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Just Keep Buying: Proven Ways to Save Money and Build Your Wealth
Everyone faces big questions when it comes to money: questions about saving, investing, and whether you’re getting it right with your finances.
Unfortunately, many of the answers provided by the financial industry have been based on belief and conjecture rather than data and evidence—until now.
In Just Keep Buying, hugely popular finance blogger Nick Maggiulli crunches the numbers to answer the biggest questions in personal finance and investing, while providing you with proven ways to build your wealth right away.
You will learn why you need to save less than you think; why saving up cash to buy market dips isn’t a good idea; how to survive (and thrive) during a market crash; and much more.
By following the strategies revealed here, you can act smarter and live richer each and every day. It’s time to take the next step in your wealth-building journey. It’s time to Just Keep Buying.
Unfortunately, many of the answers provided by the financial industry have been based on belief and conjecture rather than data and evidence—until now.
In Just Keep Buying, hugely popular finance blogger Nick Maggiulli crunches the numbers to answer the biggest questions in personal finance and investing, while providing you with proven ways to build your wealth right away.
You will learn why you need to save less than you think; why saving up cash to buy market dips isn’t a good idea; how to survive (and thrive) during a market crash; and much more.
By following the strategies revealed here, you can act smarter and live richer each and every day. It’s time to take the next step in your wealth-building journey. It’s time to Just Keep Buying.
296 pages, Paperback
First published April 12, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 296 reviews
April 22, 2022
Very US centric. Not useful if you are not residing in US.
July 23, 2022
Just Keep Buying by Nick Maggiulli, your perfect guide which tells us about the proven ways to save money and build your wealth. The book focuses on the thought process as well as the actions needed.
The book talks about why you should invest and where. It helps you in future savings as well as gather funds in a smarter way. Savings and investing is something which would also help against inflation.
Author talks about what should you invest in? A question which I frequently ask many people around me who have this knowledge. He says that there is no one single path which needs to be focused on.
Be it stocks, bonds or property, etc. investing the right way matters the most than what you are investing in. I was someone who doesn't save much but now that I have read this book, it helped me in bring in some more clarity into savings and investments.
The book talks about why you should invest and where. It helps you in future savings as well as gather funds in a smarter way. Savings and investing is something which would also help against inflation.
Author talks about what should you invest in? A question which I frequently ask many people around me who have this knowledge. He says that there is no one single path which needs to be focused on.
Be it stocks, bonds or property, etc. investing the right way matters the most than what you are investing in. I was someone who doesn't save much but now that I have read this book, it helped me in bring in some more clarity into savings and investments.
August 14, 2023
2nd read:
I’ve been trying to level up my personal finance game, so I’m re-reading some of my fav books. I loved this book from Nick Maggiulli, and he was one of the most down-to-Earth finance people I spoke with on my podcast. This book gave me some great reminders on saving and retirement saving/investing strategies. Nick is pretty heavy on numbers and studies that use a lot of numbers in the book, which is tough because I’m an audio listener. But since he summarizes what the numbers mean and his recommended strategy, it makes the book great regardless of whether or not you’re a numbers person.
This book has some of the most practical advice of any finance book out there, and I highly recommend it.
1st read:
As someone who only started investing and becoming financially conscious in the last year, this is definitely one of the better books that I’ve read. First off, Nick Maggiulli is a fantastic writer, and his style makes this book easy to comprehend while keeping you engaged. What I appreciated about this book was that it provides so much information without getting too far into the weeds on specific topics about saving and investing. Nick gives a realistic and practical approach to saving and investing while also debunking a ton of conventional wisdom on various topics. There were quite a few topics, like his section on “buying the dip” vs. dollar-cost averaging, that completely shifted my perspective on the topic.
I can’t stress enough how great this book is, and I think it’s a great read for a wide range of authors. Whether you’re wanting to learn about the topic to get started or if you’re a seasoned investor, there’s a ton of valuable information in this book that’s backed by research. Not only do I recommend this book, but it’s going on my list of books to read again regularly to refresh my knowledge.
I’ve been trying to level up my personal finance game, so I’m re-reading some of my fav books. I loved this book from Nick Maggiulli, and he was one of the most down-to-Earth finance people I spoke with on my podcast. This book gave me some great reminders on saving and retirement saving/investing strategies. Nick is pretty heavy on numbers and studies that use a lot of numbers in the book, which is tough because I’m an audio listener. But since he summarizes what the numbers mean and his recommended strategy, it makes the book great regardless of whether or not you’re a numbers person.
This book has some of the most practical advice of any finance book out there, and I highly recommend it.
1st read:
As someone who only started investing and becoming financially conscious in the last year, this is definitely one of the better books that I’ve read. First off, Nick Maggiulli is a fantastic writer, and his style makes this book easy to comprehend while keeping you engaged. What I appreciated about this book was that it provides so much information without getting too far into the weeds on specific topics about saving and investing. Nick gives a realistic and practical approach to saving and investing while also debunking a ton of conventional wisdom on various topics. There were quite a few topics, like his section on “buying the dip” vs. dollar-cost averaging, that completely shifted my perspective on the topic.
I can’t stress enough how great this book is, and I think it’s a great read for a wide range of authors. Whether you’re wanting to learn about the topic to get started or if you’re a seasoned investor, there’s a ton of valuable information in this book that’s backed by research. Not only do I recommend this book, but it’s going on my list of books to read again regularly to refresh my knowledge.
May 9, 2022
This is an interesting read, with the author's blog being a pretty good primer on the writing and content you can expect. The most useful chapters are on trying to put some bounds on an acceptable level of lifestyle creep, as well as the data analysis behind why "just keep buying [index fund investments]" is the right strategy overall. It's pretty math/modeling heavy overall.
I'm still noodling on some of the more "counter to current popular personal finance advice" points, like not maxing out your 401k, and I think he's possibly almost dangerously wrong about how to handle the risk of running out of money in retirement. There are also some bits which make me discount the credibility of his analytical skills overall, such as comparing a $280 monthly mortgage from 1972-2001 to investing $280/month into the S&P 500 in the same time period instead--this should have deducted the costs of shelter other than a mortgage, since you still have to live somewhere and it's pretty unlikely you're paying $0 for it. Stuff like that makes me think the rest of the analysis should be scrutinized more, but I'm not up for doing that while reading a book for fun. But the ideas overall still seem worth considering given how much he does show his work.
