The Geometry of Wealth: How to shape a life of money and meaning

Behavioral Finance meets Aristotle. This book provides a blue print for any individual to seek their personal definition of happiness and wealth.

The Geometry of Wealth is a great read for finance professionals as well as the general public. Brian Portnoy eloquently explains why humans behave the way they do when it comes to money and investing - and how we can recognize these behaviors when they occur in order to remain on track. The book begins at a 30,000 foot view before getting more specific and detailed. Highly recommend!

It is a good book, that covers a lot of waterfront. I was really drawn to a lot of the discussion of happiness and satisfaction in life. The four C's really resonate with me. Connection. Control. Competence. Context. I think a whole book could (and should, Brian) be written about that and delving a little deeper with some actionable ways to increase these in one's life. The geometry of the shapes added some complexity for me that I did not think added a lot of symbolism or helpful connection. As a financial professional very familiar with all of the finance and investing concepts in this book, but I do think a lot of the points are very relevant for most audiences. If you are a doctor for example, I think you should read this book. The chart on page 152 and the discussion of the narrowness of stock market winners is really the most fascinating part for me from an investment perspective. It is hard to believe that over a 90 year period, only 4% of companies explain the net gain for the entire US stock market!

I have to start by saying I wouldn't recommend this book to most people. It's "big picture" while also being very analytical - two things that many people couldn't care less about. But if you're like me and for strange reason that stuff gets you excited rather than intimidated, then you're in the right place.Personally, not every section or analogy was helpful to me but (as proven by the many tabs sticking out of my copy) there are many profound insights that are worth the price of the book. Here are a few of the topics that stood out to me: 1. A deep, balanced view of how money relates to happiness 2. Human behavior and psychology's role in making investment decisions 3. Risk defined in terms of achieving financial goalsA lot of ground is covered in this book and some parts probably need a bit more (or less) unpacked, but as I said, the gems you find along the way will be worth it.4.5 stars ... rounded up to 5.

This book wins on two levels for me. First, I learned quite a bit, even after 20 years as a professional trader. Second, and more importantly, it provides language and lessons to share with my young adult children as they begin their investing journey.

I read many personal finance books. This one was unique and cleverly written. I really enjoyed it.

A great approach to individual investor's biggest obstacle - their own emotional biases that make for bad decisions.This is not really a "how to" book (try A Random Walk down Wallstreet instead), but more importantly a primer for how to get your head in the game of investing. Everyone's different, everyone needs a specific plan.

After I had signed up for a talk sponsored by a National D-I-Y Investment organization, I thought it would be a good idea to read something the presenter had written before I attended. That turned out to be ""The Geometry of Wealth".John Bogle reportedly once said, "You need me to keep you from doing anything". Add Brian Portnoy to the list of advocates of this philosophical approach.Distilling the wisdom of the best Behavior Scientists of recent times and recognizing that we are filled with biases that work against us, that we can harness the "slow-thinking" yet more powerful portion of our brains to minimize some of our worst actions and result in better net outcomes and hence have a greater ability to fund a contented meaningful life.

Anyone think about investing for their financial future (or more accurately ignoring it) would massively benefit from reading this book. It is a brilliant summary of how to manage your finances in a way aligned with your values and needs, avoid the biases we all suffer, and face down the fact we all need to finance ourselves and our families for a long long time. It's not about how to make money per se, instead how to plan for financial future that's aligned with you.

Not bad, but I'd hoped for more.Could probably have been summarized as an essay.

Ok, but nothing groundbreaking. States how we can get influenced and distracted when invest for the long term with a buy and hold strategy is probably best.