Money
40 notes, 6 favorites. Often alongside thinking, life and startups.
Start here · 21 min
- The Seduction of Pessimism★(favorite)Morgan Housel · 4 min
Housel argues pessimism sounds smarter than optimism because short-term shocks are easier to recall and we underestimate how people adapt, as Jeremy Siegel's long horizon and the oil cycles show.
- Some Things I Think★(favorite)Morgan Housel · 7 min
Housel's one-line observations on wealth, luck, and human nature, such as measuring wealth as what you have minus what you want and the value of not needing to impress anyone.
- Little Rules About Big Things★(favorite)Morgan Housel · 10 min
Housel's list of short rules on money, risk, and behavior, from keeping a gap between ego and income to fearing permanent damage far more than temporary harm.
All 40 notes
Housel argues money works best as a tool for a better life rather than a status yardstick, and that how you spend reflects your history and often buys happiness only indirectly.
Related
- Do It Your WayMorgan Housel
- How I Think About DebtMorgan Housel
- Long-Term MoneyMorgan Housel
- My New Book: The Art of Spending MoneyMorgan Housel
Housel argues every forecast multiplies a hard number from today by a story about tomorrow, so data-driven predictions are mostly storytelling and always deserve room for error.
Related
- The Seduction of PessimismMorgan Housel
- Conflicting Skill SetsMorgan Housel
- How To Read Financial NewsMorgan Housel
- Information That Would Get Your AttentionMorgan Housel
Housel argues outlier success often pairs a science with an unrelated art, like Einstein's thought experiments, and that great investors are usually great writers because clear communication keeps investors loyal and thinking honest.
Related
- The Seduction of PessimismMorgan Housel
- A Number From Today and A Story About TomorrowMorgan Housel
- Conflicting Skill SetsMorgan Housel
- How To Read Financial NewsMorgan Housel
Housel lists pairs of opposing skills investing demands at once, like taking big risks to get rich but avoiding them to stay rich, or trusting your gut while doubting your biases.
Related
- The Seduction of PessimismMorgan Housel
- A Number From Today and A Story About TomorrowMorgan Housel
- How To Read Financial NewsMorgan Housel
- Information That Would Get Your AttentionMorgan Housel
Housel argues the best strategy is the one that fits your personality, from talented bloggers who fizzled under media company style guides to investing and spending choices that suit you.
Related
- A Few Thoughts on Spending MoneyMorgan Housel
- How I Think About DebtMorgan Housel
- Long-Term MoneyMorgan Housel
- My New Book: The Art of Spending MoneyMorgan Housel
Housel draws five broad lessons from history, including that hardship makes unthinkable views popular, unsustainable things last longer than expected, and progress moves too slowly to notice while setbacks hit fast.
Related
- Paying AttentionMorgan Housel
- The Seduction of PessimismMorgan Housel
- One Big Web: A Few Ways the World WorksMorgan Housel
- The Dumber Side of Smart PeopleMorgan Housel
Housel argues that more debt narrows the range of life's shocks you can survive, which is why Japan's centuries-old shinise businesses hold lots of cash and no debt, and why flexibility is worth protecting.
Related
- Do It Your WayMorgan Housel
- A Few Thoughts on Spending MoneyMorgan Housel
- Long-Term MoneyMorgan Housel
- My New Book: The Art of Spending MoneyMorgan Housel
Housel's filters for the flood of financial content: sort it by relevance, read respected people you disagree with, read beyond finance, use old news as a guide, and remember writers may play a different game than you.
Related
- The Seduction of PessimismMorgan Housel
- A Number From Today and A Story About TomorrowMorgan Housel
- Conflicting Skill SetsMorgan Housel
- Information That Would Get Your AttentionMorgan Housel
Housel argues that imagining impossible information, like the exact role of luck in success, is useful because it forces you to think about what matters but is easy to ignore.