Notes:
* the biggest determinant of an individual's savings rate is the level of their income (higher earners save more)
* Though there are a lot of reasons why someone might consider taking out debt, the most useful ones tend to fall within two buckets: 1) to reduce risk. 2) to generate a return greater than the cost to borrow.
* If you need to save for something that will take less than three years, use cash. If you are saving for something that will take longer than three years, put your savings in bonds.
* Fund the life you need before you risk it for the life you want. (when to sell investments)
Lifestyle inflation: see https://ofdollarsanddata.com/lifestyl...
* How much lifestyle creep can you afford? Technically it varies based on your savings rate, but for most people the answer is around 50%. Once you spend more than 50% of your future raises, then you start delayed your retirement.
* higher savers have to save an even larger percentages of their raises (compared to lower savers) if they want to keep their retirement date constant (basically the argument is that if you save less than 50% of your raises, retirement age where you expect to maintain the same level of expenses is pushed further out since saving less is the same as spending more)
* The 2x Rule states that before you buy something expensive, you should set aside a similar amount of money to buy income-producing assets. So, spending $400 on a pair of nice dress shoes means that you would also need to invest $400 into an index fund (or other income-producing assets).
Education:
* Since earnings vary so much across majors, the decision about whether college is worth it ultimately comes down to what major you choose. For example, the estimated difference in lifetime earnings between the lowest paying major (early childhood education) and highest paying major (petroleum engineering) was $3.4 million. Therefore, when determining whether getting a particular degree is worth the cost, you need to estimate how much it will increase your lifetime earnings and then remove any lost earnings from attending the program.
* [a quarter of a million dollars] is the most you should be willing to pay for an MBA that earns you $800,000 more over your lifetime, assuming you currently earn $75000 a year.
* Value of Degree Today = (Increased Lifetime Earnings/2) - Lost Earnings
How much to save for retirement:
* if you ask 1000 American adults, "How much money do you need to be considered rich?" they will say $2.3 million. But if you ask the same question to 1000 millionaires (those households with at least $1 million in investable assets), the number increases to $7.5 million.
* Given the empirical research, the risk of running out of money for many current and future retirees remains low -- seems dangerous to make decisions based on this conclusion, given that it's just averages, and it doesn't account for quality of life or resilience to adverse events
* as much as I like the 4% rule, it assumes that spending for retirees stays constant over time. When we look at the data, it suggest otherwise--spending declines as people get older.
* if the investment options in your employer's 401k plan are just 0.73% more expensive than what you would pay in a taxable brokerage account, then the annual benefit of your 401k would be completely eliminated. (see https://ofdollarsanddata.com/should-i...)
Just Keep Buying:
* while you wait for your beloved dip, you may find that it never comes. As a result, you end up missing out on months (or more) of compound growth as the market keeps rising and leave you behind.
* Missing the bottom by just two months [in a Buy the Dip strategy] leads to underperforming Dollar Cost Averaging 97% of the time! Even someone who is decent at calling market bottoms and can predict them to within two months of the absolute bottom would still lose in the long run.
* Reframing the upside (buying on 3/23/20): ask, "how long do you think it will take for the market to recover from its 33% loss?"
* If you think the market recovery will take:
- 1 year, then your expected annual return = 50%
- 2 years, then your expected annual return = 22%
- 3 years, then your expected annual return = 14%
- 4 year, then your expected annual return = 11%
- 5 years, then your expected annual return = 8%
I'm still noodling on some of the more "counter to current popular personal finance advice" points, like not maxing out your 401k, and I think he's possibly almost dangerously wrong about how to handle the risk of running out of money in retirement. There are also some bits which make me discount the credibility of his analytical skills overall, such as comparing a $280 monthly mortgage from 1972-2001 to investing $280/month into the S&P 500 in the same time period instead--this should have deducted the costs of shelter other than a mortgage, since you still have to live somewhere and it's pretty unlikely you're paying $0 for it. Stuff like that makes me think the rest of the analysis should be scrutinized more, but I'm not up for doing that while reading a book for fun. But the ideas overall still seem worth considering given how much he does show his work.
Notes:
* the biggest determinant of an individual's savings rate is the level of their income (higher earners save more)
* Though there are a lot of reasons why someone might consider taking out debt, the most useful ones tend to fall within two buckets: 1) to reduce risk. 2) to generate a return greater than the cost to borrow.
* If you need to save for something that will take less than three years, use cash. If you are saving for something that will take longer than three years, put your savings in bonds.
* Fund the life you need before you risk it for the life you want. (when to sell investments)
Lifestyle inflation: see https://ofdollarsanddata.com/lifestyl...
* How much lifestyle creep can you afford? Technically it varies based on your savings rate, but for most people the answer is around 50%. Once you spend more than 50% of your future raises, then you start delayed your retirement.
* higher savers have to save an even larger percentages of their raises (compared to lower savers) if they want to keep their retirement date constant (basically the argument is that if you save less than 50% of your raises, retirement age where you expect to maintain the same level of expenses is pushed further out since saving less is the same as spending more)
* The 2x Rule states that before you buy something expensive, you should set aside a similar amount of money to buy income-producing assets. So, spending $400 on a pair of nice dress shoes means that you would also need to invest $400 into an index fund (or other income-producing assets).
Education:
* Since earnings vary so much across majors, the decision about whether college is worth it ultimately comes down to what major you choose. For example, the estimated difference in lifetime earnings between the lowest paying major (early childhood education) and highest paying major (petroleum engineering) was $3.4 million. Therefore, when determining whether getting a particular degree is worth the cost, you need to estimate how much it will increase your lifetime earnings and then remove any lost earnings from attending the program.
* [a quarter of a million dollars] is the most you should be willing to pay for an MBA that earns you $800,000 more over your lifetime, assuming you currently earn $75000 a year.
* Value of Degree Today = (Increased Lifetime Earnings/2) - Lost Earnings
How much to save for retirement:
* if you ask 1000 American adults, "How much money do you need to be considered rich?" they will say $2.3 million. But if you ask the same question to 1000 millionaires (those households with at least $1 million in investable assets), the number increases to $7.5 million.
