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The Money Shelf

From the shelf · 102 money books

Does The Psychology of Money hold up?

The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel is one of the 102 money books on The Money Shelf. The shelf links it to 2 of the 22 claims that the book tests against official records from the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. Each verdict below comes from that test.

Claim 1 · The book makes this claim

Compound interest: start early

Holds

In every case above the 40-year saver ends with more than the 30-year saver for the same monthly sum, by a factor that depends only on the return and the number of years, and the first ten years of deposits supply 41 to 54 per cent of the final balance.

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Claim 13 · The book argues against this claim

Market timing: time the market and cut losses early

Not established

The Schwab arithmetic shows that perfect timing finished $15,522 ahead of investing immediately (9.1 per cent more) and that bad timing still beat cash, but the study assumes foresight.

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The Psychology of Money raised the question. The records take it further: every figure dated, every source named, and the arithmetic worked through for three countries.

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