Spiritual Bookshelf Episode 50: How to Build Financial Wisdom – Part 17

Hi there, how are you doing this week?I hope you’re doing well. Today, let’s keep going with our journey through Poor Charlie’s Almanack. We’re now on Lecture 11, which talks about human misjudgments. Charlie Munger gives us a list of 25 common causes that explain why people make irrational decisions.Today we’ll cover three of them: the Inconsistency-Avoidance Tendency, the Curiosity Tendency, and the Kantian Fairness Tendency.1. Inconsistency-Avoidance TendencySo, what does that mean? Basically, our brains don’t like change. To save energy, the mind resists making adjustments. And that’s why habits—good or bad—are so hard to break.Think about it. How many bad habits have you truly gotten rid of? For most people, the list is… not very long. But almost everyone can name habits they’ve kept for years, even though they know they’re not good for them. That’s the power of inconsistency-avoidance.Charles Dickens captured this idea perfectly through a character who said: “I wear the chain I forged in life.” Those chains are simply our habits—light at first, but heavy and unbreakable over time.Benjamin Franklin once said: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” It’s much easier to prevent a bad habit than to try and change it later.2. Curiosity TendencyNow, let’s move to something more uplifting—curiosity. Humans are naturally curious, and compared to other animals, our curiosity is off the charts. It’s one of the main drivers of progress and knowledge.For example, ancient Athens and Alexandria thrived because of their curiosity, which pushed advances in math and science. Meanwhile, Rome focused more on practical engineering—roads, aqueducts, mining.3. Kantian Fairness TendencyThe last tendency for today is about fairness. Immanuel Kant was famous for the categorical imperative, which is basically a fancy way of saying: follow rules that you’d want everyone else to follow too.You see this in small, everyday ways. On a one-lane bridge with no traffic light, people often take turns without being told. Or when you let someone cut in front of you in traffic—because you’d hope others would do the same for you one day.Fairness is deeply wired into human nature. When we see unfairness—like someone cheating in a deal—we get upset. When we feel rules aren’t fair, we push back. This fairness instinct helps societies work.But it’s not always perfect. Sometimes insisting on strict fairness hurts efficiency. Imagine if resources always had to be divided exactly equally, no matter what—that might kill creativity and productivity.Still, fairness has shaped history. For example, the abolition of slavery around the world was largely driven by this human demand for fairness. Leaders like Sun Yat-sen in China also built political reforms around fairness, using it to unite people under shared ideals.That’s it for today’s episode. What did you think? Did something here spark an idea for you? Maybe you can practice one of these tendencies this week—like asking more questions, or challenging one old belief.And as always, I wish you wisdom in your financial journey, and a life that’s happy and full.Take care, and see you next time!