Page 166 - Psychology of Money - Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness-Harriman House Limited (2020)

might not even have different styles. We’re just playing a different game. It
took me years to figure this out.
COBACOBA

A takeaway here is that few things matter more with money than
understanding your own time horizon and not being persuaded by the

actions and behaviors of people playing different games than you are.

The main thing I can recommend is going out of your way to identify what
game you’re playing.

It’s surprising how few of us do. We call everyone investing money
“investors” like they’re basketball players, all playing the same game with
the same rules. When you realize how wrong that notion is you see how
vital it is to simply identify what game you’re playing. How I invest my
own money is detailed in chapter 20, but years ago I wrote out “I am a
passive investor optimistic in the world’s ability to generate real economic

growth and I’m confident that over the next 30 years that growth will
accrue to my investments.”

This might seem quaint, but once you write that mission statement down
you realize everything that’s unrelated to it—what the market did this year,
or whether we’ll have a recession next year—is part of a game I’m not
playing. So I don’t pay attention to it, and am in no danger of being

persuaded by it.

Next, let’s talk about pessimism.