me to try reading other finance books, and I'll be making sure of that.
Recently, I reached a point in life where I am concerned about the state of my finances. I've always been a saver, but the people (who are not family) around me kept telling me to let go a little bit more, to enjoy life. Sometimes I wondered to myself: is there something wrong with me or the way my parents had taught me about money? The answer is no. Well, according to Morgan Housel, no one is crazy, and I highly agree with that. That first chapter really spoke to me so much. Must there be a reason to save? No. Saving for rainy days is better than not trying to save more then realising that there isn't enough to cover that catastrophic situation, whatever it may be.
We all do crazy stuff with money, because we're all relatively new to this game and what looks crazy to you might make sense to me. But no one is crazy—we all make decisions based on our own unique experiences that seem to make sense to us in a given moment.
And so I continued on.
A barbelled personality—optimistic about the future, but paranoid about what will prevent you from getting to the future—is vital.
Then there is this quote about investing, something that I only recently learnt about:
It sounds trivial, but thinking of market volatility as a fee rather than a fine is an important part of developing the kind of mindset that lets you stick around long enough for investing gains to work in your favor.
Real optimists don't believe that everything will be great. That's complacency. Optimism is a belief that the odds of a good outcome are in your favor over time, even when there will be setbacks along the way.
For the first time ever, I actually came to understand what caused the 2008 financial crisis. It's really interesting how everything slowly built up to that certain point. I've also never read about a country's particular financial story before, so learning about America's was eye-opening. I definitely learnt a lot from reading this book!