Morgan Housel makes a case that financial success has less to do with intelligence and more to do with behaviour. That sounds obvious until you read the evidence he marshals to support it — and realise how consistently even experienced financial professionals fail to apply it to their own lives.

The book’s central argument is that money is not purely a maths problem. It is a human one. The decisions people make with money are shaped by their personal history, ego, pride, marketing, and incentives — not spreadsheets. Housel illustrates this through 19 short chapters, each built around a distinct psychological concept…