The book starts with stories to tell us that doing well with money has nothing to do with how smart we are and a lot to do with how we behave. At the same time knowing what to do tells us nothing about what happens in our head when we try to do it. This is important as it means we all can do it and knowing is not enough but the real actions matter. There are about 20 topics in separated sections and here I categorize them into four major ideas.

First main idea is humble and forgiveness. We all think we know lots about how real world works but in reality we’ve only experience a tiny sliver of it. Also each one’s experience is unique so it’s normal to see vast different view on same topic. Considering the role of luck and risk we should be humble when things work well, and show forgiveness/compassion to us and to others when things go wrong. Less ego will lead to more wealthy and know when to stop is important. Remember controlling your time is the highest dividend money pays.

Second main idea is to understand the confounding compounding. Earning pretty good returns that you can stick with which can be repeated for the longest period, that’s when compounding runs wild. It’s not about making all good decisions but consistently not screwing up. It’s not about be right every time, actually we’ll be wrong frequently, but how much you win when you’re right and how much you lose when you’re wrong matter. So increase the time horizon and become OK with a lot of things go wrong.

Third main idea is save money, pay the price and like the risk. Saving is the first step towards invest and nothing worthwhile is free. So doubt and regret are common costs in finance world that worth paying to learn. Think them as learning fee not fine. Also it’s the risk itself where the opportunity come from. And remember life is not consistent and surprise will always there.

The fourth is room for error. We have to take risk to get wealthy but no risk that can wipe us out is ever worth taking. Growth is driven by compounding, which always takes time. We have to survive to succeed, so avoid the extreme ends of financial decisions.

Last but not least. There are common traps which blocks us take the right action. For example the more we want something to be true, the more likely we are to believe a story that overestimate the odds of it being true. We have an incomplete view of the world but we form a complete narrative to fill in the gaps. Learning them to avoid making repeated mistakes.