Morgan Housel

The psychology of it is not necessarily what you think.

What my wife values, and of course, this is not unique to me, is that I'm a good husband.

I pay attention.

I listen.

I'm helpful.

I'm grateful.

Not how big is our house or how fast is our car.

I think it is a very insightful window into people.

Now, is money everything in the world?

Of course not.

Is it the most important thing in your life?

Absolutely not.

But it is a very clear window into how people think about social aspiration.

self-confidence, doubt, a lot of other things.

I could list half a dozen things that are obviously more important than money.

Health, humor, your relationships with people, obviously more important.

But when you look at how someone spends money, you're like, oh, I can tell a lot about you.

If I saw your bank account and your credit card statement, I could learn a lot about you.

I could probably learn as much about you from that as I would if I spent a couple of days just getting to know you.

And so I think that's true.