Related
- The Seduction of PessimismMorgan Housel
- A Number From Today and A Story About TomorrowMorgan Housel
- Conflicting Skill SetsMorgan Housel
- How To Read Financial NewsMorgan Housel
Housel argues that kids looking spoiled by past standards is often the point of their parents' hard work, since each generation's easier life just frees it to worry about higher-order problems.
Related
- Do It Your WayMorgan Housel
- A Few Thoughts on Spending MoneyMorgan Housel
- How I Think About DebtMorgan Housel
- My New Book: The Art of Spending MoneyMorgan Housel
Housel suggests asking what isn't repeatable instead of who got lucky, so you copy the transferable skills of people like Bezos and Buffett and skip the conditions that will never recur.
Related
- The Seduction of PessimismMorgan Housel
- A Number From Today and A Story About TomorrowMorgan Housel
- Conflicting Skill SetsMorgan Housel
- How To Read Financial NewsMorgan Housel
Housel introduces The Art of Spending Money and its core ideas: money works best as a tool rather than a status yardstick, buys happiness only indirectly, and is spent best by those who stop thinking about it.
Related
- Do It Your WayMorgan Housel
- A Few Thoughts on Spending MoneyMorgan Housel
- How I Think About DebtMorgan Housel
- Long-Term MoneyMorgan Housel
Housel argues independence, financial but also intellectual and moral, is one of life's highest goals, starting from his shy son's pride at buying ice cream alone and why doing things on your own terms feels so good.
Related
- Do It Your WayMorgan Housel
- A Few Thoughts on Spending MoneyMorgan Housel
- How I Think About DebtMorgan Housel
- Long-Term MoneyMorgan Housel
Housel argues success depends on surviving long losing streaks, as Ed Thorp's 2% blackjack edge still meant losing half his hands, which is why real optimism and a margin of safety matter more than the edge itself.
Related
- The Seduction of PessimismMorgan Housel
- A Number From Today and A Story About TomorrowMorgan Housel
- Conflicting Skill SetsMorgan Housel
- How To Read Financial NewsMorgan Housel
Housel argues that huge outcomes grow from small early bases, showing that about 97% of Buffett's fortune traces to the capital he built as a teenager, just as ice ages start from one summer's leftover snow.
Related
- Do It Your WayMorgan Housel
- A Few Thoughts on Spending MoneyMorgan Housel
- How I Think About DebtMorgan Housel
- Long-Term MoneyMorgan Housel
Housel argues long-term success depends on managing the short run well enough to survive it, from kids distracting themselves in the marshmallow test to Bill Gates keeping a year of payroll in the bank.
Related
- The Seduction of PessimismMorgan Housel
- A Number From Today and A Story About TomorrowMorgan Housel
- Conflicting Skill SetsMorgan Housel
- How To Read Financial NewsMorgan Housel
Housel argues studying extreme cases teaches overly precise lessons that lead you to see rare patterns everywhere, as a 19th-century professor did diagnosing a rare disease his student had rightly ruled out.
Related
- The Seduction of PessimismMorgan Housel
- A Number From Today and A Story About TomorrowMorgan Housel
- Conflicting Skill SetsMorgan Housel
- How To Read Financial NewsMorgan Housel
Housel argues pessimism sounds smarter than optimism because short-term shocks are easier to recall and we underestimate how people adapt, as Jeremy Siegel's long horizon and the oil cycles show.
Related
- A Number From Today and A Story About TomorrowMorgan Housel
- Conflicting Skill SetsMorgan Housel
- How To Read Financial NewsMorgan Housel
- Information That Would Get Your AttentionMorgan Housel
Taking a cue from Munger's advice to avoid obvious disasters, Housel writes a list of very bad advice, such as letting expectations outgrow income and judging others at their worst and yourself at your best.
