I’ve come to believe that there are four enduring sources of a joyful life. I call these Connection, Control, Competence, and Context. Connection is the need to belong. Control is the need to direct one’s own destiny. Competence is the need to be good at something worthwhile. Context is the need for a purpose outside of one’s self.

The Geometry of Wealth is a prequel to an earlier attempt I made at making sense of money. My first book, The Investor’s Paradox, started at the end of the tale, not the beginning. It seems, in retrospect, that I wrote the wrong book first.

When you reach into your wallet and hope that a purchase brings joy, there are three broad categories where you have a better chance at being able to “afford” the Four C’s. These are ways we can underwrite meaningful lives: Experience Others Time

Whether you live on a country estate or in a one-bedroom flat; whether you have perfect features or are a strong candidate for plastic surgery; whether you enjoy family bliss or

The hedonic treadmill defines our daily pursuit of experienced happiness, but it does not negate the fulfillment generated by making progress toward goals. We have hopes and dreams, and we can feel a sense of pleasure or loss as they grow closer or recede into the distance. Joy can stem from a sense of moving forward from wherever we currently are.

works not by making valid predictions but by allowing me to correct false ones.” Truly skilled investors value flexibility, adaptability, and the ability to withstand losses in order to fight the next day.

Underneath the expansive sky of behavior, on the broad terrain of traditional finance, there are three paths toward making skillful investment decisions: Choosing the right markets, choosing the right components within those markets, and choosing the right times to enter and exit those markets. In wonkier terms, these are known as asset allocation,

Having more—especially more than others—is psychologically meaningful. To think otherwise would be naïve.174

Both are legitimate evolutionary instincts, but in our minds they sit together uncomfortably, revealing a tenuous relationship between our current and future selves—who