Read a Morgan Housel blog post and you'll get an engaging yarn, an analogy that simplifies a complex financial topic, and perhaps even a history lesson or in-depth look at the behavioral tics that make us human. Having graduated just prior to the Great Recession, Morgan cut his teeth at the Motley Fool prior to his recent gig as a partner at the Collaborative Fund, a venture capital firm. He’s written over 3,000 articles in the past decade, and he’s amassed quite the Millennial following which only grew after his post, “An Open Letter to Everyone Under Age 30.” In this golden age of financial blogging where there are so many choices, Morgan's weekly post is always a must-read. Listen to this podcast and hear about a day in the life of Morgan Housel, his early money lessons, and his barbell approach to investing. Enjoy!

Details:

• 0:00–0:55 Introduction
• 0:56–1:48 The world of blogging: reading, thinking, & communicating with the world
• 1:49–3:07 A deep dive into the Collaborative Fund
• 3:08–7:00 Subconsciously learning early money management lessons
• 7:01–9:49 From the 2008 financial crisis to finding his post-college job at Motley Fool
• 9:50–13:54 A day in the life of author Morgan Housel
• 13:55–16:57 His most noteworthy articles
• 16:58–20:02 What inspired him to write “The Psychology of Money”
• 20:03–20:28 A word from NGPF
• 20:29–22:41 Most common consumer behavior: the rich man in the car fallacy
• 22:42–25:08 The widespread popularity of “Financial Entertainment”
• 25:09–29:58 How to Read (and filter) Financial News
• 29:59–35:26 Morgan’s barbell approach to investing
• 35:27–37:01 First stock he ever bought
• 37:02–38:48 From childhood to adulthood: lessons learned from his first job
• 38:49–40:18 His favorite thing doesn’t cost a dime
• 40:19–42:08 Biggest money mishap
• 42:09–43:55 What he’d teach high school students about money
• 43:56–44:38 Conclusion

Resources mentioned:

• Jerry Seinfeld documentary: the process of writing a comedy routine
• Morgan's Favorite posts
  • “An Open Letter to Everyone Under Age 30”
  • “Overcoming Your Demons”

His Favorite Content Aggregators:

• Tadas Viskanta, Abnormal Returns (also a guest on the NGPF Podcast!)
• Josh Brown, The Reformed Broker
• Michael Batnick, The Irrelevant Investor

Favorite Quote:

• “The first rule of compounding is to never interrupt it unnecessarily.” –Charlie Munger

QUOTES:

• “None of the financial metrics or the analytical side of investing matter—which of course is very important—none of it matters unless you’ve solved and have figured out the base of the pyramid, which is psychology. You can be… the best spreadsheet wizard in the world, but [it doesn’t matter] unless you can control your greed or fear.”
• “We’re incredibly lucky today to have the amount of free financial content that we do. It’s unprecedented in history. But it’s also made it kind of this arms race of who can get the most attention and, for readers, who’s the most exciting.”

About the Authors

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.

More posts by Tim

Danielle Bautista

Danielle is a native of Southern California and a recent graduate from the University of Maine, where she braved the frigid winters—a feat in and of itself—and earned her Bachelor's degree in International Affairs. She has a passion for working with non-profit organizations and serving populations in underprivileged communities. When Danielle isn't writing NGPF blog posts, spearheading various outreach projects, or managing contests and flash surveys, you can find her doing some sort of outdoor activity, learning a new hobby, or cracking what she thinks are witty puns!

More posts by Danielle