Rule 19 of 19 · Chapter IV — Keep Your Head
Treat money as a tool, not a scoreboard
Why this rule exists
It is easy to forget that money is not the point. It buys time, security, and the freedom to do work you care about and be with people you love, and those are the point. Treated as a scoreboard, it becomes a game with no ending, where the number is never high enough and the pursuit crowds out the life it was supposed to fund. The rules in this book are worth following because they let you stop thinking about money so much, and get on with spending your one finite supply of days well.
In practice
Regularly ask what your money is for, and steer it toward that: time with people, health, meaningful work, generosity, a margin of safety. Spend freely on the few things that genuinely enrich your life and cut hard on the rest. Give some away, because it is a reliable antidote to treating the number as the score. Notice when chasing more is costing you the very things more was meant to buy. Handle the money well, using boring rules like these, so it quietly serves the life instead of running it.
When it doesn't apply
There are seasons to push hard for money: clearing debt, building a first cushion, a demanding stretch that buys future freedom. That is fine when it is chosen and temporary. The warning is against making it permanent by default, and mistaking the scoreboard for the game worth playing.