Related
- Little Rules About Big ThingsMorgan Housel
- Some Things I ThinkMorgan Housel
- Very Good Advice (flipped)Morgan Housel
- A Message From the Past (Thoughts on Nostalgia)Morgan Housel
McKenzie argues engineers should always negotiate because five minutes can be worth $100k: never name a number first, echo the employer's words, and trade across salary, vacation, and perks.
Related
- Equity is Worth More Than Cash Because of OptionalityPeter Schmidt-Nielsen
- The value of employee equity depends a lot on volatilityDevansh Pandey
- Wall Street Survival 101Joel Spolsky
- Keep Your Personal Burn Rate Low To Maximize Your OptionsHunter Walk
Housel's list of short rules on money, risk, and behavior, from keeping a gap between ego and income to fearing permanent damage far more than temporary harm.
Related
- Some Things I ThinkMorgan Housel
- Very Good Advice (flipped)Morgan Housel
- Very Bad AdviceMorgan Housel
- A Message From the Past (Thoughts on Nostalgia)Morgan Housel
Housel's one-line observations on wealth, luck, and human nature, such as measuring wealth as what you have minus what you want and the value of not needing to impress anyone.
Related
- Little Rules About Big ThingsMorgan Housel
- Very Good Advice (flipped)Morgan Housel
- Very Bad AdviceMorgan Housel
- A Message From the Past (Thoughts on Nostalgia)Morgan Housel
Altman argues democracy breaks down without economic growth, since voters in a zero-sum system can only gain at each other's expense, and that America's dysfunction traces back to slowing real growth.
Related
- A founder-friendly term sheetSam Altman
- Fundraising Mistakes Founders MakeSam Altman
- How To Invest In StartupsSam Altman
- Upside riskSam Altman
Hunter Walk on why living below your means keeps your options open, letting you take risks and choose work you care about over the highest salary.
Related
- Do It Your WayMorgan Housel
- Salary Negotiation: Make More Money, Be More ValuedPatrick McKenzie
- A Few Thoughts on Spending MoneyMorgan Housel
- How I Think About DebtMorgan Housel
Altman shares the term sheet he uses as an angel and explains what he left out, from option-pool shuffles and investor legal fees to exploding offers and confidentiality, to win the best founders.
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- Fundraising Mistakes Founders MakeSam Altman
- How To Invest In StartupsSam Altman
- Growth and GovernmentSam Altman
- Hard StartupsSam Altman
Altman lists common fundraising mistakes, from chasing high valuations and playing tricks to failing to create competition between investors, raising without a lead, and not knowing your own metrics cold.
Related
- A founder-friendly term sheetSam Altman
- How To Invest In StartupsSam Altman
- Growth and GovernmentSam Altman
- Hard StartupsSam Altman
Altman argues startup investing comes down to access, judgment, and getting founders to pick you, which means outworking other investors, backing fast-improving founders in possible $10B markets, and acting decisively.
Related
- A founder-friendly term sheetSam Altman
- Fundraising Mistakes Founders MakeSam Altman
- Growth and GovernmentSam Altman
- Hard StartupsSam Altman
Paul Graham's practical guide to early fundraising: when to raise, how investors think, and how to run the process without letting it distract from the company.
Related
- How to Make WealthPaul Graham
- Black Swan FarmingPaul Graham
- A founder-friendly term sheetSam Altman
- Fundraising Mistakes Founders MakeSam Altman
- NewUpside riskSam Altman 2 min
Altman argues that because one angel investment often returns more than all the rest combined, the real risk is missing the outlier, so investors should stop demanding protective terms that drive off the best founders.
Related
- Growth and GovernmentSam Altman
- The Seduction of PessimismMorgan Housel
- A Number From Today and A Story About TomorrowMorgan Housel
- Conflicting Skill SetsMorgan Housel
Mike Moritz on judging each startup on its own, and why generalizing about whole markets is dangerous when your job is finding the exceptions.
