The Algebra of Wealth Quotes

“wealth is the absence of economic anxiety. Freed of the pressure to earn, we can choose how we live. Our relationships with others aren’t shadowed by the stress of money. It sounds basic, easy even.”
― Scott Galloway, The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula for Financial Security

“wealth is the absence of economic anxiety.”
― Scott Galloway, The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula for Financial Security

“because it’s much easier to be successful when people are rooting for you. Strong character is a wealth accelerant.”
― Scott Galloway, The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula for Financial Security

“The more decisions means you get more feedback and get better”
― Scott Galloway, The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula for Financial Security

“Mike Bloomberg once said, “I have always had a policy: If it’s a friend and they get a promotion, I don’t bother to call them; I’ll see them sometime and make a joke about it. If they get fired, I want to go out to dinner with them that night. And I want to do it in a public place where everybody can see me. Because I remember when I got fired from Salomon Brothers—I can tell you every single person that called me. That meant something. When I was made a partner? I have no recollection of that whatsoever.” My friend Todd Benson puts it this way: “Show up when it matters, when it means something. Never miss a funeral. Attend every wedding.”
― Scott Galloway, The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula for Financial Security

“Temperance is to me the most important virtue because it is the one most tested by modern culture. Capitalism is fueled by our lack of self-control, our obsession with status and consumption. And not just in the obvious sense of super-sized fries and luxury handbags. Western society encourages indulgence not only in spending but also in emotional outbursts, in victimizing, and victimhood. Temperance is the resistance—or at least the management—of all our indulgences.”
― Scott Galloway, The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula for Financial Security

“Relationships of long-standing have inherent value that cannot be replicated any other way. True friendship is a gift.”
― Scott Galloway, The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula for Financial Security

“two (there is almost no level of income that your offspring won’t consume).”
― Scott Galloway, The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula for Financial Security

“(Research suggests that the simple act of writing down your goals24 can have a profound effect on outcomes.)”
― Scott Galloway, The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula for Success

“security and follow your passion on weekends.”
― Scott Galloway, The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula for Financial Security

“creates a virtuous circle. Your accomplishments come faster, they reinforce your confidence, and encourage further focused effort. Your brain works better as well, as the flow of rewarding neurochemicals improves”
― Scott Galloway, The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula for Financial Security

“Friedrich Schiller put it, “Against stupidity the gods themselves fight in vain.”
― Scott Galloway, The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula for Financial Security

“Getting marriage right is a lifelong project of many dimensions, but money is a bigger one than we want to admit. The greatest predictor of divorce in America for both men and women isn’t cheating or parenting decisions or career goals—it’s financial disagreement. Money is the second-most-argued-about topic among American couples (number one is tone of voice or attitude). Half of Americans struggling with financial tension say it’s had a negative impact on intimacy with their partner. Lack of money is one of the greatest—if not the greatest—strains on relationships, which is why divorce rates are significantly higher among lower-income Americans. Marrying someone who is better at money than you can be a great benefit (note: “better at money” doesn’t mean cheap). Marrying down in terms of money skills is fine (half of all spouses do it), but know what you are in for. I have a friend who makes an incredible living, and his spouse is pathological when it comes to spending. This person will spend $1,500, no joke, on flowers for a dinner party. They are broken when it comes to managing money. It’s a source of anxiety for both of them. Unhealthy relationships with money can come in many forms and will eat away at relationships.”
― Scott Galloway, The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula for Financial Security

“is the second-most-argued-about topic among American couples (number one is tone of voice or attitude).”
― Scott Galloway, The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula for Financial Security

“Failure is the raw material of success- if you learn from it. p110”
― Scott Galloway, The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula for Financial Security

“In the next chapter, I'm going to tell you to work hard, and I believe it's essential not just for economic security, but for personal fulfillment. "Do hard things" is as good a piece of advice as you'll ever get. But while working hard is necessary to personal and professional success, it is not sufficient, and more important, it is not the point. Working hard by itself is just burning energy into the capitalist void. Get strong so that you can provide for others. Gain power so you can do justice. Work for work's sake is economic masturbation.
Too many people use working hard as an excuse. An excuse for ignoring their partner, neglecting their health, being rude or cruel or exploitative. I said earlier that the pursuit of wealth is always a cover story. Equating hard work with character is shoving your fingers in your ears and singing "Roxanne" to drown out what's really driving you, what you need to work on. p29”
― Scott Galloway, The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula for Financial Security

