Can money buy happiness?
In Mark Matson’s book, part memoir, self-help and finance book — Experiencing The American Dream, he quotes Ben Franklin.
“Money has never made man happy, nor will it. There is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more of it one has, the more one wants.”
Matson was encouraging the reader to reflect on their true purpose for money.
“I think the natural tendency for people is to think that if they had more money it would somehow lead to more fulfillment and happiness. However, the destructive cycle of wealth means that chasing more money does not truly provide fulfillment.
It was counterintuitive to me because when I started as a financial advisor at 22 years old, I thought if I help people grow their money it would result in more happiness and security. But what I discovered was often the opposite — the more money people had, the more stressed and anxious they became about it.
Not only did it not make them happy, it also created a lot of anger, resentment, pain and suffering in their lives. There are countless studies of people winning millions in the lottery and six months later they report similar amounts of happiness and fulfillment,” Matson explained during our interview.
Mark Matson is the founder and CEO of Matson Money, a financial advisory firm with over $8.6 billion in assets under management serving 35,000 families nationwide. His financial coaching, backed by Nobel Prize-winning research, is the foundation that helps people think about investing strategically rather than using historical techniques that were essentially forms of gambling.
While Matson’s parents moved him and his brother from the hollers of West Virginia to Cincinnati at age five — his grandfather, George, was raised in destitute poverty. He was pulled from the coal mines in 5th grade and was eventually raised by his stepfather.
George grew up in a small shack by the railroad tracks. During the winter it was so bad that rats would often squeeze their way in between the spaces connecting the wall and the floor. They would cut the tops and bottoms off Carnation Milk cans and secure them to the corners of the rooms to keep the rats from entering.
He worked at a chemical plant most of his life to provide for his family. And perhaps the significance of Matson’s grandfather is the role he played in shaping his family.
Maton’s father, however, asked himself one question that would change the trajectory of their lives.
“If I asked myself ‘Why am I doomed to live in this destitute poverty that I was born into,’ my life would have come out one way. On the other hand, I ask myself, ‘How can I create wealth and prosperity for others, that would then lead to prosperity for me and my family?’” His father explained.
Matson noticed at that time that the people from West Virginia saw the world through a different lens, or screen as he calls it in his book. His grandfather thought that money was evil and people who had money were greedy.
“My grandfather came to visit us in Cincinnati only once. We had a modest home. The very first thing he said to my dad is ‘How many people did you have to rip off to buy this house?’”
Matson’s father proceeded to tell him how hard he’d worked to provide a stable home for his family but George couldn’t see it.
“Tell yourself whatever you need to so you can sleep, but I guess you think you’re a big shot, now.”
His grandfather stormed out back to West Virginia and sadly passed away three months later, a victim of the chemicals and the fumes in the coal mines he breathed all of his life.
In the beginning of the journey of writing the book, Matson felt resentment about his grandfather. But by the end of writing it — Matson saw that his grandfather laid the foundation for his father to get out of the hollers of West Virginia. While he never experienced the American Dream himself — he gave them the opportunity to go further than he did.
The foundational lesson Matson learned from his father is approaching life without a sense of entitlement.
“Nobody owes you anything. Except he didn’t say that, he used the ‘S’ word,” Matson stated.
The throughline of our conversation was the misconception about The American Dream — which has often been about greed and attaining wealth. Matson points out that the American Dream is in dire need of a PR campaign.
“It’s fine to have a nice house, but it’s about self-expression, love, and generosity with your family and the people you love.”
One of the inflection points in Matson’s career was when he was at an impasse at work. He knew the way his company (and the industry moreover) was charging clients based on commissions was creating a conflict of interest. These financial firms were inherently gambling with people’s money.
He entered a meeting with his boss to share his grand ideas — like using academic investing principles instead of gambling techniques like stock picking. As his boss blasted his ideas, Matson slid his letter of resignation across the desk and walked out. Then — he started his own company.
“When I started my company I had an overhead projector, a yellow pad and $30,000 in debt.”
Through hard work rooted in values, Matson founded Matrix Asset Allocation, which later became Matson Money. His company was one of the first Registered Investment Advisors to reject a commissions-based model, which Matson viewed as structurally incompatible with investors’ interests.
Matson does a masterful job of helping us to become more self-aware. He points out that our biases and blindspots prohibit us from seeing things clearly, especially our relationship with money and how it’s been influenced over time.
One of the concepts Matson shares is called attribution error. In other words, if you’re intelligent in one subject, does it make you smart in another?
He shares a story about Sir Isaac Newton — considered one of the most brilliant minds in history. He invented calculus and discovered gravity. Newton invested all his money in one stock, doubled his money in six months, and exited. He later bought back in at three times the price and when the bubble burst he lost a large sum of money, nearly wiping out his fortune.
Matson went on to say that Newton could calculate the motion of the heavenly bodies and the workings of the universe but didn’t understand stock market bubbles or the inner workings of the human mind. This was a man with an IQ of 190 who could predict where a planet would be in orbit one year in the future, but he couldn’t predict where the market would be one day later.
As we concluded our interview, I solicited Matson for financial advice for 20-somethings and the keys to a happy marriage. It was then that I understood what Matson was trying to do. In order for us to make smarter investment decisions for ourselves and our families, perhaps we need to change our own screen in which we view the world.
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