A&B #1

Hey everyone,

Alex from Alex & Books here, I hope you're enjoying your Labor Day Weekend. Just wanted to share a quick update on the newsletter. For the remainder of the year, I'll be shifting from a monthly newsletter to a weekly newsletter. A few reasons why: • You'll get more in-depth information about the books I'm reading and the lessons I've learned.• You'll get a faster heads-up about the podcast and recent guests I've had on.• It's fun to experiment and try out different things.Think of this newsletter not as an email, but as a weekly letter from a friend.So without further ado, let's dive in!

Podcast Update:I recently had the incredible Morgan Housel on my podcast. He's the author of The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness. It's one of the BEST finance/investing books I've read.

Morgan shares a ton of insightful lessons about money, becoming a better investor, avoiding greed, and more. I'll share more about his book in a second. You can listen to our podcast here. 

Recent Reads:

Here are a few lessons from Morgan's book The Psychology of Money:1) High Income ≠ RichJust because someone makes a $1,000,000 a year, it doesn't mean they're rich. Yes, they might have a big house and multiple cars, but if they're spending $1.3M a year, they're actually broke. That's why it's so important to control your savings rate. The person who makes $100,000 a year but only spends $20,000 is richer than the person mentioned earlier. If you want to be wealthy, you need to make sure you're saving more than you're spending, regardless of your income.2) Wealth Is What You Don't SeeSpending money to show people how much money you have is the fastest way to have less money. If you have $1,000,000 in the bank but then go buy a Ferrari for $250,000, you may look wealthy but you now have less money than you did before (you have to pay for insurance, gas, servicing, etc.). Being wealthy is about NOT buying things. Wealth is the house, car, jewelry that you didn't buy. Wealth is created by suppressing what you could buy today in order to increase how much money you have.3) The Best Thing Money Can BuyIt's not fancy houses or fast cars, but rather it's freedom. Having money gives you the freedom to do what you want, when you want, with who you want. Having money lets you use it to buy time and retire when you want. It allows you to take a job with lower pay but with more flexible hours or an exciting opportunity at a startup. It lets you travel to where you want, quit a job you don't enjoy, or spend time with your family on the weekend instead of working overtime. In short, the best perk of having money is that it gives you the freedom to control how you spend your time.

Weekly Quote:"A book displeases you? Who forces you to read it?"–Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux

Photo of the Week:

 We hit 50K followers on Instagram!

Thank you to everyone who has supported A&B on IG. If you want to see what I'm reading, interesting book quotes, and clips of my podcast, check out my

Instagram page here.

What do you think of the new newsletter format?Do you like it? Hate it? Respond to this email with your honest opinion.I'll see you next week.Read on,Alex W.