[Fall 2026 GPS] Five Lessons from the Psychology of Money
James Schofield - Nov 11, 2026
Your relationship with money is critical to your financial success.
In The Psychology of Money, Morgan Housel explores why our relationship with money is so important. His book offers a useful perspective for anyone building wealth and deciding how to use it. Here are five important lessons I learned from The Psychology of Money:
- Good habits > sophisticated strategy:
You can accomplish a great deal with consistent saving, living within your means, and remaining patient with investments.
- Looking wealthy and building wealth are two different things:
We see other people’s houses, cars, and vacations, but we don’t see their savings and debt. Financial success is better measured by the security and options you have rather than the accumulation of stuff.
- Time will do a lot of the work:
Compounding allows investment growth to generate further growth, but that process needs time. Investing is less about finding that next great investment and more about not interrupting the compounding of your investments.
- Building buffers into your plans:
Expect unexpected expenses, career changes, and difficult markets. Accessible savings and realistic assumptions make it easier to navigate setbacks while protecting your long-term goals.
- Decide what “enough” looks like and try not to move the goalposts:
Someone will always have more. Figuring out what matters to you helps money serve a purpose: More time with family, meaningful work, a comfortable retirement or the freedom to change direction.
Hounsel’s book invites us to look beyond returns and account balances. Here’s the question: What would I/we like more time for – and how could we use our money to make that happen?