* Given the empirical research, the risk of running out of money for many current and future retirees remains low -- seems dangerous to make decisions based on this conclusion, given that it's just averages, and it doesn't account for quality of life or resilience to adverse events
* as much as I like the 4% rule, it assumes that spending for retirees stays constant over time. When we look at the data, it suggest otherwise--spending declines as people get older.
* if the investment options in your employer's 401k plan are just 0.73% more expensive than what you would pay in a taxable brokerage account, then the annual benefit of your 401k would be completely eliminated. (see https://ofdollarsanddata.com/should-i...)
Just Keep Buying:
* while you wait for your beloved dip, you may find that it never comes. As a result, you end up missing out on months (or more) of compound growth as the market keeps rising and leave you behind.
* Missing the bottom by just two months [in a Buy the Dip strategy] leads to underperforming Dollar Cost Averaging 97% of the time! Even someone who is decent at calling market bottoms and can predict them to within two months of the absolute bottom would still lose in the long run.
* Reframing the upside (buying on 3/23/20): ask, "how long do you think it will take for the market to recover from its 33% loss?"
* If you think the market recovery will take:
- 1 year, then your expected annual return = 50%
- 2 years, then your expected annual return = 22%
- 3 years, then your expected annual return = 14%
- 4 year, then your expected annual return = 11%
- 5 years, then your expected annual return = 8%
October 17, 2022
Just Keep Buying (2022) is a no-nonsense guide to personal finance that delights in busting myths and dispelling old clichés. Tackling all-important questions like saving and investing, it digs into the psychology behind money and provides a realistic guide to making sound financial decisions.
Nick Maggiulli is the Chief Operating Officer and Data Scientist at Ritholtz Wealth Management, where he oversees operations across the firm and provides insights on business intelligence. He is also the author of OfDollarsAndData.com, a blog focused on the intersection of data and personal finance. His work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, and The Los Angeles Times. Mr. Maggiulli graduated from Stanford University with a degree in Economics and currently resides in New York City.
---
Learn how to make money work for you.
There’s a lot of bad advice out there when it comes to money. The problem isn’t just that a lot of what we’re told about personal finance relies on bad data, though.
Often, that advice relies on sweeping assumptions about what’s “good” and “bad” for everyone. But decisions around finance, author Nick Maggiulli argues, are usually context-dependent.
Credit card debt, for example, can actually be a useful tool for some people. And seemingly frivolous expenses, like buying a daily coffee, can be a waste of money in some cases – in others, though, those spending decisions can contribute to a fulfilling life. It’s the same with saving. How much money should you hold onto? It really depends on how much you’re making.
As we’ll see in this book, you can only make informed calls on these issues when you know more about the individual people involved. It’s a simple message, but it’s one that’s worth hearing. The thing about all that bad advice is that it doesn’t just fail to help you manage your finances – it’s also often the source of guilt, stress, and anxiety.
So let’s take a different approach. One that’s grounded in life’s messy realities, not some wishful idea of how things should be. One that actually helps you.
---
The first rule of saving? Save more when you’re earning more.
We’re going to be talking about money in this chapter. But our journey doesn’t start on Wall Street or the trading floors of London and Frankfurt. Our first stop is southern Alaska.
We’re in the world’s largest temperate rainforest. Anglers prize this area for its clear streams, which are filled with large, trout-like fish known as Dolly Varden charr.
These Pacific streams contain little sustenance – until the early summer. That’s when salmon laden with eggs arrive. Charr love these eggs, and what follows is a months-long feeding frenzy. But then the salmon leave. The streams once again become a food desert.
For years, biologists couldn’t figure it out. There just weren’t enough calories to support so many charr year round. Yet there they were, month after month – hundreds and thousands of thriving fish.
So how does it work? The answer is phenotypic plasticity – a species’ ability to adapt its physical form to suit its environment. Dolly Varden charr shrink their digestive organs and slow their metabolism when there’s little food. When the salmon arrive, by contrast, those organs double in size and their metabolism speeds back up.
So what’s that got to do with finance? Quite a lot, actually. Adapting your behavior to your environment also holds the key to saving.
Let’s break that down. Google the question, “How much should I save?” and you’ll get 150,000 hits with very precise answers. You should save 20 percent of your income, one self-proclaimed expert claims. No, another says, you should have three times your income saved by the age of 40.
All of those answers share an assumption – that everyone has the same ability to save. That’s just not true, though. As economists point out, the biggest determinant of savings is income. In the United States, folks in the bottom 20 percent of earners typically save just 1 percent of what they earn. For the top 20 percent, that rises to 25 percent. The idea that everyone should save X amount flies in the face of empirical evidence, which shows that not everyone can.
And the thing is, lots of people move up – and down – those income brackets. Life, after all, isn’t static. Often, you’ll earn less when you’re young and more when you’re older. But high earners also quit the rat race to take on more fulfilling work in less well-paid industries. Some jobs force you to live in expensive cities; others don’t. Then there are life’s highs and lows and their financial consequences – marriages and divorces, children, promotions and layoffs, leaking roofs and Christmas bonuses. To find a single, neat rule that covers so much messy reality is a fool’s errand.
This brings us back to our Dolly Varden charr, which lower and raise their caloric intake according to how much food is available. Their maxim? Eat what you can, when you can. And that’s a great principle for saving, too: save what you can, when you can. In practice, that means saving more when you’re earning more and less when you’re earning less.
---
Want to grow your income? Just keep investing.
The reason you can’t save yourself rich is simple: you run out of things to cut back on fairly quickly. Put differently, there are hard limits to saving. What about growing your income, though?
There are limits here, but they’re a long way off. If you’re earning $10,000 an hour, it might not make sense to grow your income any further. You’re already set financially, and you might value free time more than the extra money you could be earning if you worked more. Similarly, high earners might forgo raises if that extra money is taxed at a very high rate.
In most cases and for most people, though, growing your income is the way to go. The question is how? The author’s answer is in the book’s title. But before we get to that, let’s talk horses.
