Monica’s Reviews > The Art of Spending Money: Simple Choices for a Richer Life > Status Update

Understand the people who have made different decisions than you, and ended up with a different outcome than you, can be just as smart, funny, insightful, and worthy as you. They do what makes sense to them, and they’re trying to find their way in a complex world. You do what makes sense to you, and you’re trying to find your way in a complex world.

Spend less than you make.
Quietly compound.
Money serves you, not the other way around.
No one is thinking about you as much as you are.
Independence is wealth.
Health is wealth.
Aim to be a good ancestor.
Love your family.

It’s almost impossible to build wealth without controlling your biggest expenses. And it’s very difficult to grow wealth without caring about smaller expenses. Balance.

Tend to the small things. More people are defeated by blisters than mountains.

It’s impossible to know what you’re going to like until you try it, so you have to try everything. But the only way to try a million things is to have a strong filter that immediately rejects what isn’t for you.
Spend extravagantly on the things you love as long as you mercilessly cut the things you don’t.

There is only one success-to be able to spend your life in your own way. Christopher Morley
When you do things quietly, you’re less susceptible to people with different goals and personalities telling you you’re doing it wrong. Live and let live.

The best position to be in is rich AND anonymous. More money=more social debt
Quiet compounding

Imagine if, by the time you died, you had done everything you were told to do: you worked hard, saved your money, and looked forward to financial freedom when you retired. The only thing you wasted along the way was….your life.

Good advice is never as simple as “Live for today” or “Save for the future.” The only good advice is “Minimize future regret.”

The value of anything is its ability to help you live the life you want. Nothing more. Utility vs. Status