Introduction: The Greatest Show On Earth

So people’s ability to save is more in their control than they might think.
Savings can be created by spending less.

You can spend less if you desire less.

And you will desire less if you care less about what others think of you.

As I argue often in this book, money relies more on psychology than finance.

And you don’t need a specific reason to save.

Some people save money for a downpayment on a house, or a new car, or for retirement.

That’s great, of course.

But saving does not require a goal of purchasing something specific.

You can save just for saving’s sake. And indeed you should.

Everyone should.

Only saving for a specific goal makes sense in a predictable world. But ours isn’t. Saving is a hedge against life’s inevitable ability to surprise the hell out of you at the worst possible moment.

Another benefit of savings that isn’t attached to a spending goal is what we discussed in chapter 7: gaining control over your time.

Everyone knows the tangible stuff money buys. The intangible stuff is harder to wrap your head around, so it tends to go unnoticed. But the intangible benefits of money can be far more valuable and capable of increasing your happiness than the tangible things that are obvious targets of our savings.

Savings without a spending goal gives you options and flexibility, the ability to wait and the opportunity to pounce. It gives you time to think. It lets you change course on your own terms.

Every bit of savings is like taking a point in the future that would have been owned by someone else and giving it back to yourself.

That flexibility and control over your time is an unseen


return on wealth.
What is the return on cash in the bank that gives you the option of changing careers, or retiring early, or freedom from worry?

I’d say it’s incalculable.

It’s incalculable in two ways. It’s so large and important that we can’t put a price on it. But it’s also literally incalculable— we can’t measure it like we can measure interest rates—and what we can’t measure we tend to overlook.

When you don’t have control over your time, you’re forced to accept whatever bad luck is thrown your way. But if you have

flexibility you have the time to wait for no-brainer opportunities to fall in your lap. This is a hidden return on your savings.

Savings in the bank that earn 0% interest might actually generate an extraordinary return if they give you the flexibility to take a job with a lower salary but more purpose, or wait for investment opportunities that come when those without flexibility turn desperate.