More specifically, racing horses. One of the horse racing world’s greatest stars is a man called Jeff Seder. For years, Seder looked at all sorts of criteria before buying horses. He’d check their pedigree and measure their nostril size, or the weight of their excrement, or the density of their muscle fiber. But nothing correlated with racing performance. So Seder tried something different. He measured the horses’ heart size – specifically, the size of their left ventricles. Bingo. Finally, he’d found a reliable predictor of a racing success. He bought more horses with larger left ventricles and won more races.
Sometimes a single piece of accurate information can help us understand a complex system, like the relationship between a horse’s biology and its ability to win races. Or the best way to grow your income in volatile financial markets.
Here’s how Warren Buffett summarizes that single piece of information: most stock markets go up most of the time. He has a point. During the twentieth century, the United States went through two world wars, the Depression, a dozen recessions, an oil shock, and a flu epidemic. But the Dow Jones, a measurement of the value of stocks, rose by 160,000 percent! That’s after inflation, by the way. So what’s the takeaway? Here’s the author’s view: the only investment advice worth following is to just keep buying stocks. Averaged out over decades, it’s much harder to lose than it is to win.
Even famously sluggish markets, like the Japanese stock market, reward this philosophy. Japanese stocks hit their peak in ’89 and still haven’t recovered that level. If you’d made a one-off investment of $1,000 back then, you’d have $690 today. But if you’d invested $1,000 every year between 1989 and 2022, your $33,000 investment would have grown to $59,000. That’s not a great return, but it’s more than you’d have if you’d let inflation eat away at your cash savings.
Of course, you don’t have to wed yourself to a single market. As we said, most markets go up. What you really want to do is spread your investments, for example by buying into an index of global companies operating in multiple markets. We’re not going to get into the technicalities of how to do that here – that’s something you’re better off discussing with your financial advisor. What��s worth remembering, though, is that, historically, the line trends upwards. Hitch your money to that line and you’ll grow your income.
---
You can’t save all your money, so learn to enjoy spending it.
The cool, calculating rational agents of economics textbooks are a myth. Real humans are messy. Impulsive. More likely to follow the crowd, or the hidden logic of the subconscious, than reason. That means we can’t really talk about money in the abstract. We also have to look at its psychological impact. At how it makes us feel. Which, often enough, is miserable.
Take it from the American Psychological Association, which since 2007 has run an annual survey that identifies the main stressors in Americans’ lives. The topic that tops the list each year? Money. A 2018 study by Northwestern Mutual, meanwhile, found that half of all Americans experience high levels of anxiety around savings. And that anxiety appears to affect everyone, regardless of income. Another survey found that 20 percent of investors worth between $5 and $25 million were also worried about not saving enough!
What explains this epidemic of stress around savings? In a word, guilt.
We’re bombarded with financial advice that makes us second-guess ourselves. Buying a daily coffee? Crazy – you’re literally peeing hundreds of thousands of dollars down the drain. New sneakers? Not if you want to get on the property ladder. Organic peanut butter? If you wanted to retire, you’d buy regular. The underlying message couldn’t have been better designed to trigger guilt. Every cent you spend, it says, could’ve been saved, and if you actually took responsibility that’s exactly what you’d do.
But you can’t save every cent, and trying only makes us sick. When researchers at the Brookings Institute looked at Gallup survey data on savings and mental health, for example, they found that stress around not saving enough outweighs the positive effects of saving. Their conclusion: saving is only beneficial if you can do it in a stress-free way.
Saving, in short, is important – but so is quality of life. So how can you strike the right balance – how do you take care of your finances while preserving your health? Here’s the author’s take: focus on purchases that maximize long-term fulfillment.
A good place to start thinking about fulfillment is the American author Daniel Pink’s book Drive, which looks at human motivation. Pink argues that there are three things which fulfill us – autonomy, mastery, and purpose. In other words, being self-directed, improving our skills, and being part of something bigger than ourselves. Those are great filters to apply to spending decisions.
Take that bugbear of so many financial experts – that latte you pick up from the coffee shop before work. It looks like a frivolous purchase, but maybe that latte allows you to perform at your best at work. In that case, it’s enhancing your occupational mastery. That’s a deeply fulfilling long-term project, which means it’s money well spent. Other frivolous-looking purchases might, on closer inspection, turn out to contribute to your sense of autonomy or purpose.
In the end, money is a tool – it’s what allows you to create a life you want to live. What’s really difficult, then, isn’t spending it – it’s figuring out what you want in life. What do you care about? What would you like to avoid? What kind of values do you want to promote in the world? Once you figure that out, spending money will be both easier and more enjoyable.
---
How much should you be saving? Spending? Investing? Borrowing? Nick Maggiulli is a realist, not an idealist, which is why he argues that it all comes down to context. How much can you save, or invest? Does debt help you achieve your goals in life, or is it an emergency stopgap? Does spending fulfill you? It’s only when you dig into those questions that you’ll find a viable financial plan that works for you.
Nick Maggiulli is the Chief Operating Officer and Data Scientist at Ritholtz Wealth Management, where he oversees operations across the firm and provides insights on business intelligence. He is also the author of OfDollarsAndData.com, a blog focused on the intersection of data and personal finance. His work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, and The Los Angeles Times. Mr. Maggiulli graduated from Stanford University with a degree in Economics and currently resides in New York City.
---
Learn how to make money work for you.
There’s a lot of bad advice out there when it comes to money. The problem isn’t just that a lot of what we’re told about personal finance relies on bad data, though.
Often, that advice relies on sweeping assumptions about what’s “good” and “bad” for everyone. But decisions around finance, author Nick Maggiulli argues, are usually context-dependent.
Credit card debt, for example, can actually be a useful tool for some people. And seemingly frivolous expenses, like buying a daily coffee, can be a waste of money in some cases – in others, though, those spending decisions can contribute to a fulfilling life. It’s the same with saving. How much money should you hold onto? It really depends on how much you’re making.
As we’ll see in this book, you can only make informed calls on these issues when you know more about the individual people involved. It’s a simple message, but it’s one that’s worth hearing. The thing about all that bad advice is that it doesn’t just fail to help you manage your finances – it’s also often the source of guilt, stress, and anxiety.
So let’s take a different approach. One that’s grounded in life’s messy realities, not some wishful idea of how things should be. One that actually helps you.
---
The first rule of saving? Save more when you’re earning more.
