Financial Expert: Passive Income Is A Scam! Post-Traumatic Broke Syndrome Is Controlling Millions!

The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett

FlightStory

Society & Culture, Business, Education

4.6 • 13.2K Ratings

🗓️ 6 October 2025

⏱️ 130 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Morgan Housel, global expert on personal finance, shares powerful lessons on Warren Buffett’s hidden struggles, Elon Musk’s sacrifices, money trauma and financial habits, how to invest wisely, and the psychology behind saving, spending, and success. Morgan Housel is a partner at Collaborative Fund, former columnist for The Wall Street Journal, and a speaker on investing, saving, spending, and financial independence. He is also the bestselling author of books, such as: ‘The Psychology of Money’ and ‘The Art of Spending Money’. He explains: ◼️ Why more money rarely solves unhappiness ◼️ How envy and social comparison drive overspending ◼️ Why extreme wealth often comes at the cost of health and relationships ◼️ How inflated definitions of “wealth” fuel endless consumerism ◼️ Why true happiness comes from family, friends, and health - not luxury (00:00) Intro (02:33) The Importance of Spending Money (04:43) Why Will This Podcast Make My Life Better? (07:54) Is There Something Wrong With Chasing Status? (10:26) What’s the Evolutionary Basis for This Stuff? (15:43) There's Always a Trade-Off (17:55) Saving Addiction (19:41) Can Money Make You Happy? (25:08) Are We All Stuck in a Status Game? (29:14) Is the "Freedom" Culture Actually Making People Unhappy? (31:12) Your Favorite Form of Saving Is Spending (33:17) Jealousy of Other People’s Wealth (35:17) The Spectrum of Financial Independence (38:57) How Do People Achieve Financial Independence? (41:32) How Does Dopamine Factor Into All of This? (49:07) We're Wired to Want More (54:51) People Retiring Early Tend to Wish They Hadn't (55:52) Passive Income Myths (58:06) Ads (59:07) Do I Need to Know About Economics for This? (1:05:01) What’s Going On in the World? (1:08:55) How Wealth Inequality Is Dividing People (1:10:50) The Charlie Kirk Shooting (1:19:04) Is There a Way Back From This Divide? (1:23:39) What Should We Be Doing to Help? (1:25:28) Are You Optimistic About the Western Economy? (1:27:23) Favorite Chapter From the Book (1:32:34) Ads (1:34:42) Why You Should Try New Things (1:37:29) Are You Chasing a Lifestyle That's Not Right for You? (1:40:48) Does Jack Think Steven Is Happy? (1:49:37) Should We Feel Guilty About the Lack of Contentment? (1:52:49) The Relationship Between Money and Kids (1:55:42) The Exact Formula for Spending (2:02:05) Humble Bubble (2:04:07) Do You Have Major Regrets in Life? Follow Morgan: Instagram - https://bit.ly/3KllnvJ X - https://bit.ly/4pJf4lT You can purchase Morgan’s book, ‘The Art of Spending Money’, here: https://amzn.to/46F9JTO The Diary Of A CEO: ◼️Join DOAC circle here - https://doaccircle.com/ ◼️Buy The Diary Of A CEO book here - https://smarturl.it/DOACbook ◼️The 1% Diary is back - limited time only: https://bit.ly/3YFbJbt ◼️The Diary Of A CEO Conversation Cards (Second Edition): https://g2ul0.app.link/f31dsUttKKb ◼️Get email updates - https://bit.ly/diary-of-a-ceo-yt ◼️Follow Steven - https://g2ul0.app.link/gnGqL4IsKKb Sponsors: Linkedin Jobs - https://www.linkedin.com/doac Vanta - https://vanta.com/steven Replit - http://replit.com with code STEVEN

Transcript

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0:00.0	I want to see more of the world, so I need my investments to do the same.
0:04.8	F&C Investment Trust searches out the world's leading companies and puts my money to work,
0:10.3	from the UK to the US and Asia, all through one simple investment.
0:15.0	So when it's time to say goodbye work, I'll be saying, hello world.
0:19.3	Find F&C on all major investment platforms. It's smart to
0:22.7	start with F&C. Capital at Risk. This FNC Investment Trust advert is approved of distribution by
0:27.6	Columbia Threadneed or Management Limited February 2025. People talk a lot about passive income.
0:32.0	It is not a thing. Look, there's two ways to get wealthier. And passive income is not part of
0:36.4	that equation. But what's really
0:37.9	important for people is how we should spend money, because I've written about money and finance and
0:41.9	investing for 20 years. And I can tell you the correlation between how much you spend and how happy
0:46.1	you are. It can exist, but it is not as simple as you think. Morgan Housel is the legendary
0:51.5	financial guru. Revealing that everything we've been told about saving and spending money could be our
0:56.6	biggest downfall.
0:57.8	And here's why.
0:58.9	If you're unhappy with your life, it is a very easy assumption to make that if you had
1:02.4	more money, a bigger house, a better car, whatever it might be, things would be better.
1:06.4	And it's a lie we tell ourselves, of course.
1:08.2	Because here's the truth.
1:09.1	So much of spending is a psychological edge that you're trying to scratch. And that manifests in so many different ways. For example,
1:14.9	life is a competition. It doesn't matter how well I'm doing. It matters how well I'm doing
1:18.7	relative to you. And the most tangible way to do that is the material stuff. I was reading
	...

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