Money is so complicated. There’s a human element that can defy logic – it’s personal, it’s messy, it’s emotional.

I called money “the greatest show on earth” because of its ability to reveal things about people’s character and values

Your family background and past experiences heavily influences your spending preferences.

If you dig into it, I think you’ll see that a disproportionate share of those with the biggest homes, the fastest cars, and the shiniest jewelry, grew up “snubbed” in some way. Part of their current spending isn’t about getting value out of flashy material goods; it’s about healing a social wound inflicted when they were younger.

A lot of spending is done to fulfill a deep-seated psychological need.

Entrapped by spending: Rather than using money to build a life, your life is built around money.

Frugality and savings become such a big part of some people’s identity that they can’t ever switch gears.

The joy of spending can diminish as income rises because there’s less struggle, sacrifice, and sweat represented in purchases.

the best meal you’ll ever taste is a glass of water when you’re thirsty. All forms of spending have that equivalent.

what makes life mean something is purpose. A goal. The battle. The struggle – even if you don’t win it.

too many people ask $3 questions (can I afford this latte?) when all that matters to financial success are $30,000 questions (what college should I go to?)

If you want to know what lower-income groups will aspire to spend their money on in the future, look at what higher-income groups exclusively do today.

People like to mimic others, especially those who appear to be living better lives. Always been like that, always will be.

Price is easy to calculate. It’s just whatever you paid initially and sold for eventually.

Cost is harder to figure out. They tend to be a slow drip over time, which are easy to ignore but add up quickly.

If respect and admiration are your goal, be careful how you seek it. Humility, kindness, and empathy will bring you more respect than horsepower ever will.

There’s a theory in evolutionary biology called Fisher’s Fundamental Theorem of Natural Selection. It’s the idea that variance equals strength, because the more diverse a population is the more chances it has to come up with new traits that can be selected for. No one can know what traits will be useful; that’s not how evolution works. But if you create a lot of traits, the useful one – whatever it is – will be in there somewhere.

You have to try spending money on tons of different oddball things before you find what works for you. For some people it’s travel; others can’t stand being away from home. For others it’s nice restaurants; others don’t get the hype and prefer cheap pizza. I know people who think spending money on first-class plane tickets is a borderline scam. Others would not dare sit behind row four. To each their own.

Frugality, quite simply, is about choosing the things you love enough to spend extravagantly on—and then cutting costs mercilessly on the things you don’t love.

Most forms of spending have two purposes: To bring some sort of utility to the owner, and to signal something to other people.

people don’t communicate on social media; they perform for one another. Spending money is like that, too.

spending money “on yourself” is often done with the intent of influencing what other people think.

That should spark three questions: Whose opinion are you trying to influence, why, and are those people even paying attention?

If you only wished to be happy, this could be easily accomplished; but we wish to be happier than other people, and this is always difficult, for we believe others to be happier than they are.