We’re going to be talking about money in this chapter. But our journey doesn’t start on Wall Street or the trading floors of London and Frankfurt. Our first stop is southern Alaska.
We’re in the world’s largest temperate rainforest. Anglers prize this area for its clear streams, which are filled with large, trout-like fish known as Dolly Varden charr.
These Pacific streams contain little sustenance – until the early summer. That’s when salmon laden with eggs arrive. Charr love these eggs, and what follows is a months-long feeding frenzy. But then the salmon leave. The streams once again become a food desert.
For years, biologists couldn’t figure it out. There just weren’t enough calories to support so many charr year round. Yet there they were, month after month – hundreds and thousands of thriving fish.
So how does it work? The answer is phenotypic plasticity – a species’ ability to adapt its physical form to suit its environment. Dolly Varden charr shrink their digestive organs and slow their metabolism when there’s little food. When the salmon arrive, by contrast, those organs double in size and their metabolism speeds back up.
So what’s that got to do with finance? Quite a lot, actually. Adapting your behavior to your environment also holds the key to saving.
Let’s break that down. Google the question, “How much should I save?” and you’ll get 150,000 hits with very precise answers. You should save 20 percent of your income, one self-proclaimed expert claims. No, another says, you should have three times your income saved by the age of 40.
All of those answers share an assumption – that everyone has the same ability to save. That’s just not true, though. As economists point out, the biggest determinant of savings is income. In the United States, folks in the bottom 20 percent of earners typically save just 1 percent of what they earn. For the top 20 percent, that rises to 25 percent. The idea that everyone should save X amount flies in the face of empirical evidence, which shows that not everyone can.
And the thing is, lots of people move up – and down – those income brackets. Life, after all, isn’t static. Often, you’ll earn less when you’re young and more when you’re older. But high earners also quit the rat race to take on more fulfilling work in less well-paid industries. Some jobs force you to live in expensive cities; others don’t. Then there are life’s highs and lows and their financial consequences – marriages and divorces, children, promotions and layoffs, leaking roofs and Christmas bonuses. To find a single, neat rule that covers so much messy reality is a fool’s errand.
This brings us back to our Dolly Varden charr, which lower and raise their caloric intake according to how much food is available. Their maxim? Eat what you can, when you can. And that’s a great principle for saving, too: save what you can, when you can. In practice, that means saving more when you’re earning more and less when you’re earning less.
---
Want to grow your income? Just keep investing.
The reason you can’t save yourself rich is simple: you run out of things to cut back on fairly quickly. Put differently, there are hard limits to saving. What about growing your income, though?
There are limits here, but they’re a long way off. If you’re earning $10,000 an hour, it might not make sense to grow your income any further. You’re already set financially, and you might value free time more than the extra money you could be earning if you worked more. Similarly, high earners might forgo raises if that extra money is taxed at a very high rate.
In most cases and for most people, though, growing your income is the way to go. The question is how? The author’s answer is in the book’s title. But before we get to that, let’s talk horses.
More specifically, racing horses. One of the horse racing world’s greatest stars is a man called Jeff Seder. For years, Seder looked at all sorts of criteria before buying horses. He’d check their pedigree and measure their nostril size, or the weight of their excrement, or the density of their muscle fiber. But nothing correlated with racing performance. So Seder tried something different. He measured the horses’ heart size – specifically, the size of their left ventricles. Bingo. Finally, he’d found a reliable predictor of a racing success. He bought more horses with larger left ventricles and won more races.
Sometimes a single piece of accurate information can help us understand a complex system, like the relationship between a horse’s biology and its ability to win races. Or the best way to grow your income in volatile financial markets.
Here’s how Warren Buffett summarizes that single piece of information: most stock markets go up most of the time. He has a point. During the twentieth century, the United States went through two world wars, the Depression, a dozen recessions, an oil shock, and a flu epidemic. But the Dow Jones, a measurement of the value of stocks, rose by 160,000 percent! That’s after inflation, by the way. So what’s the takeaway? Here’s the author’s view: the only investment advice worth following is to just keep buying stocks. Averaged out over decades, it’s much harder to lose than it is to win.
Even famously sluggish markets, like the Japanese stock market, reward this philosophy. Japanese stocks hit their peak in ’89 and still haven’t recovered that level. If you’d made a one-off investment of $1,000 back then, you’d have $690 today. But if you’d invested $1,000 every year between 1989 and 2022, your $33,000 investment would have grown to $59,000. That’s not a great return, but it’s more than you’d have if you’d let inflation eat away at your cash savings.
Of course, you don’t have to wed yourself to a single market. As we said, most markets go up. What you really want to do is spread your investments, for example by buying into an index of global companies operating in multiple markets. We’re not going to get into the technicalities of how to do that here – that’s something you’re better off discussing with your financial advisor. What��s worth remembering, though, is that, historically, the line trends upwards. Hitch your money to that line and you’ll grow your income.
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You can’t save all your money, so learn to enjoy spending it.
The cool, calculating rational agents of economics textbooks are a myth. Real humans are messy. Impulsive. More likely to follow the crowd, or the hidden logic of the subconscious, than reason. That means we can’t really talk about money in the abstract. We also have to look at its psychological impact. At how it makes us feel. Which, often enough, is miserable.
Take it from the American Psychological Association, which since 2007 has run an annual survey that identifies the main stressors in Americans’ lives. The topic that tops the list each year? Money. A 2018 study by Northwestern Mutual, meanwhile, found that half of all Americans experience high levels of anxiety around savings. And that anxiety appears to affect everyone, regardless of income. Another survey found that 20 percent of investors worth between $5 and $25 million were also worried about not saving enough!
What explains this epidemic of stress around savings? In a word, guilt.
We’re bombarded with financial advice that makes us second-guess ourselves. Buying a daily coffee? Crazy – you’re literally peeing hundreds of thousands of dollars down the drain. New sneakers? Not if you want to get on the property ladder. Organic peanut butter? If you wanted to retire, you’d buy regular. The underlying message couldn’t have been better designed to trigger guilt. Every cent you spend, it says, could’ve been saved, and if you actually took responsibility that’s exactly what you’d do.
But you can’t save every cent, and trying only makes us sick. When researchers at the Brookings Institute looked at Gallup survey data on savings and mental health, for example, they found that stress around not saving enough outweighs the positive effects of saving. Their conclusion: saving is only beneficial if you can do it in a stress-free way.
