The Morgan Housel Podcast Morgan Housel

I wrote letters to both of my kids the day before they were born. 

Here's what I wanted them to know about money. 

And even if you don't have, or want, kids, I think you'll find this helpful. 

Hacks are hard because shortcuts rarely exist. Prizes take time and effort.
The personal finance industry – filled with advice that sounds and feels good without moving the needle – needs to recognize this.
These aren’t fun hacks, but no one said this was easy.

Luck plays such a big role in the world. But few people want to talk about it. If I say you got lucky, I look jealous. If I tell myself that I got lucky, I feel diminished.

Maybe a better way to frame luck is by asking: what isn’t repeatable?

And maybe better yet: The way to get luckier is to find what’s repeatable.

The fun part of behavioral finance is learning about how flawed other people can be. The hard part is trying to figure out how flawed you are, and what stories make sense to you but would seem crazy to others.

A few of the best and most insightful things I've read lately. 

Woodrow Wilson was the only president with a Ph.D. in political science.
He came to office having thought more about how a government functions than most before him or since.
One of his complaints was that too many people in government held the belief that it was a Big Machine: that once you set up a series of rules you could take your hands off the wheel and let the government run on its own forever. They viewed government like physics, with a set of customs and laws that required no updating or second-guessing because they were believed to be precise and perfect as they were.
Wilson thought that was wrong. He viewed government as being a living thing that adapted and evolved. 

I really don't care about politics. But he had a theory that I think is so important, and so applicable, to us ordinary people managing our money.