Desiring Financial Freedom? You have the key.

Today, Jul 30, 2023, My great team T224 of The Men’s Book Breakfast wrapped up our review of the book, The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel . For us men, great things happen when we are able to come together, share knowledge and appreciate each other's intellect.?

The Psychology of Money timely reminds us that we have the power to define the extent of our own financial success, which is a key pointer in life. Just like everything else, the path to financial success has a price to be paid. However, the price is not displayed on labels, but rooted in financial discipline, planned investments, calculated risks and most importantly, defining enough from your own lens other than societal ones.?

This book warns us over a number of things, the most edged one is ‘Appealing Fictions’ which sometimes make stories more ‘powerful’ than statistics, a reflection of how the world runs.At personal level, there are two things you should keep in mind about a story driven world when managing your money:

I. The more you want something to be true, the more you will believe a story that overestimates the odds of it being time. Due to the impact of appealing fictions, we desperately want some things to be true to the extent we default to ‘majority truth’ for perceived huge outcomes.?

II. Everyone has an incomplete view of the world. But we form a complete narrative to fill the gaps and make decisions that are ‘true’ to us, ignoring statistics sometimes.

The best way to make decisions in the field of investing is to ask yourself one question; What numbers will trickle from this decision?

For T224, here are the four major takeaways from this book.

1. Use money to gain control over your time.?

If you truly want to be happy, then you should have control over your life. The ability to do what you want, when you want, with who you want, for as long as you want to, pays the highest dividend that exists in finance and stretches to overall living.?

Reflection: Do you confidently believe you have control over your time?

2. Avoid extreme ends of financial decisions.

Goals, desires, trajectories and perceptions change over time. Superfluous decisions made today can be wildly lanky tomorrow. As a result, the more extreme your past decisions were the more you may regret them as you evolve.

Reflection: How often have you made extreme financial decisions? What would you advise your younger self?

3. Save. Just save. You don’t need a specific reason to save.?

Surprises! The world is full of surprises. Many times we save for a car, downpayment, or medical emergency, but the best caution is to save for the things that are hard to predict. Such savings will pull you out of situations that you least anticipated. So, just save.

Reflection: Are you saving for no reason? If not, would you start it now, please?

4. Become OK with a lot of things going wrong. You can be wrong half the time and still make a fortune.

Whatever you choose to put your money in, be prepared to be OK even when things are going wrong. Small portions in a trail of many have the ability to pull out the majority of the outcomes you desire. It’s completely fine to have a few of your many investments as outstanding and giving surmountable returns. Judging how you’ve done by focusing on individual investments makes winners look more brilliant than they were, and losers appear more regrettable than they should.?

Reflection: If your top investment today toppled, is your mental tenacity able to retain sobriety?

Above all this, understand your space, craft a narrative and work through it until you're in control of your time.

Special Acknowledgment

It has been a special session for us, particularly citing Timothy Ndegwa for his great contribution in our book reviews. The Men’s Book Breakfast is an infectious initiative for the men who believe in course, and are willing to challenge themselves to read and share life experiences with fellow men. All this courtesy of one gentleman, Lawrence Githinji , the mind behind this.?

Do you want to take the next reading challenge? Follow The Men's Book Breakfast ~ The MBB for news on the next sign up.?

Cheers!?