Saving, in short, is important – but so is quality of life. So how can you strike the right balance – how do you take care of your finances while preserving your health? Here’s the author’s take: focus on purchases that maximize long-term fulfillment.
A good place to start thinking about fulfillment is the American author Daniel Pink’s book Drive, which looks at human motivation. Pink argues that there are three things which fulfill us – autonomy, mastery, and purpose. In other words, being self-directed, improving our skills, and being part of something bigger than ourselves. Those are great filters to apply to spending decisions.
Take that bugbear of so many financial experts – that latte you pick up from the coffee shop before work. It looks like a frivolous purchase, but maybe that latte allows you to perform at your best at work. In that case, it’s enhancing your occupational mastery. That’s a deeply fulfilling long-term project, which means it’s money well spent. Other frivolous-looking purchases might, on closer inspection, turn out to contribute to your sense of autonomy or purpose.
In the end, money is a tool – it’s what allows you to create a life you want to live. What’s really difficult, then, isn’t spending it – it’s figuring out what you want in life. What do you care about? What would you like to avoid? What kind of values do you want to promote in the world? Once you figure that out, spending money will be both easier and more enjoyable.
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How much should you be saving? Spending? Investing? Borrowing? Nick Maggiulli is a realist, not an idealist, which is why he argues that it all comes down to context. How much can you save, or invest? Does debt help you achieve your goals in life, or is it an emergency stopgap? Does spending fulfill you? It’s only when you dig into those questions that you’ll find a viable financial plan that works for you.
January 27, 2024
Вроде и простая книга про личные финансыы, но с интересными идеями, которых раньше не видел.
May 17, 2022
Have you ever thought how wonderful it would be if we could JUST KEEP BUYING??😍😍😍
Well, that is exactly what this book suggests! But how? So this book begins with a note from the author @nickmaggiulli in which he has explained the best possible ways in which this book can be used.
This book has been crafted in a manner that allows the reader to jump around to the chapter that best fits their current position in their wealth-building journey. There is no need to read the chapters in the given order.
The book is divided into two sections- saving and investing. Throughout the book, the author has answered some of the most common questions and queries people have regarding saving and investing.
Some of the key takeaways from this book are:-
💰 Focus on income, not spending
💰 Debt isn't good or bad, it depends on how you use it
💰 When saving for a big purchase, use cash
There are many other major takeaways in this book that can help you in your journey to achieving financial independence! I found this book very practical and insightful! Having read 'Rich Dad Poor Dad' and 'The Psychology of Money', I felt that there were many new helpful tips that I found in this one. If you are looking for personal finance book recommendations, then this is your go-to book!☺️
Well, that is exactly what this book suggests! But how? So this book begins with a note from the author @nickmaggiulli in which he has explained the best possible ways in which this book can be used.
This book has been crafted in a manner that allows the reader to jump around to the chapter that best fits their current position in their wealth-building journey. There is no need to read the chapters in the given order.
The book is divided into two sections- saving and investing. Throughout the book, the author has answered some of the most common questions and queries people have regarding saving and investing.
Some of the key takeaways from this book are:-
💰 Focus on income, not spending
💰 Debt isn't good or bad, it depends on how you use it
💰 When saving for a big purchase, use cash
There are many other major takeaways in this book that can help you in your journey to achieving financial independence! I found this book very practical and insightful! Having read 'Rich Dad Poor Dad' and 'The Psychology of Money', I felt that there were many new helpful tips that I found in this one. If you are looking for personal finance book recommendations, then this is your go-to book!☺️
April 20, 2022
This is a great follow up to one of my favorite books last year, The Psychology of Money. This author uses a similar format to help convey some really simple principles that could have an oversized impact on your life, especially your finances. I loved some of the advice and thinking in this book, and I bet you will find at least one or two gems that will make it well worth the time you put into it. Some of my favorite chapters include how to eliminate spending guilt, how much you will need to retire, why you will never feel wealthy, where you should invest, and why you probably shouldn't invest in individual stocks (I do, but this was the best argument I have read for not . . . I've read it before, but this author finally put it in a way that was a compelling argument). Highly Recommended.
May 27, 2022
Savings as a habit is something which requires will power to enact upon, it's a category of financial daily structure wherein you try to understand each and every aspect of why and how much to spend and what to do with the remaining money. The fact that it is an important part of everyone’s life not each and every person is able to do it well. Everyone wants to get rich but merely everyone understands that it’s first step starts from saving what you have with you. Living a richer life than current is an aspiration of most of the living generation and it requires certain steps which are available to us at ease. Wealth in general is a long term concept and doesn’t only have the requirement of saving, but also it requires that your money grows over a certain period of time, or rather multiples to certain expectations. Moving along to the idea of the above paragraph, for all those guys who are trying to get wealthier over the period of time or simply in the long term without taking huge risks, Just Keep Buying by Nick Maggiulli is for you! The book is a starter to all the folks around who have just started a new job and also for people who have realised how important it is to save and create wealth. The book is majorly divided into two parts wherein it explains about Saving and Investing as a whole to generate prolonged wealth, which stays till you are on this planet, and supports you in your non-working age. The book can act as a guide to everyone, but there is a slight disappointment to people living outside the US. All the facts and figures though mentioned and explained well are completely helpful to the people residing in the united states of America and are of no use to other people. Well, there’s no such thing as a general rule for everyone, but here is crossed the limit certainly, apart from the common definitions the author has completely focused on increasing the potential charges of the Americans getting wealthier, as the applicability of the savings and it’s investment are according to the data collected in terms of dollars as well as the analysis sits point up to the lifestyle of US citizens. Anyone trying to implement such kinds of stats and its change in the working for their wealthier future would require huge analysis of data from their country as well as other aspects such as return on investment and the rate of interests, charges etc! Though it's not a criticism of the writing of the book, it's just a simple explanation and blind truth that needs to be kept forward to the readers before they select a book to read. Well, the book isn’t something which promotes things which are not possible so I would like to mention and forward appreciation towards how well the book is written in terms of content and data explained. Just to be sure the reader needs to understand that the book itself speaks in dollars and needs to be generalised for implementation.
