1.2: The Root of All Deception

No other life lessons have such immediate and compounding value as those that can be learned about living with money

One repays a teacher badly if one remains only a pupil. – Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra

What this chapter is about

Recognising that nothing is more important to get right – Initially, finances can seem daunting. But the important parts needn’t be. And besides, there’s no escaping money’s input into all our decisions, so it pays to learn how to become more comfortable making them and to make them more wisely.

Psychological growing-up – Becoming wiser with money doesn’t mean delegating the decisions (which is impossible to do effectively). It means upgrading our cognitive machinery so we can see more clearly.

What this chapter isn’t about

Pretending that the mental side is a nice-to-have, not a must-have – Believing your relationship with money doesn’t matter as much as getting your numbers-based ducks in a row is a palliative pretence. You can have your finances ‘sorted’ and still interact with money in an incessantly unhelpful way.

Selling a solution – Thinking the solution is for sale is how we shut down attempts to become wiser before we even begin. This includes magic-bean products and the illusionists that sell them. You cannot buy the answer, so don’t waste your money stuck in the loop of believing you can.