Teresa
The premise of The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel is that doing well your money has more to do with the your behavior than with any education or know how you may have. How you behave is more important than knowing what to do. Different people have learned different lessons about how to handle their money. These lessons have been learned through different eras of history and different circumstances that people have endured. These lessons stick even if circumstances change. Those life lessons never really leave any of us. Our world view, ego, pride, or personal incentives all combine to form something that works for an individual.
Some more takeaways from this book are these: learn from surprises; understand what is enough for you; true wealth is not seen; different experiences lead to different views; understand compounding, waiting can be a good thing; keeping money is different than getting money; building wealth goes hand in hand with saving; have a margin of safety.
This book is a nice starting place when one wants to understand how to build a nice safety net.
The premise of The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel is that doing well your money has more to do with the your behavior than with any education or know how you may have. How you behave is more important than knowing what to do. Different people have learned different lessons about how to handle their money. These lessons have been learned through different eras of history and different circumstances that people have endured. These lessons stick even if circumstances change. Those life lessons never really leave any of us. Our world view, ego, pride, or personal incentives all combine to form something that works for an individual.
Some more takeaways from this book are these: learn from surprises; understand what is enough for you; true wealth is not seen; different experiences lead to different views; understand compounding, waiting can be a good thing; keeping money is different than getting money; building wealth goes hand in hand with saving; have a margin of safety.
This book is a nice starting place when one wants to understand how to build a nice safety net.
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is a short story of forgiveness, redemption, family, and moral responsibility.
Scrooge is an old miser who has cut himself off from human contact and has centered his life on gaining as much wealth as possible. This started in his childhood by being abandoned by his family at boarding school. With no family contact or real friends Scrooge grew to only concentrate on gaining wealth. This turned him into a cold man who lives a cold life in a cold house. He is set on a path of redemption by the visit of the Ghosts of Past, Present, and Future. This changes the course of this life. His redemption is brought about when he understands that there is genuine warmth in the world and it can be his if he reaches out. He learns to understand and become family, not only to his nephew, but the son of his employee and the others around him.
This short story shows how the past can shape one present and future. It shows how the seed of greed can be planted by neglect. How greed can overcome generosity and lead to a lack of moral responsibility. It also shows how generosity can overcome greed and lead to responsibility that helps others. Redemption is always possible as is forgiveness. Sometimes the one we need to forgive is ourselves to begin the healing process.
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is a short story of forgiveness, redemption, family, and moral responsibility.
Scrooge is an old miser who has cut himself off from human contact and has centered his life on gaining as much wealth as possible. This started in his childhood by being abandoned by his family at boarding school. With no family contact or real friends Scrooge grew to only concentrate on gaining wealth. This turned him into a cold man who lives a cold life in a cold house. He is set on a path of redemption by the visit of the Ghosts of Past, Present, and Future. This changes the course of this life. His redemption is brought about when he understands that there is genuine warmth in the world and it can be his if he reaches out. He learns to understand and become family, not only to his nephew, but the son of his employee and the others around him.
This short story shows how the past can shape one present and future. It shows how the seed of greed can be planted by neglect. How greed can overcome generosity and lead to a lack of moral responsibility. It also shows how generosity can overcome greed and lead to responsibility that helps others. Redemption is always possible as is forgiveness. Sometimes the one we need to forgive is ourselves to begin the healing process.
Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy explores the themes of marriage, religion, woman in society, fate, as well as critics society in the form of classism and social standards.
The story of a man who wants to better himself, but never stood a chance. Poverty, classism, and bad relationships, as well as decisions keep Jude from claiming what he wants, an education and a better life. One bad decision after another lead to bad endings.
Jude, as a young boy, is not wanted by those who raise him. They look down on him and never give him a chance. He aspires to attend college in Christminster, Jude’s holy land, but is blocked by his poverty and the classism of the society. Jude studies by himself while working, but it is not structured so his education lags.
Jude was never really taught the intricacies of society since no one took responsibility for him. This leads him into trouble. He is taken advantage of by several members of the community. He enters into a contrived and unhappy marriage. He is soon abandoned by his wife and falls for his cousin. He enters into a relationship with her. His cousin wants the image of marriage, but not the official marriage itself, scorning societies emphasis on marriage. Both women tempt and derail him from his life goal. One by sexual infatuation the other by disregarding societal norms.
The book critiques marriage, asking why one marries. Is it for love, society, or survival? The book also touches on social critic in the extreme rigidity of Victorian morality and societal judgment. Class and economic disparity is touched on in Jude not being able to attend school due to his poverty and thus the higher class who do look down on him. Religion is brought up, the flashy and new is considered better than the old and “rotten”. It is also seen by the change in views of Jude and his cousin. When they first meet, Jude is religiously inclined. His cousin is not. However, the hardships they endure cause their views to switch. Jude becomes anti-religious. His cousin becomes religious. One runs from, the other runs to. Both as a punishment for themselves for the circumstances they encouraged in themselves.
This is not a happy book with a good ending. No character is truly happy. They simply live their lives and do “that which was right in [their] own eyes”. Unfortunately, this leads to several unhappy and tragic endings.
Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy explores the themes of marriage, religion, woman in society, fate, as well as critics society in the form of classism and social standards.
The story of a man who wants to better himself, but never stood a chance. Poverty, classism, and bad relationships, as well as decisions keep Jude from claiming what he wants, an education and a better life. One bad decision after another lead to bad endings.
Jude, as a young boy, is not wanted by those who raise him. They look down on him and never give him a chance. He aspires to attend college in Christminster, Jude’s holy land, but is blocked by his poverty and the classism of the society. Jude studies by himself while working, but it is not structured so his education lags.
Jude was never really taught the intricacies of society since no one took responsibility for him. This leads him into trouble. He is taken advantage of by several members of the community. He enters into a contrived and unhappy marriage. He is soon abandoned by his wife and falls for his cousin. He enters into a relationship with her. His cousin wants the image of marriage, but not the official marriage itself, scorning societies emphasis on marriage. Both women tempt and derail him from his life goal. One by sexual infatuation the other by disregarding societal norms.
The book critiques marriage, asking why one marries. Is it for love, society, or survival? The book also touches on social critic in the extreme rigidity of Victorian morality and societal judgment. Class and economic disparity is touched on in Jude not being able to attend school due to his poverty and thus the higher class who do look down on him. Religion is brought up, the flashy and new is considered better than the old and “rotten”. It is also seen by the change in views of Jude and his cousin. When they first meet, Jude is religiously inclined. His cousin is not. However, the hardships they endure cause their views to switch. Jude becomes anti-religious. His cousin becomes religious. One runs from, the other runs to. Both as a punishment for themselves for the circumstances they encouraged in themselves.
This is not a happy book with a good ending. No character is truly happy. They simply live their lives and do “that which was right in [their] own eyes”. Unfortunately, this leads to several unhappy and tragic endings.