“The median home price in the U.S. is six times the median annual income—fifty years ago it was two times—and the share of first-time buyers is barely half the historical average and the lowest on record.”
― Scott Galloway, The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula for Financial Security

“Roll with the punches. Bad things will happen; you’ll make mistakes. These are reasons to adjust your plans, not abandon them. Nothing is ever as good or as bad as it seems. FOCUS”
― Scott Galloway, The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula for Financial Security

“The twentieth-century American poet Delmore Schwartz wrote, “Time is the fire in which we burn.” Dark, but he had a point. Time consumes us, inexorably and inevitably. The past is a memory, immutable. The future, a dream. What you have control over, and the opportunity to be present in, is the now.”
― Scott Galloway, The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula for Financial Security

“plan your out ahead of time, so when the emotion of the moment takes over, you’ve got a signal you can count on. Knowing when to quit is essential. It’s an art. All successful people have quit. Some, often. Find people you trust who have the backbone and perspective to tell you if/when you should hang in there or fold your cards.”
― Scott Galloway, The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula for Financial Security

“Two thousand years ago, Seneca wrote: “Associate with people who are likely to improve you. Welcome those who you are capable of improving. The process is a mutual one: men learn as they teach.”
― Scott Galloway, The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula for Financial Security

“Anything or anybody who is living rent-free in your head is squatting. That energy and bandwidth could be better invested elsewhere”
― Scott Galloway, The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula for Financial Security

“pulled down to their level. If you don’t, you’ll be ruined. . . . You must choose whether to be loved by these friends and remain the same person, or to become a better person at the cost of those friends . . . if you try to have it both”
― Scott Galloway, The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula for Financial Security

“But the uncomfortable truth is that even once-strong friendships can become toxic. Not everyone grows out of”
― Scott Galloway, The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula for Financial Security

“All of this can get you to the profound more quickly and let you be in the company, in the moment, of the profound . . . others. This is the whole shooting match.”
― Scott Galloway, The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula for Financial Security

“Young people seem deflated when I tell them this, but working at an organization or platform offers better risk-adjusted returns. The reason the organization exists is it can pull together resources and be greater than the sum of its parts. Be one of its parts, and it will share that excess value with you. If you have the skills and patience to navigate the obstacles and the politics, and the maturity to endure the guaranteed injustices, you will over the medium- and long-term reap rewards.”
― Scott Galloway, The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula for Financial Security

“An essential aspect of character, and one that contributes to success, is an appreciation for and a belief in our interdependence. In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Covey describes three ways we can relate to others: dependence, independence, and interdependence.”
― Scott Galloway, The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula for Financial Security

“Life is an accumulation of decisions, large and small. It’s strange that “decision-making” isn’t a recognized discipline, a standard high school course. There should be a decision-making section in the bookstore. The second President Bush caught a lot of flak for describing his job as “I’m the decider,” but he was saying something profound about the job. The same thing Truman was saying with his the buck stops here desk plaque. In the White House, there’s an apparatus of experts who make all the easy decisions and most of the hard ones. The only decisions that get to the president’s desk are the brutal, unwinnable ones. In your life, you get those, too, plus no staff to make the other ones. So it’s worth putting some time into thinking about how you make decisions, and how you can make better ones.”
― Scott Galloway, The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula for Financial Security

“A decent strategy for economic security is to buy a home that needs fixing up, spend two years living in it while improving it (thoughtfully), then sell it (shielding up to $500,000 [for married couples] in gains from taxation), and do so again.”
― Scott Galloway, The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula for Financial Security

“what I want most—to send money back in time, to the people I loved who didn’t have it. The insecurity and shame present in my childhood home will always be there. But that’s okay, as it was motivating.”
― Scott Galloway, The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula for Financial Security