The book to be honest is based on simple questions that need to be answered, with explanations to the start, as previously mentioned the book is divided into two sections, wherein the author has successfully explained every aspect of saving. To give an overlay I would say that Nick Maggiulli has chopped off all the topics such as debt, and answered ways to lifestyle, retirement after explaining the correct meaning of savings and its procedure. The second half of the book talks about multiplying your money and converting it into wealth. For me from a personal point of view, I do believe that the book seems a bit tough for a person who is used to the general belief of investing like all people do. Here the author has successfully sliced the myths of investing in terms of luck, buying the dip and why not to buy small quantities like people usually do when they have money, generally the middle class. It is appreciable how Nick has also answered to subjects like buying during crisis and why not to fear the volatility of the market. In the end, it mentions well the rules of JUST KEEP BUYING and herein concludes the book. To end I would say in terms of language the book is simple to read and understand, the data is explained well and for a person on a general level won’t have an issue understanding any of it. To end, I would say for people residing in America, it would be a great guide, but for people outside the country it could be a better option if they think of it as a book gain idea.
The book to be honest is based on simple questions that need to be answered, with explanations to the start, as previously mentioned the book is divided into two sections, wherein the author has successfully explained every aspect of saving. To give an overlay I would say that Nick Maggiulli has chopped off all the topics such as debt, and answered ways to lifestyle, retirement after explaining the correct meaning of savings and its procedure. The second half of the book talks about multiplying your money and converting it into wealth. For me from a personal point of view, I do believe that the book seems a bit tough for a person who is used to the general belief of investing like all people do. Here the author has successfully sliced the myths of investing in terms of luck, buying the dip and why not to buy small quantities like people usually do when they have money, generally the middle class. It is appreciable how Nick has also answered to subjects like buying during crisis and why not to fear the volatility of the market. In the end, it mentions well the rules of JUST KEEP BUYING and herein concludes the book. To end I would say in terms of language the book is simple to read and understand, the data is explained well and for a person on a general level won’t have an issue understanding any of it. To end, I would say for people residing in America, it would be a great guide, but for people outside the country it could be a better option if they think of it as a book gain idea.
May 19, 2022
Easy read but could’ve been a lot shorter.
I bought this book because I have read the author’s blog for a few years (for free) and have found it very informative and useful. As a result, I wanted to give back to the author.
The book is ok but could’ve been a lot shorter, probably a small series of blog posts. It rehashes known research (e.g. buy and hold, and just keep buying) with two things worth noting:
- it’s full of data, pulled apart, analysed and presented in a very clear manner
- the author shows that it’s better to put your large amount or lump in now, rather than wait or averaging in and presents data to prove that
I bought this book because I have read the author’s blog for a few years (for free) and have found it very informative and useful. As a result, I wanted to give back to the author.
The book is ok but could’ve been a lot shorter, probably a small series of blog posts. It rehashes known research (e.g. buy and hold, and just keep buying) with two things worth noting:
- it’s full of data, pulled apart, analysed and presented in a very clear manner
- the author shows that it’s better to put your large amount or lump in now, rather than wait or averaging in and presents data to prove that
April 24, 2022
Good stuff. My proper review is here: https://patricksherriff.com/2022/04/2...
January 20, 2023
A book which is highly recommended by Morgan Hounsel, who's books is still making waves, has to be special.
While Nick provides enough nad more details to back the topic, the title of the book is a very straightforward and a huge give away.
In in some parts, it's a drag, but I wld treat that as a easy read and flip pages.
Many of the rules propagated, the balance between savings and investment, etc., are some of the standout parts of the book.
While Nick provides enough nad more details to back the topic, the title of the book is a very straightforward and a huge give away.
In in some parts, it's a drag, but I wld treat that as a easy read and flip pages.
Many of the rules propagated, the balance between savings and investment, etc., are some of the standout parts of the book.
March 28, 2023
Valuable for anyone interested in building long-term wealth through investing. Maggiulli's writing style and practical examples make it an enjoyable read, and his emphasis on the importance of staying invested should inspire readers to take action towards achieving their financial goals.
July 1, 2022
Just Keep Buying
This book gives a good post-rationalization of buying now (July 2022), despite going through a massive minus 30 to 40% drawdown as of this writing.
I jumped into the market during the K-shaped recovery of 2020 and 2021, and the ego was definitely on a high. But then everything went completely the other way.
Regardless, Mr. Maggiulli offers the idea that regardless of where you jumped into the market, there is a 100% chance you will get some kind of returns... over a 30-year period... here's hoping for the best.
I even jumped into the crypto craze back in early 2018, only to have the market do a full reverse, and suffer a 90% drop. But despite constantly saying "who knows, if ever this market will recover..." it did, and within 3 years it reached a bubble once more, only to crash and burn once more.
But nonetheless, I see stocks as a giant Ponzi/pyramid scheme, that DOES have underlying value. While sometimes it is purely built on hype, other times, there is a reason to be hopeful the stocks or index funds you choose will perform well... at least in the very long run.
Some critiques about the book, the "just buy now" chapter which says, it's better to put in a lump sum now, as opposed to a set amount every month, seems to contradict the chapter on Dollar-Cost Averaging later (putting in small amounts over a longer period of time, instead of a lump-sum).
But since most at-home investors are simply putting away a small portion at a time, it makes sense to provide an idea of what both strategies can accomplish.
My favorite chapter though was the psychology of never feeling rich. Even the mega-rich, or even the ultra-rich, end up comparing themselves to those above even themselves.
A study showed that a person with money (a decent chunk, several million), will typically under-rate themselves as doing well financially, regardless of how much money they have. Thus, you need to understand that your brain will always want more unless you can challenge yourself on this constant hedonistic comparison with others.
But once again, while the market is currently in a massive drawdown, and there seems like no end in sight to stocks going down even further, just hold on, because historically speaking, everything ends up recovering. Whether it's now, or within 10, 20, or 30 years.
This book gives a good post-rationalization of buying now (July 2022), despite going through a massive minus 30 to 40% drawdown as of this writing.
I jumped into the market during the K-shaped recovery of 2020 and 2021, and the ego was definitely on a high. But then everything went completely the other way.