Related
- A founder-friendly term sheetSam Altman
- Fundraising Mistakes Founders MakeSam Altman
- How To Invest In StartupsSam Altman
- How to Raise MoneyPaul Graham
Carey argues you should judge every trade of time for money, from chasing discounts to hiring cleaners, against your personal hourly exchange rate, and asks readers to share dollar-per-hour estimates for common trades.
Related
- Do It Your WayMorgan Housel
- A Few Thoughts on Spending MoneyMorgan Housel
- How I Think About DebtMorgan Housel
- Long-Term MoneyMorgan Housel
Applies the investing barbell strategy to everyday life: skip the middle and combine extremes in caffeine, reading, friendships, and writing.
Related
- The Seduction of PessimismMorgan Housel
- Useful and Overlooked SkillsMorgan Housel
- Salary Negotiation: Make More Money, Be More ValuedPatrick McKenzie
- Searching for outliersBen Kuhn
Greenfeld turns Naval's definition of retirement into a daily practice: hit work, exercise, learning, and social time every day, and bring holiday experiences into ordinary life.
Related
- Do It Your WayMorgan Housel
- A Few Thoughts on Spending MoneyMorgan Housel
- How I Think About DebtMorgan Housel
- Long-Term MoneyMorgan Housel
Schmidt-Nielsen argues a vesting equity grant is a call option paid for with your time, since you can stay if the company does well and quit if it doesn't, so a dollar of equity beats a dollar of cash, especially at startups.
Related
- Salary Negotiation: Make More Money, Be More ValuedPatrick McKenzie
- The value of employee equity depends a lot on volatilityDevansh Pandey
- Wall Street Survival 101Joel Spolsky
- Keep Your Personal Burn Rate Low To Maximize Your OptionsHunter Walk
Vesting plus the option to leave gives startup employees an embedded call option on their equity, so it's worth far more than its face value when outcomes are volatile.
Related
- Salary Negotiation: Make More Money, Be More ValuedPatrick McKenzie
- Equity is Worth More Than Cash Because of OptionalityPeter Schmidt-Nielsen
- Wall Street Survival 101Joel Spolsky
- Keep Your Personal Burn Rate Low To Maximize Your OptionsHunter Walk
Joel Spolsky works through a simple bond puzzle to show how interest rates move bond and stock prices, a basic piece of finance most programmers never learn.
Related
- Salary Negotiation: Make More Money, Be More ValuedPatrick McKenzie
- Equity is Worth More Than Cash Because of OptionalityPeter Schmidt-Nielsen
- The value of employee equity depends a lot on volatilityDevansh Pandey
- Keep Your Personal Burn Rate Low To Maximize Your OptionsHunter Walk
Startup investing returns come from a few huge winners, and the best ideas look bad at first, so investors should bet on ideas that seem crazy rather than safe.
Related
- How to Raise MoneyPaul Graham
- How to Make WealthPaul Graham
- Growth and GovernmentSam Altman
- Startup = GrowthPaul Graham
Ben Kuhn argues the usual complaints about startup pay miss how much stock options are worth once you count the option to leave and the chance of a big outcome.
Related
- Searching for outliersBen Kuhn
- What to care about in a jobBen Kuhn
- Salary Negotiation: Make More Money, Be More ValuedPatrick McKenzie
- how to pick the right startup to join [full guide]Christian Levan
Paul Graham on why starting or joining a startup is the most reliable way to get rich: wealth is created, not taken, and startups compress a working life into a few years.
Related
- How to Raise MoneyPaul Graham
- Black Swan FarmingPaul Graham
- A founder-friendly term sheetSam Altman
- Fundraising Mistakes Founders MakeSam Altman
Morgan Housel's Very Bad Advice list rewritten as its positive version, on envy, status, independence, self-worth, and whose example to follow.
Related
- Little Rules About Big ThingsMorgan Housel
- Some Things I ThinkMorgan Housel
- Very Bad AdviceMorgan Housel
- A Message From the Past (Thoughts on Nostalgia)Morgan Housel