Morgan Housel: Understand & Apply the Psychology of Money to Gain Greater Happiness

Huberman Lab

In this episode, my guest is Morgan Housel, an expert in private wealth generation and management and author of the bestselling book The Psychology of Money. We discuss how desiring, pursuing, saving, and spending money impact our psychology and perception of wealth. We explore why people tend to either overspend or oversave and examine the most common mistakes made in the pursuit of financial freedom. Additionally, we discuss how to best use money — and one’s relationship with it — as a tool to create psychological security, freedom, and a deeper sense of life purpose.

We also delve into the impact of purchases, social media, and wealth signaling on our internal reward circuits, the dangers of using money as a gauge of career progress or self-worth, and the healthiest psychological stances to adopt while building wealth at any level. By the end of the episode, listeners will have gained numerous practical tools for making smarter financial decisions and should have a clearer understanding of the role money plays in their psychology, happiness, and life.

Access the full show notes for this episode at hubermanlab.com.

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Timestamps

00:00:00 Morgan Housel

00:02:13 Sponsors: Wealthfront & BetterHelp

00:05:11 Spending Habits & Cynicism

00:08:44 Tool: Money & Future Regrets

00:16:07 Money Management Extremes; Credit & Hope

00:23:17 Money as a Tool, Happiness, Independence & Purpose

00:27:30 Sponsors: AG1 & ROKA

00:30:11 Unstructured Time; Independence, Identify & Money; Addiction

00:39:04 Longevity, Health & Money

00:47:42 Ambition, Social Media, Fame & Social Debt

00:53:37 Sponsor: Function

00:55:24 Resume Virtues vs. Eulogy Virtues

00:57:52 Compound Interest, Math vs. Behavior

01:01:42 Dopamine & Time, Marshmallow Test & Distraction

01:09:58 Motivation, Pleasure; Relationships

01:14:38 Freedom, Tool: Savings & Independence

01:19:06 Peak-End Rule, Autonomy & Independence; Elder vs. Elderly

01:24:07 Familial Wealth & Identity; Entrepreneurs

01:31:53 Life Purpose; Dogs; Social & Historical Comparison

01:39:58 Social Comparison & Geography, Angst

01:46:07 Carrot vs. Stick, Identity, Tool: Verb States & Energy

01:56:43 Envy & Spending Money; Wealth & Birth Rates

02:01:27 Tools: Parent Modeling; Resentment, Individual Goals

02:07:15 Purpose, Happiness & Money

02:13:05 Zero-Cost Support, YouTube, Spotify & Apple Follow & Reviews, Sponsors, YouTube Feedback, Protocols Book, Social Media, Neural Network Newsletter

Disclaimer & Disclosures