Why aren’t there more millionaires? The basic formula is straightforward: spend less than you earn and invest the surplus in low-cost, diversified index funds. It’s not an exaggeration to say that if you stick to these simple steps, you could be sitting on millions by the time you retire. It’s truly that simple – but simplicity doesn’t always mean it’s easy. As it turns out, the biggest obstacle to building wealth isn’t external factors, it’s us. We are often our own worst enemies when it comes to achieving financial success – or any other goals in life. To help us unpack this idea, we’re joined by behavioral scientist Dan Egan. Dan is the Director of Behavioral Finance and Investing at Betterment, and today we’ll dive into how human psychology shapes our financial decisions, the first steps to correcting money mistakes, the power of setting meaningful goals, managing expectations, and much more!
Additional links:
- Dan’s Website – Check out Dan’s blog, studies and research on his website or follow him on BlueSky here!
- Studies – Links to the meerkat effect study we talked about and a great post on the importance of faith with investing.
- Money gears – Knowing your ‘money gear’ is a crucial part of your personal finance journey. Start here
- Community – Join a thriving community of fellow money in the HTM Facebook group.
- Newsletter – Don’t forget to sign up for the best personal finance newsletter in all the land! It’s completely free and something we create to help you along your journey to financial freedom. It drops every Tuesday morning and you can always unsubscribe if you don’t dig it!
- Credit Card Tool – Looking for the right credit card for you? Then check out our new credit card tool that’ll help you to easily filter through all the cards based on your preferred airline, whether or not they have an annual fee, or simply by the cashback offer! Just toggle the sliders and you’ll know which card to consider.
During this episode we enjoyed a Dale’s Pale Ale by Oskar Blues! And please help us to spread the word by letting friends and family know about How to Money! Hit the share button, subscribe if you’re not already a regular listener, and give us a quick review in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Help us to change the conversation around personal finance and get more people doing smart things with their money!
Best friends out!