Regardless, Mr. Maggiulli offers the idea that regardless of where you jumped into the market, there is a 100% chance you will get some kind of returns... over a 30-year period... here's hoping for the best.
I even jumped into the crypto craze back in early 2018, only to have the market do a full reverse, and suffer a 90% drop. But despite constantly saying "who knows, if ever this market will recover..." it did, and within 3 years it reached a bubble once more, only to crash and burn once more.
But nonetheless, I see stocks as a giant Ponzi/pyramid scheme, that DOES have underlying value. While sometimes it is purely built on hype, other times, there is a reason to be hopeful the stocks or index funds you choose will perform well... at least in the very long run.
Some critiques about the book, the "just buy now" chapter which says, it's better to put in a lump sum now, as opposed to a set amount every month, seems to contradict the chapter on Dollar-Cost Averaging later (putting in small amounts over a longer period of time, instead of a lump-sum).
But since most at-home investors are simply putting away a small portion at a time, it makes sense to provide an idea of what both strategies can accomplish.
My favorite chapter though was the psychology of never feeling rich. Even the mega-rich, or even the ultra-rich, end up comparing themselves to those above even themselves.
A study showed that a person with money (a decent chunk, several million), will typically under-rate themselves as doing well financially, regardless of how much money they have. Thus, you need to understand that your brain will always want more unless you can challenge yourself on this constant hedonistic comparison with others.
But once again, while the market is currently in a massive drawdown, and there seems like no end in sight to stocks going down even further, just hold on, because historically speaking, everything ends up recovering. Whether it's now, or within 10, 20, or 30 years.
April 25, 2022
Knew most of this from his blogs but still a concise summary of mostly logical advice based on historical data
April 19, 2024
I enjoyed how easy this book was to consume and how practical the information was. It has a bunch of really good points on personal finance. However I didn’t agree with some of the things he said about debt and 401(k)s. I thought he picked some corner cases to prove a point, but people could easily be misled to think that taking debt makes sense in cases where it doesn’t, or you shouldn’t put too much money in your 401(k) when really that’s the best place for the majority of people to invest. His points are sound, but you have to understand he’s talking about specific cases and there are other factors at play. I would probably say read this book down the line after doing more personal finance education activities.
April 9, 2024
Nick is good at getting an idea across in the most concise way. He has a knack for constructing thought exercises to illustrate investing concepts which might otherwise be hard to visualize. Didn’t provoke me to tell my friends about ideas in this book (in the way that I couldn’t shut up about Die With Zero) - maybe because these ideas are largely more conventional/practical, and less philosophical?
October 17, 2022
In the end, money is a tool – it’s what allows you to create a life you want to live. What’s really difficult, then, isn’t spending it – it’s figuring out what you want in life. What do you care about? What would you like to avoid? What kind of values do you want to promote in the world? Once you figure that out, spending money will be both easier and more enjoyable.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 21, 2023
Undoubtly a very American focus and the chapters on the housing market and pension system can be skipped if you are not living in the US.
Other than that some good points and it drove home a lof ot points I "knew" but hadn't seen the proof to back it up. An example being how it is better to invest everything up front rather than averaging in over 12 months. I "knew" it but it's nice to see it visualised and get more confident about my decisions.
Would have liked a chapter on global index funds (buy as many companies in as many markets as possible) as an investment strategy because I'm not sure I agree with the fundamendal idea of this book that as long as you find an income-generating asset - you can just keep buying it. What income-generating asset also makes sense to discuss.
Other than that some good points and it drove home a lof ot points I "knew" but hadn't seen the proof to back it up. An example being how it is better to invest everything up front rather than averaging in over 12 months. I "knew" it but it's nice to see it visualised and get more confident about my decisions.
Would have liked a chapter on global index funds (buy as many companies in as many markets as possible) as an investment strategy because I'm not sure I agree with the fundamendal idea of this book that as long as you find an income-generating asset - you can just keep buying it. What income-generating asset also makes sense to discuss.
January 9, 2024
Adaptacja to blog post o ike i ikze plus kilka komentarzy. Wolałbym oryginał i doczytać o ike/ikze. Za dużo też o tym nie było. Dużo lania wody niektórzy to lubią mniej lub bardziej
Co do samej książki to 3, nic nowego. Wałkowane w każdej dobrej książce o inwestowaniu i zamożności: kupuj cały czas, kupuj etf, akcje są ryzykowne, kupuj w dołki i w górce, uśredni się. Nie dziękujcie.
Co do samej książki to 3, nic nowego. Wałkowane w każdej dobrej książce o inwestowaniu i zamożności: kupuj cały czas, kupuj etf, akcje są ryzykowne, kupuj w dołki i w górce, uśredni się. Nie dziękujcie.
August 14, 2022
ไม่ได้รู้สึกว่าได้ความรู้ใหม่อะไรมากนะ จะอ่านหรือไม่อ่านก็ได้ แต่เขียนได้สนุกดี แต่ยังไงก็ชอบ The Psychology of Money กับ I will teach you to be Rich มากกว่า
October 17, 2022
money is a tool – it’s what allows you to create a life you want to live. What’s really difficult, then, isn’t spending it – it’s figuring out what you want in life.
February 12, 2023
One of my favorite personal finance books to date. Incredibly well researched and data driven.
May 23, 2023
Informative book with a lot of practical, advice and guidance.
It provides the reader with a lot of interesting data and studies in a very beginner friendly manner. Nothing really new or shocking however.
It provides the reader with a lot of interesting data and studies in a very beginner friendly manner. Nothing really new or shocking however.
July 12, 2023
Quite good introduction to the topic. Not sure if I learnt anything new though.
April 1, 2024
[PL] To jest całkiem niegłupia książka, daje dość rozsądne spojrzenie na to jak i w jakich okolicznościach oszczędzać. Na plus podejście z dużym zrozumieniem dla różnych sytuacji czytelnika, komentarze do polskiego tłumaczenia całkiem pomocne.
April 14, 2024
Easy to read and understand, investing for beginners
August 22, 2022
Intressant, fick några nya idéer angående spendering och sparande, nya tankesätt som mer riktar sig till det emotionella än det ekonomiska.
December 10, 2022
Part 1 of the book which focuses on saving is good , part 2 which focuses on investment is based on us options
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