'Killing Sacred Cows', by Garrett B. Gunderson,
is a book trying to identify and overcome the subtle and destructive myths, lies, and fallacies about money that are perpetuated through social programming and unquestioned traditions, which in fact are crippling us, both individually and in societal way. It begins with a claim - 'everything you thought you knew to be true about money and finances was actually completely false'. And these wrong ideas happened to become solidi?ed by financial institutions that have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.
Then comes the first myth, wealth is a limited commodity, and here the book makes clear, prosperity is not at others' expense, it is in fact, with others. The second myth follows, that the longer you save, better the yield. Where the book asks, "What good is money if we don’t use it?" After examining a few options of putting money that was resting in long term deposits to use, the third myth is confronted. That we diverting from real wealth when we look at it as numeric entries on a balance sheet, rather than prosperity and happiness. Next myth follows: Financial security means steady paychecks and benefits. We’re entitled to protection and benefits from a corporation, the government, or someone else. Which is contrasted with reality: We are ourselves the only source of security in this life, but unlike those who depend on external forces, we can make ourselves truly secure. To achieve this, the book exhorts all to become producers rather than consumers. Next myth is also on finance: that one has to have money to make money. It is evil but it has power. The reality here is unique: Money is nothing more than an expression and a byproduct of value created by people.
The book makes many things clear. Like how the scarcity paradigm, which is at the root of so much common
financial advice, limits our financial success. Like, how the “accumulation theory” of wealth, in fact destroys our potential, or “investing” in the stock market can create real wealth, how we land up with a security dilemma caused by avoiding things they fear, which actually decreases their security. It also explains why, money doesn’t equal real power, why the most lucrative investments are by nature the lowest risk, why the best way to reduce the cost of insurance is to buy the most you possibly can, why value is infinitely more important than price
, and how false beliefs about “getting out of debt” affects our financial freedom. Though the arguments look very convincing, in the absence of examples, all the discussions remain as an abstract dream. I had many doubts about how the proposed abstractions, say the real value of money as opposed its value in exchange, will manifest. Even after completing the book, those doubts remained.
is a book trying to identify and overcome the subtle and destructive myths, lies, and fallacies about money that are perpetuated through social programming and unquestioned traditions, which in fact are crippling us, both individually and in societal way. It begins with a claim - 'everything you thought you knew to be true about money and finances was actually completely false'. And these wrong ideas happened to become solidi?ed by financial institutions that have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.
Then comes the first myth, wealth is a limited commodity, and here the book makes clear, prosperity is not at others' expense, it is in fact, with others. The second myth follows, that the longer you save, better the yield. Where the book asks, "What good is money if we don’t use it?" After examining a few options of putting money that was resting in long term deposits to use, the third myth is confronted. That we diverting from real wealth when we look at it as numeric entries on a balance sheet, rather than prosperity and happiness. Next myth follows: Financial security means steady paychecks and benefits. We’re entitled to protection and benefits from a corporation, the government, or someone else. Which is contrasted with reality: We are ourselves the only source of security in this life, but unlike those who depend on external forces, we can make ourselves truly secure. To achieve this, the book exhorts all to become producers rather than consumers. Next myth is also on finance: that one has to have money to make money. It is evil but it has power. The reality here is unique: Money is nothing more than an expression and a byproduct of value created by people.
The book makes many things clear. Like how the scarcity paradigm, which is at the root of so much common
financial advice, limits our financial success. Like, how the “accumulation theory” of wealth, in fact destroys our potential, or “investing” in the stock market can create real wealth, how we land up with a security dilemma caused by avoiding things they fear, which actually decreases their security. It also explains why, money doesn’t equal real power, why the most lucrative investments are by nature the lowest risk, why the best way to reduce the cost of insurance is to buy the most you possibly can, why value is infinitely more important than price
, and how false beliefs about “getting out of debt” affects our financial freedom. Though the arguments look very convincing, in the absence of examples, all the discussions remain as an abstract dream. I had many doubts about how the proposed abstractions, say the real value of money as opposed its value in exchange, will manifest. Even after completing the book, those doubts remained.
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